Doesn't that seem to benefit the flower seller more than me? You can't get delivered flowers for $10.

I'm suspicious that it's really a promotional e-mail instead of a lawsuit.

I don't use my phone in the car, so that part won't affect me. I do use my iPod, though, and even though the ban doesn't include iPods, a cop won't know whether I'm fooling with a phone or an iPod before he pulls me over. I don't want to get pulled over, so I can't be switching from music to podcast on my iPod while driving in Austin anymore. It should be noted, the ban doesn't include time sitting at a stop light, so there will be plenty of opportunities for me to goof around with it in between the mobile segments of an in-town trip.

I've never been big on doing a lot of work to get rid of stuff. I just want it gone. Maybe I'll take them to Goodwill and write them off as a charitable contribution. How much would you value them for charitable purposes? $1 apiece?

Now the same has happened with my bathroom faucet. One of the supply lines sprung a leak, and I can't figure out how to replace it. Internet research only makes me more frustrated. So this morning, I went to Lowes and studied their display model. It looks like the supply lines are permanently attached to the faucet. The line springs a leak, you have to buy a new faucet. Usually a new line costs about $5, while a new faucet can be 30 times that.

The Lowes guy suggested I contact the manufacturer, so I went to their Web site. It said they were available for calls 7 days a week between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. eastern time. So I called at noon eastern time. The recording said they are only open Monday - Friday.

I'll send them an e-mail, but I'm disgusted with the inaccurate information on their Web site and more disgusted with the design of their product. Seriously... when designers design things, they should make maintenance and repair methods obvious. And if I have to purchase a whole new faucet because a $5 part on it is broken, you can bet I'm going to go with a different manufacturer.

I like Bandcamp. In the stats area (where you can see how many times people started to play your songs and aborted ) it has a Defender game. I wasn't ever very good at Defender, but it's still fun to play for a little while.

I'm pleased with my NaSoAlMo songs this year. Just some stuff about them:

• I used the tambourine I got last Christmas on Valentino's.
• I got over my fear (not really fear, but let's go with it) of playing electric guitar. Thanks to my BGFF Shann for challenging me to use it.
• For the first time ever, I think, I recorded a song that I didn't sing on. It makes me laugh a lot every time I hear it. Probably inside joke style, though. I Just Ate A Carrot features my Lunch with Brian buddy, Brian.
• I'm tired of NaSoAlMo and I don't know what else to say about it anyway, so bye.

Boris the Spider is postponed until later.

I put the new track, "I Just Ate A Carrot", together this afternoon. I'll still probably monkey around with the other tracks to try to fix some things that make me cringe, but as far as writing and recording 29:09 minutes worth of music, I've done that. I'm at 30:01 right now.

Progress:

• NaSoAlMo 1: The Things I Have Left (Done 4:21)
• NaSoAlMo 2: Orbit (Done 5:07)
• NaSoAlMo 3: Staycation (Done 4:18)
• NaSoAlMo 4: When I Awake (Done 3:54)
• NaSoAlMo 5: Valentino's (Done 4:55)
• NaSoAlMo 6: Sandman Stories (Done 3:30)
• NaSoAlMo 7: Q-Tips, Tissues and Tampons (Done 1:42)
• NaSoAlMo 8: I Just Ate A Carrot (Done 2:14)

So I sent my request for $10 worth of quarters from my savings account, and a lady's visage pops into the TV screen. She says, "Money Market?" I didn't know why, so I started from the beginning: "I would like $10 worth of quarters from my savings account." She replies, "Money market?"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

After a couple more exchanges, she told me I only had $5 in savings. She could have told me that to begin with. That wasn't too much of a surprise, though, because I don't keep much in that account. So I asked her to take the $10 of quarters out my checking account. She says, "Your checking is overdrawn by $197." Wha??? I'm never overdrawn!!

She offers to transfer $197 from the money market to the checking to cover. I agreed, but later thought that was really stupid. Bringing my checking account to a $0 balance is no more help than it was when it was $-197. The next debit or check that came through would overdraw it again.

When I got back to work, I got on my bank Web site and transferred some more money. I looked at the activity and couldn't figure out why I was overdrawn. I had to wait until I got home, and so it was nagging at me all afternoon.

Turns out I forgot to account for my auto-drawn car payment two months in a row. AND I forgot to reconcile my account at the beginning of this month, or I would have caught it.

The insult to injury? The two $40 penalties they charged me are itemized in my account as "Courtesy Pay." It's better than bouncing the payments, but still... it doesn't *feel* courteous. Jerks.

I started listening through the other tracks to see what I might do to them. I made some adjustments to fix the muddy guitar or "Orbit," although I'm not sure I was successful. My ears aren't great, and I don't know what I'm doing. heh

I also added cymbal and gong to "Sandman Stories." I don't have a cymbal or a gong, but I have cymbal and gong sounds on my iPod Touch. The app is called Cowbell Plus. Yee Haw!

I uploaded the first song I recorded, so if you're ready to start listening, here's The Things I Have Left. It was my first crack at using electric guitar as the main instrument.

Progress:

• NaSoAlMo 1: The Things I Have Left (Done 4:21)
• NaSoAlMo 2: Orbit (Done 5:07)
• NaSoAlMo 3: Staycation (Done 4:18)
• NaSoAlMo 4: When I Awake (Done 3:54)
• NaSoAlMo 5: Valentino's (Done 4:55)
• NaSoAlMo 6: Sandman Stories (Done 3:30)
• NaSoAlMo 7: Q-Tips, Tissues and Tampons (Done 1:42)
• NaSoAlMo 8: Boris the Spider (Maybe!)