Cat-sitting

We took care of a friend's cat for a couple weeks. The cat was named Blake and was pretty chill and adjusted quickly. Pepper on the other hand, hissed and growled and hid for about a week.

Eventually Pepper got used to Blake and eventually they started to tolerate each other, and eventually even play together. At least, Pepper would try to play with Blake.

It was actually kind of nice, because Pepper didn't meow at us to play with her all the time. Blake also liked to sleep on our bed with us, something Pepper never does.

My birthday

This year I turned 40 years old. Besides the unintentional birthday present of a new car, which took some of my day, I got a few other things for my birthday, too.

I got my Gopherman shirt and a few tech gadgets, like an extra power cord for my computer, a drone, and a USB microphone.

I also got a new beard trimmer and some books.

And of course, a few Lego sets.

I chose to have svičková for dinner, which was delicious, and Amber also got me some farm-fresh peaches (and cream).

I was still hurting from the accident, but it was a good day.

New car

Ever since I smashed up our old car, we'd been looking around trying to decide what car to get. The insurance payout was pretty fair, but it was not enough to get a newer used car like we wanted, so we had to decide how much more we wanted to pay. I briefly considered getting a mid-life crisis car, but just couldn't justify the cost (and lack of back seats).

My ribs were still hurting pretty bad, and I really wasn't in the mood for extensive car shopping. We looked at listings online and ended up finding a 2018 Mazda 3 with 17,000 miles at the local dealership that fit what we were looking for. We both agreed we didn't feel like looking around more, so after a test drive we just decided to get it. I had to haggle away some stupid fees, but eventually walked out of there with the car.

It has lots of bells and whistles like power everything, leather seats, and a modern infotainment system that supports Android Auto. I don't know that it will get driven much this year, since I'm still working mainly from home, but at least we're back to two cars when we need them.

Car accident

I chipped my tooth a couple of months ago, but because of the pandemic I hadn't been able to visit the dentist to have it fixed. I've been working from home, but the dentist that I go to on campus at work finally opened up last week so I drove to campus. Unfortunately, I never made it.

The last thing I remember was sitting at the left turn light after exiting the highway to cross over the highway towards campus. I'd done it probably hundreds of times, but always in the morning. Apparently the light pattern changes during the day, so what was usually a green light on the other side of the highway was now red. I drove through and was hit in the right rear by a big pick-up truck going pretty fast. It spun my car around, knocked me into a car waiting on the opposite side, and knocked me out.

I never saw the truck, before or after, because the first thing I remember is looking over and seeing the damage to the back right seat area, then having EMTs help me into an ambulance. I had no idea why I was at work, where I was going, even what year it was. I slowly started to piece together what had happened, and texted Amber from the ambulance that I was going to the hospital (and texted the dentist that I wasn't going to make the appointment).

I stayed at the hospital for a while, where they gave me some x-rays and a couple of stitches for the cut on my head.

Eventually they determined that nothing was majorly wrong and let me go. I ended up with stitches, a slightly sore neck, lots of bruises, and very sore ribs.

As it turned out, I was released from the hospital at the same time Amber was taking Olivia to the ENT to see if she needs a hearing aid, so she arranged for someone to come get me. I took the day off of course, and the day after, but since I was just working from home, it didn't put me out for too long. The car, however, was not so lucky.

While the front was still in pristine condition, the back was destroyed enough that the car was a total loss.

It's sad, because it was a good car and in great condition, and we'd hoped it would be the one the kids learned on. But I'm glad it was just the car and not me, and that there was no one sitting in that back right seat.

Amber of course had a stressful day dealing with this and had texted her family about it. Glenn and Julie generously remotely ordered us some dinner that night to make a bad day a little better.