Absolutely nothing eventful at all happened during my 160+ mile trek in the truck today. Actually, I should say that to the naked eye of any bystanders, nothing eventful happened. I, of course, was having one long panic attack the whole time, especially when confronted by things like stop signs or red lights. I was much better on the trip home, until it got dark outside. I hate driving at night no matter what vehicle I happen to be in.

The most eventful thing of the whole day was rolling into my hometown to find streets blocked off for a big parade/party/grand reopening for the Nimitz Center. Had my mother mentioned the town was going to be a nut house today, I would have gone yesterday. The traffic was worse there than in Austin, and there were brainless tourists wandering around everywhere not paying any attention at all to the walk/don’t walk signs. Just ’cause there’s a party going on doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay attention to where (and when) you are walking!!

Also, don’t ask about how many tries it took me to get backed out of my mother’s driveway either. Ugh. I’m glad no one I know was watching.

You want to know what Lin did while I was gone? The bastard went to IKEA without me!!!! ARGH!!!! How dare he?! Since he found a totally awesome TV stand for about $50, and he’s now going on about all the great things one can get at IKEA for really great prices, I won’t be too angry with him. I told him so, but NOOOO, can’t listen to me when I say we need to go to IKEA because we could actually afford to buy the furniture there.

The secret admission for the day? The truck is actually fun to drive. Quite peppy, and when I stopped at gas stations to buy sodas, all the Texas boys were hitting on me. Apparently, a small girl driving a largish truck is something of an attraction. Boys are silly. I still need to get used to where things are in the truck and improve my shifting skills, but I think I’m going to like driving it just fine once I am more confident behind the wheel. I can’t wait to go grocery shopping ALONE later this week.

Oh, the rest of the day? Nothing can be done about my mother’s computer. It’s just freaking old and outdated. I have finally convinced her to switch to a Mac, and so next month, she’ll be getting a Mac Mini … and a new printer. The final selling point on getting her to switch to a Mac? I pointed out to her that upgrading from Windows 98 to Vista was going to entail learning just as much new stuff and be just as different for her as switching to OS X, and at least I can help her with a Mac. I will not be learning anything at all about Vista, so she’d be totally on her own with it. Score one for the Orbster!!! She created an Apple convert!

I have to go watch Lin put together the TV stand, and then I want to watch my TV shows, and then … bed. I am beat. Maintaining a death grip on a steering wheel for several hours in one day can really take it out of you.