riding the storm

My recent string of bad luck continues.

A couple weekends ago, I wanted to grill some ribeye steaks I had picked up at the store. I went out to the grill, but the propane tank was empty. Bummer. The little lady was kind enough to go get it filled a few days later. When I went outside and turned on the tank, I smelled propane everywhere. Since it was about 0F outside, I thought maybe the gas line had been damaged. Not wanting to do any further damage, I gave up on grilling for the day and decided to broil the steaks instead. Not as good as grilled, but still pretty good. I checked the grill again on Sunday when it warmed up to 25F or so, and couldn't find any leaks. I disconnected the tank, reconnected it, and voila! No more leak. I was going to grill tonight, but it's really windy and the wind chills are down to -40F, so I think I'll wait another day or two.

I was cooking some pasta on the stove the other night, and the water overflowed as it often does when pasta is being cooked. I went back to the stove and took the lid off, but didn't realize that the overflowing water had put the flame out. Natural gas filled my kitchen and living room for 5-10 minutes before I noticed. We quickly opened some windows and turned on a fan, and fortunately, there were no further problems.

During my visit to the mall to get my iPod replaced earlier this month, I entered a drawing for a new BMW. I got a voicemail on Saturday stating that I had won one of the alternate prizes: four airline tickets, a Visa gift card and a two-night stay in a hotel. I was pretty excited about the prospect of Bad Luck '08 ending, but my excitement was short-lived. I suspected it might be one of those things where "everybody is a winner" and you have to sit through some multi-level marketing scam presentation before they give you your "prize." Sure enough, when I called back I found out that I'd have to sit through a 90-minute "tour" of vacation packages. I told them I would go, but when they said that my wife also had to attend or I couldn't get the prizes, I promptly ended the call. I have no time for nonsense like that. So much for my prize.

I got my car back from the repair shop a couple Fridays ago. As I mentioned in a previous post, the GPS was not working when I got it back. Not only that, but I had to go back to the repair shop twice for them to fix things on which they had done a crappy job. Despite the hassles, I was happy to have my car back. The GPS has been examined by the dealer and they're going to replace it for free, which is nice. Anyway, my happiness was short-lived. I was in another car accident this morning. A car tried to merge onto the freeway in front of me and I got a nice 10'+ scratch/dent on the side of my car. Based on the nature of the accident, the fact that I was driving slowly and the fact that I had my headlights on, I don't think the other driver even looked before pulling into traffic. I've already been on the phone several times today with my insurance company, the other driver's insurance company, the adjuster, etc. I hope I'll be able to get my car in the shop sometime in the next couple of days.

I had thought that things couldn't get any worse. I was wrong.