Update

Neither myself or the roadside assistant man knew how to change the spare on a Mercedes. The spare in the trunk was deflated which we stared at dumbly for a bit. Then we pulled out the manual. The car says of has a toolkit but it took us several minutes of searching to find it.

The toolkit made me laugh as it came with everything. Compressor to inflate the tire, special lugnuts for the spare, flashlight, and little white gloves so you don't get your hands dirty.

Since we were now a team and not him paid to help me, he gave me the task of figuring out how to get the compressor working while he removed the old tire. I should of put on the little white gloves...

We got the tire on and since it has a max speed of 50mph I turned back towards Owosso to get a new tire put on. He said it was under warranty but I didn't have enough tread. Also my rim is a little bent so I might have some vibration. Great.

My Bad Luck

Today started out promising. I woke up on time. Finished some laundry. Folded some clothes. Made the grocery list. Even left for work early! As I'm driving, I feel the car pulling to the right. It wasn't too bad until I got out of town and up to speed. I thought my tires might be a bit low and planned to stop at the gas station on M-52 between Owosso and Perry. I no sooner make this decision than BOOM! My tire blows. So I've been stuck here for an hour now waiting for AAA to come assist me. I have such bad luck.

Eyeball Lunch

Mom describes Eyeball Lunch
Originally uploaded by Jamie Howell

Here's the story on this. Every day at lunch time they came out and cooked on a big grill right on the beach so we didn't have to get redressed to have lunch. We could stay in our swimsuits and grab some lunch and go back to the beach or pool. Usually it was pretty typical grill food like ribs but this day it was some sort of seafood ... thing. Mom describes what is up with it in the video.

Dodge and dad get up and offer to get plates of whatever is being served for mom and I. They come back and put 3 plates of this in front of us each claiming "That's for you, girls". Dad said there was no way he was eating it and went to the buffet. Mom and I were wondering what possessed them to think we would want it, and 3 plates of it to boot!

I did try some. I ate some of the noodles and honestly they didn't taste bad. It just smelled too fishy and the shrimp staring at me caused me to chicken out and eat a hamburger from the buffet line instead. Dodge did eat his plate of food though! He didn't feel too swell later that evening. I blamed it on the eyeballs.

Punta Cana Pictures Available

Iberostar Grounds
Originally uploaded by Jamie Howell

My pictures from our Punta Cana vacation can now be found on my Flickr account. I also have pictures of me with a monkey I purchased that I need to scan in and add yet but I'll get to that later.

Coming Home

Our vacation is over. We are now sitting in the airport waiting to take the flight back to Detriot. It was a great vacation but holy moly is it hot here! I'll have lots of pictures in Flickr soon. Right now we are just looking forward to getting home and cuddling with the puppies.

Hola!

Hello from the Dominican Republic. They only have a public internet station so I cannot start to post my pictures yet but I wanted to say that we are having a great time. It is about eleventy billion degrees outside, cooler by the ocean. Hope everyone is doing well and we will be home soon. (But hopefully not too soon).

Raspberries

Raspberries
Originally uploaded by Jamie Howell

I just thought this was cute. Oscar is not terribly fond of me right now.

Traffic Again

A month later than last time but I'm stuck in the exact same spot. I see the first construction sign but haven't gotten to it yet. It's very frustrating. Going to be very late for work again. I wish they would put up warnings a day or two earlier so I can plan to go another way.

Anybody Want Some Pancakes?

So here's the story behind this. When I was younger, my sister and I were eating ice cream. My sister's ice cream got all melty and soupy. She looked at me and patted her spoon on top of the ice cream soup and said, "Anybody want some pancakes?" It was such an odd comment that it stuck with me and we still laugh about it.

Today Jimmy and his family went to dinner with my parents and Dodge and I. Some place Jimmy heard about at a casino from his card dealer that had a seafood buffet called Maxfield's. It was a bit of a drive but it was excellent food.

Jimmy's kids went and got some ice cream and Becky's melted and so I told the pancake story. The girls thought it was hilarious. I thought I was going to die laughing when Jimmy decided to pat his ice cream and say it for my picture.

I have such a goofy family.