I hate car shopping.

As many of you (all three of my readers) probably know, I’ve been in the market for a new/used truck. I’ve been doing a lot of research and have settled on a very specific model. So this past Sunday I went to test drive one. They had the short bed version in stock, but not the long bed. I figured the ride wouldn’t be a whole lot different, so I took it out for a spin. I was rather pleased. It has a stiff ride, which is to be expected as it is a truck, but at highway speeds of 65mph or more, it was a quiet, smooth ride. The dealership would have to order one for me if I wanted it in the green they have (Gail thinks red is too flashy, I detest silver, so green is a nice compromise). The Cash for Clunkers rebates kick in on the 24th, which means I’ll have to purchase a brand new truck if I want to take advantage of the rebates. I’ll have to seriously massage some numbers to see if I can get it in the price range I want. And that’s the part I hate. I like test driving, I like searching tons of car sites, reading Auto Trader, and walking car lots. I hate the negotiation part. That’s part of why Carmax appeals to me – no hassle pricing. If the Carmax dealer by me sold new Toyotas instead of Mitsubishis, it’d make life much easier.

Aside from that, we had a busy weekend. Gail and I took the kids to see the new Harry Potter movie, which we all thought was excellent. Looking forward to seeing last movie. I think the movies themselves have just gotten better as they go along, which makes sense; the kids are better actors, they’re growing up and filling out their roles.

After the movie, Gail asked if I wanted to go to the Apple store, as it was in the same mall as the theater. I said “I can’t go in, I’ll have to buy something. I can only go in there so often and come out empty handed!” She said “So...let’s go.”

I took that as permission.

As I alluded to in the previous post, Sarah had her All-Star soccer tournament this weekend. Out of three games, her team lost two. Which isn’t all that surprising considering they’ve had about four practices together. Individually they might be good, but soccer is a team sport and you can’t gel as a team with only four practices. But this morning’s game (the third one) the team played well. They won 2-0 and Sarah scored one of those goals.

But I digress in what I really wanted to talk about.

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a grammar Nazi. Not that I’m perfect; I’ve made stupid mistakes as I’m sure many of you have, and I’d be completely unsurprised if there weren’t a couple in this post (double negative!). But I have a healthy respect for the language, and it drives me insane when I see ‘your’ or ‘there’ instead of ‘you’re’ or ‘their’. And it’s scary because I’m seeing college-aged kids who don’t seem to know the difference as well.

There’s another word that’s been driving me nuts in the way it’s being used lately, especially now that I coach soccer; the word is ‘verses’. The girls all seem to think that saying “who are we versing today” is acceptable. I’m constantly correcting them. And it was really driven home when I overheard one of the other parents ask the All-Star coach who the team was ‘versing’. The way she said it sounded almost mocking, as if she was fully aware that she was using it completely wrong (and I really hope she was). But how long before she stops mocking herself and using it naturally? I understand language is fluid and dynamic and is constantly evolving, but this is driving me up the wall.

Why do I let it bother me so much? Good question.

If any of my neighbors looked out their windows around supper time last night, they might have seen my wife leaving my house...in the back of a cop car.

Yes, you heard me right. My wife was taken away in the back seat of a county sheriff's cruiser.

And that's about as dramatic as I can make it. No, she wasn't being arrested or anything like that. No spousal abuse, no domestic disturbance, and no, she didn't short circuit after having finally finished her mid-term and term paper. Let me tell you the story...

I'm going to have to get used to writing in a journal/blog again. I kinda fell off of writing long entries like I used to, as it seemed the LiveJournal just wasn't really the place for it all. I currently have my own account, but I've always seen LJ as more of a "see what I've got" as opposed to "here's what's going on in my life" type of stage. There are several others who use it to spill out the details of their life, and that's fine. I will be keeping it, but I think just for the ability to post in other's journals, as well as placing the odd link now and then.

Oh, and I like my LJ Icon, so I have to keep that too.

I'm still working on getting the site to look the way I want, as well as getting used to pMachine as a journaling tool. Then there's the website I'm trying to do for my friend Marcia's work. And my other website, Harleyroads (which is currently in the garage for a tune up, and has been for months now. How embarrassing...). I also want to try my hand at "modding"...I've been surfing the Bit-Tech forums for weeks now, and want to get my hands dirty.

And speaking of getting my hands dirty, every time I watch American Chopper, I want to go weld/grind/build/paint/throw stuff around. I need a hobby that doesn't involve computers, and something that requires using a welding torch sounds like good fun to me!

The previously mentioned jackasses actually came forward and apologized to the neighbor, gave her money, and helped clean up. Well, 2 of the 7 did. I'm glad at least that they took responsibilities for their own actions; that's a rare thing these days...

I'm supposed to be QA testing our latest client build...I just can't. It's such a gorgeous day out, that I want to go riding, do some work around the house, do anything but work on the computer. And that says something...not only not wanting to work on the computer, but work around the house...I hate house maintenance stuff, but I feel like getting out and cleaning flower beds, or something.

Weird.

Hopefully, with Gail being home during the summer, she'll get to get out and do some of that stuff. She at least likes it. Me, I just view it as a chore. One which I usually have to spend money on. I don't have any money as it is. It never seems like we have enough money. They say that the key to happiness isn't all about money, and I agree, for the most part. A little bit more money sure would help though!