Plate 0′ Shrimp

Well, I won the comic strip contest at work again. I was the only entrant, so that diminishes the glory a bit. I also only had an hour to do a concept version (10 – 11 pm the night before it was due). I tried to talk another guy at work into rendering it for me, but he wouldn’t do it, so I entered it as is. I think it looks crappy, but I’m putting it up here any way. I won god damn it! Now where’s my prize?

I had access to my step-dad’s Kodak Easyshare 7590 and took some family pics. I took the first using timer. It is going to be on the Crest Ranch website. The second pic was taken by Louise:

Due to my crash last month, I had the bumper on my 1998 Toyota Camry V6 LE replaced, courtesty of the other driver’s insurance. While my car was in the shop, I drove a new KIA Optima LX. The LX is for “Luxury.” It had just over 1000 miles on it, and the new car smell was a bit much at times.

The color was the Deep Ocean Blue. Very nice color. I think my next car will be that color if the choice is available. First thing I noticed was this car was pretty peppy. Either peppy, or the accelerator pedal was improperly calibrated, because I just tapped it and was almost rocketed into another car in the Enterprise lot. Anyway that took some getting used to.

A feature that appealed to me was the ability to turn off the front passenger airbag. Handy if you need to have a kid in the front seat. You can also control the sound system from the steering wheel. Nice to have one less distraction while driving, once you get the hang of using the controls without looking at them. The rear passenger seat had a large pulldown armrest with storage inside, which is handy if you have two kids back there who squabble now and then. Of course who gets to use the storage? Ok maybe not a good thing.

I’m looking for a Red Vines (candy by American Licorice Company) T-Shirt. It’s my friend’s wife’s birthday, and she hates Red Vines, so of course, I need to get her a Red Vines T-Shirt. No luck yet, so if you know where to get one, please let me know.

I live near a horrible intersection in Pleasanton. Being in the hub of activity is convenient. I have a Safeway, and all the schools my kids have gone to or will go to within walking distance from my humble abode. Walking is the key. Driving is the problem. Access to 680 is one way, and 580 is the other. Lots of reasons to be at that intersection. Lots of traffic. This satellite picture was obviously not taken during a commute time.

In fact the traffic here is so bad that it was an issue in the past election. The Stoneridge Drive Extension, which is planned and funded in the Pleasanton General Plan, was meant to relieve much of this congestion, but has been blocked by certain groups here. Coincidence or not, all of the candidates for Pleasanton office who supported the Stoneridge Drive Extension were elected. Those who opposed were not. I digress.

In the center of this image you will see a car with a white roof. That is the exit to the Safeway/Walgreens parking lot. Valley is the avenue oriented from left to right. The woman in the black Mercedes was making a left out of that parking lot onto Valley. I was traveling in the far right lane, she looked at me, but thought I had made a right into the driveway past her. As I approched, I watched her face gaze out past me to the other lanes to see if her left hand turn was clear. She continued with the gazing as she crawled out of the driveway and into my front bumper. Crunch.

Affligem Blonde is a hearty “Abbey” beer from Belgium. Founded in 1072, Affligem is the oldest abbey (place where monks live) in Flanders. According to the label, Belium’s Abbey beers are the “Burgundies of Belgium.” Whatever that means. It is very tasty, with a hint of chicken noodle soup flavor. Reading the label though, I am informed that is a “yeasty” flavor. So yeah. Yeasty. In fact there is so much yeast that you are instructed, with the help of the diagram, to decant the beer and leave the solid yeast in the bottom of the bottle. Thank god I read that before I poured all that crap into the glass.

Affligem Blonde is a good beer. And there is a lot of good reading on the label.