Yes, I know its been over a month since I've put something up, but I believe I deserve a little bit of leeway on this one... Usually I don't have any really new things to put up on my blog, but this month is quite different. Lets just say I've had a pretty shitty month, all told....so here we go.
The month started out alright, telling april fools jokes and enjoying a short burst of nice weather. About a week into though, I had what some would call a falling out with a really good friend of mine that lives here in Oregon. And honestly, it was my fault. I crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed, and I paid for it. Luckily for me we've been able to work though much of our issues and I foresee the freindship continuing to grow and improve.
Now we move into the sad part of the month. On the 19th of April I was at home in the afternoon just taking care of things at the house. Then, the fire department pager went off saying that somebody had been thrown from a vehicle and had a broken leg (for those of you who don't know, I'm on the fire department here in Warrenton). So I ran out to my truck, started it up, started down the driveway, and I was off o
n the call....but I never made it. As I was pulling out of the driveway, I happened to look in my side mirror and saw my cat Ginger (aka fuzzy) on the cement and I could tell immediately that something was wrong. I thought that maybe I had run over her leg or something because she was kinda limping around. I stopped and went to her and as I got near, I knew it was much worse. I don't know exactly what happened, but I am assuming that somehow the truck and her met, and she lost, and I think broke her neck. So I sat there on my driveway and watched my furry friend pass away. It didn't hit me at first what had happened. I went to the truck and called my friend who works at the vet to ask what to do with a dead animal. Then I went back and picked her up and sat in my truck and just cried for at least 20 minutes. I won't go into too many more details about the night but it involved crying, guilt, and needing a hug so badly and not being able to get one from anyone. I think that Fuzzy was one of the coolest cats in the world. She was so loving and soft and was willing to investigate anything and say hi to anyone. I can't think of anyone that knew her that didn't love her.
So after that tragic day, you'd think my bad luck was over...but no. As people say, bad things usually happen in 3's. Well, there was a third to this one as well. So I go out to my truck to head in for duty on Wednesday, and when I remotely unlock my truck, nothing happens. The locks do not go up. So I unlocked it myself with the key and went on my way....no big deal right? When I got off duty on Thursday, a couple buddies of mine from work ask me to video tape some stuff on the beach because they were making a skit to make fun of one of our fellow pilots for a Dining Out that was coming up. I said yes, and we headed off to the beach. Again, I had to use the key to open my door, and so I thought I would get it checked out one of these days if it started to bug me too much. We get to the beach and as we are driving down the sand I turn my stereo down (cause if you know me, you know I like to listen to it loud) and I hear static coming over the speakers..."great, my speakers are starting to go. Looks like I'll have to spend some money on those too" :-( I park my truck next to everyone else's vehicles, leaving it in 1st gear as always, and since we were on the beach, I set the parking break...not like it was going anywhere anyways. Oh, and I also had it in 4WD, not that it really matters. But I hit the lock button and what happens...nothing. "Great, now my doors won't lock either". So I head over and start talking with the guys about what the plan is for taping...and this is where it gets good.
But first, a disclaimer...although you might find it hard to believe that the following events took place, I swear that what I right next is the complete truth.
About three minutes into the conversation, my alarm starts to make funny sounds, I look over and the first words out of my mouth are about three explitives. In front of my eyes I see smoke in the cab of my truck...not good. I run over and open the door and look, and there are embers falling down from behind the driver's side dash. Yikes! So what do I do, I do the only thing I can think of...I grab a few things out of my truck, and I call 911. They say they were going to send the fire department. Mind you, I'm ON the fire department. So two minutes later, I get a phone call from a friend on the department that says "Mark, you at home, what are you doing?" I reply, "no, why?". Back to her, "we got a car fire call!" And me, "No SHIT! its my truck! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" Of course she didn't believe me, but the second time I told her she kinda got quiet and said, ok, and hung up.
Now the weird stuff. After I got off the phone with her. We were sitting there watching, cause thats about all we could do....and out of nowhere, my truck starts itself up! No joke, the engine startrs up!! and like I said earlier, 1st gear, 4wd, and parking break....truck begins driving itself from where it is parked (or WAS parked) toward the frickin' OCEAN! It made it about 50 yards into the shallows of the ocean and it stalled out (whether that is luck or not, I'm not sure). And yes, you can all laugh now if you weren't already, cause we sure as hell were. I couldn't believe it, and if we all weren't there to see it, I know we wouldn't have believed it either. I just wish we had the camera out already and got that part on tape. Oh well, better luck next time. After that it settles down. The FD shows up, I talk to my fellow fighters, they kinda chuckle with me, bust open my hood to cut the battery leads, and then hose down the inside of my truck. Then they tow it back up the beach away from the water and head on out. Well, what else am I to do, so I finish the taping with my friends while in complete disbelief about what had just happened. After we finished, one of my FD friends came back with his truck and we towed my truck back to my house (after scraping some soot of the inside of the window).
So as we sit now, I'm still waiting to hear back from my insurance agency and I've been spending some time online looking up a bunch of cars that I might want to get (cause from what everyone tells me, they will probably total my truck). So, does anybody have any ideas as to what kind of car I should get, cause I could use the ideas. But I am going to Portland tomorrow to test drive a bunch of cars, so wish me luck!
Well, I hope that kept your interest and you enjoyed my story. I'll try to keep you updated as to what vehicle I decide on (if they decide to total my truck that is). And like I said, give me some ideas (looking in the 20-30 g range!)
Peace and love to all, miss you much!
