apparently everyone wants a honda

I don't know who these people are who think they can sell a 2002 Honda Civic LX with 33,000 miles on it for $15,900, because last time I checked you can buy a brand spanking new 2005 model with approximately 33 miles on it for $15,000ish. In other news, trying to buy a car again is (and no doubt will continue to be for a while) a big pain in the ass.

i'm melting

The heat here is so...hot. I don't know if it's the sun, the humidity, or what. It's just that 97 with a heat index of 107 makes me want to fill the bathtub with cold (or what passes for cold coming out of the tap) water and lay in it until I shrivel up. I might be shriveled, but at least I wouldn't be hot. Every day now, it hits 90 by 11am, and does not drop below 90 until 11pm (we will not discuss the 99s and 101s in the middle of the day). Even when I drive D. to work at 9am it's 85 and feels like 90. Between the neverending sun and the lack of AC in my car, there is no acceptable time of day to be outside. It makes me miss the weather in NC, which I whined about to no end when I moved there - little did I know it would be worse here. My new goal: move to Colorado by 2010.

ha.

The price of that condo next door only took 5 weeks to go down...from $249,900 to $242,500. That's almost a 3% reduction! Such a bargain! Stupid condo-purchasers.

vacation by the numbers

Number of days we were gone: 11 Number of days it takes to drive to Colorado from here: 1.5 Number of times in the same night we tried to set up a tent in Kansas and were defeated by high wind: 2 Number of elk we saw in Rocky Mountain National Park: at least 20 Number of elk we saw in a brewery parking lot in Estes Park, CO: 1 Elevation of the tallest mountain we hiked up: 10,400 ft. (Or something like that. It was over 10,000) Number of hydroelectric plants we toured: 1 Number of hours late the train we wanted to take a scenic ride on was running: 1 Number of days we stayed with friends: 3 Number of hours we waited for a meal to arrive at our table while eating out with them: 1.3 Number of times we went on an AlpineCoaster/SledBob: 2 Speed that most Coloradans drive on the interstate where the speed limit is 75mph: 67mph Number of different wildflowers at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens: hundreds Number of 1950s cars made into school buses we saw: 1 Number of miles out of our way we drove to see Great Sand Dunes National Park: at least 300 How cool the sand dunes were: pretty fucking cool Number of prisons in/around Canon City, CO: at least 7 Number of prison museums we toured: 1 How bad Royal Gorge sucks: hugely Number of fossilized trees seen at Florissant Fossil Beds: at least 7 Number of forest fires we saw while at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs: 1 Number of feet we went up to get from Colorado Springs to the summit of Pike's Peak on a cog railway: almost 8,000 Pieces of Pueblo pottery we purchased: 2 Number of times we ate at Quiznos: 2 Number of high speed car crashes we were involved in: 1 How fast we were going when we drove off the interstate in Kansas to avoid a head on collision with a car that had crossed the median and was headed straight at us: at least 70mph Number of fence posts we hit after driving off the highway: 3 Number of times the car rolled: 2 How far we were from the nearest hospital: 6 miles Number of concussions between us: 1 (D.) Largest bruise I had: 3x5 inches Number of broken anythings: 0 Number of bruises on D's head: 15 Number of bruises below D.'s neck: 1 Number of black eyes: 2 (both D.'s) Number of cars totaled: 1 Number of hours my family drove to pick us up: 13 Number of hours they drove us back to St. Louis: 8 How grateful I am: very How glad I am that we're both alive: infinitely Number of miles we drove: 2,400 Number of miles on the totaled car that we bought 3 months ago: 46,000 How sad I am about that: small tear