Saturday afternoon
04-21-2012, 12:16 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Saturday afternoon
Tax season is over. For a while I thought it would never end, but it did. All of the fires are out. Well, most of the fires are out, and those that aren’t can smolder for a few days. I thought this was going to be an easy tax season, I got an early start, and things seemed to be going well, but just when I thought I was past the point of no return the bottom fell out. 16 hour days, seven days a week since February, but now, at last, it’s over.
Today is Saturday, the first Saturday since the end of tax season, and the first day away from work in three months. Liz and Adam are both at work. Liz works Tuesdays nights and one Saturday a month at the circulation desk at the library, and Adam is a page. Usually they aren’t scheduled together, but today, because of a quirk in the scheduling they are both working. My other son, Andrew, is busy doing a paper for his management course. I told him to take his MBA in accounting so he wouldn’t have to do term papers, but he thinks that no human being should ever have to work the kind of hours we work during tax season. So, I had the day all to myself.
Not that I didn’t have anything to do, I had plenty of chores on my list. All of the things that should’ve been taken care of in the last three months. First things first, I wanted to trim some of the trees on our property. I had to get my chain saw out of the back of the garage. To get to it, I had to pull my S2000 out of the garage.
As soon as I sat down in it I thought about changing the oil and washing it, but I don’t think I’ve put 250 miles on it since September, the oil didn’t need changing and at worst, there was a little dust on the car. Nah, I better take care of all of those things that I’ve been putting off.
The damn chainsaw wouldn’t start. I’d bought it after Hurricane Irene and always had trouble getting it started. Tomorrow it’s going back to Lowe’s, but for today, I was forced to use my old bow saw, loppers and pruners. I worked like a dog, but finished in a few hours.
Every time I walked past my S sitting in the driveway it would call to me like the Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey. I stayed strong and resisted its seductive call. I had important things to do.
I fixed the garden tractor, cleaned out the shed, took care of some plants and by about 2:30 was all finished. I was tired and ready to call it a day until I walked past my S.
First the oil. The oil coming out looked pretty much the same as the new oil going in, but that never stopped me before. Besides, it’s always a lot of fun to change the oil. Maybe fun is the wrong word, but it’s something I like doing. 500 miles is a lot of miles on Mobil1, and besides, I needed a reason to reconnect with the car.
Next came the wash. I did a real good job, but frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference after the wash. Still, I liked doing it. It’s going to rain tonight so the S is back in the garage. Liz laughed at me, but there really was a lot of dust on the car. Much too much dust to let it go. I’d have waxed the car too, but there’s already about 10 coats of wax on it, and anyway it’s going to start raining in a few minutes.
I am amazed. When I finished my chores I was exhausted, but when I started working on the S I got a second wind. I don’t understand it except that there really still is something very special about the car and owning it. As I type this I’m thinking about all the years and all the meets and all the people I’ve met along the way. I’m thinking about the bittersweet moment when I opened the trunk and saw all of those meet magnets reminding me of all the meets I’d attended and making me wonder what happened. Where did they go?
I can’t wait for Spring Fling 12. Tax season is over, its spring and time for renewal.
Today is Saturday, the first Saturday since the end of tax season, and the first day away from work in three months. Liz and Adam are both at work. Liz works Tuesdays nights and one Saturday a month at the circulation desk at the library, and Adam is a page. Usually they aren’t scheduled together, but today, because of a quirk in the scheduling they are both working. My other son, Andrew, is busy doing a paper for his management course. I told him to take his MBA in accounting so he wouldn’t have to do term papers, but he thinks that no human being should ever have to work the kind of hours we work during tax season. So, I had the day all to myself.
Not that I didn’t have anything to do, I had plenty of chores on my list. All of the things that should’ve been taken care of in the last three months. First things first, I wanted to trim some of the trees on our property. I had to get my chain saw out of the back of the garage. To get to it, I had to pull my S2000 out of the garage.
As soon as I sat down in it I thought about changing the oil and washing it, but I don’t think I’ve put 250 miles on it since September, the oil didn’t need changing and at worst, there was a little dust on the car. Nah, I better take care of all of those things that I’ve been putting off.
The damn chainsaw wouldn’t start. I’d bought it after Hurricane Irene and always had trouble getting it started. Tomorrow it’s going back to Lowe’s, but for today, I was forced to use my old bow saw, loppers and pruners. I worked like a dog, but finished in a few hours.
Every time I walked past my S sitting in the driveway it would call to me like the Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey. I stayed strong and resisted its seductive call. I had important things to do.
I fixed the garden tractor, cleaned out the shed, took care of some plants and by about 2:30 was all finished. I was tired and ready to call it a day until I walked past my S.
First the oil. The oil coming out looked pretty much the same as the new oil going in, but that never stopped me before. Besides, it’s always a lot of fun to change the oil. Maybe fun is the wrong word, but it’s something I like doing. 500 miles is a lot of miles on Mobil1, and besides, I needed a reason to reconnect with the car.
Next came the wash. I did a real good job, but frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference after the wash. Still, I liked doing it. It’s going to rain tonight so the S is back in the garage. Liz laughed at me, but there really was a lot of dust on the car. Much too much dust to let it go. I’d have waxed the car too, but there’s already about 10 coats of wax on it, and anyway it’s going to start raining in a few minutes.
I am amazed. When I finished my chores I was exhausted, but when I started working on the S I got a second wind. I don’t understand it except that there really still is something very special about the car and owning it. As I type this I’m thinking about all the years and all the meets and all the people I’ve met along the way. I’m thinking about the bittersweet moment when I opened the trunk and saw all of those meet magnets reminding me of all the meets I’d attended and making me wonder what happened. Where did they go?
I can’t wait for Spring Fling 12. Tax season is over, its spring and time for renewal.
04-21-2012, 02:51 PM
#2
Can't believe you didn't take it up to the store to get some "fresh" Mobile One!!
That 10 minute drive normally turns into a 2-3 hour trip!
I forget who said it first... but someone a while back said something like...
"the 5 minute trip to the store now takes 45 minutes"!
That 10 minute drive normally turns into a 2-3 hour trip!
I forget who said it first... but someone a while back said something like...
"the 5 minute trip to the store now takes 45 minutes"!
04-21-2012, 03:14 PM
#3
Registered User
Congratulations Rob. Your tax season sounds like mine before I moved to Napa and opened my own office. I don't put in those kinds of hours any more.
I took Wednesday off, but we were having showings on Thursday and Friday, so to make the house look better, I washed all the windows. We have about 83. Then I helped with the rest of the house cleaning. Like you, I kinda like chores after the busy season is over, getting back to normal. Unlike you, my season flew by until the last week, which stretched forever.
All in all, glad you made it through. Happy days are here again...
I took Wednesday off, but we were having showings on Thursday and Friday, so to make the house look better, I washed all the windows. We have about 83. Then I helped with the rest of the house cleaning. Like you, I kinda like chores after the busy season is over, getting back to normal. Unlike you, my season flew by until the last week, which stretched forever.
All in all, glad you made it through. Happy days are here again...
04-21-2012, 03:21 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Can't believe you didn't take it up to the store to get some "fresh" Mobile One!!
That 10 minute drive normally turns into a 2-3 hour trip!
I forget who said it first... but someone a while back said something like...
"the 5 minute trip to the store now takes 45 minutes"!
That 10 minute drive normally turns into a 2-3 hour trip!
I forget who said it first... but someone a while back said something like...
"the 5 minute trip to the store now takes 45 minutes"!
04-21-2012, 03:27 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Congratulations Rob. Your tax season sounds like mine before I moved to Napa and opened my own office. I don't put in those kinds of hours any more.
I took Wednesday off, but we were having showings on Thursday and Friday, so to make the house look better, I washed all the windows. We have about 83. Then I helped with the rest of the house cleaning. Like you, I kinda like chores after the busy season is over, getting back to normal. Unlike you, my season flew by until the last week, which stretched forever.
All in all, glad you made it through. Happy days are here again...
I took Wednesday off, but we were having showings on Thursday and Friday, so to make the house look better, I washed all the windows. We have about 83. Then I helped with the rest of the house cleaning. Like you, I kinda like chores after the busy season is over, getting back to normal. Unlike you, my season flew by until the last week, which stretched forever.
All in all, glad you made it through. Happy days are here again...
The funny thing is I really thought that this tax season was going to be different. I'm very proactive and contacted all of my clients by January 10th. I had much of their information in by the end of February, early March. I'm not sure why or when the bottom fell out, but for some reason, this became one of the hardest, most frustrating tax seasons I've been through.
04-21-2012, 03:43 PM
#6
So I took my '02 s2000 out of storage on April 15th and washed it. This past Monday it rained overnight and my daughter forgot to close the garage door when she got home. Cat tracks from front to back. Almost lost a cat the next morning, but i restrained myself and washed and waxed it. 50 miles later my son said it looked like I'd gone through a corn field, due to all the bugs. It needs washed again........
04-21-2012, 03:57 PM
#7
So I took my '02 s2000 out of storage on April 15th and washed it. This past Monday it rained overnight and my daughter forgot to close the garage door when she got home. Cat tracks from front to back. Almost lost a cat the next morning, but i restrained myself and washed and waxed it. 50 miles later my son said it looked like I'd gone through a corn field, due to all the bugs. It needs washed again........
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04-21-2012, 07:12 PM
#8
So I took my '02 s2000 out of storage on April 15th and washed it. This past Monday it rained overnight and my daughter forgot to close the garage door when she got home. Cat tracks from front to back. Almost lost a cat the next morning, but i restrained myself and washed and waxed it. 50 miles later my son said it looked like I'd gone through a corn field, due to all the bugs. It needs washed again........
On my way out to S2K Days in Keystone, SD (Mount Rushmore) in 2011 I wanted to drive through some states that I had ever been through before and Nebraska was one of them. Now that I have narrowed the list down to six states that I have never been too, I have to state that I am surprised that after my 5150 mile road trip over fourteen days (including a lap of Colorado after the meet) Nebraska has stayed on my mind. My goal was to stay off of the Interstates as much as possible and take the the pre-interstate highways such as US RT 20, 30 etc. I have to state that my drive from east to west along US RT 20 was very memorable and sticks in my mind as one of the highlights of my trip. I could not get over the distances between towns (sometimes as much as seventy-five miles apart. I also could not get over the "pace of life" where even though the speed limit was 65 MPH on US RT20 most people were driving between 55-60 MPH. The question that I have for you is: Where do you find some turns to enjoy your S's handling ? Or do you just go out and take advantage of the wide open spaces and enjoy it's speed?
04-21-2012, 08:14 PM
#9
Registered User
There really is something special about our S2k's.I am going to be picking up my Mondial soon to bring home and play with and because I only have garage space at my house for one car I will be storing the S at the shop where I bought the Mondial and already am feeling seperation anxiety. I have owned my S for eight years and 10 months and it has never been away from me.
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