.40-caliber handgun loaded with 9mm bullets "saves life" (5th article down). Magic handgun doesn't fire, yet still ejects spent shells?

That's not funny, that's sad.

Well, it's undoubtedly been quite an exciting week for Mike and Allison--they had their baby girl last night just after midnight, weighing in at 6 pounds 5 ounces. Congratulations!

On Sunday, I started reading The Stand. I'd read it once before, when I was 14 or 15, and it took me weeks to get through it, having to check it out from the library three times. When I read it last time, I remember listening to Badmotorfinger most of the time, and I've been listening to it a lot this time as well. That album just seems to go with this book very well. This time, I'm already halfway through it after just a few days. I only have time to read it from about the time dinner's over until between 1:30 and 2:30 in the morning, when I'm too tired to focus my eyes any longer. Surprisingly, I haven't been too tired to get up on time for work in the mornings. I'm actually reading "the Complete and Uncut Edition," which I bought used through Amazon for five bucks. Despite how much I like this book, I probably won't read it again for another ten or more years. I get so engrossed in it, which is bad enough because I don't really have the time for reading this much, but considering how well the subject matter sticks with me, every ten years is just enough.

Mike called me Friday night to let us know that Allison had gotten into a car accident. She's eight months pregnant, but thankfully she and the baby are alright. After seeing what their Acura looks like after the wreck, I'd certainly say that she's lucky she got only some minor cuts and bruises. If you're reading this Ally, get well soon. =) We'll be up to see you guys in a couple of weeks.

Aight, I got things straightened out with MetLife, but I'm still not happy. Before any work was started, the claims adjuster assured me that they would cover any restoration needed after the hole was dug. Now, when it's time to pay the supplemental claim, she said they don't cover things like sod and backfill. I didn't bother arguing with her since she said they'd send the check off tomorrow, but since they're not paying the claim in full, it leaves me owing the contractor at least $250. I'd worked out a deal with the contractor that he'd give me the money back for the landscaping and sprinkler system, which I would then get taken care of later by somebody else (since they're one of the larger construction companies around here and specialize in more heavy kinds of work). So instead of getting a little money back from the deal, I'll end up owing. I think I'll just wait until Nelco is finished doing whatever work they still need to perform (new sidewalk, topsoil, etc.), then take some pictures of my still-shitty-looking yard and send them off to MetLife, asking them if this is their idea of "restoration," and threatening small-claims court if they don't pay the remaining amount. I doubt it'll do any good, but I'm not just going to sit back and take it in the ass (not that there's anything wrong with that :).

Since there were so many unmarked utility lines and some other unforseen factors when Nelco replaced my sewer line, it ended up costing them a lot more to do the job than their initial bid specified. My insurance company said that since that was the case, they could just submit a supplemental invoice in order to get paid for the additional costs. Well, I faxed the invoice to them more than a month ago, and the woman at MetLife who's been in charge of the claim has been very evasive about it. I've called and left several voicemail messages, and she's only gotten back to me once so far. That was last Monday, and she said that they were still working on the claim and that it should be completed "soon." I called her again today, of course getting her voicemail again, and left a very impatient-sounding message, and I haven't heard back from her yet. I don't actually expect to hear from her again, so if by tomorrow at around noon I haven't heard back from her, I'm going to try to get ahold of her boss or somebody else in a position to answer my questions.

This is feeling eerily similar to when Price Shitty's insurance company said they'd pay for the damages caused by the sewer backup, but then just stalled for a very long time before eventually denying the claim. This time, we actually have the money to pay the remaining balance, but only because MetLife has already paid for the bulk of it. I'm not quite to the point where I'm willing to do that, but I'm at least prepared to pay for it out my own pocket if need be. I'll certainly be pretty agressive towards MetLife, however, if it's my money that I'm after them for.

This weekend seemed like the longest few days of my life. Friday was an absolute nightmare. We left home at 5:30 am, and it took us nine hours to get to Las Vegas. We stopped in St. George to fuel up (don't get gas at a Sinclair station, even if it's 10?/gallon cheaper than the gas station across the street), and we had to stop at several other places along the way so Traci could feed Bradley. Having a nine month old baby in the car on a road trip is just asking for misery.

After we finally got to Vegas, we were still an hour and a half too early for check-in at our motel (a dumpy little place just across Tropicana Ave. from the MGM Grand). We decided to venture out and find a department store to buy some things that we needed, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading back to our motel. After that point, we got settled into our room, then pretty much followed everybody else around, which turned out to be a big mistake. They decided to split up and meet for dinner at the Stardust, though they didn't specify where--do you know how many places there are to eat at any given hotel/casino? We got lost on our way there (Desert Inn Road travels under The Strip instead of meeting up with it), and ended up being much later than we expected, then we wandered around the Stardust for nearly an hour before finding Traci's family. The fucking assholes didn't even save us a seat, so we ended up sitting in a booth near them (really feeling like part of the group, you know), and the food was pretty shitty (what should I expect, they chose the cheapest place they could find). After that, we went to Circus Circus for some shitty-ass free entertainment, then back to the Stratosphere where Traci's sister (Michelle) and her husband-to-be were staying. Up until that point, the entire day had sucked, but Michelle said she'd watch Bradley while we headed out onto the floor and had a little fun.

After all that, we finally headed back to our room and crashed, after being awake and on the move for nearly 20 hours. Saturday wasn't actually too bad. We woke up around 8:00 am, took our time getting ready, then headed to the Stratosphere where Traci was helping Michelle get ready for her wedding. After a couple of hours of just hanging around (and the groom almost missing his wedding), we headed to the Little White Wedding Chapel for the wedding. Afterwards, we went to the Bonanza for some souvenir shopping, then we just headed home.

I thought the nine-hour trip on the way down was long, but it took us 13 hours to get home. Luckily, Bradley slept almost the entire time, but we had problems with our car. The front-end alignment has been off for quite some time, and one of the front tires was worn down pretty far before we even left for Las Vegas. Well, it got chewed up even more on the drive down, though when we left Vegas I thought we'd be ok to make it home. After stopping again in St. George for fuel (NOT at the Sinclair), the tire looked quite a bit worse, and after stopping at a rest area just south of Cedar City, I decided that I didn't dare to drive on it any further. I jacked up the Mazda and removed the right-front wheel, then lowered the spare tire and tried putting it on. Well, the damned thing didn't fit--the center hole in the rim didn't fit around the front hub. I thought the only thing left to do was to put the shitty tire back on and try to make it to Cedar City, where we'd spend the night and get a new tire in the morning. Traci tried getting ahold of my mom to let her know what had happened, but there was no answer at her house (which had us worried). It turned out that she'd taken Michael back to our house because his allergies were really bothering him (because of her cats). During all this calling around and trying to get ahold of somebody in Price, I realized that I could probably fit the spare tire on the rear, since the rear doesn't have hubs like the front. So I put the bad tire back on the front, jacked up the rear, removed the right-rear and replaced it with the spare (it fit!). Then all I had to do was remove the plastic dust-cover thing from the rear wheel and put it on the right-front, and we were all set. I think we were at that rest area for a couple of hours while I changed three damned tires, but I'm glad we didn't end up having to stay another night.

Since I now had four good tires on the car again, we hauled ass home, thinking we'd still make it in good time. Hah, wishful thinking. After meeting up with I-70 and stopping in Richfield for a stretch and something to drink, we headed over the mountains and through Salina Canyon. We started seeing a lot of deer right along the side of the road, so I slowed it down from about 75 mph to 65, but soon after, one of the headlights burned out. It's amazing how much difference having two working headlights makes--I couldn't see shit after that. I had to slow down to about 45 mph for most of the drive back, except for when we got past Emery, where I was a little more familiar with the road.

When we got home, my mom had been dozing on the couch, and Michael was sound asleep in his bed. He sounded really bad--his airway was constricted (sounded like asthma), and I was a little worried about him. We woke him up and let him stay up for just a little bit while we got ready for bed, and we didn't get to bed until after 4:00 am (another 20-hour day).

Yesterday, we didn't do shit. I unloaded the car, and we all went to the park to play for awhile, but other than that it was a lazy day. At least I got plenty of sleep last night. I don't think I'll be going to Las Vegas again for a very long time--I certainly won't do it if any of Traci's family is around, and I'll also never bring a child there again. If I had it to do all over again, I'd have stayed home with both of the kids while Traci went with her parents. That way she could play tag-along, and I'd have the relative pleasure of staying home with my two sons.

Bah. I think I'm through with doing my own oil changes. Yesterday, when I was changing the oil in the Mazda, I got splashed in the face twice with used motor oil--once when I pulled the oil pan plug, and again when I pulled the filter off. It wasn't a lot of oil, but it was enough to piss me off (and mess up my glasses). I've never really liked paying somebody to do maintenance on my vehicles, especially when it's something I'm easily capable of, but it's worth it to pay somebody else to deal with the mess. At least the Navajo doesn't burn or leak any oil--I last changed it in October of last year, about 4,000 miles ago, and the level hadn't changed a bit. Although, there seems to be a small leak near the valve covers, but it's apparently not bad enough to affect the oil level over several months. I didn't even notice the leak until after I changed the thermostat a few months ago, at which point the engine started running at its normal (and much hotter) temperature, and I started smelling the oil burn when it hit the exhaust manifolds. It's a problem I'll have to address at some point, but I don't see it as being an issue for now.

I got the window seat in the dining room entirely built, and it turned out really nice. The windows on that side of the room are built out into a sort of bay window, except instead of the normal three-sided angled shape, it's just a rectangle with the windows on the outer wall only. The opening was completely lopsided--it was half an inch wider in the back than in the front, and one side was deeper than the other side. Despite all that, I managed to cut all the 2x4s and plywood to fit perfectly, and it at least looks all squared up. All that's left to do in that room is to sand all the wood trim, paint everything, then install the beadboard paneling, baseboard, and chair rail. I won't be able to start on it again until Sunday, but I should be finished before next weekend.

Price Shitty is back again today to fix their shitty job of paving the street in front of my house. The pavement had sunken in a few inches and left a couple of big bumps, and I'm sure they got a lot of complaints about it. I always park my truck on the shoulder of the road just in front of the house, and the tires sunk in a few inches each time I left it there for more than a day or so, and there are several depressions from that. They're out there with their shovels right now, packing the cold asphalt down, so undoubtedly they'll be back again in another month.

I never thought building a window seat would be so hard. I started it yesterday, and my plan was to use 2x2s for the frame, then I'd cover it with plywood, then cover the front with beadboard paneling and the top with a cushion. I've got half of the 2x2 frame built, but I don't like it--it doesn't seem sturdy enough. I think I'm going to tear it all out today and start over using 2x4s, and a completely different construction method. I hope I can finish it today, but I seriously thought I'd be done yesterday, and ready to start on the rest of the room.

Traci and I spent an awful lot of time in Lowe's yesterday, even though we thought we had everything organized well enough to be in and out in a hour or so. Picking out and ordering new blinds took the longest, and loading the trailer with all the materials we bought and securing the load took almost as long. The trailer handled just fine for the entire 180 miles or so of driving, and it didn't make the Mazda handle any differently--it was as though I wasn't towing anything at all. It probably looked funny with 12' baseboard and chair rail sitting on an 8' trailer, especially since the two feet hanging off each edge bounced and wobbled a lot for every bump I hit.

We spent $425 total, and the only things we haven't bought are paint and a new ceiling fan (um, and some 2x4s). Since we'd spent so much time in Lowe's, and each of our mothers was babysitting one of our kids, we decided to buy our paint here in Price some other time. And we're planning on re-doing our living room sometime this year too, but we want to buy matching ceiling fans for it and the dining room, so we decided to hold off and buy them both when we get around to the living room.

With Traci's sister's wedding coming up this weekend, and the trip we're making to Las Vegas for it on Friday, I don't think I'll get much else done in the dining room beyond today. I've still got to change the oil in the Mazda, and check all the other fluids to make sure it's ready for a 1,000-mile trip. Then there's all the clothes-packing, etc., that needs to be done. I'm still not terribly looking forward to this trip, though if everybody leaves me alone, I think it'll be ok. I'm hoping that nobody expects me to hang around much, since I'd really rather just wander around Vegas on my own and find something to do, rather than do what everybody else will undoubtedly expect me to do (which will be whatever the "grown ups" decide to do).

Damn this god-forsaken town. I finished assembling my utility trailer yesterday, but I haven't done much in the way of wiring the lights because I can't find the things I need to do a good job of it. You'd think something like rubber grommets and heat-shrink tubing would be easy to come by, but that's apparently not the case.

I was searching around for websites where any Harbor Freight trailer was mentioned, looking for comments anybody had made about their quality, and I ran across this page. Something like that would be fun as hell to build--not that I have the time or the money, but to build something like that from scratch would be a blast.

We ended up spending more money that we'd planned on several things in the past week, and now most of my paycheck is gone, so we're going to have to scrimp for the next week and a half so that we've got plenty of money to blow in Vegas. Not that I plan on gambling much (I never really saw the fun in that, except for the occasional poker game among friends), but I'd like to do some fun things there and bring back a lot of souvenirs. Maybe bolster my shot glass collection a little--I'm sure some cool shot glasses can be had there.