I try to get in to work two days a week.

This past Monday I was successful.

Tuesday I had a couple of appointments.

Wednesday I talked to the mechanic and set up a time for my car.

Today I took it in there.

An hour later he called to say that it wasn't the power steering pump after all--the root of the problem was the rack and pinion. Oh $$hit.

And that he had ordered one which is scheduled to arrive about noon tomorrow.

(Note: the guy who owned the place before this guy was the one who said power steering pump. And pouring power steering fluid in did make it turn a lot easier.)

S0 - - - he brought back my car, and I had the afternoon to myself.

And, I called Newcomb with word of my latest conflict.

Mechanic guy will call me as soon as the part arrives.

Well, after all, the car has almost 70K miles on it, and my experience with previous cars is that that is the time when one part after another breaks down. And then there's about another 50K miles before round two--and that's when it's time to get another car.

Once I had wheels again I headed for PJ's for lunch. They have some pannini sandwiches which get grilled and are VERY tasty. And reasonably priced.

While eating (and drinking coffee) I finished Get Out or Die, by Jane Finnis. I have the next one in this series, but it's in the other room and I don't feel like getting up to find the title.

I need to get going early tomorrow--I left an inkjet cartridge at Walgreen's to be refilled. Costs only $10. I'll see how that works out. It's about 1/2 to 1/3 of the price of new.

With one thing and another I didn't get much done around the house today. I should probably try to make up for that tomorrow.

On the state political scene things are getting interesting. Louisiana recently elected a "reform" governor (who has been mentioned as a possible VP for McCain).

He got some "reform" measures through a special session of the Legislature, but the regular session recently ended. In this session the legislators decided that roughly $17K (plus perks) wasn't enough for a part time job, and first voted themselves a threefold raise. They then backed off to merely doubling their pay to about $35K per year. Did the "reform" governor veto this?

So far, no. He hasn't signed it either, but if he does nothing it will become law in a few days.

Let's see--tomorrow morning (early) I'll go pick up my ink cartridge and any other things I figure I need, just in case there are any problems and I end up carless till Saturday. Then I probably won't have any excuses for not doing yard work--unless we have afternoon showers!!

Oh well, if my days were predictable I'd get bored pretty quickly.