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Augustana - "All the Stars and Boulevards" (2005 - Epic Records) good stuff... My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Thursday, Dec. 01, 2005 - 2:37 p.m. It finally snowed here in Mohall. Nothing much- maybe 2� of the wet stuff. I was called in at 1 am (on night call this week), and was spreading salt by 2 am. This one was surprisingly easy for a first snow of the year- I didn�t even have one car in the ditch due to stupid driving. Came home and was in bed as soon as Lease called to let me know she had made a safe trip to work in Springpatch (45 miles away). Just woke up about 15 minutes ago, so if this entry is a little disjointed I have a decent excuse... Looks like it didn�t snow much after I hit the pillows. Even the sidewalks are clear. It�s only 26� right now, but there must have been enough heat built up in the ground to help clear this one off quickly. So I shouldn�t have to work tonight. That�s the good news. The bad? A mix of rain and snow is forecasted to start early Saturday morning, and to continue into that evening. Might not get much of a weekend. I need to get the rest of the Christmas lights up outside before this next round of snow. Maybe once I wake up enough� My luck with the mechanical abilities of the Hillbilly Truck wore out Tuesday after work. I had just pulled into the 5th lane after leaving the credit union , and was slowing down to let a few cars pass so I could enter the southbound lanes when I noticed something very uncomfortable- My brake pedal went all the way to the floor (bad0, and the truck didn�t slow down all that much (much worse). I had a brake line burst on the right rear side of the beast a couple of years ago, so I had a pretty good idea what was going on. I was able to get the truck stopped, and then waited for the last cars to pass (this is a very busy road, btw) so I could cross over and pull into the first parking lot I could reach. The lot belonged to the local funeral home. How appropriate is that? I couldn�t see anything obvious, so I stood with one leg outside of the truck, pumping the pedal until it became quite soft. That�s when I looked down at the ground and saw that my left boot was splattered with brake fluid. A line coming out of the equalization block (I didn�t know what it was called before I had the line fixed) had cracked. Nothing I wanted to fix while lying on my back in a funeral home parking lot. I don�t want a cell phone (I pay for Codeman�s, and have used it very rarely on night shift and such, but don�t carry it or anything otherwise), so I went inside of the funeral home (hey, I�m not insensitive- there wasn�t a ceremony going on at the time)and asked to borrow their phone. The first man I explained my plight to told me,� absolutely, you just take all the time you need in this room�, patting his hand on my shoulder as he led me to one of their, um, �counseling room�. After a few calls, I had lined up a tow and a ride home. As I left, a couple more suit-wearing employees were at the door. Both told me they were sorry about my truck breaking down, and told me that if there was anything else they could do to help, just let them know. One more gave me a back pat as I walked through the door. These people are good- they probably have a hard time slipping out of �compassion� mode once they put their suits on and enter the building for the day. And technically, my truck was dead it the time, so� My old mechanic friend is no longer in the business, so I had the truck towed to the big tire store that provides our storage with our contract-only rubber and most of our service calls. The guys I usually only talk to on the phone got a big kick out of the Hillbilly Truck- one said he thought any repair they did to it would be more costly than the truck was worth. They fixed the line the next day. And no, they didn�t take me for more than the truck was worth. I could have done the work myself for a little less, but I don�t have a brake line pipe bending tool (would have had to borrow it from Joe D. Mechanic or something), and I would have had to do it on my back on the cold ground. No way. I used to do those kinds of repairs, but I�d rather just pay a professional instead nowadays� Got my only the second or third email from my mom since last summer when I had it out with her over how she treats my wife, so, sister, and myself, and told her that I didn�t want to be her free room and board on trips to North Dakota anymore- the story of my life with (but mostly without) her takes far too much time to spell out here. Take my word for it- she wasn�t much of a mother BEFORE she left my Dad, sister and I for her lover when I was only 11 years old. Since that time, she thinks we owe her something, even though she didn�t want to have anything to do with our upbringing or lives unless it can benefit her in some way. That�s the short version. The whole sordid story takes too much effort and time to tell here. The most important thing I can convey to you is that the relationship was poison to both my sister (who hasn�t spoken to her in about 15 years) and me. After my sis had enough and broke free from the damage my mom was causing her, it left me to take the brunt of her guilt-dumping and general sugar-coated nastiness. And this summer, I had finally had enough of being taken advantage of, and I told her that I wanted to end all of this grief-taking. Like I said- I received an email from her yesterday. It asked �Are we getting together for Christmas? Let me know when I can come up.� Like nothing ever happened. You may think I�m heartless, but I sent her a simple one line reply, �No, for all the reasons I gave you earlier�. I just don�t want the stress she puts on my family and myself anymore. She refuses to even acknowledge ANYTHING she did to (and continues to do to) my sister and myself throughout our lives, and I just can�t play the loving son to her wonderful mom routine anymore. She ever decides to contact my sister and come clean to her on all the damage she caused in my sister�s life, maybe I�ll talk to her again. Not now. I don�t need this drama in my life anymore�
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