First off... the colossal squid story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7367774.stm
My dear car Henrietta Honda is gasping for air recently, and last Thursday night her alternator went out while I was down in Grand Rapids (50 miles). Very thankful it didn't go out while I was down in Michigan City a week earlier (175 miles) to be sure. I managed to get her home by re-charging her battery a couple of times, so that was good. She needs a bunch of things now unfortunately... the alternator, a starter, front axle boots, a muffler, tires. For this reason I bought her a new friend, a sister or brother, I can't be sure of the gender yet. I've tried a few names out but they don't seem to be the right ones. I tried Hay-Seuss and Golda My-ear but neither one seems personal enough. Maybe just Goldy.
Goldy has a lot of pep, I drove her home from Holland yesterday and she rides beautifully on the highway, I'm quite excited. Five speed makes for a bit of shifting, 1st and 2nd gear are plenty low. The guy who sold it to me works at an auto parts store in Zeeland and clearly loved rebuilding cars and tinkering, he had this beautiful show car mini-pickup truck he'd painted and hand sewn the interior on. He'd bought Goldy from a friend who replaced the engine and transmission and put in power windows of all things. She does have some rust, but don't we all. The great thing is she starts right up, her tires are almost new, she doesn't murmur "clunk-clunk-clunk" as she corners like Henrietta does, she has nice new Acura rims and cloth seats instead of vinyl, it's really quite an upgrade. Her muffler is a little noisy I must admit, but I'm OK with that. All this for about $100 more than it would have cost to fix up Henrietta I think, so it looks like the old girl is headed for eBay.
In other news, the new band is starting to sound great. We rehearsed Thursday night for an hour or so and then played four songs at Sazerac in GR and the three part harmony was head turning on a few songs, it was awesome. We've lined up a few more gigs before Steel Bridge, just keep an eye on the schedule. We'll be playing Busses on the Beach, Quinn and Tuites, and Frenz in Rockford in the next 6 weeks or so, with several others possible.
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