My coworker Jim came back from his vacation to Italy today, and brought back these delicious Ferrero candies that are basically a bonbon-sized liquid-filled chocolate covered espresso bean, made with creamy italian chocolate and the best coffee i've ever tasted in a candy. Christian, don't let me forget, we have to look for these in Italy! Mom, you need to try these! So good! They're so cool they even have their own ski team! If anyone can find somewhere to buy them in the US, i will love you forever. I might even let you ride in my car… ;)

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In an august survey by Yahoo 77% of yahoo users would rather clean a toilet bowl than sort thru the spam in their inbox. That’s pretty funny. Spam is probably the number one complaint i get at work from users. Especially ironic considering i'm only responsible for their internet connection and keeping their keyboard working - i have no control over anything related to their email accounts. And i get as much spam as they do. ;) What’s really so frustrating to me about spam is the same thing that drives me crazy about telemarketing: it wouldn't happen if it didn't work. People out there are buying stuff when called randomly during dinner, they're clicking the link in their email to purchase viagra without a prescription, they're being swindled out of their credit card numbers by the shiny baubles on qvc. If no one succumbed to such evil sales tactics, they would not be viable business methods and they would cease to exist. You hear that america? Stop complaining about annoying sales tactics; smarten up and stop buying their stuff!

Okay, so spam is annoying. Know what’s not annoying? “Free money!" Well, yes. “Sunny weather!" Ok, yes, unless maybe it’s really hot. “Free candy!" Okay, enough guessing for you. What’s really really not annoying is my lovely new Z. :D I actually tried to sleep in today, but couldn't do it - i was too excited to get up and drive to work. You catch that? I was excited to get up and drive to work. Yes, my new car is getting me to work on time, because it calls my name so loudly from across the yard that it keeps me awake at night. ;) Of course, if our flake-tastic landlord will ever call me back, it might be calling my name from the garage instead - i really hope she wants to rent that! Anyway, it’s very pretty and fun. My friends have been great and are all very excited for me. I do still really need to figure out what everything is and how it all works, but i can already tell this is the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship. ;)

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Good friends help you shop… great friends drive 500 miles to help you shop for a car… ! ;) I've been home long enough to unpack and download the pictures… Steph, Danielle and i just got back from a very long but very rewarding weekend trip to Medford, OR. It was sunny and amazing, a perfect roadtrip. The top was down on Steph’s convertible once we hit central oregon and the temperature hit 65. By Medford it was 80 and i was nervous, excited, and we were all a little sunburned. A huge bonus on the drive home was catching up with Sasha and Ty for coffee - so great to see them after so long!

My fortune cookie at lunch on tuesday said “you will soon have a happy adventure" and it couldn't have been more right. The adventure itself was very happy, results notwithstanding. But in this case, the results were as happy as the journey! :D I'm the proud new owner of a beautiful 1991 Nissan 300zx. It’s previous owner, Mark, took such meticulous care of it that it feels and looks brand new, and it’s something i know i'll enjoy very very much for a long time. As if it wasn't beautiful enough, it’s less every month than the Maxima was and a serious head-turner. I'm instantly popular with gas station attendants and half the drivers on the freeway. Steph and i enjoyed the looks, smiles and pointing towards both our sweet rides all the way home. I don't think i'm going to be getting anywhere on time for quite a while. ;)

So, the part you've all been waiting for… visual aids. :D

So gimme a call and you can be the first one to ride in it… well, the third one, after my roadtrip partners… :D And if you see me smiling so hard my face wants to explode, you'll know why! :D :D :D

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This week has taken forever! Augh! I'm all excited to head south this weekend and look at a really promising Z, and it’s been like 40 days since monday when i decided to go! Thankfully, some other good stuff this week to keep me busy. Danielle and i have been spending a lot of time just hanging out, as she’s moving north to Victoria the end of the month, so we're trying to squeeze in some last quality time. I wish we had more!

Tonight i met Kim, Dawn and Julia for sushi and cocktails, and then we caught up with Gabe at the ski swap expo thingy downtown. Another big room full of equipment i can't afford to buy, but still a good time - came home with a big handful of stickers and a couple sweet posters - one of Big Mountain in Whitefish, MT, a gorgeous sunset shot of the mountain, very cool. Coolest part was chatting with Eric Pollard, a killer pro skier with his own model of Line skiis and a starring role in several of my favorite ski movies. A very down-to-earth guy, we talked about some equipment and some of the great places he’s skied this year. He mentioned how lucky he felt to be traveling and skiing like he does - what he modestly omitted are his immense talent and extreme determination to raise the bar on himself. Either way, i'm sure impressed by Eric’s accomplishments, and i'd hope if i was ever in that position i'd be as unpretentious and laid back as he is about it. If i had it to do over, i think i'd skip college and just ski for a living. :)

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Bored at work today? Tired of sitting in your cubicle alone? Need to stretch your legs, shake your thang, get your groove on? Check out Stealth Disco! Bored office employees like yourself bring the spirit of the 70’s to the workplace, in secret or in public! Next time you're standing in the back of a time-wasting meeting or behind your boss at the stockholders presentation, break into some jivin' disco action… it’s guaranteed to make you smile.

In other news, if you thought your cell phone bill was high, be glad you're not some guy whose at&t wireless bill this month was for $39,000. Maybe he needs a plan with more minutes? ;) Actually, someone stole his identity and signed up several more lines, started calling Nigeria with them. Just one more reason why you should shred your bills and receipts before you throw them away… yikes.

On the personal front, my car loan got funded today, and i'm working on reservations for a hotel in Medford, OR. If all goes as planned, i'll be a Z owner by sunday nite - wish me luck! I've been breaking into fits of glee every time i think about turbos and blow off valves and t-tops. Hopefully i'll be able to contain myself and my drooling and whimpering long enough to negotiate a price with the guy and sign a bill of sale with some semblance of adult behavior… ;)

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Record rainfall today, according to the 11-minute news. 4.something inches in Seattle in the last 24 hours, all kinds of a mess all over the place. People’s houses flooding, rivers raging, roads washed out. And the commute really sucks lately, with everyone forgetting how to drive just because they're fording freeway lakes up to their doorhandles. And not that i don't still totally appreciate Clint’s generousity and my lended honda, but driving around today with the sunroof dripping insistently on my face did not help me to enjoy the wet weather. ;)

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A big happy b-day to Jason Thane today - talked to the J-man on his lunch break, sounds like NYC is as killer as we've all heard. Still really wanna visit, please go bid on my left kidney on ebay so i can afford it, thanks a bunch, mkay!

Dear old john l scott misdirected my paycheck again today, buncha beesheaded hoodlums that they are. Oh well, what’s a couple of overdrafts between friends? Except lately i don't think key bank considers me a friend… ;) And now i don't have lunch money… so it looks like i'm back on the supermodel diet. ;) But at least it’s the weekend, and i don't have to take the bus home tonight (thanks again times 100 for the honda, Clint!). And the super-wicked rainstorm last night didn't blow our rickety old house over despite several hours of indications that it might, so the weekend is looking up already. :)

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Happy bday to Dave Smith today (not the wendy’s guy, my coworker Dave). On a totally unrelated note, check out Vindibudd, Superhero in Training, a new biweekly comic strip i found thanks to fark.

My last bits of paperwork on the Maxima should be arriving today, so i can finally put that whole stupid sale and registration process behind me. Hopefully by saturday i can start shopping, and you're all free to help me look. Here’s our target:

Nissan 300zx (Z32) 1991 to 1994 Preferably Black or Dark Blue. I'd also be interested in Cherry Red or Silver. Yellow or Dark Green would be third choices. Black or charcoal interior 5spd manual Twin Turbo (spotted by the integrated rear spoiler) Coupe, not 2+2 (no backseat, gas filler door is behind the rear tire) Less than 70,000 miles T-top - no hardtop or convertible

So if you see one, call me so i can go look at it. Or just buy it for me and give it to me for Christmas. Or really any holiday would be fine. ;)

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Got a postcard from Jason Thane today, sounds like NYC is treating him well. From the looks of the neighborhood he pointed out on the card’s aerial view of midtown Manhattan, i don't see how it could be otherwise. ;) I really hope i can make it out there to see him, but at this point it looks like it might not be until after the first of the year. Bummer, cause i would really love to see Manhattan all decorated for Christmas. But whenever i go, it would be great to spend some time with him again, harkening back to the excellent memories i have of him showing me around Seattle three long years ago. I guess it will depend on how much money i blow through in Germany. :D

Speaking of that, i spent an hour and a half on the phone with Christian last nite. Thanks to John Stamos telling me about 10-10-987, it only cost me about $4 - thanx, John! Anyway, Christian’s housesitting and taking care of a german shepard named Hector, who apparently takes advantage of his old age and pitiful expression to sleep on the bed and beg for treats. I still can't believe i'm going to be there in 6 short weeks. I've already been lying awake at night packing my suitcase in my head, thinking about which shoes to bring, which suitcase to pack in… yes, i'm neurotic, thanks for noticing. I'm making him some CD’s today of new music - he’s even more broke than i am, and doesn't have a dsl line and the iTunes music store - gotta hook a brotha up. We talked about where we're going to go in Italy, driving on the German autobahn where there’s no posted speed limit, shopping at Hennes & Maurtiz (H&M), clubbing in Munich, skiing the Austrian alps, taking a hundred million pictures…

Gotta stop daydreaming there, i'm out the door to go meet Libby for coffee, wouldn't want to lose any quality time with my fav photographer. Catch you all l8r!

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Meeting the car-buying folks after work today in bellevue. I've been stressing and not sleeping and running around haphazardly trying to get all the paperwork in order, calling the insurance company, faxing things for Dad to sign. My parents have been graciously patient with my franticness, and Patrick has been so generous as to lend me his jeep today so i have i ride home from the bank. I'm going to drive it around for a week getting his for-sale signs some eyeball time, since Clint’s honda is having water pump issues and i can't borrow it just yet. I'm hugely in debt to both of them for being so generous and for being such solid guys about the whole thing.

I really need all of this to be over, as it’s turning me into a freak show. Yesterday i raced home after a visit to the DMV to pick up title transfer forms, only to call my buyer and find out i had the wrong forms and had to go back. So i booked it back down the sidewalk, only to reach the car and remember my keys were still lying where i'd thrown them on my bed. And the door was locked. Neat. Both Josh and Kim wouldn't be home for several hours. I spent a bit pacing around the house, studying screens and doorknobs, looking for an opportunity, but despite its age and generally poor maintenance history, our house is actually pretty secure (as Kim and i have confirmed one other time, too). I did luck out, however, that my bedroom windows weren't latched, although in my paranoid-neurotic way they are still secured with sash locks that prevent any more than 2″ of free movement. So, standing in the bushes (getting wet until i turned off the stupid soaker hose - i hate our landlord’s watering scheme), i could pull the curtains back and see the keys there on the bed about 8 feet away. Struck suddenly by inspiration, i scoured the yard for small sticks, of which there were of course none. But i did find a bundle of bamboo plant stand thingies under a zillion cobwebs by the back door. After floundering about the yard yanking randomly at longish grass for a bit, i found some that seemed pretty sturdy, and in a very boyscout/macguyver fashion i lashed together a long pole out of three of the plant brace stick things and some colorful (and very sharp) weeds the landlord probably paid a small fortune for at some yuppie greenhouse. And on the first try, the keys were in my hand, but not before the window sash left some nasty cuts in my arm (metal window stripping - what were we thinking in the 40s??). And i was back on the road, giggling at my own success and trying not to bleed on the clean car.

I have the correct forms now, and all the paperwork in a nice pile. I just need to pretend to work for a few hours to pass the time and try not to think about anything on my todo list. Is it friday yet?

U P D A T E:
Okay, that completely sucked. Leaving home in the Maxima for the last time. Parking it at work for the last time. Someone noticing my plates were changed and asking about it, so of course i had to tell them, which led to a whole discussion of why i had to sell it, prompting stories i didn't need to hear about everyone else’s cars they'd wished they'd kept and what good deals they'd found in the past, etc. Thanks so much, gang, for the pity and the jabs. Then unlocking it for the last time, driving to bellevue and parking for the last time. A perfect parallel parking job, too, 2″ from the curb on the first try, no hits, in free street parking in the middle of downtown bellevue; good parking karma on an otherwise karma-free day. Locking up for the last time, walking away for the last time - looking back, of course, at how great it looks parked there, shiny and black, sleek and powerful, curvy and… not mine. Signing the papers, blah blah, handling huge wads of cash, feeling cold and detached like how bankers must feel when they forclose on their friends or put a family on the street with a flick of the pen. Walking the buyer to where his Maxima is parked. Emptily demonstrating the valet key, the trunk release, the jack tools, like a disheartened car salesman who’s earning someone else’s commission. Sitting on the curb while he drives it away. Shiny, curvy, sexy, sweet, rolling past me, mirrored in the glass of the buildings and the welling in my eyes. Slumping there on the curb, feeling the concrete drain the warmth away. Watching the taillights fade into traffic, sliding away into anonymity and eternity. Yeah, that really sucked.

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