not what I want to see out my window

She showed up shortly after I got home from work and is still there.  And yes, it's a lady cop.

I don't care for it.  I'd much prefer seeing this nice guy across the street:

a nice guy

Yesterday at work we were visited by this handsome gentleman who was in fact a police dog actively accompanying a policeman.

I was under the impression that you weren't supposed to pet police dogs but this guy was all too eager to have us hang out with Ex.  He even said he'd come by whenever he saw us working.

I can't wait.  He was all smiles and nice pets.

tyler

source

The resemblance is uncanny!

In case you missed the saga of Tyler you can read it in this post but basically he is apparently wanted by the police and they are uncertain of exactly what he looks like.

I mean, we are both white, we both have two eyes, two ears, a mouth, and a nose, but I feel like that's pretty much where the similarities end.

After reading his stats (here) I feel like I could never be as cool as Tyler.  The cops should have realized that right off the bat.  I bet Tyler wouldn't have handed over his i.d. so willingly, he would have shanked them, shanked them good!

When I told Dan that Ariel and Kim had found Tyler the first thing he asked was, "on facebook?".  It hadn't even occurred to me to facebook him but that is my next order of business.

If nothing else I feel like I should warn him that the police are hot on his heels.  And by hot on his heels I mean they were driving around one neighborhood for an entire afternoon stopping people who look nothing like him.

update

You know when you get to that point where each new thing that's piled on top of you really doesn't even seem like a big deal because you've become numb to reality.  That's where I am right now.

Just thinking back on the past few days I can't believe all of the craziness that has happened.

The biggest event (and main reason for my absence from posting) is that my grandfather was hit by a car on saturday afternoon.  You can read the newspaper article about it here if you're interested.  The good news is that he is doing better and better each time we go to check on him, although he is still in the I.C.U.  If it were up to him he'd be back on his bike riding around town, thankfully the nurses recognize that he is a 90+ year old who got hit by a car and are making him rest and taking good care of him.  Of course as his condition stabilizes it means that our attention has to turn from him to all of the terrible details that you have to deal with during times like this.  I don't even want to get in to that all now, just know, terrible.

So I drove up on Sunday morning, which is when I saw this:

What does it mean?!  I don't understand.  I would appreciate somebody (ryan) researching this and getting back to me, thanks.

Besides being in and out of the hospital, Sunday finished without too much further drama.  I spent the night with my sister which was like a super fun slumber party.  Especially because I got to sleep with this handsome (and fragrant) guy:

He pretty much just decided that he would be spending the night with me and then plopped himself down right in the middle of the bed where he remained for the rest of the night.  It was very nice and made me feel better since I guiltily left kitty in Ft. Lauderdale with several giant bowls of food and water but no company.

Which is why I had decided that I'd try to stay until my grandfather got transferred out of the I.C.U. and in to a regular room, which they said would happen at some point on monday.  Little did I know what adventures waited for me on Monday!

We visited our grandfather in the morning and then my sister had some work to do so I headed over to my dad's to collect some things I had left there.  I was walking from his place to the garbage area when I heard a car coming up behind me.  I didn't think anything of it until I noticed that it slowed down considerably as it got close to me.  This being Florida I assumed it was some old person that got nervous around pedestrians so I was surprised (and grossed out) when I looked and saw that it was two rather portly gentlemen in a grey sedan who were both staring at me.  As soon as I saw them they slowed down even more and I gave them a grossed out look and continued walking.  They kept creepin' alongside me so I turned to give them a dirty look again which is when they stopped and the driver opened his door and said, "Tyler!".

I said, "nope" and continued to walk away when he told me to hold on and I could hear him coming up on me.  I turned around again and he was flashing his badge and saying that he was the sheriff.  He asked me if I had any idea on me so I gave him my drivers license.  As he scrutinized it the other guy, who had gotten out as well, asked me how it was going.  Oh you know, fine, just in town visiting my grandfather in the hospital and now i'm getting harassed by the police, how are you guys?

But before I could say anything the original officer asked me if I had another form of i.d. that corroborated I wasn't the much ballyhoo'd Tyler.  As I handed him my credit card I asked them what was going on.  He glanced at it and then said, "We are looking for somebody who looks like you, I guess you're not him, have a good day" and then they got back in the car and proceeded to drive around my dad's neighborhood for I don't know how long.

SO WEIRD!!

I felt like I was being stopped by the gestapo to show my papers.  I am slightly curious about this Tyler character and what he did.

'Wow' I thought, 'what other craziness is going to happen to me?'

The answer, this:

After leaving my father's I was tooting down the road when I heard a funny noise.  Thinking it was a weird part of the song I was listening to I kept driving.  About a block later I noticed I didn't have any power steering, followed by realizing that like every single emergency light was on.  Huzzah!

Apparently one of my belts broke, and when it broke it whipped around the engine like willow smith and broke several other things.

For the second time in as many months I had to watch my car get loaded on a wrecker and towed away:

It looks so sad and small.

CRAZINESS!!!

My sister picked me up from the garage and we went to visit with my grandfather for the afternoon.  I told him about my car and he very generously offered to let me use his car since he's not using it anyways.

So last I drove my grandfather's oldsmobile intrigue down to Ft. Lauderdale to check on this precious angel (seen here in simpler times):

He barely ate any food or drank any water, but definitely seemed like he was glad that I was home.  I don't know what's going on with him, and now I need to figure out if I'm bringing him back with me or leaving him here again.  This is why I need friends in Ft. Lauderdale.  Well that and friends are nice in general.

Driving around in my grandfathers car I realized that I've gone from this:

source

to this:

source

and I'm ok with it.  I mean, it does speak to MI6 having a little more style than the F.B.I. but Mulder and Scully don't need to impress anybody, they have each other... and the aliens.

And there you have it, (most) of the crazy things that have happened to me in the past few days.  Those of you with a way to contact me directly feel free to, I don't know that I'll be able to talk but texts are nice.  Otherwise you'll have to wait until I get another chance to update.  For now I've got to shower and run errands here before heading back up to Sarasota.

And remember to watch for cyclists!

not my gulf

The sea was angry that day my friends.  I don't know why, but it was.  The water was actually not terribly cold, but the current was moving so swiftly that you had to have your wits about you at all time.

I don't care for that as much.  I prefer my ocean to be more like a tepid bath that i can soak my weary drunken bones in without fear of coming to and finding myself 8 miles off shore.

But yesterday proved to be a bad beach day in or out of the water.  There were gale force winds, there were ominous storm clouds, and worst of all, there was the police.  I don't know why, but I was laying on my towel staring up at the sky when I suddenly felt I wasn't alone.  I sat up and saw a police man just standing a few feet away from me surveying the beach.  I suddenly became very aware of myself and worried that I had something illegal that I didn't realize was illegal.

The point is, while yesterday looked beautiful out of my window, or through my camera lens, it turned out to be more of a bust.  I guess I'll just have to wait for the lake to have tranquil water relaxation time.

Until then...