wtf (no, no, “wednesday, thursday, friday”)

late wednesday night i found the vw camper bus key. yea! it was in one of the only boxes (a small one) i hadn’t looked in that was in the bedroom. i went out and gave it a few starts just for the heck of it. the starter appears to still be working, but it of course didn’t start up. i’ll begin trying techniques like adding new high-octane gas to the tank, spraying carb cleaner at the air intake, etc. soon.
thursday at training they had a drawing for a 20 gig ipod (not a video ipod). i won! i actually liked the 2nd gen 15 gig i had that was stolen by the kids that broke into my house, as i liked the control buttons not being on the scroll wheel. but i’m not going to turn it down for free. i’ve not opened it yet though, because i’m trying to decide if i should try and sell it to someone and use the money to get a video ipod instead.
thursday after training i took this week’s instructor to luling city market for some Texas bbq. on wednesday i’d gotten him to go to sylvia’s enchilada, which he really liked. again, it’s almost my duty as a Texan to make sure visitors get some good Texas bbq and/or tex-mex.
friday we got out early, like the training last week, and once again i had a list of tasks i wanted to get done.
first i headed by the westpark recycling center to drop off some old computer equipment and monitors i’ve had sitting around for years (waiting for my dropping them off there). they were closed, which i was kind of miffed about since it was 1:30pm on a friday.
i then drove to the downtown harris county tax office to get the name on my pickup title fixed and update my address on everything. the parking meter i parked at wasn’t working, so i called 311 (city of houston info) to report it. they informed me that it was veterans’ day (observed). which would explain why the recycling center was closed. i also learned it would cost me $33 for them to fix my name, which they admitted was their typo. i was surprised and a bit annoyed, but government is government, so the only way to get it fixed for free (or cheap) is to send it in to the state office in austin. so i elected to mail it later. but i did go ahead and update my address on all of my vehicles (4 of them, though i’d updated the vw bus last week).
from there i headed down to clear lake to drop by the credit union and give them my certified divorce decree (which i’d gotten embossed last week by the civil court to help prove it was really certified). of course, my loan officer was out for the day. fortunately, the title clerk (who i’d talked to on the phone earlier to explain that harris county certified divorce decrees no longer come on colored paper or have an embossed seal) was standing at the reception desk, so she helped me. i asked if they could just send the decree back to me via certified (and registered, maybe) mail. i had offered to give them a few bucks, but i had to write an authorization for them to pull the funds out of my account to pay for it instead. i wrote a silly form document with underlines for my name and signature and printed name, and used flowery legaleze. then she told me i’d have to come back to sign the loan documents when they were written up. i started to whine that i have to drive 45 minutes to go there and that was why i was asking them to mail me my divorce decree, so she asked and i learned i could do the paperwork via fax since i had signed or filled out some form or something. i dunno, i just know i shouldn’t have to drive down there again just for that, and i’m thankful.
after that i headed back to my side of town and on to wild west honda, where i picked up my motorcycle. i’ve now got a new rear tire and my 24k maintenance taken care of. i’m glad i got it then, because later in the evening a cold front rolled through and dropped the temps a fair bit.
from the above, you might have been able to surmise that i left the element at the honda shop when i drove my motorcycle back. it having rained and gotten chilly, and the motorcycle now being the only functional means of transportation at my disposal, i spent the rest of the evening/night at home. i took the time to start making a first stab at a logo i’d made up for jack for his business. i also watched some tv, which i rarely do. conan (late night) was really funny.