I saw it coming

Not sure I believe in ghosts, reincarnation (well, that I know for sure I don't) or even deja vu. But omens...yeah, those are real.

Wake up Saturday and head to the post office to send out some rebates on nifty yet unnecessary electronic gadgets. Always fun to buy something just because 3 months later you'll get a whopping $10 check in the mail. But I digress. The post office has me covered with an electronic shipping station, perfect for creating your own stamps and postage (I guess I could do it at home). I punch in my information and swipe my debit card - the machine asks for my PIN, but I'm still sleepy and think it says zip code. Hey, I'm part Polish.

After mucking up my debit card, I switch to credit and the thing goes through. "Dumb me" I think and head next door to my bank just to try my ATM card one more time and see if it's really dead or not. It is and I have to call the nice 1-800-weownyouinfees bank folks and play nice so they'll unblock it. They do and I'm happy.

But all of this was a very, very bad omen.

I head over to my fiance's grandparents house (future grandparents-in-laws?) to spend some time with her while she nanny-sits her great grandmother. She's old but still in fairly good health but like a lot of people in their late 80s/90s she isn't all there all the time. Which leads to some funny situations and comments, but also drives my fiance crazy over long periods of time.

Halfway there, I ram a lowered white Honda Civic hatchback. Doh! I had tucked in behind him (I also drive a lowered, black Honda Civic hatchback) when a left arrow turned yellow, knowing that such like-minded drivers with great taste in cars normally see yellow like a bull sees red. Alas, he slammed on his brakes in mid turn and I gave him a nice little love tap. He checked the bumper, I asked if he was okay, he said he's fine and we were off when the light turned green. DEFCON MAJOR SCREWUP was narrowly averted.

The whole weekend I planned to change the oil and when I finally made it to my fiance's grandparents (let's call it fg's from here) I probably should have thought otherwise and/or took a nap. I don't mind getting oily/dirty though and figured I should get it over with before the sun went down.

I change the oil in her car with no problems. I start successfully on mine, refill the oil and lower it down. I back it out, I double check her car to make sure there's no leaks and...UH OH. Black gold everywhere - in the garage, running down the driveway. Genius forgot to put the oil filter back on his car. I summon the strength not to cry and to look for a noose hanging in the garage. What an idiot.

We manage to clean most of it (save the driveway stain, which not even kitty litter or brake cleaner or soap and water or rain managed to clean off completely) although I'm still feeling like a chump. What would make me feel better? Why some nice gaming with the 360 after work on Monday.

I leave a little early, get home and figure the nice virtual world of Crackdown is a great place to take out some anger. Can you see what's coming? I wish it would have been smoke and fire, maybe it would have been a little more climatic. Either way, the 360 decides to quit working, freezing after I get through the menu of the game. I reboot, red rings of death and a sense of completeness for my weekend. Yet I am not satisfied. Reboot after reboot, freezing everywhere - on startup, in game once levels are loaded, with and without accessories or hard drive.

So after all that, whatever little joy I should have received from gaming also was ripped away from my oily greasy hands. What a weekend. What a Monday.