Unsafe at any speed.

Katie was in a car accident.  She is fine and the lady who she pulled out in front of is fine too.  I feel really bad for her because I know exactly how she feels.  I took a left turn right in front of somebody too when I was 17.  It is the worst feeling ever.

Luckily for Katie she has a very sympathetic family.  As of yesterday every member of my family has been in a car accident that was our fault and totaled at least one car (in my case it was two.)  It's weird because I wouldn't consider anybody in my family a bad driver (although the people we got into accidents with might disagree.)

After my first accident every adult child had already been in an accident and my mom made each of us a framed certificate and gave them to us for Christmas (my accident was on 12/3/1998.)  There is a picture of a tow truck on it and it says "The Williams Family.  Established 1973.  Our Motto: Unsafe at any Speed."

My mother was really hoping her baby would avoid the Williams family fate.  Unfortunately my father's bad luck with cars was genetically engineered into his children.  And so here it is the day after the accident.  A family made whole with mangled cars in our wake.

So here is a warning to the good people of Portland, Vancouver and Wilsonville.  We are out there.  We are driving in your neighbors, on your streets, in your school zones.  I suggest you drive defensively because heaven knows, we aren't. 

You have been warned.

Carpooling.

When I was younger (and a smoker) I loved to drive. I would hop into my '87 Ford Tempo, drive down to the beach and slowly smoke my life away. Over the years I've starting to like driving less and less. And even with the addition of my new car I haven't really gotten the urge to drive back.

Driving in the city is the worst. Plus I haven't really spent any time trying to figure out how to get around Portland besides my little corner of it. So I get lost a lot when I venture out to the greater East Side.

Katie lives right across the street from me. I have actually hollered across the street at her when I saw her washing her truck one day ala Desperate Housewives. Then some poor pedestrian walked by and it got awkward.

I started a new job recently and it's right on the way to Katie's work. So after much deliberation and Katie buying a new car (she blogged about that!) we are now carpooling.

She's a hands-free driver:

It's been going pretty good. I just walk across the street every morning and go get the keys then I go warm up the car until Katie comes out and then we leave. I just kill some time after five at the office and then Katie comes and picks me up. And then I just give her 5 bucks at the end of the week. It's fabulous!

These are my knees, being passengers:

They are so good at that.

Hey! I'm moving! I'm having small panic attacks thinking about moving all my stuff again. But more on this later.

Here is what is going on outside my kitchen window:


Looks like it is going to be another beautiful day!