Summer's Here

It's Thursday, my day off, and I'm sitting around doing nothing. I'm poking around the internet, going to my favorite nerd-oriented websites (BetaNews, News.com, etc.), reading and sending e-mails, etc., when I realized that it has been somewhat of a long interval since my last journal post. You could blame this on my over-active social life, but we know that's not the case. I'm always here, at home I mean, and you'd think I wouldn't have a problem posting on a regular basis. But I always have so I guess that's just the way it is.

My car, Jack Bletta, is still banged up. I have an appointment to take it to the body shop (Cars Collision in South Holland) on June 28. Yeah, that's a few days from now, isn't it? Seemed so far off just last week. Also have an appointment for a rental from Enterprise but I never called them back. Guess I'd better do that. Still not sure what the status of the repairs is - I mean, I'm not sure if they're going to fix it or not. The other guy's insurance company is going to send an independent appraiser to the body shop to check it over before they start tearing things apart. Good heavens. I hope he OKs everything so I get my car back.

Now on to job-related news. I've currently put my name into the hat for two positions. The first is at Great Lakes Bank (my current employer) as a Senior Teller at the Hazel Crest branch. For those who are unfamiliar with Great Lakes, the Hazel Crest facility is located on 183rd St. just west of Kedzie Ave. It's definitely farther than my current branch (South Holland Walt's) but I'll probably like the job better. Only problem is, I'm not sure if the pay will be comparable or not. I'm looking for a lateral move - just to another "division" of the bank. I'm hoping that this is the one. The other job I'm applying for is not anywhere close to home but in Pella, Iowa. Leighton State Bank has a Loan Assistant position at their Pella branch. I've faxed them my resume and left a message but haven't heard back yet. I'll call again today. The job itself sounds pretty boring (I'm assuming there's little to no customer contact, which is what makes working at a bank interesting) so we'll see what happens with that. Honestly, I'd much rather be a banker or a teller but in a town as small as Pella, these jobs may not open up that often.

Let's see, what else is going on. Not much. Not now. More to come as always.

Poor Poor Jack

Jack Bletta the Black Jetta has been through a lot but he's never been rear-ended, at least not until June 10, 2004. While on our way to what was to be a fun-filled day at Chicago's Museum Campus (and free I might add), my sister and I decided to take the "long way" as the conventional route - I-94 West from 159th Street to I-55 North and then on to Lake Shore Drive - was extremely congested. Our jaunt down 103rd Street was without incident and we made it south on Torrence and east on 106th just fine. It was north on Ewing that was going to be troublesome. Everything was fine until I took a wrong turn under the Skyway (I should've went straight but I turned left instead) that immediately preceded our whiplash-inducing encounter with another vehicle. I quickly turned around and made my way back to Ewing and once again headed north. As we approached 96th Street (where Ewing experiences a Norman-esque angular curve), the van in front of us abruptly stopped. I looked up to see the driver motioning to "go around" but as traffic was approaching in the other lane, it seemed unwise at the time. Then...bam. Yes, we were slammed from behind by a '96 Ford Ranger XLT. Well, maybe not slammed, but certainly more than tapped. Below are some images of my car taken today with, of course, captions. Oh, and you can click them to make them bigger.


The most "injured" part of the car, or a least the area that looks the worst. This is the left rear bumper area.


Same type of thing, only on the right side, and not as serious.


The trunk isn't exactly flush with everything else anymore. It doesn't open, either.


Left corner of the rear bumper. Looks like that's going to be replaced, at least I hope so.


The only non-bumper body damage I can find (besides the trunk not lining up) is this little portion that seems "pushed" in. Hopefully they can "pull" it out and not replace the whole quarter panel...again.


The area under the license plate also suffered some damage...guess that's body damage, too. Doh!


One more picture, totally unrelated. That's what it looks like when our air conditioner has been on for a while.

There is, of course, more to come on this whole accident thing. I filed a claim today with the other guy's insurance company so we'll see how long all of this takes. At least I'll get a new bumper out of the deal. I needed one.

Reagan Woes...Really?

No, not really, but Rs and Ws sound so good together. At left is some artwork I Photoshopped (don't you love how that's a usable verb even though I didn't really use Photoshop). Some say that Reagan should replace Hamilton on the $10. Well, I've got my own thoughts on Reagan and I don't have time to put them all here. I'll be watching the events this week when I can. A more detailed discussion of my Regean-related feelings will follow...

Picture Kick

Now that I'm on this "picture kick," here's a shot of my cat Abbie's new favorite spot. Isn't she cute???

Congrats

It's June already. The months are just flying by. The picture to the left is my buddy Jake who graduated from 8th grade yesterday. Congratulations to Jake. He also has the honor of being a member of the last graduating class of Holy Ghost School which is closing its doors after the 2003-2004 school year. It is interesting to note that Holy Ghost is also my grade school alma mater. I graduated from Holy Ghost ten years ago - 1994. Man, I'm old.

Rented some movies. Going to watch Paycheck and Peter Pan today. I've already seen bits and pieces of Paycheck but I managed to fall asleep both times I tried to watch it, so I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing from the beginning without interruption.