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September 06, 2005
Some people shouldn't be pushing Geo Metros down the street.
So my coworker buddy and I were eating lunch at the Portland State University campus SubWay. It was a pretty day, and we sat outside to admire the scenery.Not the trees, mind you.
Anyhow, I saw these two people pushing a green Geo Metro out of the parking lot. Their technique was, well, interesting, to say the least. There was nobody in the car (you know, with their foot on the car-stoppy-thing?). Rather, they had somebody sticking their hand through the window to steer.
Here's the problem.
Portland, has, like, hills and stuff.
I could tell we were in for some fun when I saw their car-halting technique. Dude 1 would let go of the steering wheel, grab the B-pillar (window frame), and make like Atlas holding the planet. You go, burly guy. He managed to stop the car from rolling into oncoming traffic. Good job.
As they started around a corner, coworker guy and I were thinking..."Hmmm...doesn't that street go downhill?" We looked at each other, grabbed our lunch trash and walked briskly up the block to watch the fun.
As we got to the corner, we saw that the folks had managed to get the car down the street (it was a pretty gentle hill) and had their car stopped at the top of a ramp into an underground garage. As we walked towards them, I heard a "Yelp!" sort of sound, and much running and stomping. As we walked by, we managed to reconstruct what had happened. The dynamic duo was waiting at the top of the ramp for the gate to open, and then they were going to roll the car into the garage. Problem: The gate started closing when it didn't see a car enter immediately. So they've just gotten the car rolling down the ramp, and oops! Here comes the gate. Hence, "Yelp!".
By the time we got down there, the situation was under control. Car was in the garage (with no apparent damage) and the two pushers were congratulating each other.
Good job, folks. Next time, I'll be glad to help you instead of pointing and chuckling.
In other news, painting oriented strand board is a terrible chore. The primer is drying unevenly, and it looks pretty ghastly. Fortunately, we only need for it to have some kind o' paint on it, since we're going to close off the roof over our porch, the underside of which roof we're currently sealing to protect it from moisture.
Whoever built the roof out of OSB should have to come paint it. That stuff is a pain.
In further saga of home ownership details, this weekend B and I spent crazymoney on drapery fabric. We got one ginormous piece of really pretty cloth that now we have to hem evenly to make pretty curtains for our den. It's going to be fun. Oh yeah, and the $25 Craigslist sewing machine is super-awesome.
Currently on my soundtrack: Valerie Loves Me by Material Issue
Posted by Lee at September 6, 2005 10:17 PM