I dropped my car off at the dealership today for a routine checkup. I have been on a roll with the cars this week, taking Kris' car in on Monday, nearly taking the S2000 in yesterday (Heather needed it an extra day, so that'll happen next week), and the new car in today.

When I arrived, a dealership employee did a visual inspection of my car, marking down on a sheet where there were scratches and dents on the car. I believe this to be a record for them, so that customers can't complain of scratches, claiming the dealership made them. I wonder how many times that happened before they started this procedure.

I also wonder how long until they start taking pictures of the incoming cars' scratches.

After my dents and scratches page was filled out, I wandered into the service area, and stepped into line behind the woman at the end of the line. As I set my bags down (gah, I'm such a bag lady), I rested my car dents and scratches page on the table next to us. The woman immediately leaned over and started reading my page.

"What the?" I thought, and flipped the page over during her mid-read. Why she thought it was okay to look at my paperwork, I'm not sure. After a moment, I looked at the page, and realized there was a big S on the front dash. "What the?" I thought (I'm full of these this morning), and wandered out to look at my car. Turns out, one of the scratches was dust, which I was able to rub off. The D dent, well, yeah, that one exists, though it's actually puncture holes in the bumper. The garage vampire bit it a year ago in Katie's garage.

When I walked back into the service waiting area, and back into line, the woman in front of me asked the service rep behind me what the dents and scratches paper was. He said it listed all the scratches on the car (like, duh, did you even read the top of the page with the legend that says, "Scratches, dents, dings?").
"Even all four tires?" she asked.

"Yes."

"All four tires?"

"Yes."

"Can you show me? I don't believe this," she continued, and stepped out of line, and out the door with the service guy.

Just after they left, the guy in front of me finished, and walked away to the shuttle waiting room. I paused before stepping up, wondering if the I-have-a-scratch-free-car would miraculously dash in with perfect timing and reclaim her spot in line.

She didn't, so I stepped up, and started the paperwork for my car (they couldn't find my appointment, couldn't find my car, was I the legal owner of the car, when was it last in, etc.).

Just as the service rep is about to hit the save button on my service order, the I-have-a-scratch-free-car woman comes bursting through the door, completely huffy.

I'm guessing she had scratches on her car.

Just as the service rep is about to hit the print button on my service order, three seconds after he hit the save button, the I-have-a-scratch-free-car woman declares quite loudly how inappropriate and unfair it is that she lost her place in line. She then starts on a rant about how she has to go to work, and she had to go discuss the non-existent scratches on her car with the other service guy, and she shouldn't be penalized for having to step away to show him how she doesn't' have scratches on her car.

When she started her rant, the service guy helping me, and the other one paused in what they were doing to listen. After about thirty seconds, my service guy reached over to the printer and grabbed my paperwork. I signed the paperwork during the woman's rant sometime.

If she had just shut up, and stood there in line behind me, she would have been helped within 15 seconds of entering the service area. Instead, she wasted my time, the two service guys' time, the other customer's time and her own time.

As I sat in the shuttle waiting room, waiting for the shuttle to take me to the train station so that I wouldn't have to walk home or to the nearest Starbucks for wi-fi, I couldn't help but think, "Good lord, woman, look! We're all here waiting for the shuttle bus. Even you! If you had been in front of me, you would have sat her an extra 5 minutes. Joy! See how much time you saved?"

The shuttle took about 15 minutes to show up, at which point there were six people waiting for it. The shuttle was an Audi SUV, which held five people, including the driver.

As I was busy putting my computer back in its bag (the bag lady, remember?), I was the last one outside. Therefore, I was the least likely to manage a ride at this moment. Several of us were wondering what do to with this scenario (though, two people were not - they jumped into the vehicle, ready to go, even though one was the last one into the shuttle waiting area). One guy told me I was in the shuttle waiting area before he was, so I should go, but the shuttle driver found another car to drive me (and only me!) to the train station. Custom service.

Now, and astute reader (or a non-dementia Kitt, depending on when I read this next) would notice that I mentioned six of us were waiting for the shuttle, but,

4 in the car + 1 riding solo = 5 patrons

Interesting number there.

As I was waiting for the car to drive around to take me to the train station, the I-have-a-scratch-free-car was talking the ear off a guy that looked like the head of the service department. I heard snippets of, "... I shouldn't have to wait..." and "... car falling apart after five years..." and "... takes too long to drop off car..." and many, many Is.

Many, many of them. Did I mention the number? Lots.

As I stood there for the five more minutes for my solo-shuttle car to arrive, she kept talking this guy's ear off. Talking? I meant complaining. Oh, lord, was she complaining. I couldn't help but think, aw, crap, am I this bad in my negativity? I don't think so. Maybe I am. I'll ask Kris and Megan. They'll let me know.

She stopped complaining when her car was pulled around. I looked at the license plate, a 4W something plate, so the car was originally purchased early 2001. Note to self: the I-have-a-scratch-free-car woman can't do math. She drove off just behind my shuttle car as it left the dealer's lot.

My driver was initially a bit quiet, but loosened up when I mentioned I needed to go to Starbucks (for the wi-fi). He needed to go to Starbucks, too, but for the coffee. What a morning! We had the hardest customer this morning!

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "The woman complaining about the scratches on her car?"

"Yes."

"Why was her car done so quickly? Did she need a part you didn't have?"

"No, her headlight went out. We just replaced the bulb."

*blink*

*blink* *blink*

"The bulb?"

"Yeah, the bulb."

"All that complaining. For a light bulb."

"Yeah."

"You need a Starbucks."

"I do."

I am totally running out of wall space.

I'm actually surprised this has happened. I never thought I'd own enough artwork that I actually like, such that all the walls in my house would have one of these pieces on them.

And that I'd have to stop buying artwork for lack of a place to hang it.

Let's see, I currently have the wall space in the guest bedroom, though I've commissioned Mom to make a piece for that wall. There's the wall in the bedroom, maybe two walls if we find something light enough that I'm willing to hang it over the head board (unlikely, but let's keep the options open).

There might be space in the livingroom, but not really.

I guess I'm down to the office. Time to clean out that office and paint the walls so that I have more space for artwork. The trick then is, of course, finding the artwork I love.

Yeah, that's always the trick.

Tonight was Mischief's End of Year Extravaganza, also known as the Michief EYE.

The EYE is a good time to review the season, congratulate ourselves on a season well done, see people we haven't seen for a while (say, since the season ended, which is strange because these people are so part of our lifes, so close to us during the season, that the abruptness of their disappearance from our lives is startling - or that could be just me).

Kris played a song on his electric guitar for Lori, after partaking in some PARS. He was making up his lack of psych-up-buddiness during the season to Lori, since he had done a particularly poor job (which even he admits he didn't do so well). He had grand plans, they just took a while to actually complete.

After the song, team awards were handed out. I received the Most Statistically Significant award, by making all the other statistics possible. I lurve the award.

After the awards, we had the captains' gifts and then the white elephant gift exchange. The exchange was quite entertaining, more-so since I didn't actually bring a gift, and could watch everyone else's gift exchange many hands.

That, and play with Mirabelle and Meter. That's the best part of the evening.

Although we go to Velocity Sports on a regular basis, and have managed to directly or indirectly sign up another four people with the facility, the team hasn't actually partaken of the facilty. Wes arranged for a group training event today, so a group of us went.

That group consisted of Kris, Wes, Paul, Doyle, Shirley, Lori, Adam Brown and me.

We started out with the usual dynamic warmup of jumping jacks, split jumps, jogs, walking stretches, accelerations and the like. I was surprised to realize how much of the warmup process is learned by watching others and following the more experienced people. Kris and I were the only two people at the training day who had been at the facility and done the warmups before. We were both in the front line of two lines during the warmups, which was a little unfortunate.

Unfortunate in that, instead of waiting for the instructor to vocally start the second line, the second line started when the first line started. This meant Lori, who moves more quickly than I do, was running on my heels (quite literally), by the end of the turf, making up the five yard starting difference quickly.

After the third time of having to break form in order to keep ahead of Lori, when the instructor said, "Go!" I immediately yelled, "Stop!" to the second line, before going myself. They stopped, surprised, and waited for the instructor to start the second line. We all had a good chuckle, and the rest of the warmup went more smoothly.

We did a lot of form work in the training sessions. We practiced techniques for running backward (need to lift my toes more before picking up my foot to reach backward), changing direction, and running sideways. I can't say I agreed with all of the training techniques (some would lead to foot injuries if taken to an extreme), but the workout was hard and fun.

At one point, a couple of the group had to step away from the workout to catch their breath. It was kinda nice to know the regular workouts I've been doing have helped me in the off-season somewhat.

I doubt the team will continue with the training sessions. It would be nice if they did, but I won't hold my breath on that one.