hurc *kinda* gets mugged again

so I brought my car in today to the dealer for one of those scheduled major tuneups, at 48000km, where they do a more complete checkup than the usual every 8000 clicks. It had only been about 2 months since the last tuneup at 40000km, so that tells you how much I've driven back and forth between Ottawa and Montreal. I knew right off the bat that this was going to cost me about $250. Ouch.

Anyway, I had also recently noticed that the brakes were kinda "jerky" when stopping, so I told the dealer about it. Leave my car in the morning before work, and pick it up after work.

5pm comes and I get to the dealer. He tells me they found the problem. Without getting too technical, he tells me the front right caliper seized. So because of that, that caliper, plus rotor and pads would need to be replaced. Lucky me, the caliper would be covered under the extended warranty I had purchased. But the rotor and pads would not be, since they were considered consumable parts.

How much does this set me back? Parts and labour, $400. Double Ouch.

hurc *thinks* he got mugged

ok. so I've been neglecting this blog. I've got a lot of little anecdotes I'd like to tell you guys, but for now, here's something that happened to me last night.

I was graciously invited over to Deviline's place for dinner last night. I decided that it was a pretty decent night, a little cool around 8pm but still good, so I would just walk over. Door to door, wearing my trusty iPod, it took a 10-minute brisk walk to get there.

Dinner was already ready when I entered. It's always nice to have a home cooked meal. Thanks Deviline. :) After eats, we watched CSI. It was alright last night, not one of the best I've seen. After the show, it was around 10pm, time to go home. M. had offered to drive me home, but I declined. The time it would have taken to go to the garage, drive out, wait for the lights, etc etc, was not worth the trouble. It's only a few blocks. What could possibly happen?

Halfway home, I was walking past this house when some guy exited the front door. Didn't think much of it.

He walks right up to my left and says: "Yo!"

I take off my iPod to hear him better. "You got any spare change?", he says.

He looked a little agitated, so I figure a little generosity would save me some trouble. I pull out my wallet to give him some change.

As I'm doing that, he says in a quicken pace: "You got any loonies? Twonies?"

So I open the change pocket of my wallet, grab a few coins, and reach out to hand them to him.

Then he says: "You got any bills?"

At that exact moment, I started to get a little nervous. Bills? I mean, pan handlers usually that aggressive, at least not the ones in Montreal. Even the squeegees are happy with a couple of quarters.

He continues with an even quicker speech: "Comon', comon'. Gimme all your change. "

Now, he's no longer really asking me to spare change. He's telling me to do it. Without thinking, I empty out the pocket and hand him all the change I had. I don't even have time to freak out when he turns around and starts chasing after another guy who passes by an alley on a bike.

"Hey you!", he yells at him, as he runs away with a handful of my change.

I'm two blocks away from home, so I continue walking, still not really realizing or even understanding what had just happened. I keep looking over my shoulder, thinking he would come back after me and ask me for the rest of my money or even my iPod. I quickly enter my building and into my appartment. I stop and ponder on the events of the last 10 minutes.

This guy never pointed any weapon at me, nor did he scream or talk to me in a loud voice. But he did look and sound agitated. He wasn't really threatening me, and I don't think I was ever in any real danger. But I did feel threatened. All he took off with was maybe $5 worth of change. I should be glad nothing else happened.

Did I get mugged? Did I get lucky? Am I being paranoid? Still feeling a bit weird today...

hurc is a lazy bum

after weeks of waiting, I finally got Internet at my digs in Ottawa. I promised Gravy that I would blog tonight, so here I am.

Only, I'm so sleepy right now, so I'm going to hit the sack. But don't worry, I will tell you guys about the last few weeks very soon. :)