Bad Day

I delivered my shopping carts and discovered that my APU was broke again. It was the fan belt.

I was delivering to a Lowes, so I looked for a lawnmower belt or something there, although they were closed for inventory. Nope.

I stopped at a Wal-Mart, just to take a shot. Slipped on black ice. Having grown up in Cleveland, I have blance and reactions, and don't fool easy. But it got me good. I fell properly, despite my foot shooting into the air, but the tire-tim got in the way and a bashed my head on it.

It really hurt, and I feared a cracked skull, then realized that analytical thinking was a good sign. The pain subsided as I went inside, but I discovered I was bleeding (right through my hair) and made it to the john in time to save my shirts from bloodstains.

Wal-Mart didn't have a belt. All this time, I'm trying to get a load out of here, and all the loads are gone before I can even call.

I found another Lowes and got a lawnmower belt about the right size. Not grooved right, but worth a shot. Then I cam to this hotel (resolved to be stuck til the 29th at least). I started putting the new belt on and discovered that the bastards had rendered it driver-proof.

In order to get the belt on, I'd have to take the fan off...or disassemble the engine. I can see how to do it...well, I'll give it another shot later, when I'm not so mentally exhausted. And enraged.

I still might have a carcked skull, but if my brain was bleeding I'd be comotose now. I have experience in this area, and am pretty sure that the first time I get knocked out I will assume room temperature. I think a Louisville slugger would more likely break my neck than dent my skull. If I committed suicide with a gun I'd aim at my heart to make sure.

Anyway I just realized that I might have the special tool needed to take the stupid fan off through some grillwork.

My alternative is to call the warrantee people and try to find an authorized repair joint just to replace a damn fanbelt. Which might not work anyway. The non-groove will shrink the inside diameter. I can compensate by the alternator placement, but it still might slip. Slippage might then try to force me to tighten it too much and burn out the alternator bearing. Lovely.

I'm in the hotel now because it's cold and I'd have to idle all night to stay alive. I should have got an electric blanket...put that on my shopping list...

Dammit.

There's a bar across the street and I might go there. I'm delaying a shower as long as possible so I don't start bleeding again when I shampoo. Good thing I got some red in my hair. I don't think I rinsed it all out. I can't see it on the back of my head. Maybe I should ask somebody "hey is there blood in my hair?"

If your first thought was that I should sue Wal-Mart, you are a dirt-bag.

Also, I'm a trucker, and was parking where I wasn't supposed to, and if I sued them, see how long ANY truckers are ever allowed to park at Wal-Mart anymore.

Maybe I should sue the tire-rim manufacturer.

Anyway, when I got here I immediately made sure that I was screwed out of every listed load already. Yep.

Then I played some more internet poker and won again.

It's working. Different strokes and all, and it appears that I'm a much better limit-cash player than I am a tournament player. I also do a lot better on bigger tables than on smaller ones.

I was sort of fooled, the way I got here. I won in casinos, then got eroded playing cash games online. So I switched to sit-and-go tournaments, which I've done for like 6-7 months now. And did a little worse than break even, so that over time, I always seemed to lose. (This is limit Omaha Hi-Low and Horse---not Hold-Em).

Last week, I started fooling around with Limit Hold'em cash games. Apparantly, playing all those tournaments has somehow made me a better (internet) cash player, because I have won every single session...except one six-player game where one lucky idiot superspazz knocked me out.

On one site, I was down to 3.60 and now got 11 bucks. On another I had 73 and now have 88. I win from 20 to 80% (I quit while ahead--don't know how I'd do hanging around).

At these low stakes, there are a lot of lottery players and rookies, but I do have the casino experience to guide me. I'm not going to add any money, but will gradually increase the stakes as my waddage goes up. And if I get loads past casinos, might go in next time.