Couple Random Bits

I mentioned a couple entries ago that my 98 Corolla got 37 miles per gallon on the highway. I just did an in-town test and it got almost 31. Excellent.

You can see one of the most pathetic store signs ever in front of a business on Page. It says, “Wanted: customers to rent our equipment.” LAME!

It’s cool when you look at your driver’s license and see you are 5 lbs lighter!

I have family in town right now - my oldest sister and her family, minus one. (My oldest niece is in Hawaii-sniff.) It’s been a great time though already, and we have an action-packed weekend planned - Friday at 6 Flags, Saturday at Grant’s Farm, and Sunday floating on the Meramec.

As many of you know, my cat Bastian and I have a love/hate relationship. In the winter (and generally in the fall and spring), he is a lovely, affectionate baby. But in the summer, he gets bitey. It sucks. I’ve got scratches from his teeth somewhere on my body at most times. They aren’t deep, but I still always rinse them with soap and water right away. Unfortunately, my friend Joan didn’t know how dangerous cat bites can be when she got walloped in the middle of a fight between her two cats. Check out the story and pics here, if interested.

“‘only God’ can depose him”

I have to say that I am really disappointed about Tsvangirai pulling out of the runoff election on Friday in Zimbabwe.  But it’s not like I don’t understand. He fled from his house to the Dutch embassy just minutes before Mugabe’s thugs showed up. I don’t know how anyone in the world couldn’t see through Mugabe’s crimes at the moment. The fact that the oppressed people in Zimbabwe even had the guts to pull off a tie in the March 29 election is a miracle. (Actually, I think Tsvangirai had more votes but not enough to avoid the runoff.) Voters were practically risking life and limb. This was evidenced in the recent video by UN officials of Tsvangirai supporters running for their lives from soldiers. Can anyone believe Mugabe’s claim that Tsvangirai is safe to come out of the embassy?  WHAT A THUG! Trust me, I don’t want the US swooping in to get into other’s business like we tend to do, but what can the world do about this ass?

Decent Weekend

The weather has been gorgeous lately.

Friday night, I went to see my amazing friend Sheila Shahpari play at the Rock Star Nightclub on south south Broadway.  It was a pretty cool little venue, though the sound guy sucked it. The worst part though was that the last band, Drop Kick the Robot, was really awesome, and the club pushed them off the stage to turn into hip hop dance fest. It was… different. But they served Woodchuck, and I was happy!

Saturday I was semi-productive. I ran some errands and did some things around the house. Then I joined a couple friends at a Brazilian restaurant in Benton Park called Yemanja Brazil. It was GOOOD. The best part were the caipirinhas - a Brazilian drink I fell in love with in Cusco. It took me back, and the food was great. I came home with the greatest little buzz and was slightly disappointed not to be utilizing it in some way. But it was better to be responsible with Mass in the morning.

And Mass went really well. Afterward, I  headed to the Fiesta de Florissant with my friend Steph. We ate some shit and bought some shit. Good times. I was more productive in my little garden this afternoon, and I will be meeting some friends for dinner.

Pretty decent weekend!

200K

This is a little late, but I hit 200,000 on my car on Sunday, June 15.  This means I ended up passing it 26 days from my blog post. WHOA DANG! I really did think it would be 30, but I thought it would be a bit over it. CRAZY!

“The Hobbit”

I totally missed hearing about this discovery 4 years ago. Select passages below.

“Scientists have found skeletons of a hobbit-like species of human that grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child. The tiny humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia 18,000 years ago.”

“The original skeleton, a female, stood at just 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall, weighed about 25 kilograms (55 pounds), and was around 30 years old at the time of her death 18,000 years ago.”

“The species inhabited Flores as recently as 13,000 years ago, which means it would have lived at the same time as modern humans, scientists say.”

Read the story. Wild!

Mileage

I drove home this weekend and tracked my highway gas mileage.

37.2 miles per gallon! Not bad for my old car, which is a 1998 Toyota Corolla LE. 199,425 miles and counting