Hanging in Columbia, SC

Hello, hello, from sunny South Carolina,

It has been a bit over a week since our last post, and a few fun events have happened. We're currently in Columbia, hanging out with some friends. Brandie has class today for her MBA program, so I joined her for the trip.

Last Friday, I had poker night with a few co-workers, and to date, I have walked away a winner from every Raleigh game. I think I might not get invited to the next one. This game didn't last until the early morning hours like the last one, so I managed to stay out of trouble this time. :) The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning, watching shows on the DVR, eating at our new favorite restaurant (Milton's Pizza and Pasta), and doing a bit of work. The weekends just seem to fly by. On Sunday, I got an oil change in the afternoon, and when we went to grab some dinner, Brandie noticed that my car was leaking oil. I will admit that I have one old car, but it has never leaked oil. So, I was extremely annoyed about that. We start to pull off, and I noticed that the car was driving weird. So, I jumped out and realized that my right, front tire was completely flat, which leads me to the tire changing story.

I pulled the car back into the garage and proceed to jack it up. After having had two flats and a stolen tire recently (will save that story for another day), I've gotten surprisingly good at putting on the spare. As quickly as I got the car lifted and the lug nuts ripped off, you would think that I had pit crew experience. It was at that point that I hit a snag in the tire replacement project - the tire was stuck. Now, I'm not talking that it was slightly stuck on there. I almost toppled the jack three or four times in trying to rip that sucker off with sheer force. Being covered in black dust and dirt and a bit perplexed about my situation, I contemplated my next move. I came to it - what else but Google.

I washed up and began the research. After many sites, the consensus remained that there were two solid options - kick it or beat it. Knowing that putting a foot to it would almost guaranteed that my small jack would go flying, I went with the "beat the crap out of it" approach. It was a very scientific process and consisted of my lying on the garage floor and proceeding to beat the everliving crap out of the back of my tire, spinning it frequently to focus the force evenly. And, sure enough, it worked like a charm. Walmart confidently told me the next morning that they could not find a leak in the tire. Now, I'm no mechanic, but I'm confused as to how an air-filled tire can lose air to the point of going completely flat without a leak. But, they slapped it on and sent me on my way. I knew it would be flat by the time I left the parking lot, but it remains fully inflated almost a week later. The flat tire incident remains a mystery to this day. Jiffy Lube resolved my oil leak quickly when they tightened the oil filter, so my car is back to new...well, as new as a 1992 Honda Accord with 179,500 miles can be.

Now, as for the spider incident that Brandie mentioned in the last post, she did not truly express the sheer size and extreme intelligence of this spider. She did not adequately set the scene. It was probably close to 10 or 11pm one night when I went to put some Christmas boxes in the attic. I'm walking up the stairwell into the attic, when I look up to see that the light looks really weird. I stared for a second and realized that there was a large spider web between me and that light. It went from the one of the top stairs to very near the ceiling, so I immediately look for the spider who calls this truly impressive web home. Yep, there he was...sitting there in all his glory near the bottom middle of the web. I swear to you that this spider was looking at me, and he was one of the largest spiders that I have even seen. I quickly decided that I was not adequately equipped to tackle such a creature; I needed some serious gear, which would need to wait until the morning. Brandie mentioned hitting him with a shoe. Ok, since she never even saw the spider, she does not realize that this thing would have grabbed the shoe from me and hit me with it.

I headed up in the morning to check on my friend, and I swear to you that he had torn down his web. I had to look very closely to see that a small section remained near the bottom step, and he had created a new section in a slightly hidden area. Plus, he had vanished without a trace. This thing was developing into quite a formidable foe. I gave it about two hours or so and headed back upstairs. This time, I'm prepared with a flashlight to get a closer look at things. After much discovery, I found him hiding in a split between the stairs and the wall. If I can find him hiding in a split, it only further adds to the evidence of his sheer size. So, we headed off to Ace Hardware (great store!), where I purchased the largest bottle of spider killing spray that I could find. We returned to the house, where I headed upstairs once again. However, this time I was fully armed with the spray and a flashlight. I popped open the attic door and peered upstairs. There he was. He was sitting near his hiding spot, and I almost got the impression that he was awaiting my arrival. I crept toward him and nailed him with a blast of the spray. He instantly darted into his hiding spot, where I chased him with more and more spray. However, my adversary was never seen from again. In some ways, I feel he now resides in a nice grave under the stairs. In others, I feel he lives to fight another day, and when that day comes, I'll be prepared. It will probably be the same day that my tire mysteriously goes flat again.

Well, to wrap this up, I will let Brandie tell you about our first snow in Raleigh.

Happy weekend to all,
Tim

P.S. Yes, I was bored when I started this post this morning. Brandie was in class, and my buddy was asleep.