ADIOS RED, HELLO GRAY

Here's the detail of the back end of Mike's ex-car. AAA came through in sterling fashion, and Red now has been replaced with a new 5-door grey Focus. R.I.P. Red. Wonder if Mike was able to salvage the LSUJMB decal?

JULY 4th

It was a great day for the Palisades 5k/10k. About 59 degrees and heavy low clouds, no wind. We walked over to the staging area and all the runners walking to the start from wherever they parked their cars looked like lemmings converging on a cliff. The highest bib numbers we saw were in the 3200's, so I guess they had about that number of (registered) runners. Ran into Karen and Jason and took their photo. Some people just naturally take good pictures. Jase hasn't been doing any training, but had a decent run in the low 20's. He was beaten, however, by Noah, by a minute or so. Didn't catch up to Noah to get a photo as he disappeared into the crowd. Louis Lebhertz did the national anthem. You just can't beat an opera-trained bass. He "took charge" of the song and everyone there stood up a little straighter. Too bad he's moving to Monterey and won't be back to do the honors again next year. I've had much trouble trying to post his picture here. I'll try again. Nope. Blogger stalled again and wouldn't load the photo. I think I'll have to close this post and start another since I've tried multiple times.

TOTALED!

Well, the adjustor finally came. Mike opened the garage door and the guy didn't move a step before blurting: "That's a total!" He then did his documentation and photos and said we'd hear back from AAA next week regarding settlement. Anticipating (perhaps unfairly, but hey-- it's an insurance company) a lowball proposal, we're gathering ads for 2003 Foci to establish our bottom line, which looks like $10k, less our deductible. This was a nice-running, good-looking car that will be missed. Adios, ZX2+1/2.