To see ourselves as others see us ....

Go here, do me and set up your own! Very cool! Thanks again for a great idea, SyncretistFool!

Lies, damned lies and non-lies - the sequel

To the two who accepted the challenge: Nice work! Especially RadioFanatic, whom I've not known that long and has never met me in person.

1. My mom used to manage a thrift shop. - TRUE.
2. My favorite color is blue. - FALSE. Dusty rose.
3. I sang Vivaldi in my senior voice recital in college. - TRUE. "Laudamus Te" from Vivaldi's "Gloria," a duet (my voice teacher sang the other part).
4. I had an Orphan Annie perm in the '80s. - TRUE. Scary, I know.
5. I took piano lessons for seven years. - FALSE. Only one year, then we moved and no longer had room for the piano.
6. I was a contestant in my state's Junior Miss pageant. - TRUE.
7. My father's name was Edward. - FALSE. His name was Wayne, but his middle name was Edward, so it was sort of a trick question.
8. I've been to Italy. - TRUE. You both missed this one! I spent 10 days there visiting a friend from high school before starting my college foreign study semester in Spain.
9. I have eight grandnieces and grandnephews. - TRUE.
10. I love rare roast beef. - FALSE. Syncretist Fool, ask your dad! It's the only thing he ever cooked for me that I didn't like.

Thanks for playing!

Heeeere, Old Blue ...

... You're a good car, you!

Old Blue is the NiiceLaadyMobile, a Honda Accord RB (Rust Bucket) that is old enough to vote in the United States and drink in Canada. I bought her last spring and with the exception of one inexpensive exhaust repair, she has been trouble-free. Yeah, she's got issues -- leaky sunroof, nonfuctional gas gauge, dome light and trunk latch -- but she gets me from Point A to Point B.

Until a few days ago.

She started losing acceleration at random moments, which I thought might be the clutch slipping (been there, done that with a previous vehicle). It got worse. We limped and sputtered all the way to work on Monday and I brought her to the Firestone shop on Route 9 in Queensbury. No pseudonyms here to protect the innocent; this is a shop that you should avoid like the plague, especially if you are female.

The diagnosis: Needs new cap, rotor and wires. Now I'd had this done on another vehicle in the past, many times. It cost about $150. They want $330.

I tell NiiceDuude this and he asks, "Has this guy ever been arrested for rape?" Consensus is that this is one of those garages that can smell a clueless female coming a mile away. ND says we're talking about $40 worth of parts and a 15-minute job, which he offers to do.

ND buys the parts, can't get the cap off but replaces the wires. I take it around the block and it seems OK, but a spin around the block isn't enough to reveal if there's still a problem. Which there was. We sputtered and limped back to Glens Falls again today, and I decided to have ND's mechanic (who is honest to a fault and besides, if he tried the take-advantage-of-clueless-female thing, I could sic ND on him) check it out.

Ron (RON'S SERVICE CENTER, ALTAMONT, NY -- GREAT GUY, TELL THEM I SENT YOU) replaces the cap and rotor -- at no charge, yaay! -- but the car STILL runs like crap. His judgment: Nothing he can diagnose quickly because it's so old, but probably something that will cost more to fix than I paid for the car. OK, so Old Blue has had it. But for what I paid, I got my money's worth. Eight months of trouble-free transportation.

I limp and sputter to Stewart's and call ND, then call DC, who has spare cars, to see if I can borrow one of his while I save up for another.
He says yes but it's in the shop (his shop) but he can have it ready in a couple of days. Cool. I can bum rides to work in the meantime if absolutely necessary.

Then I fill the tank, which had been quite low on gas for the past few days. I'm the type who empties the tank and fills up again when the "low fuel" light comes on. I also add a bottle of drygas and fuel injector cleaner.

And I drive to Malta. And Old Blue runs as smooth as a baby's butt! No hesitation, no deceleration, no sputtering. I do my errand in Malta and drive to Schuylerville. Again, no problems.

So either there is a God, or there was crap in the bottom of the tank that clogged the gas line and caused the problem (or aggravated the one caused by the worn cap, rotor and wires). Being an atheist, NiiceDuude goes for the latter theory. Me, I could go either way. All I know is, problem solved for now at least. But I will be saving for a slightly newer NiiceLaadyMobile, because nobody, not even a Honda, lives forever.

Lies, damned lies and non-lies

Found this idea on SyncretistFool's blog and liked it. So I stole it; not the first time she posted a cool idea that I stole. Feel free to steal it for your blog if you have one.

Four of the following statements about me are lies. Which ones?

1. My mom used to manage a thrift shop.

2. My favorite color is blue.

3. I sang Vivaldi in my senior voice recital in college.

4. I had an Orphan Annie perm in the '80s.

5. I took piano lessons for seven years.

6. I was a contestant in my state's Junior Miss pageant.

7. My father's name was Edward.

8. I've been to Italy.

9. I have eight grandnieces and grandnephews.

10. I love rare roast beef.

NiiceLaady's nice weekend

Sunday evenings can be a downer, since I have to get up early for work in the morning. I like my job, but the getting up part is a bitch!

But I am a happy NiiceLaady this Sunday evening. Yesterday NiiceDuude came up with his guitar and we played music together -- something we haven't done in a long time outside of festivals and such. We used to do gigs pretty regularly but that fell off because of scheduling issues and the status of our duo, Fixation, as the most passive act in folk music. We never pursued gigs, just waited for someone to say, "Hey, there's a new coffeehouse/benefit concert/whatever that needs performers. Wanna play?" We just spent a couple of hours going through some of our old stuff.

Then dinner (can't remember the last time I cooked chicken parmesan!) and some DVDs, then bed, and today the swing band played at General Schuyler's Pantry, as it does every first and third Sunday. NiiceDuude is the drummer, and I sit in and sing along.

Just a nice, pleasant, nonstressful weekend in the company of folks I love, including the one I love to bits. I am still perpetually broke, my car is still having issues, Dubya is still president, but for this moment (furiously knocking on every wooden surface within reach), life is good.

The truth is out there ....

OK, this is a very weird story, and I am going to be deliberately vague here to protect all concerned.

A dear friend of mine, whom I'll call Madame X, claims that two other friends of mine -- and hers -- whom I'll call Monsieur and Madame Y, are going to great lengths to get some incriminating information out of her. Without giving away anything, I'll just say it concerns allegations that she is "playing the system." She says their efforts to get her to incriminate herself occurred at a gathering we all attended and there were many witnesses. I was not one of them, and neither was NiiceDuude. We saw and heard nothing of what she describes.

Madame X believes the Ys were acting at the provocation of another friend of theirs (Madame Z) who reportedly dislikes her and has been known to spread lies about people. I don't know this woman -- met her a couple of times in the past but wouldn't know her today if I fell over her -- so I can't vouch for that.

I've known the Ys for many years, but we're not buddies. They are part of our circle, I've been to their house, Madame Y is in a band with NiiceDuude. But I'm not tight with them; they are friends with a small F.
So maybe they are capable of the kind of behavior Madame X says they engaged in, but I find it hard to believe that ANYONE in our circle would pull something like that. Why would they even care whether Madame X is playing the system, much less take such drastic measures to find out? These are not Rush Limbaugh Republicans who get all righteously indignant about such things; they are lefties like me. For the record, Madame X is NOT playing the system, and they did not get anything to the contrary out of her.

Madame X is a capital F friend, and she has her quirks and rubs some people the wrong way, but I have no reason to believe she is delusional. NiiceDuude thinks she is imagining the whole thing. I'm not sure what or whom to believe.

The only possibility that comes to mind is that the Ys are doing this for Madame Z because she is terminally ill; nobody wants to refuse the wishes of a dying friend. But you'd think a woman on her deathbed would have bigger concerns than trying to "get" someone she dislikes. Just sayin'.

I just hope the truth comes out eventually, because this is putting those of us who like both Madame X and the Ys in a very weird position.