I can't wait until this weekend is over.

Less than two weeks until I move. I've reserved the moving truck and have only a few fixes on the house left to do. Tomorrow's adventure? The GARAGE.
When people hear this, they automatically assume that it's piled high with junk and forgotten belongings. This is only a half truth.

The garage was my father's domain. It was his workshop. He ran a business that supported us for so many years from that garage. If he wasn't in front of the TV with his giant bowl of popcorn, he was out there. Even when temperatures topped 110 in the middle of august, he was out there with some swamp cooler he had rigged up, or most recently, the air duct that he installed onto the main a/c unit that provided air conditioning directly on him.
That's where he reported to work everyday. He had the discipline that only a military man could have. Every tool was inventoried. He was amazingly organized. He could fix ANYTHING. (which is also why I never made it to the doctor's office for injuries.)

It's hard to explain the clinginess that we go through when people die. Yes, death is natural, blah blah blah... but it's so unnatural in a sense that one day they're here, the next day they aren't. I know that I immediately felt the need to cling to anything that reminded me of him. I'd stand in his closet and smell his clothes and cry. Does that make me weird? No. It's one of those things that people do that no one likes to talk about because it could potentially sound weird to non-mourners.
Those days are long gone now; I donated his clothes, his suits, his shoes... his bed is gone and so is all his bedroom furniture. I've saved the important things. I'm glad that I did that years ago, and I'm glad that I did it alone.

But that garage. There's a lot of baggage there. I am going to find all sorts of things that I don't need, but that may have value. Then what? Tools are great things to have, but I don't need ALL of them. But their replacement value is high. Is my father laughing at me for schlepping these things all the way to Davis? Or is he pissed that I just threw away some really awesome tool?
Or.. wait a minute, it doesn't matter either way because he is dead and if he really cared about his things he wouldn't have died. ::insert bratty face::

All joking aside, I have really put this task off as long as I possibly could. I'm looking forward to finding things that I haven't seen since my childhood, as well as being reminded of things that I've pushed out of my brain for so long. It's going to suck, it's going to be sad, it's going to be funny and it's going to be tough.

It's the last physical evidence that he was here.
... and I have to take it all apart.

EZ Lube Sucks

New carpet today! So exciting. The house is going to look more normal and I get to take a break from sweeping concrete on a daily basis. And better yet, the ferrets will get to play and explore around in my room... something I avoided letting them do because of abundance of dust on the cement floors.

The carpet padding is placed only after exceeding a high rating on the "Diego Comfort Scale".

So the EZ Lube drama continues. I am now taking them to small claims court since they have repeatedly ignored me. They really just don't care. Also, when figuring out who exactly I was suing, I found some inconsistencies with the name of the business and how they were listed on the Bureau of Automotive repairs and their business license. Just some shady stuff. My original court date was Sept 4th, however this needed to be changed because the parties have not been able to be served; so the summons now have to be mailed, which requires a month notice. So we're looking at anytime after the 14th of next month. Let's keep in mind that my Davis move-in date is Sept 10th. School starts the 25th. This is really a thorn in my side. The last thing I want to do (but will have to do, apparently) is move up there and fly back here for a stupid court date. This is all going to be very interesting.

So I was at my attorney's office and he mentioned that a friend of his had called -- the exact same thing happened to him! Same place, same song and dance -- EVERYTHING. Except he's a locksmith, and they ruined his van. When he mentioned his name, it sounded familiar. So I looked him up and called him. I introduced myself, then added, "I think you may have known my father..." and before I finished my sentence, he exclaimed, "You bet I DID! I watched you grow up and..." What a small world it can be sometimes. We're having dinner tonight to catch up and reminisce. My father was quite the character, the amount of people that knew him never fails to amaze me. Couple that with his love of talking about the daughter he ws raising on his own... there are a ton of people that have watched me grow up. It's a nice feeling.

So now that there's two of us, there's more proof that this isn't just some crazy random mistake. Who knows how many other people have had mechanical failures or had their cars downright ruined due to a simple, yet costly mistake.

Don't go to EZ-Lube.

More Sushi Feasting

There are so many things going on that it is just nicer to focus on one delicious highlight of my life:

Renelle loves sushi almost as much as I do. We had a roll competition tonight. It's pretty apparent that we both won.
What you see here are: 2 California rolls (Renelle made the one on the right, she got extra points for her snazzy presentation), a salmon avocado roll, and a Philadelphia roll. Yum! And of course, my salmon sashimi. Renelle isn't into salmon... so I had no choice but to eat all of it.
I think we're getting the hang of this. :)