What are they going to do with all those shoes ?

It took almost a week, but I am finally finding some sarcastic humor in the situation evidenced below:
This happened late Weds night last week ... I'll spare the gory details but suffice it to say that I have had a rough few weeks. The actual accident happened in two seconds - dark, wet roads, a car stopped in the middle of the travel lane w/o lights ... slam on the brakes, jerk the wheel right and then I'm batting the deflated airbag down and cursing like a sailor. By the way, airbags hurt when they deploy.

The taxi that I hit was operated by a gentleman (using the term loosely) who immediately yelled "my back, oh, my back" in broken english. Police, fire trucks, amublance - we had all the shiny lights going on. It was cold and raining so once the adrenaline wore off and I knew I couldn't drive home (apparently when an airbag deploys, a kill switch is activated in the car so it won't start), I realized that I was freezing and I had no idea how I was going to get home. The police were very kind and put me in their cruiser ... I must've looked rather pitiful by that point. But, they couldn't take me home so they dropped me off at the station, where I called a cab and thankfully found enough cash to pay the $40 to get home. In two seconds flat, things in my life got even more complicated than normal.

Zim immediately went on suicide watch when she found out - its well known that I love my car and that, given the year that I've had, I'm probably not far from the edge. She brought clementines (random, but appreciated!) and team stuff to my house, took me to go see my car and took me to get a rental car. Thank you, Zim - I can't tell you how much you mean to me and how lucky I am to call you "friend".

Highlights from the city lot, where my car was towed: Not Imprizonated.

* which one doesn't belong: 1997 Caravan, 2004 BMW, 2000 Focus ?
* The guy trying to get all of the service women's phone numbers. loudly.
* Salt'n Pepa blaring from the little chevy we piled into for access to the lot
* we document everything - if you're hospitalized, injured or imprizonated. (that last one is a Zim-ism)
* The guy in the car, upon seeing my car, going on and on about how they're going to total it, that they total everything etc etc etc, as I tried my best to hold back tears and/or expletives.
* True to form, Zim had my back. From her car. With the windows rolled up. Around the block.

The pic above is from the lot ... my poor little car looks so sad.

Highlights from the rental car incident: "What are they going to do with all those shoes?"

* Rental coverage is not automatically in your insurance policy. Check it now - I found out the hard way. They did offer to add it for future use. I almost threw the phone.
* The whole car rental industry is a scam. $175 for 3 days. Yes, the rate is $30/day, but then you add the fees, charges, surcharges etc etc etc.
* Zim, making polite conversation, mentions DHL going out of business. The kind lady at the desk expresses dismay - to the point where I was impressed with her feelings for DHL. Then she said "what are they going to do with all the shoes"? Zim continues on with the story of DHL as I realized the counter-lady was thinking DSW. It was like watching a conversation in bizzaro-world. They never realized they weren't on the same page.

Mitch and Zim convinced me to go ahead with the planned trip to RTR (another post, I'm sure) and I'm glad I did. It was nice to get away and forget about all the BS that awaited me between work, family, car stuff etc. My SRM did start crapping out while we were in W Va - and now my phone is locking up. Seriously ? I digress.

Chicken and Goat have generously allowed me to borrow the Elephant for the week. Below is the Elephant's first trip to Fells Point.

I have big things planned for the Elephant - not the least of which is a car-wash ! Thank you, Chicken and Goat, thank you so much for your help and friendship. You guys rock.

This morning I got a call from the shop where the BMW is currently residing - so far it looks like they're going to repair the damage (fingers crossed) and NOT total it. I'm 5 payments away from paying it off, and, if I haven't mentioned it, I love my car.

I'm soooo over 2008. Only a few more days and maybe we can start fresh. Here's hoping.