Purpose

It’s my son and daughters birthday this weekend and we will be celebrating at Brendan’s house today. Unfortunately, Maegan won’t be there in person, but as always, she will be in our hearts. I hope that she has a good time with friends or just a nice quiet time, whichever she prefers. I kind of like it quiet, but a party can be nice too.

 

The party will be around supper time and we are bringing the main course from Chicken on the Way which is a local chicken place that has been making good fried food that is incredibly bad for you for about sixty years now. It has been a Calgary landmark and until recently (last couple of years) I had never eaten anything from there. Not that I am opposed to chicken or deep fried goodness, it’s just that the original location was a 25 minute drive away and if I wanted chicken, I could make my own or go and visit the Colonel. Luckily, one of the franchise locations opened up a few blocks away and even though I shouldn’t eat this kind of food…I do.

www.chickenonthewaycalgary.ca/menu.htm

We picked up the food and went to Brendan’s where we met up with Brendan, Tara, Chris, Arwen, Hurricane and Tornado. They were waiting for the main course to arrive and before Finn had stopped the wild tail wagging we were sitting down. The meal was delicious as was the Maple butter birthday cake which Tara lovingly made.

Good meal, good people and good conversations. I am aware that there are many people that don’t get along well with their family for a variety of reasons, but I have to say that I really like these people. Well, most of the time. Every now and then they get on my nerves, but I would wager that I am more of a pain in the ass to them than they are to me.

The highlight of tonight was when Tornado and I were in the basement drawing on the chalk board. Well, I was drawing and Tornado was erasing. There was one point when he was slapping my chest and I thought he was just pretend fighting. It turns out that he was cleaning the chalk brush on Poppa.

You know, once you retire you sometimes wonder if you have a purpose left in the world. I guess my new purpose is to be the thing you bang the brushes against. Works for me.

A New Toyota Rav 4

My buddy just bought a new car. A Toyota Corolla to be exact and he picks it up this coming Tuesday. Like most people that get new cars, he is pretty excited about the whole thing. He tries to look cool and calm on the outside, but it’s a new car! I get to ride in it on Wednesday and I am looking forward to that new car smell. You can buy “New car smell” at Canadian tire, but it isn't the same getting into an old shitbox and smelling new car.

 

He (when I say “he” I mean Ken and his wife Patricia of course) had it narrowed down to three vehicles, the Toyota, a Mazda and some other car whose name escapes right now. I don’t know cars; I just know colours of cars. The Toyota is to be silver and it won out partly because there was more it offered that they liked, and they have been driving a Corolla for the past twelve years. Just the fact that the last one ran well for so long is a good enough reason to buy Toyota. Another reason is that the Mazda only offered a choice of black or black for an interior colour. It must be designed by and for Goths.

I don’t ask price when someone buys something, because more than likely the cost is far more than it is worth in my mind. I think Ken said that this is just the third new car he has ever bought. I have only bought one new car and yes, it feels pretty good when you drive it off of the lot. I envy Ken for that feeling on Tuesday. I don’t envy car payments or an empty bank account, but they should have ten or so years of worry free driving ahead of them, assuming they keep taking the car in for its regular service.

I can remember when my mom and dad would buy a new car. It seemed that they would buy a new one every few years as opposed to every decade. I am sure there are folks that get new vehicles every couple of years now, but I suspect they have a larger disposable income than I do. Either that or they have a much larger debt load than I have. When we looked for a new car a few years ago, we only had about five paint choices and three interior choices. Mom and dad would bring home booklets of paint and fabric options and would agonize for days over which would be the best combination. They never did ask my opinion as I recall, but I suppose that was because somewhere deep down they realized I would wreck the car one snowy night at the corner of Orlando Blvd. and Marchington Circle. I was only going about ten MPH…really!

 

Ken will keep the car super clean and there is a very good chance he might put plastic down whenever I am to ride in it. That’s probably a good thing. I know he will be real close to “man” tears when the first scratch and dent appears magically on one of the door panels. I’ll say something like “You knew it was going to happen sooner or later, it’s just unfortunate it happened the first week you had the car.” The first dent is kind of like ripping a band aid off; better if it is done quickly and without emotion. Maybe I should do him a favour and sneak over in the middle of the night next week and key the passenger side door. He’d thank me for it…eventually.

 

I’m happy for them and if the stars align, then Louise and I will be driving down the road in a new Toyota Rav 4 courtesy of Tim Horton’s.