(no subject)

[stormdog]

My arm hurts too much to be typing. So I will be as brief as a Stormdog can be. (Ironically, this is my third edit to this post, in which I am adding the word 'be' to that last sentence. You see my difficulty here.)

I spent, we determined at dinner, about eight hours working on posicat's car today. His fuel pump died a few days ago. He called a tow truck. It was too late for any repair shops to be open, but as it happened, the driver happened to have keys to his brother, a mechanic's, shop and offered to help Posi get the new one in right then.

They worked on it for a few hours on a lift. All seemed well. Posi paid the guy and left. Cut to later on when Posi was filling his gas tank and realized that a great deal of what he was putting in the tank was landing under his car on the pavement.

From there, we will move in to the time spent working in horribly tight spaces that did bad things to Stormdog's wrists and elbows to redo half the work of replacing the fuel pump. We didn't have to drop the tank because we didn't have to fully remove the pump. But we did have to unseat it from it's housing so we could add the big black rubber gasket that the mechanic's tow-truck-drivin' brother completely failed to put in place. Not only was this evident when Posi was filling his gas tank, but when we were driving up to Kenosha from the Pick and Pull yard (where we failed to procure a part he needed for an unrelated issue, but that's another story), every time he accelerated from a stop, I could see the gas sluicing out of his car. Not just a few drops; a full-on cascade would rush down from under his car. Crazy.

As we were driving along in the newly gas-tight convertible and talking, I said "Ok, I could see how that could happen if you'd never worked on a car before...well, you know what? No, I just don't see how that could happen at all. 'Hmmm, the box came with this big rubber ring, but I don't know what the hell it's for. It must not be important.'"

But one of the best parts of the day was the ride along the lakefront we took to test out the car. He's got a LeBaron convertible, so we were cruising along Lake Michigan with the top down, just looking at the lake under the full moon, chatting about random bits of substance and fluff. Thanks Posi; I had a really nice time hanging out with you. Posi was also kind enough to buy me dinner at Golden Corral, which was really nice of the kitty.

Prior to all that though, I drove down to see brownkitty and her husband to take a look at the Beetle they're selling. It's red, I found out. It's also achingly cute. I'm trying very hard to decide whether it's something I want to take on, as I know there'd be a lot of work involved with it. But regardless of what I decide and how it works out, I love the car. It's awesome. Thanks to Brownkitty and family for having me over and introducing me and stuff!

As well, I got to meet their dogs and cats and rat, and I can't remember the last time I met such an energetically, enthusiastically, in-your-faceily friendly dog. I love him! We and their kids (who I met at Posi's last tea in the park gathering) all went out to lunch at Pizza Hut, where the bizarre decorations made me feel like I was eating at Chotchkies. There were happy birthday signs up all over the restaurant, and glittery stars, streamers, and little sequins festooned the floor. Our waitress was wearing a bright blue furry hat. We were at first concerned that the restaurant had been rented out for a birthday party.

I asked the waitress whose birthday it was. "No one's!" she said. "We're celebrating all of our customers!" The food was good, but I felt like I was eating in the midst of a setup for a movie-style joke about working in food retail. The pen I signed my credit card receipt with wrote in glittery blue ink that matched the waitress' hat. It was both fantastic and disturbing.

As I told Posi on the way back to the house, the full moon and clouds and weather were all so gorgeous, I decided to go back out an take some photos. I shortly realized that I can't find my tripod (I may have left it in jimcyl's car) so I couldn't set up on the rocks at the lake shore to shoot the moon's reflection off the water. Instead, I drove to the inlet near the downtown condos on the site of the old American Motors factory.

I adore my new lens. I really, really love it. I get colors and lines and perspectives that blow me away. I definitely need to grow into it, but I'm totally happy with my purchase.

Here are a couple shots of the Veterans Memorial Fountain, just across from the riverwalk by the condos. In this one you can see the awesome saturated color this glass gives me. The blues and reds of the fountain look stronger in my pictures from tonight than any I remember getting from my other lenses. This one shows off the wide field of view I get from this lens. The reflection on the bottom is not a pool of water; rather, I set the camera down on top of a polished marble pedestal set back from the fountain and the sphere and water jets were reflected in its mirrored surface. I was astonished when I looked at the preview and saw the doubled sphere; I hadn't noticed it in the slightest through the viewfinder.

*woofs* I need to get to bed and rest my sore paws. A trip to the zoo with moiracoon lies in store tomorrow!