Category: 2006

My plans were to hang out with Red Heather and catch up, but that has fallen through. Nick is off with the comics people for a drawing night.

We’re tired from the One True Russ’ birthday party last night. We didn’t get home until around 3am. It was good to see everyone and good for Russ to be able to get his drink on properly! LOL

We went to Value City and did some clothes shopping, which is always fun. We skipped Kroger again because we were not in the mood. Eh, tomorrow is another day after all.

I’m still suffering with doldrums and slight depression, but I’m sure it’ll dissipate as the week goes on.

Right now I’m just a little bored and bummed that Heather won’t be coming by. ::pout::

Well, I guess I’ll go surf some more and then watch some TiVo.

At least I have a reason for my latest bout of Fear and Loathing. It’s my hormones, of course! Yes, Aunt Flo came to visit with all her lovely pain, bloating, cravings and psychotic behaviour. Nice.

::sigh:: So, it’s safe to talk to me now and all that. The worst has passed. However, I do have a rant that must be spoken. It’s about a faceless company, tho, so it doesn’t count as far as fear and loathing go.

I found out today that our precious Sampoernas are, indeed, a lost cause. Philip Morris bought the Sampoerna company last year then promptly killed it. FUCKERS. That explains why the sources for our smokes have been dwindling.

I just sent them hate mail via their spiffy new company site Altria.com. Yah, changing the name really makes you a better company. Wankers. Both Philip Morris sites make it impossible to send any comments, so I went to the parent company and blasted them there. I called them WANKERS. I told them they SUCK. I questioned why in the hell they bought into a clove cigarette company if they had no interest in selling clove cigarettes. I called them WANKERS again.

Useless, I know, but it made me feel better.

If we LIKED Djarum cloves, we’d damn well smoke them, wouldn’t we? Well, we DON’T and now we’re fucked. I spent $90 buying out 2 cartons that they’d squirrelled away at Toco Package. Djarums are harsh and nasty, but I guess it’s them or nothing now. You know, I have my vices. Three to be exact. Clove cigs, alcohol and, um, other things. That’s it. I don’t ask for much, but goddam if everything I like doesn’t get discontinued every frelling time.

I’m very irritated with Philip Morris and I think I’ll go give money to the anti-smoking nazi lobby just to get back at them. WANKERS!!!

I didn’t write anything about this ‘cuz Nick did, but this story has spun into a much bigger one. Coming back from Knoxville a couple of weeks ago, we got stuck in a nasty traffic jam that lasted 2 hours. It was near Cassville-White Rd exit on I-75, about an hour north of Atlanta.
Here is the best shot we got of the accident clean up – it was dark by the time we filed past it:

But the story doesn’t end there.

No, the truck driver’s sister found Nick’s post and commented to him about it at his blog. Her name is Bobbie. She has never given us her brother’s name or any personal info, however, she did relay the horrible events that led to that accident that has rendered her brother paralyzed with crushed arms and hands and left his girlfriend dead. Bobbie lives in Mississippi, so I assume that her brother does, too.

I emailed her back with every scrap of info I was told by the truckers who were relaying info back (not much, sadly) and told her that we suspected the accident was caused by a passenger car, since accidents usually are caused by idiot drivers who have better things to do than pay attention while driving 90mph.

If anyone out there was on I-75 north of Atlanta near Cassville-White Rd exit around 5pm on July 16th and saw ANYTHING, please comment here and I’ll put you in contact with Bobbie. She is devastated by the near loss of her only brother and the years of recovery ahead of him. She is looking for any information available about the accident.

The moral to this story is:

Pay attention to trucks. They can’t stop, they can’t dodge in and out of traffic. They can’t get out of YOUR way, asshole, so put down the cell phone and GIVE THEM ROOM.

Not every trucker on the planet will be as caring as this guy. Frankly, I wish he’d smashed the cars and saved himself. From what I gather the people in the cars didn’t even STOP. May they get all that they deserve.

We in the south are used to HOT, but the poor inhabitants of Europe are having a time of it. The heatwave is as bad or may be worse than the one in 2003, with temps in at 100°F in London! At the Zoo, the big cats get blood popsicles and the primates get fruit ones. Mmmm, bloody popsicles!!

Our a/c unit is running almost continuously now. We’re so glad we got a new one last year! Despite its running all the time, we’re still seeing about 25% savings on our power bills.

Alaska is looking mighty comfy, isn’t it?