Day: June 11, 2007

Whereever I may roam… damnit.

D'Arque Bishop

I admit to annoyance.

I guess I should have known this was going to be a terrible week when I was putting the Avenger into the garage yesterday. Despite my being careful, when I opened the door I accidentally jammed it against a support board. I got it unstuck, but it took a small one-inch strip of paint off the door edge. *grumble* I took the parents to dinner at Friday’s last night; on the way home, we stopped by Advance Auto Parts to buy new door edging for the car. Now the strip is hidden, plus the door is protected. I also ended up getting replacement license plate frames for the car, as I didn’t like the ones from the dealership. The new ones are plain black metal, and match the car very well. However, I digress…

I got to the office this morning, and pretty much had to hit the ground running. Over the weekend we had finished a massive upgrade to our ERP software, and I had to deal with many of the post-upgrade support issues. In addition, I had to get a coworker’s new Blackberry operational before he left for China, and before the day was over I knew I would have to go to the datacenter to work on some of the terminal servers. Then, just after lunch, the bombshell was dropped.

Tomorrow evening I’m leaving for Villahermosa, and I won’t be back until Friday morning.

*sigh* I had known this trip was coming, but I had been hoping for a week’s more leeway… especially as I had just gotten back from a two day trip to Odessa on Friday. Still, it annoys me. I had hoped to go to a former coworker’s new house on Thursday to play poker, and that just got shot all to hell. Oh, well… at least I won’t be the only one from the company there. One of the VPs is going to pick me up from the airport tomorrow night and take me to the hotel. It saves me from having to get a cab and trying to communicate with a taxi driver who can’t speak English…

*sigh* Normally I don’t mind travelling. I really don’t. It’s just that the international trips for the company tend to be at the most oddball times and causes me to go to bed very late or get up very early. Neither is very conducive to my peace of mind, as Misty will tell you I need my sleep. :-/ Oh, well… I plan on leaving work after lunch tomorrow so I can drive home and get packed before the flight. I’ll probably post from Villahermosa later this week to discuss how my trip is going. For now, though, I should get to bed. I’ll need my rest before tomorrow…

Warning: trying Hollywood auto stunts may be potentially fatal.

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4880884.html

One man died after his car crashed through the wall of a downtown parking garage and landed on the roof of an adjacent building tonight, the Houston Fire Department said.

No other other injuries were reported this evening.

Authorities currently are trying to identify the victim, said Assistant Chief Omero Longoria, HFD spokesman.

The crash was reported about 6:30 p.m. when authorities said the victim’s Ford Mustang convertible punched through a brick wall in the parking garage at Houston House Apartments, 1600 Fannin.

The car fell approximately five floors and landed on the roof of an adjacent building, Longoria said.

After the fall, the car landed on its roof and firefighters appeared to be using the “jaws of life” to extricate the dead man.

Meredith Meredith Morin, 37, a Houston House resident, said she was standing on the sidewalk in front of the building saying goodbye to her mother, Hilda, when the crash happened.

Morin said she heard an explosion, looked up and saw a maroon-colored Mustang crashing through the wall. Bricks soon came crashing down on the sidewalk around her, she said.

For those not familiar with downtown Houston, the Houston House Apartments are almost smack dab in the middle of downtown and the building is easily seen while travelling down the Pierce Elevated. I don’t know what could have prompted someone to do that, but I’m willing to bet it was either drug/alcohol related or a malfunction on the car itself. Still… damn.