A Speedy Trip, Lost Files, and a Broken Down Vehicle

Good gracious! It has never taken me so long to write a post, but I must say we've had a busy week...and not the good kind of busy. We've been beaten down by life...okay, not totally. But we definitely have had our string of unfortunate luck. The good news is that we met our 3 "bad" things quite quickly, so we are now hoping for a run of good luck or just plain ol' nothing one way or the other. Let me explain!

A Speedy Trip

Last weekend, we took a quick trip up east (meaning eastern NC) to visit with my parents one evening and then spend the next day with my new nephew, Austin. In lieu of staying the whole weekend, we decided to go up Friday after work and come back Saturday after visiting with Austin. The visit with Bro, BroWife and Austin went really well. That little boy is just soooo stinkin' cute.

Auntie Stink-Stank and Austin meet for the first time.

Austin is so over-joyed to have such a cool aunt.

Uncle Nae-Nae and Austin hang-out before the UNC game.

Then, Austin starts throwing some gang signs.

Arlo and Junee look in through the window. They want in on the fun, too.

After Austin continued to throw gang signs, it was time to put him in his most pimp outfit. He eats, sleeps, and breaths gang. Apparently, they are on the "West side" of the HWY.

Arlo couldn't believe Austin's get-up.

After the gang display, it was time to get naked again and have floor time.

And finally, to top off the visit, a good burping!

So, we had an enjoyable day hanging out with Austin, but after several hours, it was time for us to get on the road and let the family and baby relax and get settled in for the evening.

So off we went...traveling rural highways...and making note of the number of cops and state troopers we saw on the other side of the highway. Every time Nae-Nae saw a copper, he'd tell me, but it was too late for me to slow down, so I just kept up my speed and kept truckin' along. We even talked about how it was the end of the month, the quotas, and how these little ol' po-dunk counties are waiting for an out-of-towner to fly through and make some money. We laughed, we joked.

Then Nae-Nae points out state trooper four or five on the other side. I didn't see him...it was dusk. I look in my rear-view mirror, and sure enough, there was the trooper on the other side making a turn through the grassy median. SHIT! I know he's coming for me; I'll slow down now and act like nothing was going on and that I was going to the speed limit the entire time. A few seconds later came the blue lights. POOP! I found an old gravel parking lot at an abandoned store and pulled over. The trooper asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. I did! He said he clocked me going 70mph in a 55mph zone! He gave me a ticket...$160!!! BOOOOOOOO! I was not pleased with this situation, but nonetheless, I am not one to argue or put on a show for the state.

I took the ticket and went about my merry way...slower!

Lost Files

This past Wednesday, after our trip to meet Austin, was like any other Wednesday. We were home from work for the day. Naeners had a recreation league soccer game, so we ate earlier than usual, and he was taking some time to get his classes prepared for the next school day.

All of a sudden, I hear panic in his voice. He is running between his school laptop and our home computer yelling, "They're gone! They're gone! My whole career is gone!" And then I would hear a string of "Oh! Shit! Oh! Shit! Oh! Shit." There was a quiver in his voice.

I, being the awesome and supportive spouse that I am, attempted to help in this situation by asking some logical questions and brainstorming where all of the files on the memory stick could have disappeared to. However, all of my questions got responses that made me understand that I was not being helpful at all. There was nothing I could do at that moment for him. I then realized that the most helpful thing I could do was stay out of Naeners way. So I grabbed a beer, sat on the sofa, and watched television.

After about an hour, he was able to recover some of the files. So he decided he needed to go buy another memory stick to have an additional back-up. Off we went at 9:15pm in the evening...trying to make it Target before it closed.

A Broken Down Vehicle

We hoped in Naeners vehicle, and off we went. We made it through a stop light and two stop signs. We then got a stop light in a busy intersection, and the car sputtered off. What? You've got to be kidding me. Naeners turned the key in the ignition, and it started up again. Good! He puts the car in drive, and shimmy-shimmy-shake, sputter, sputter, sputter...dead. Naeners tried several more times to get the car going, but each time there were the same series of shakes and sputters and deadness.

He put the vehicle in neutral, and I was in charge of steering the it into the parking lot while he pushed. Yeah...we didn't get very far. Do you know how much a Pathfinder weighs? Well, I don't. All I know is that it is heavy as shit, and he was lucky to get it out of the main intersection.

What do you do in this situation? You laugh! And then  you call your BroLaw. "Help!" BroLaw was there to help in a heartbeat. With Nae-Nae's manly strength combined with BroLaw's gusto and my superb driving skills, we managed to get the vehicle all the way into the lot and parked.

The next day, we had the car towed for $67 and found out on Friday that it is the transmission that has gone kaput. We will probably be spending $2000+ to get it fixed. OY!

The Power of Three

I've heard that bad things happen in threes. I hope that is true because we truly felt beaten by life this past week. What did we do to deserve this crap? Why us? But then, it brings me back to the quotable quote of the week that was posted on Monday:

Sounds like life to me it ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me 

Sounds like life to me plain old destiny
Yeah the only thing for certain is uncertainty
You gotta hold on tight just enjoy the ride
Get used to all this unpredictability
Sounds like life