So, the van headed off to the repair shop yesterday, and not under its own power. Not that it doesn’t run (it’s a Chevy, and every Chevy I’ve ever had was great at starting, with the possible exception of my ’76 Chevette, which had so many problems, I can’t remember if starting was one of them). No, last weekend while we were out and about, doing some happy homeowner shopping that required something with a bit more space than the Hyundai has, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. I couldn’t pump them back up, but managed to drive home brakeless (fortunately we weren’t far away). The brake fluid reservoir was full, so I have a feeling I pooped a seal in the master cylinder or power booster or something. There was a time when I’d have tried to fix it myself, but not any more (besides, have you ever tried to bleed the brakes with just one person? It’s kind of like playing ping-pong with yourself). So, we’ll see how much this costs me.

Another item to add to the long list of shit I don’t get comes via a new survey from Public Policy Polling. A majority of those surveyed say that Sarah Palin is unfit to be President. That part I get, of course, but the margin is 55%-37%. How can 37% of people say she’s fit to be President. I mean, on what are they basing this?

In addition, respondents were asked whether Palin’s announcement that she will resign as Governor of Alaska makes them more or less likely to support her for president. Only 30% say more likely, with 57% saying less likely, and 14% not sure.

OK, so how would somebody quitting in the middle of their first term as Governor make you more likely to vote for them?

Looks like I get to go to Adobe Max 2009 in LA this October. Should be fun (other than having to deal with flying, of course). I’ve never been to LA (never had a desire to go to LA, to be honest), and I don’t know how much I’ll get to see of it. I’ve only been to California once, and that was to San Francisco, which was nice, I guess. It happened to be Fleet Week while I was there, which was quite a spectacle, and there were tons of great little outdoor places where you could have a drink and hear a band (watched a Navy band that really rocked, which was kind of surreal, as they were all wearing their sailor suits), and that was cool.

Camping in Muir Woods was really nice. My rental car got broken into and my shit was ripped off while I was camping and hiking at Point Reyes National Seashore (I used to do a lot of hiking and camping back in the day, and that’s the only place something like that has ever happened), and got ripped off buying a bogus hit of acid down at the pier somewhere (which I half expected; I think I was just happy it didn’t kill me), and saw more homeless people than I’d ever seen before being a hick from the sticks and all), so I don’t have especially warm and fuzzy feelings for the area. It probably would have been a lot more fun if I hadn’t been alone, but that’s how I rolled back in those days.

Oh well, time to get this party started.