Thoughts on Flat Tires, Application Submissions, and Searching

This entire past week has been quite a hassle. On Tuesday night, I went over to my Aunt's house to get some large manila envelopes from her - and then have my cousin take said envelopes to school with him to pass on to the school's counselor. At some point, I must have run over a nail, because by the time I drove home, my tire was completely flat.

Not that I knew to check or noticed anything different - a shame on my part. But for the rest of this week I've had my mom dropping me off at work. Meanwhile she's been trying to deal with getting me a new tire.

First big issue was that the tire couldn't be fixed. I managed to get the nail into the shoulder of the tire, which is basically irreparable. (Lesson learned - if you see a nail on the road, avoid it or make sure it pops your tire in the middle.) So after having taken the tire off and putting on the spare, I now had to purchase a new tire with the exact make and size mine was. Since my tires were brand new when we purchased the car, we weren't worried about buying a pair. They're all in really great shape otherwise.

Thoughts on Knick-Knacks, Paper Stars, and Ferdinand the Whale

 One of many knick-knacks in my room.

I tend to collect some odd items. Various knick-knacks that are basically useless but are part of a growing collection. You could call them geeky, unique, or just eclectic and hip. But I like the odd things in life. Rather than sea monkey's, as a kid, I got something called Triops. Rather than the brine shrimp that are basically sea monkey's, there's a curiosity shop here in Seattle that sells such unique items. So it's no wonder I gravitate towards these interesting pieces to decorate my room and house.

The little plant above, is actually robotic. After pushing a little button on the side of the pot, it responds to sound by moving it's leaves and "nodding" up and down as if it listens to you and understands. Heck, you can even ask it yes or no questions and see it's response. It's called a Pekoppa plant, a "must have" purchase of mine from ThinkGeek. By far one of my favorite things I've bought. Rather than stick with the name, Pekoppa, I call mine Coffee - or cohii (hee) pronounced in Japanese. He's become a writing buddy and staple for when I sit at my computer to write for a long stretch and need a quick, amusing break.

But it's knick-knacks like Coffee that I collect and keep in my room to give me inspiration and surround my laptop with. He makes me feel like I always have a friend nearby.

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