So here's the full story about what happened yesterday: After a day of work on Valentine's day that thankfully didn't feel like Valentine's day, I went out caching with Bill briefly to be first-to-find on a cache in Eagan, MN. As he went back to his fiancee, I joined up with a group of guys that were all "date-less" on Valentine's day. Ends up that half of the group actually had dates, but just were unable to attend due to geographical reasons or had dates that ended up showing up later.

I had a Rouge Dead Guy on tap, a strange English lager I'd never heard of before and a rare find of Liefman's Frombroise Lambic. I didn't want to drink anymore as I knew I would be driving home soon.

When we finally left, I was chatting on my hiptop while driving, per usual, and hit this nasty pothole on my offramp from I-94. What is most disturbing about this is that it is part of the route I take home from work every day. Last week I first saw this pothole and said, "holy shit, that's fucking huge!" I see it and avoid it every day on my way home.

I nailed this pothole with so much force that it sounded like pieces flew off my car and I thought my wheels became instantly unaligned. I was sober and aware, but I think the gloss of drinking in the hours previous prevented me from pulling over. The car seemed to drive fine minus the alignment. I am positive that my hiptop usage had many more times the distraction than the drinking did. I drove the last mile home fighting my car's tenancy to drift to the right. My tire alarm went off. I kept thinking "I am only a few blocks away from home..."

I pull into my driveway and realize I got a flat. It was not undrivable, it just lost a lot of it's air. I e-mail my boss and let him know I will be late tomorrow, as I have to bring the car in to get my flat fixed the next morning.

Ends up the next day after I drop it off and I give them an hour to fix it, they call and tell me that I have two screwed up rims and two tires that are not repairable. $977 bill. I didn't even know I had problems on the other wheel. I don't get the car back until Friday as well.

I called my insurance company and it ends up that they will cover it, minus my large deductable. I can't get a rental car paid for though, and I couldn't get a ride to work. At this point now, my boss IMs me and asks me where the hell I am. A bus ride would take me 84 minutes to one of our client's buildings, and I'd need to get an account rep to pick me up if they were there. I didn't end up getting to work today. Luckily I have a carpool now for the rest of the week.

Tonight, decided tonight to wander down to Molly Quinn's Irish Pub, which is 10 blocks away and read the book I borrowed from Lauren months ago but haven't gotten around to starting yet, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," which is a collection of 7 "Essays and Arguments" by David Foster Wallace. I figure that without my car, this is a good time to focus on some of the other things I've been wanting to do but haven't gotten around to yet. After my second Boddington's, I decided to bookmark and pay my tab.

Moral of story: Don't use the hiptop and drive.