Twice in one day? Check me out!

Okay, so traffic going into work was alright -- of course, I left way late so everyone was probably already at work. So I was going to skip lunch so I could still leave at 4:30, but then one of my co-workers and a former co-worker wanted to have lunch so I went to lunch and thus stayed until 5:30 -- which was fine, except where I park at work (known as "the nest," which is on the top of the parking garage I'm in) apparently if you get out there after 5:20, you have to go down to the first level of the parking garage to retrieve your key (it's "valet" up there, because they have to stack the cars) then go back up to the 5th floor to get your car. Of course, I got there at 5:30. 10 minutes too late. I'm going to try to avoid making that mistake again! The traffic coming home was also not bad. I think it took me about 25 minutes, and no major slowdowns. Today was another good day, but at work they're pretty much all good days right now. I don't think this will get old for a while.

On the way home from work, I heard on the radio that Aerosmith is coming in February -- and that Lenny Kravitz is opening for them! I might die. I've seen Aerosmith 4 times, I believe. Lenny Kravitz once, in 2002. I was supposed to see him open for the Cult back in 1992, I think it was, but he was sick that night and some local band opened up for them instead. What a disappointment. It took another 10 years before he came around again -- I think -- I don't recall him being in town in between, but I could be wrong. But the two of them together?! Aerosmith is one of my all-time favorite bands, and I love love love seeing them live! Lenny Kravitz fucking blew us away when we saw him. I do love him. The husband likes him, too. One thing we both remember from seeing him live was when he thanked the crowd for coming out, and acknowledged there were a lot of other ways we could be spending our money. It just made him seem down to earth.

So yeah, they're coming in February. I don't jump on concert tix much anymore, but I'm jumpin' on THAT.

I'm going through my snail mail right now, and there's a Hallmark catalog in this stuff. I started looking through it and noticed a "recordable holiday memory album," which appears to let you write in and record little 15-second snippets of whatever. I take a closer look at what's written in the journal and it talks about waking up to a surprise snowfall, suiting up and building a "snow- person." Snowperson! Gah! It's SnowMAN. MAN. SNOW. MAN. SNOWMAN! Nothing is safe from political correctness. Whatever. I think I should start writing and complaining about people not saying "Merry Christmas," etc. I don't see Jewish people insisting upon "Happy Holidays." No, they say Happy Hanukkah, because that's what they're celebrating. When did Christmas become a four-letter word?

That reminds me -- I was watching an episode of Saturday Night Live the other day and they said something about people complaining that they've started saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Then SNL showed a picture of a Wal-Mart with the words "Happy Holidays From Jesus" up in lights. Hilarious! I wish they would do that. And I hate Wal-Mart, but I'd still support them if they did. I'm no Jesus freak, either, but just to put a burr in the saddle of people who insist on political correctness and all-inclusiveness just for the sake of doing it. I wonder if other countries give a crap about that kind of thing.

Back to the mail. More insurance crap. I'm starting to regret reporting the other damage to the husband's vehicle. We should've just waited for the other guy's insurance company to contact us, have the damage he did fixed and paid for the other damage ourselves. Now we have to report this crap to the DMV. I didn't even think about that. If he gets a point put on his record I'm gonna be pissed. Fucking insurance companies. I hate 'em! I know they're a necessary evil but I think between auto insurance homeowners insurance, and life insurance we pay about 3 grand a year. For nothing, really. And if you do use it (and yes, I realize if we had a real catastrophe we'd be glad for the insurance), you get punished. That's the way it works, folks. You're just supposed to pay your premiums and never call them. Nice gig, if you can get it. Then all the useless punks out there who benefit from insurance policies the most are the ones with fraudulent claims. Dammit! Why am I talking about this?!

I can't wait until this insurance stuff is over and done with. Of course, it's starting to sink in that it might really be years before it's really over and done with. Thanks a lot, dude in the '92 or '93 Nissan pickup who was following too close and not paying attention. You made our goddamned year! F!