chris's corner

Weekend Update

I went home on the bus on Thursday. It was a 6 hour drive, but it wasn't too bad. I read Forward the Foundation for most of the ride. Once home I just basically lazed around, and I convinced my parents to get Ocean's Twelve on PPV; neither of them liked the movie unfortunately.

Friday was a party for some friends of the family, one of which graduated from high school, the other from university. I stayed there for a couple of hours, then it was off to see War of the Worlds with Nathan. I rather enjoyed it.

Saturday was a haircut, a trip to Roy's Army Surplus (bought pants for Jim, pants for me, a bucket had and a big duffel bag) and a trip out to Quispamsis to fix my dad's truck (the F-150) which my brother is driving because his latest car blew up. We thought it was the starter, so a new starter was bought and brought with us. Get to the truck and its not the starter at all; it starts right up. But its smoking like crazy so we pop the hood and check it out. Then there's a loud SNAP! The serpentine belt snapped because the A/C compressor has seazed (Curtis reported earlier that the A/C in the truck had quit). Fortunately Canadian Tire was nearby so we went to buy a replacement belt. We needed to bypass the compressor, so we needed a belt shorter than the one that was on it. The first trip, all three of us went in. Came back, tried the belt and found it was too long. So dad goeas back in for another belt. About an hour later he comes back. Being a Saturday after a holiday the store is incredibly busy and understaffed. So we try the new belt: its too long. Curtis's turn this time, he goes over. Dad moves the truck closer to Canadian Tire. Eventually Curtis comes back with another belt; its too long. Now its my turn to wait in line. Dad moves the truck to the Canadian Tire parking lot. At this point I should mention that the truck is actually still drivable, but runs on Armstrong steering, the battery isn't getting charged and the fan doesn't run. So, I eventually come back with another belt; its too long. By this time we're ready to give up. Then we find out that the Carquest in East Saint John is open til 5. By now its 3:30 so we all hop in the car and head to Carquest. We get a belt and bring it back to Curtis's place to put it on the truck; its too short. We have time enough for one more trip to Carquest before it closes so Curtis and I head back for a replacement. Bring it back and its also too short. By now Carquest is closed. So we gave up entirely and headed home, stopping at the Canadian Tire on the west side to get yet another belt that dad is confident will fit. Once we got home and ate supper we watched In Good Company on PPV. It was a pretty good movie and my parents both liked it, too.

Today was the return trip to Bathurst. In addition to the new pants to bring with me I also brought a couple more models, two board games and my coin collection all packed into the duffel that I got at Roy's. The bus drive back was pretty much the same as the ride down, complete with a cute girl that was going back to Bathurst (she was on the same bus coming home). Once I got to Bathurst I was disappointed to see that none of my roomies were waiting to give me a ride back to the apartment. I called and there was no answer. So, I had to walk back to the apartment. Its not that long of a walk but I had 4 bags, one of which was rather heavy. So I loaded myself up and walked back. My hand still hurts from having the duffel's cord wrapped around it. Oh well.

posted by christopher at 5:08 PM