my recent adventures...

I have a pretty good follow-up to Wendy's blog, "I Hate People."

So last night, I was driving down 280 to get to my game in Campbell and all of a sudden I heard a "THWAP-THWAP-THWAP" noise coming from the right side of the car. The traffic on 280 was pretty heavy and the shoulder was narrow, so I didn't think it was a safe place to pull over. So I kept driving and got off at the next exit and then drove a little ways to get to the nearest gas station/shopping center.

I got out of the car and checked the right side of the car and my tire was completely flat and there was this HUGE, gnarly nail sticking out of it. Less than a minute after I pulled in, a tow truck pulled in right behind me. The driver got out of the truck and I read the sign on his door -- "Freeway Service Patrol."

I've never been so relieved in my life -- I wasn't about to change the tire myself because it was raining and getting dark (aside from which, I've never done it by myself before!), so I ran up to the driver and asked him if he was on a call right then and if he was busy. He said no, so I asked him if he could help change my tire. And he just looks at me before emotionlessly saying he couldn't help me because I wasn't on the freeway. I told him that I was just on the freeway but there wasn't a safe place to pull over, so I pulled into this shopping center, and I asked if he was kidding. He said no, walked away, and then proceeded to get back in his truck and sit there for the next 25 minutes.

In the meantime, I called a towing company and they said they would be able to change my tire in 15-20 minutes. 10 minutes later, they called me back and said it would be about half an hour. After 45 minutes, I called them back and asked where they were and they said it would be just a few more minutes. After another 45 minutes, the guy finally showed up. At least he was really friendly and it only took him a few minutes to change it (it took longer to fill out the paperwork than it did to change the tire). Which just made me all the madder at the Freeway Service Patrol guy. What an ahole. I hate people, too, Wendy.

Let's see...There have been a bunch of other random things that I've wanted to blog about too, though...

- The Stanford/Cal women's basketball game: After enjoying a nice brunch at Joanie's Cafe, Richie and I got to Maples pretty early. Since the stadium was pretty empty still, and I really had to drop a deuce, I decided to be adventurous and try to use the bathroom. For anyone that doesn't know, I can't stand to use public restrooms, especially to go #2 because of privacy and cleanliness issues.

I was quite relieved because when I got in there, there was only one person in a stall and she was basically done, and the toilets were brand new (Maples was just renovated last year!) and very clean -- the seat was even up, indicating a "fresh bowl." [Can anyone name that reference???]

So, I'm going, and I heard the door open twice, so it couldn't be too crowded yet, so I was totally ecstatic. I finished doing my thing and flushed the toilet. The toilet made a pathetic little noise, the water swirled around a little, and nothing. I tried flushing again. The water level steadily started to rise.

I quickly weighed my options...I could try flushing again, but I figured the chances of success were minimal and more likely, it would explode all over the floor. My other option was to slink quietly out of the bathroom before anyone else came in. Well, duh. I opened the door to the stall and...

...There was a freaking girl standing outside, waiting for my stall!!! I couldn't believe it. I only heard the door open twice, but a whole bunch of *really quiet* people must have come in during that time, because almost all the stalls were being used and there was even someone waiting outside for mine. As we walked by each other, I muttered something to her about not using that stall and she said, "Oh, that's o.k." and she went in for about half a second before high-tailing it out of there and waiting for a different one! Oh well, I tried to warn her!!! I washed my hands quickly and then RAN back to the bleachers before anyone else could see me!

Bottom line: *This* is why I don't go #2 in public restrooms!!!!!

About the game -- ugh, it was not a good sign when their starting point guard tore her ACL less than a minute into the game. Stanford played the most horrendously awful game I've ever seen them play before. They built up a decent lead in the first half and then basically sleepwalked through the rest of the game...the unfortunate part about this was that they kept playing like that even after Cal took the lead midway through the second half.

Ugh, the end of the game was awful -- Stanford managed to stretch the last 2 minutes out for about 20 minutes and Cal managed to make a few free throws to hang on for the win. It was basically the worst case scenario that could have happened because not only did Stanford lose, but the long drawn out end of game situation made us miss most of the first quarter of the Super Bowl. I wouldn't have minded missing the Super Bowl if Stanford won, but to have them lose *and* miss part of the Super Bowl was really crappy.

Oh, yeah...and I destroyed a brand new toilet at Maples Pavilion.

- Who doesn't love that Callie's real name is actually Calliope Iphegenia Torres???

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release date: July 21, 2007!!!!!