2/11/08

Of all the weekends I have ever experienced, that was one of them. Friday evening I get a call from Pat asking if I'd be available to help him move his Roadster from the Motorsport Ranch. I said I would. He went on to ask if my trailer were available. I told him John’s Toyota was still parked on it and that I'd need to consult with him about that. Pat said he’d call me back when he got home to confirm whatever we were going to do. I called John and was given permission to roll the Toyota off and into the space vacated by Mr. Wiggly. Pat called back when he got home and we agreed to head to the shop. We got there right about the same time as each other and hooked up the trailer to his truck. We rolled the Toyota off and into the parking spot then headed for the Ranch. We had a look around at stuff while the air compressor built up a head and then aired up his tires. The car went on the trailer with little fuss and we strapped it down. We headed north and dropped the car in his bay then parked the trailer. We then went to Wasabi Sushi and ate bait. I went home and watched the second showing of “Monk” and “Psych” on USA Network then went to bed. Saturday morning I finally rolled out of bed around 0900 h and took a shower. I dug around in the downstairs room until I found the cat carrier and got it out. At about 1045 h I loaded the cat into the carrier and headed to the vet for her annual checkup and shots. She fussed the whole way there, hissed at the other cats who came to check her out, refused to come out of the carrier for the doctor, and behaved basically how I expected her to. I let her out of the carrier at the house and she huffed away to ignore me for a while. Gregg called around 1300 h to say he was on his way to the shop with some dude to pick up the RX-7s. I said I was on my way. I drove Fifi just in case they wanted to make it in one trip. I arrived and began installing the battery in Shi-Chi. They arrived and we drug the first car out. We pushed the second car up next to it and began thinking trailers. Since the other dude was also in a pickup, and I was running out of time before I was supposed to meet John downtown, I offered my trailer to hook up behind the second truck. Gregg had his trailer hooked to his truck. We loaded the two cars and strapped them down. I sent them on their way and went home to clean up. I was meeting John downtown to use that PF Chang’s gift card and then we were going to see a movie. We were going to meet at 1830 h and it was 1630 h or so when I got out of the shower. I decided to have a little lie-down. I crashed out and woke up at about 1755 h. I headed downtown and parked in the wrong garage. John met me at the restaurant and we got a table. We had the salt and pepper calamari and steamed shrimp dumplings for appetizers. They were really good. John ordered some kind of shrimp dish and I ordered some kind of beef and shrimp thingy. My beef and shrimp thingy had these gnocchi-like noodles sliced into 1/8” thick discs. They looked like really big water chestnuts. They had the weirdest rubbery consistency but were so damned good it was unbelievable. We let Heather, our waitress, talk us into dessert shooters and were stuffed when we left. We went up to my car and drove across downtown to the other parking garage and walked across to the theater. We saw “Cloverfield.” Before it started John warned me that it was shot like “The Blair Witch Project” on handheld cameras. I think I said that wouldn’t bother me. I liked the way it was portrayed as a top secret government file of the tape found at the scene. Sorry, that really isn't a spoiler since that is how the movie starts. The effects were pretty outstanding as well. Well, I wasn’t all that impressed with the actual monster(s), but the destruction sequences were awesome. It moved a little slow at times but that makes it all the more believable. Juan does have to suspend disbelief a little in places, but all in all it was a really good flick. About halfway through a group in front of us gets up and walks out. Then another couple leaves a little further into it. At the end some douche bag at the back of the theater boos. Apparently there was too much to think about and too many things not seen for idiots. I'd like to see it again just to watch the background. There is so much going on that isn't referred to. I think this one will go in my DVD collection. After the movie we went back to the parking garage and talked about plans for the shop. Eventually we both left and went home. I woke up several times in the night thinking about the movie. It really got into my head. I wasn’t really freaked out or anything, but there was just something about it. Ok, I have already typed out the story of Sunday but I think I'll save it for tomorrow. Have a day.