distracted

I just can not concentrate today. Hence the early-morning (for me) entry. Daddy’s surgery is tomorrow. We don’t know what time yet. Baker B and I are either going down early in the morning, or tonight. We don’t know yet. I told my SIL I could do either one, depending on what works out best with their schedules. If I go tonight, I’ll come back up here Saturday night. As long as everything goes well. If I go tomorrow, I’ll come back Sunday.

It’s very slow right now, but will be crazy next week. I really don’t have anything much to do. Drama Queen and New Guy are archiving stuff. Drama Queen created her own project involving going through the current files and pulling out stuff that isn’t really current, based on a report she figured out how to run. Too bad Draaaaama Queen has so much draaaaama, because she really is great at things like that. And is good at coming up with things to do on her own. Especially now that she sits where I can walk up behind her at any time and catch her playing online.

Not that I’m playing online right now! No, not at all!!

Oh, speaking of drama… we just discovered yesterday that the Outback is leaking gas. Who knows how long this has been going on. And we still wouldn’t know, except that yesterday afternoon Aggravation Receptionist comes up to me and says, "OH! This guy called for you yesterday, while you were off. He said your car is leaking gas! Did you get it fixed?"

"WHAT??!!!??" I said. With great alarm.

Someone from the traffic office called here trying to reach me Monday. Because someone had seen gas leaking from the Outback. Which is apparently registered in my name – it’s always a Confus’O’Rama figuring out how to register the two cars because the system doesn’t just, oh, STORE the information year to year and we never remember who registered what before. And I don’t think one person can register two cars, although I may be wrong about that. Whatever, there is a series of strange and inconvenient things that occur every time it’s car registration time. But I must have registered the Outback last time because although Baker B was driving it and it was parked in his lot Monday, they called my office about it.

"I didn’t know why you’d have your car here when you were off!" she said. "I went outside and looked around, but I didn’t see it!"

Okay. First of all – FIRST of all – if someone calls trying to reach a person who works in your office and says their car is leaking gas, what would you do? I mean, if that person was off that day. And you had not only their home phone number but their cell phone number as well right there on your phone directory page? If someone calls and says this person’s car is leaking gas – or, to quote Aggravation Receptionist, "They said it was pouring gas!!"

Well, gee, I think the first thing I’d do if they weren’t actually in the office but their car had been spotted on campus pouring gas, I believe I’d, oh, GIVE THEM A CALL. And say something along the lines of, "Duuuude, you might want to go take a look at your car!"

Well, apparently Aggravation Receptionist was flummoxed by the fact that they had called here to tell me that my car was on campus, pouring gas – but I wasn’t here. My car is here, but I’m not!! How can that be?? And apparently there was never a spark in her brain that would alert her to the fact that I hardly ever drive that car. Baker B usually drives it. I usually drive the Civic. Which she sees every single day because I usually park right by the building.

So the second thing I’d think – and actually this might be the first thing I’d think, because I like to believe that I have sufficient critical thinking skills to figure out that if two married people have two cars that they occasionally switch off driving, and if the person who works in my office is off that day, yet apparently her car is on campus – especially when that is not the car she usually drives — I would really hope that it might occur to me that perhaps her husband is driving the Outback that day. As he generally in fact does. Which I hope I would deduce from having once in awhile seen my coworker driving the Outback, but having on many more occasions seen my co-worker driving the Civic.

And I would hope that having figured out that maybe my coworker’s husband was driving the car that was pouring gas that day, I’d pick up the phone and give him a call. Knowing as I do where he works and what his name is and even having called him about work related matters many times previously.

I like to think that I would NOT wait around till 3 in the afternoon the NEXT day to mention it to my coworker. Causing her to rush to the phone to call her Outback-driving husband and tell HIM someone called yesterday to say the Outback is pouring gas, and maybe he better go look at it.

Causing him to say, "WHAT???!!!!????"

And causing us both to speculate endlessly later about what sort of brain Aggravation Receptionist does in fact have. A teeny weenie pea-sized one, I’d say. I’ve told him before that I really think something’s wrong with her, but I think he believed I was exaggerating. Until now.

Turns out it IS leaking gas – although it’s dripping, not pouring. Of course it probably already poured and just has enough left to drip. Neither of us ever puts more than about $20 at a time in it since we just drive it around town, but I put $30 in it Sunday – mostly because I wasn’t paying attention and of course with the price of gas it only takes about five seconds to pump $30 worth. So it may have had a leak for quite some time that’s only noticeable when it’s filled beyond a certain point. That would explain why it goes through so much gas when we drive it so little, I guess. At least we KNOW now, so we can, like NOT DRIVE IT. And avoid blowing UP when someone tosses a cigarette at us.