Volume 2, Issue 9

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein

Seven Years of Anger: I called my Dad this morning right after Amanda left for work and he offered to take me out to breakfast. We went to our favorite little restaurant, Lorie's Wildridge, out on route 20 (West 26th Street). We both saddled up to a cup of coffee and one of our normal waitresses, Beth, came up to us for our order. I ordered a short stack of pancakes, bacon, and homefries, and Dad ordered some sort of breakfast smile thing with eggs and toast, I dunno, wasn't paying attention.

What I was paying attention to was the blonde lady who was pouring coffee across the way. No, she was not attractive...she was an old boss of mine. "Say Beth, is that Lori Gadley?" Beth gave me this strange smile and said, "Why, yes it is...do you happen to know her?"

A few years ago, I was a shift manager at Country Fair in McKean. Actually, seven years ago, to be exact. And Lori was an Assistant Manager there. In the early spring, the Store Manager, Mark, who had been there for almost two years, decided it was time for him to move on, and they hired this lady, Terese, as the head of the store. At the time, Lori was going through a divorce and was a total bitch all of the time...never had time for your questions, had no patience for anyone.

For some reason, her and Terese hit it off really well...and over the next few months they forced out or fired all the male associates working there. I'm not kidding. One by one they either snapped or quit altogether. After only a few short months, I was only one of three guys working there, and long story short (long enough already), we finally had it one night and we pulled some shenanigans. The next day I was demoted (upon which I quickly quit) and the other two guys were fired.

So back to breakfast...I sat there in that booth with my dad and my blood was just boiling. I'm almost positive she had no idea who I was this morning, but still...isn't it amazing that after such a long time you can have such animosity to someone that hasn't been a part of your life for an extremely long time?

The Ol' Reliable Corner Gas: Amanda's car has never had proper air conditioning or heating while we've dated. We've never really been able to figure it out. The fan works on high, but the AC doesn't work at all. The heat worked through the fan but it only worked in super high gear. So while I was out with Dad, I questioned him about how to fix this. He, of course, only is a gearhead for pre-1990 vehicles (although he has performed admirably on my vehicles in the past, I love you dad :-D ), but he mentioned that he had a buddy who could take a look at it.

After breakfast, we went to the Sunoco station just east of Peninsula Drive. I honestly thought that it was some hole in the wall like the rest of the "stations" that litter the Erie landscape. Sure enough the guy comes out and he's like "Hey Freddy!" He took my car immediately in and called around for the part (which turned out to be a switch located deep in the heart of the dashboard). While we were waiting he shot the breeze with us, extremely nice guy who knows his stuff; his son was pretty cool too. Their owner (who they interrupted on his LUNCH BREAK to get the part!!!) returned with the switch, they installed the part and we were out of there (for a small fee, of course :-D) in no time.

Turns out they are one of (if not the oldest) family owned corporate sponsored gas stations left in Erie. I told the guy I didn't even think they actually sold gas anymore, but I will definitely stop back for gasoline (actually priced only two cents higher than the nearby Country Fair). Dad says that he actually gets better miles per gallon with the gas there. Its just nice to be able to go to a place that has decent people working there...who don't screw you in prices.

Boy, lots of parentheses there ... geez. Moving on...

The County Seat: Just so my Ferraro contingency is well aware, Amanda and I are planning on coming down to Ridgway on Saturday, July 26th. We will be bringing Townsend with us, and as far as plans go, my Mom will be going along with us. I'd like to have Amanda and Townsend meet all of you down that way while we're in the area. We also may be taking a trip to Kinzua Bridge and probably the Kinzua Dam on the way down. Any input on the visit would be greatly appreciated!!

Its been over a year I've been living with Amanda...finally might be time to bring her around to the clan!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Ugh... help? I think ... I'm ... broken."