I may unplug my phone for the remainder of my days off.
2005-07-18...11:10 p.m.

This is one tired li'l ham. I only worked for a couple of hours this morning (2 a.m. - 4:30 a.m.), but I wound up staying up so 1) I could pack, and 2) I could work out with Margaret Richards, because I'm apparently some kind of masochist. Then I went over to see Mom and Dad Ham at the hotel to see if we could get things rolling on getting their car repaired and renting a vehicle.

For two people that I always considered to be very together, they seem to be getting more and more inept at handling stress as the years go by. They spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone determining if their insurance and AAA policies covered the general stuff they need covered. And they called all over town trying to find a mechanic who can quickly repair the Volvo. Yet it seems like they never fully got anything accomplished! I finally took over getting a reservation for a rental car for them, because they need transportation, and with the Firebird having no A/C, I just couldn't take much more driving around in this hot Arizona summer sun. Yesterday I damn near gave myself heat stroke, driving around in the middle of the day like that.

Then they kept dawdling, and I finally told Dave that I couldn't take any more of the heat, and I really needed to get them into that rental car. So HALF A FLIPPING HOUR LATER, he and I finally loaded into the Firebird, and drove to Enterprise to pick up their car.

Only they didn't have one. And they couldn't GET one. "There are three other people ahead of you on the list, but as soon as THEY'RE taken care of, we'll get you into a car ASAP." So not only did I have them NOT in a car, but I had to do more running around, including picking Corey up from work. When I finally did pick him up, I had arrived 5 minutes early (probably drove too fast to get out of the heat!). Normally, I don't go inside there, because I don't want to cause any trouble. Not today. I did not give a fly ape whether he got in trouble or not. I absolutely refused to sit out and fry my brain in that damned rolling magnifying glass waiting for him to come out.

We headed straight for home afterwards. We took a lukewarm shower (because Kingman tapwater doesn't come in COLD during the summer), kicked the cooler on HIGH, snuggled up on the couch, and slept until 8 p.m. Since I had to be at work sometime around 9 or 10 tonight (I was called in), I managed to resist the urge to go back to sleep.

the last trail...the next path