It’s actually a really good thing that so much crap happened over the holidays, because ever since we got back we’ve both been so slammed at work that we haven’t had much to write about happen and I haven’t had much time to write about it.  So that’s a good thing, I guess.

But anyhow, the fact that I’m here in Seattle writing about our time in California means that we did in fact successfully get home somehow.  As of Sunday, Jan 3rd, at 3:30 pm, I had no idea how or when that was going to happen.  12 hours later, we were on the road.

How does that happen when the car we drove down is still minus one wheel and hasn’t even begun to be worked on?

Easy.  You get another car.

My beloved old Mini had been starting to show it’s age and we’d been talking about retiring it eventually, and thanks to the craptastic economy and a promotional APR, we got a pretty sweet deal (even my dad was impressed, which is hard to do, as he’s a master car negotiator- as a child I watched as he made a car salesman cry over the deal he secured on our first minivan).

I know that it sounds a bit weird to buy a car while you’re on vacation.  In fact, I only know of one other person who’s ever done it (again, that would be my dad, who bought the afore-mentioned minivan while we were on a camping trip).  But, as my dear friend Scott said, “Only you and Mike would buy a new car for a drive up the West coast.  And rationalize it as sane.  I think that’s why I love you guys.”  (This coming from the guy who flew to Munich for 3 hours so he could retain Executive Platinum status with American Airlines.  We really are soulmates.)

So anyways, we picked up the car Monday at noon and packed it up.  Few things are more entertaining in life than an overstuffed Mini:

And we were off to San Francisco!

With one last stop at In n Out on the way.

(Don’t be alarmed- that’s an iced tea in my cup.  Not that I ever closed my eyes and WISHED it was a Diet Coke.  ::le sigh::)

Mike has a product launch next Wednesday.  As a result, he has been working crazy hours- staying up until 4:00 am some days and waking up at 8.  It’s not pretty.

Of course, even a crazy workaholic has to find some time to do something other than work.  Mike’s favorite way to relieve stress is to cuddle up on the couch with the most important person in his life and ponder his relationship with said individual.

Oh, you thought I was referring to myself?  That’s cute.

In addition to being consumed by work currently, he is also deep in the clutches of a major OCD attack.  You know how manic depressives experience phases of wildly oscillating moods?  Mike doesn’t really ever get particularly manic, or depressed for that matter, but he does have his own special mental problem- sometimes, when he has to make a decision, even a completely hypothetical one, he finds himself at an impass and experiences total mental paralysis.

We’re in the midst of one of those phases right now.

And before you go and get worried, let me assure you that you shouldn’t.  We’re fine.  We aren’t in the middle of any crisis or even any major life decision.  There is no life-altering issue threatening to turn our lives upside-down.  We don’t even really have any REAL decisions coming up at all.

So what is Mike stressing about?

m3 vs gtr

Mike is trying to decide which of these two cars he likes better.

Are we currently looking at buying a car?  No.  Are we helping somebody else make a decision about these cars?  No.  Mike is simply trying to reconcile WHICH EFFING CAR HE LIKES BETTER THAN THE OTHER.

We’ve been through this before.  Every couple of months Mike gets so obsessed about some random detail of life that he totally shuts down.  Sometimes it’s something we are actually going to use, like when he had to decide whether to order a matte or glossy screen on his Macbook Pro.  Sometimes it’s totally random, like when he can’t decide whether he thinks a celebrity is attractive.  This is definitely more team Random, but it’s just as consuming as if it was actually important.

For example, on Friday night we went out for ramen at Samurai Noodle.  The ramen was fantastic- thick, porky, salty brothy goodness.

But I don’t think Mike really appreciated it, because he spent most of the meal doing this:

important internet research

Ugh.

So maybe if I post it here and some of you weigh in, Mike will actually be able to make a decision about which of these stupid cars he likes better.  Because I don’t really care.  I drive a Mini with a passenger door you can’t open from the inside.

Please comment, if only for the sake of my sanity.  Please help my severely OCD husband decide which car HE LIKES BETTER:

m3

gtr

Please.

That is all for now.