Of Pens and Swords

Anyways. Here’s a kid that has mastered EBay, much to the befuddlement of his parents.

As the wife puts it, people need to learn personal responsibility. I think that personal responsibility should be forced, not learned, as an adult. Learning that should come as a kid from the parents…then again, we’d have to have parents know this…

The story I’m refering to is here. It’s no big deal, a teddy bear clogged the drain, killing 2500 fish.

I wonder if the Trout population of North America sees this as an act of terrorism…

Then Thursday afternoon happened. There was the cold front moving south down the Rockies, and a warm front coming up from the gulf. Storms in the middle, and we were in the middle of the storms.

I started off the day as normal, this time heading to one of my airports about 3 hours away. From here to about half way there, torrential downpours slowed things down. From about the halfway point to the airport, a southerly wind was blowing about 30-50 mph. It was interesting driving, in a constant right turn down the highway.

I spent 2 or so hours on site, fixing things, yada yada yada. Then i headed back. I stopped and grabbed a chia tea and a double shot latte for the trip back. I knew I was going to need a nice boost to keep me going while fighting the winds. As I was driving back, the winds were stripping the topsoil off the ground for miles, and was making the area look very much like Kuwait. Most of the trip back, visibility was maybe 1/4 mile, at some times dropping down to less than 25 feet.

I was following the next car from 500-600 ft away. It was a good distance, considering that the dust was bad. I think the people behind me were getting frustrated. I don’t care, I’m in no rush, and if they wanted around, I was going slow enough for them to pass me. Then the visibility dropped down to about 25 feet. I started slowing down. I didn’t want to slow down too fast, because the two large trucks behind me closed to within feet of me. I didn’t want to cause an accident of course. I was down to about 30mph or so…and then the car that was 1/8 of a mile in front of me was now right there. I was already on the brakes, and crushing them to the floor didn’t take much time. Then, I hit. First thing I noticed, my sunglasses were on the dash. I limped the truck over to the ditch, wanted to get out of traffic, since I know there was about 20 cars behind me. I got it in the grass, turned the truck off. I could barely see the car I hit, the dust was thick. I looked for my work cell, and it seemingly passed through my briefcase and was on the floor. I called 911. The circuits were busy…ok.

So I ran over to the car I hit. I opened the back of that car badly, the trunk crushed up and open, and the bumper on the ground. I knocked on the window, to see if they were ok. Two old ladies in the car…Great. I knocked on the window and the lady, still knitting in the passenger seat, opened the window. The driver, looking about 75, asks, calmly, if I could move, so she can pull over to the side of the road. No biggy. She does, and I ask, anything I can do for you? Are you ok? She said, Nope…oh, can you close my trunk for me? I looked, hehe, said, sorry ma’am, that’s not going to happen today.

Well, now I’m just waiting on the insurance company to decide whether or not to save the truck…One way or the other, she’ll be saved. Hopefully.

The Ex has been hitting me up to let her claim little girl on her taxes yet again. It’s written in to the divorce that I get to claim her every other year, except for those years where I’m deployed. So, the Ex got to claim little girl two years in a row. Now, it’s my turn…and guess who starts hitting me up to just let her claim little girl on taxes…because she whatever…it’s always the same excuses for the Ex…

She started to ask back before the kids came out here for the summer. I didn’t answer because I knew that she’d pull something and not let little girl come out here. She asked while the kids were here, and I didn’t give her an answer because I didn’t want to deal with something like all of a sudden I kidnapped little girl. Now, she’s asking again, and she won’t give me the time to give her an answer…Either way, no, I’m not ‘letting’ her claim little girl.

Her reasoning, well, now you have 5 people to feed instead of just one on a single income, so she deserves it more. Whatever. First, an agreement is an agreement. Second, I spend more on my little girl for child support, day care, and insurance, than I do on the rest of the family. There shouldn’t be any reason my daughter has a need for anything.

Now, the Ex calls and spends exactly 1 minute and 20 seconds asking questions that she already knows. I know this because Jess sent her all the information for whatever ‘insurance’ that she needs. I’m already expecting to get a call, a letter, whatever, because the Ex no longer wants to stick with an agreement that she signed off on. Wonder why this never surprises me.

The thing that sucks most is that I know there is a good chance for my daughter to turn out just like her mom. She’s already got some of the traits that we had to deal with this summer…

That folks, is the week in rock.