All blogged out

Im still here - just had too much going on. It's been a rough ride.

Finally made peace with the cable company (meaning I had to kiss their ass and pay an $80 deposit, PLUS the first months fees upfront), so my internet is back on. I downgraded to a slower speed, but for what I use it for I can hardly tell the difference.

We lost a loved pet on Valentines Day. Check this out for having a fucked up day. It's 11:45am - I got 5 minutes to get Lance's socks, shoes and jacket on, and 10 minutes to get to Logan's preskool (all within reasonable time scheduling), when I hear a thump in the next room. I look in, and see our cat stretchign his legs. I look closer, and see that his legs are twitching. I race to him, and find him having a convulsion. His tounge is hanging out, his eyes are fixed and dialated, and he's gasping his last breaths. I scoop him up, and take him into the bathroom, and as I set him down, his body twitches. Now I's a mess. Is he dead? Dying? Is there a chance to race him to a vet? How am I going to get him into the cat, get Lance into the cat, drive fast to get Logan, and still make it to a vet on time?

As it turns out, he passed away immediately. Then I had to go get the 4 yr old, get both boys and myself some lunch, and tell him that Michael had died. He took the news well. Better than I had expected. Having recently lost his great grandfather, the concept of dying (at his 4 yr old level) was now a foreign concept to him.

A few days later, I'm driving back home from picking up the older boy from preskoool, and the trucks starts to lose power. I was able to drain the battery enough to get home and in the driveway without too much difficulty, but along the way shit kept falling out from the engine compartment (metal things) and hit the road. It sounded like someone was under the hood throwing crowbars out every few blocks. Scared the shit outta me!
When I got home, and lifted the hood, I saw that the fan belt was loose. VERY LOOSE! THe Tentioner - that small springy device (with a pulley on it) that loosens and tightens the fan belt had fallen to pieces, and fallen out the damn car! That explained why the alternator wasn't recharging the battery (and the drain). Good thing it wasn't an older car, which have the cooling fan dependant on the belt. But then again, had it have been an older car, I'd have used the alternator to tighten the damn belt, and not had some cheap ass part fall off the car. I had to stick the kids in the bike taxi, and pedal my ass up to Burger King to get them food (we had NOTHING in the house).
After the wife got home, I borrowed her car and ran up to Advance. $40 and 20 minutes later, the truck was as good as new.