What a way to start the year...Eh?

So it has been almost another month since I’ve updated…..bad Llama. New years was fun and safe, I don’t think I heard of anyone having an accident or close call. Nikki has had one heck of a run with cars this month. It started one Saturday when she was headed up to her parents in the “Sub”, or to appease those who feel she was traveling in a sandwich the “Soob”, and had a blowout on the freeway. Not a big deal, the spare was in the car and so was the jack and a lug wrench, she was good to go. She changed the tire and was back on her way in no time. Mind you that I am at work this whole time (which is no surprise because I am always at work with the possible exception of my weekly vacation when they let me out for six hours to shower and attend church services) so I am coaching her through it over the phone. Anyway she goes up to her parents place and does her thing there and everything is happy and wonderful like. On her way home she gets down around 12300 South and hears a loud “BANG” and the car jolts a little bit. Thinking she had another blowout (by the way the tires on the Sub were really bad and we had plans to change them we just hadn’t gotten to it yet) she pulls over to the side of the road and gets out to look things over. No flat tires or anything for that matter, all looks well. So she gets back in the car, thinking she must have hit something in the road, and puts the car into gear. The unmistakable noise which follows is roughly reminiscent of metal chunks being churned around by what remains of the internal components of a transmission. (this is a BAD thing) So, not knowing what was happening, I get another call that she is on the side of the road………again. So I listen to her description of what happened and decide that I need to leave work and go see what the problem is because this time it sounds much more serious. So I leave and get up there and try to make the car go and sure enough she was right, it won’t go. I put the car in reverse and it catches just enough to make the car grind backwards. I decided to try it forward again and it sort of clanks and grinds its way down the side of the freeway. Realizing that we are somewhat mobile I told Nikki to follow me in my car and we’ll just see if we can get off the side of the freeway. Upon looking back, I feel the only reason I was able to get the car moving is that some twisted piece of metal must have gotten crammed in just the right spot which I find somewhat humorous. Anyway we get it off the freeway and leave it I a parking lot for the night. On the way home we were discussing what we were going to do with the car keeping in mind that we paid $900 for it and repairing the transmission will cost around $700. Furthermore we had planned on replacing it for a car that Nikki might actually want to drive within the next few months anyway. Thus we decide to donate the car to one of those tax donation places and got a $500 tax credit on our 2006 taxes. So we’re down a car but we do still have my Trans Am and my Truck. Can you guess which one Nikki chooses to drive…….in the winter……..with little to no rear tire traction……and it’s all pretty and my baby? So I get a call on Monday (yes this is the Monday following the whole Sub thing which was on Saturday) and she tells me that she has a flat tire. DUDE! Ok not a real big deal she puts the spare on and takes the other into Les Schwab to be fixed. Wednesday night comes and it’s time for schoolgirl Nikki to be trotting off to learn great and wonderful things. This also happens to be a night when the clouds are getting rather thick it feels a little warmer than it was in the day, basically a storm is on its way. SO….can you guess who gets a call at about 10pm? Well I do and it is reportedly snowing quite heavily. As she is telling me this I sense an undertone in her voice, almost saying “I am scared to tell him something” which freaks me out but I let her talk. She proceeds to tell me that she has SLID MY CAR OFF THE FREEWAY! First, because I am practicing to one day be a GOOD husband, I ask her if she is ok (which is more of a courtesy than a real question because if she wasn’t ok then she probably wouldn’t be the one calling) and she is. Being the materialistic pig I am my next question is slightly more pointed to another object, namely IS MY CAR OK!? Fortunately, she had not hit anything and was just stuck off the side of the road. So I go pull her out and everything is ok. Four days is all that had passed. At this point, realizing that she was going to be driving my car for a few weeks, I call my insurance company to make sure that the car is completely covered and even go as far as to check out the Kelley bluebook value to see what I will get if/when the car is totaled. After coming to grips with the numbers and planning what I’ll keep out of the other car, we proceed into the next week. I don’t mean for this to sound like I am trashing on Nikki’s driving ability or anything like that, I just find it an amazing coincidence that all those things happened within four days. But still, I will be sleeping better when she has her own car again. Preferably something big and built like a tank with roll cages and crumple zones and 360 degrees of airbag. Anyway school is going great and i am enjoying it. So far i have an almost perfect score in all my classes. It makes me wonder what was wrong with me in High School. I think I’ve rambled on enough. Toodles!