My bosses decided that I had to take some vacation time, so I took this week off.  Those of you that know me are very much aware of how much I dislike summer and the heat that comes with it, so yeah, August is the PERFECT time to force me to take vacation.  They probably made me take time off so they can get a new manager. I bet they spent the week interviewing people to replace me anyway.  I'll come back to a pink slip!  I should sound sad, right?

Nah, with my luck, they still love me and want me to work there forever.  I really should update my resume though. I'll do that when I'm done with this.

Since I had the time, I decided to drive up and see my parents for a few days. The 8-hour drive seems to get easier each time I do it. My car may disagree though, especially during the mountainous part of it.

I left here around 7am and got up there around 3pm on Saturday and got home around 2pm yesterday. I'm exhausted and have no desire to get behind the wheel of a car in the near future, but I had a really good time. My folks are doing well. It was relaxing to go up there and to not "have" to do anything, apart from help my parents with some electrics-based stuff.

My dad is funny.  I was checking the Netflix on his Roku and he was pointing out that he doesn't watch it much anymore because of the "Recommended Viewing"  lists that show-up when he logs-in. Apparently, he REALLY doesn't like to be told what he should watch, LOL.  He said "fuck them" a few times.  Ha! I need to see if I can go online and try to get rid of them for him.

Speaking of my dad, he showed me the area on the car that intakes air from the outside and circulates it through the filter to the inside of the car. While he didn't notice the smell that my super-nose smells, he said that if I spray Lysol into that area, it should kill the smell. We tried Febreeze and it worked for a little bit. I think it's weird that the intake is in the area where the windshield and the hood meet. I thought it would be under the hood! I probably won't use Lysol though, nasty smell and too many chemicals. He said a friend used vinegar and water (a douche for your car!) and it worked for them. I'll probably try that before I put smelly chemical-ly Lysol in there.

I feel bad that their cat is really sick. I think he's around 18 now and his illness has progressed pretty far. He's also really thin and is having some mobility problems. Poor baby.  Both parents are taking it pretty hard.

I probably gained about 20lbs in the 5 days I was up there! Every night was a different, delicious dinner, the best being when my dad barbecued strip steaks. One of the things I've missed since they moved is my dad's barbecue. He's a master at it! I was lucky enough when I was growing-up  to have him teach me his secrets, but I don't have a barbecue to use them!

When I got home, I had a very pissed-off cat waiting for me.  He's STILL yelling!!   He's also really fat! I thought cats only ate when they were hungry?  Not my fat-assed cat!! He over ate just to prove a point that he can't be left alone. Clever move, but he still can't go with me on the next trip.

I'm going to tonight's Dead Authors (second to last monthly show) and I'm really looking forward to it. Luckily my friend is driving up, after she visits a friend, so she's picking me up so I don't have to drive.

Other than that, it's a quiet weekend ahead. Just a couple of trips to the grocery store and Trader Joe's early tomorrow.  I think CicLAvia is sometime this weekend.  If the street closures are what they usually close, I don't think I'll be moving my car!

UPDATE: I just had both of my friends cancel for tonight.  They didn't even know the other one was going and I got a text from each of them 1 minute apart. I'm bummed. It's too late to try and get other people to go. One of the friends has cancelled many times, so I think I'm done buying tickets for people.