We’re in the final stages of household reorganization, and as such are dealing with *big* project things. Last weekend we got the rest of the stuff out of aklikins apartment 1 , which involved disposing of many things, amongst them two long fluorescent lightbulbs. Which I placed *gently* in the dumpster (I know those things are dangerous!), but they ‘sploded anyway, flinging glass shards all over the place. Somewhat remarkably (and thankfully) neither of us were hurt, save a tiny scratch on my chest.

Then last night we had to move the Mustang from the apartment garage to the storage unit:

I drove Adrian to Raleigh, with the intent that he would drive the Mustang home with me following him in case he broke down. This might have worked, except for the fact that a big SUV-thing turned out between us in the parking lot, so I lost him. He didn’t notice because there was some other silver pickup nearby, so he continued on.

So I’m circling around the parking lot, hoping to spot him (whilst he was cruising down I-40, thinking I was behind him), when I realized that yesterday I managed to leave my cell phone at work.   Arrrgh!  Finally I went to a gas station and begged the nice ladies to let me use their phone, called Adrian and settled on meeting him at the storage unit (ok, there *may* have been a little bit more to the conversation than that…).

I get to the storage unit, and there’s someone else getting ready to come out.  They exited and I just drove on through the gate since it was still up  2.  I go down to where our unit is, but

No Adrian.  And still no phone either.

Crud.

Ok, fine.  So then I figured that I’d head back to my house, call him from the landline and go from there.  I pull up to the Exit keypad, punch in the code, and nothing happens  3.  I try three more times, with increasing levels of panic (now I’m going to be stuck all night in the storage unit!!!) until I finally stumble upon the correct sequence (I hadn’t remembered that it was a * at the end instead of a #).

I drove down the little business strip that the storage unit is on, hoping to spot an open business with a phone or a kind soul with a cell phone I can borrow.  A very nice fellow was a few doors down from the Institute for MetaPhysical Research (which is actually a church, we think) and he let me borrow his phone.  My luck being what it was at that moment, I got Adrian’s cell instead of Adrian.

Head home.  Attempt to calm puppy  4 who is very vocally upset that I haven’t stopped everything to notice that the world does, in fact, revolve around her.  Listen to 23 messages on my machine about the fact that

Adrian’s-brakes-failed-and-he-ended-up-running-a-red-light — across Highway55!! 5

And he’s now rolled to a stop not far from the Waffle House and could I please call AAA 6

In the end:  no one was smashed; I didn’t get stuck in the storage facility overnight; the tow truck came (quickly AAMOF); the car was taken to the shop (free tow at least!); Adrian was fine; my cell phone was put in my pocketbook where it belonged and the puppy got some QT while we recovered and ate our sandwiches from Chick-fil-A.

But GEEZ!!

1 Actually we got the rest of the stuff Adrian wanted, then called Goodwill to get the rest of the *useful* stuff, then called 1-800-GOT-JUNK (I kid you not) to get the rest of the… well, junk (non-functional computers, etc.).
2 I have since been informed that was an Unwise Idea as it apparently messes up the computer “ins” and “outs” log.  (I knew the gate wouldn’t shut on me, as I’d watched it close before… plus I sped on through  ;-)
3 Slightly inaccurate.  Actually a red “You Suck” light blinked at me, informing me that I had failed.
4 Not a relevant picture of puppy.  Just a cute one:  BikerPup (TM)
5 He had, of course, tested the brakes before we started *and* before taking the exit; however, they bled off around the curve of the downramp.  A leaky seal is suspected.
6 My membership was going to expire TODAY (4/30).  Needless to say I renewed it.

Bonus non-numbered footnote:  Cellphones never work when you really need them, particularly when you leave them at work.  :-P