The Hose

Perishable Goods

Yesterday on a lark, I decided it would fun to sit in the 90 degree weather as the As played the Angels.

i called up A&W and Clay and figured we could get psyched up to watch some ball. Clay is only now reading MoneyBall so that would help keep us engaged as we discussed the relative merits of Jeremy Brown and Corey Bradford.

I packed an extra shirt and A&W drove so it was already gearing up for a good time. When we picked up Clay, Clay stopped to admire A&W car. It is a nice car so the admiration is well deserved.

When we arrive at the stadium we park and Clay again stops to glance at the car. This time he notices that it is covered in sap and somewhat scratched. A&W somewhat chastised, admitted that the sap was so frustrating he tried to rub it out the day before and stopped when he realized he was scratching it. Clay suggested a detail shop he knew that could take care of this in a bout an hour.

The game itself was unremarkable, the way most games played in oppresive heat tend to be. The highlight was when we realized that with a AAA membership card we could sit in the 300 level for 4 dollars. (what other team does membership discount deals with AAA? SOmeone save the As!) Btw, the As lost 4-3 and Vlad did not even play so I was pretty frustrated.

Back at Clay's, I sat there reading while Clay took adam to drop off his car for a "1 hour detailing to remove sap" Its around 430. i should be able to make my 6pm dinner party by 7pm nice and easy. Of course, I was not even thinking in these terms. I was severely dehydrated and only thinking about water. What to do What to do.

I don't know how much time passed but i must have fallen asleep because when Clay suggested we watch Sopranos I did not connect it to mean that this meant it was 9pm on the East coast and 6pm on the west coast. After the Sopranos I watched A&W frustratedly try to contact the detail shop and get the update on his car. When he was told it would take another 30 minutes.

By this point, i had gotten a call from my hostess for the dinner party I was meant to attend. Not knowing how to handle this, I went to base instincts (fight or flee) and of course, anyone who knows me knows how that ended. After I pressed the ignore button on my phone I decided to call Darren and half explain why I sucked. Just to practice, so I could see if I could effectively present this argument to Heather and not come off like a scrub. Mission Failed! I could not even bring myself to stick with my phone conversation with Darren, put the phone down and picked up the NYTImes Magazine and played with Clay's cat.

When we finally got to the shop, we had another problem. Suddenly, the interiors guy had run off with with A&W car keys. At this point none of us knew what to do and stood around chatting with the owner of the shop for over an hour. Anxious to get out of there himself, he suggested A&W get his spare and only need to pay on return of his original key. Clay was ready to be done with me as well and suggested that he drop us off at my place and get A&W to and fro to his house to collect the spare and later collect his ride.

By the time it was all said and done, it 10pm and I still did not know how to explain what I had done for the last 4 hours....