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I have one of those new Google email accounts, with crazy bells and whistles like search capabilities and targeted ads, and it makes me feel superior because it's exclusive. You can't ask for an account, you have to be invited. That's right, it's THAT exclusive. Yiptee-Do. The one honestly cool thing about it is that you get 1GB of storage. That's a hell of a lot. M told me that people are selling invitations on Ebay for between $20 and $30, and it's true. I guess that money is worth it if you want to make sure to get the email handle 'dirtbikelvr' for your very own.

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So, I've got a car in the city. It's my sister's old car, and barely runs anymore. I haven't driven it in probably six or seven months. But, life in the city dictates that you can never be rid of a car until you junk it or blow it up or something like that. You have to move it when they sweep the streets, or the goddam Cubs have home night games. The car is mine because the front end is mangled from an encounter my sis had with a deer a few winters ago. She had bought a new Saturn, promptly wrecked it in a snow storm in a bad accident, then she got this car (blue ford escort, aw yeah), and ran into a deer, so then she said screw it and went and bought a nice new Subaru. So, I got the leftovers for a city vehicle, a car that no one would steal and I don't car if it gets dinged. Anyway, it doesn't really "run" anymore, and the brakes are shot, and after a long winter of wintering, I got a flat tire. I tried to drive the block or so to the gas station to inflate it, but instead just sort of ripped the tire off the rim. So I just parked the damn thing and left it.

At this point you may say "just junk the thing", and I would agree. Except that it still has it's NY plates, and in my sister's last move she lost the title, so I couldn't even give the damn thing away. She's gotten the paperwork flowing to get the title re-issued but in the meantime I'm stuck with a huge paperweight. And it's now Spring, which means street sweeping and Cubs night games. I got a ticket a few weeks ago for not having a permit, but last night they started TOWING people on our block. For the first time in about four years. I got outside just as the guy was putting a chain on big blue and I said I would move it. He let me get in and start it, proving that it was indeed my car, and then they moved down the block. Now, a car with three tires and a rim won't go very far, so I wound up waiting it out and hanging with the car (defending in case of return) from about 8:30 until 10pm. There is another home game tonight as well...

But I hatched a plan to get it towed or just gimp it over to the nearby gas station and give them some loot to get off the rim and put on the donut (mmm, donut), for I have no jack and no tire iron. It was a good plan, well researched last. But check this out: I got up, got coffee, and managed to back down the street (gimpily and in ghetto fashion) and found a spot on the adjacent street, where I won't have to move it for three more weeks. Maybe by then I'll have a better plan. I cleverly disguised it so that you can't tell it's missing a paw, because that also is a big city car no-no and will result in towing.

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There's an upcoming BBQ on Saturday, and there's going to be some Kobe Beef eaten, which is apparently this superb Japanese beef that is raised on sake and beer. As E put it: "come eat some meat that has lived a better life than you". But what I thought was funny as hell was when B asked H if she ate meat, she replied "I think animals are delicious." That there is another reason why I am lucky.