Replacement iPhone, blackout, a close call on the highway
First things first, I got my new iPhone. I had lost my old one the night of my birthday, it having likely fallen out of my pocket into a taxi from the same pants I lost my trusty SCP-4000. Comfortable those pants but negligent in their holding of valuables! And I say "old", but I only had that iPhone for about 3 months, sigh. So, it turns out that to replace a 16 GB iPhone costs $650 CDN I kid you not. Once again I had to turn to Rogers customer service to rant about the price thrust upon me. After an anxious wait they offered me a refurbished one for $250 which I greedily took. It has since arrived and iTunes, surprisingly to me, restored all my files and setting properly and conveniently so that I am back to where I was, minus $250 but without the scratches and the wonky Home button my old iPhone had. Today I applied that Invisible Shield I had ordered on-line, a small project reminiscent of my days working with vinyl graphics.
Second things second, my apartment went without electricity for some 24 hours starting Thursday night when that water pipe or whatever burst. I went to work Friday early, though being cellphone-less and watch-less I could only guess what time I was leaving home. The plan was to try to make it to Kitchener for dinner and drinks with friends that evening but the streetcar ride home was held up because the power was STILL out in my area some 18 hours later. Pissed me to no end that did, but I managed to pull myself out of my rage and gather my things (with the aid of my bicycle lamp) and drove to KW to make a late dinner. I ended up having a good time, Starlight serving well at keeping me entertained thoughout the night.
I ended up staying much of the next day in KW, playing Xbox and eating and shopping. By early evening the weather had gotten quite ugly, the roads well snowed over, the street lines hidden, car tracks fading into black lines on white. It wasn't until Mississauga that I drove by an accident, a three-car collision taking up two 401 lanes. Some would take such a vision as a warning, but no, I kept on going on, zipping happily away at 80-100 km/h until, not more than a few minutes from the accident I started losing control of my Echo as I was switching lanes. My rear starting swerving wildly, so I attempted to keep my front tires pointing towards my forward travel vector, turning the wheel vigorously and automatically. The car would have none of it however and I suddenly found myself facing the wrong direction into oncoming traffic though still moving westward. Thankfully the other cars had all slowed down by now and kept their distance. I'm not sure how it happened but the car started to slip rear-first into the highway divider, visions of slamming into it entering my head even as I slammed the brakes. I spun the steering wheel in an effort to get the right facing and, thankfully, very quickly found myself facing west again, that blessed path. Breathing a sigh of relief I got up to speed and continued on my way, little evidence of my adventure though I'm sure my tracks would speak quite the tale. The whole thing probably happened in a space of 4 or 5 seconds though they felt eternal. I was lucky I had a lot of space to play with (it was that stretch between the 410 and 427, by the airport) and that no one was close by but MAN it spooked me.
Second things second, my apartment went without electricity for some 24 hours starting Thursday night when that water pipe or whatever burst. I went to work Friday early, though being cellphone-less and watch-less I could only guess what time I was leaving home. The plan was to try to make it to Kitchener for dinner and drinks with friends that evening but the streetcar ride home was held up because the power was STILL out in my area some 18 hours later. Pissed me to no end that did, but I managed to pull myself out of my rage and gather my things (with the aid of my bicycle lamp) and drove to KW to make a late dinner. I ended up having a good time, Starlight serving well at keeping me entertained thoughout the night.
I ended up staying much of the next day in KW, playing Xbox and eating and shopping. By early evening the weather had gotten quite ugly, the roads well snowed over, the street lines hidden, car tracks fading into black lines on white. It wasn't until Mississauga that I drove by an accident, a three-car collision taking up two 401 lanes. Some would take such a vision as a warning, but no, I kept on going on, zipping happily away at 80-100 km/h until, not more than a few minutes from the accident I started losing control of my Echo as I was switching lanes. My rear starting swerving wildly, so I attempted to keep my front tires pointing towards my forward travel vector, turning the wheel vigorously and automatically. The car would have none of it however and I suddenly found myself facing the wrong direction into oncoming traffic though still moving westward. Thankfully the other cars had all slowed down by now and kept their distance. I'm not sure how it happened but the car started to slip rear-first into the highway divider, visions of slamming into it entering my head even as I slammed the brakes. I spun the steering wheel in an effort to get the right facing and, thankfully, very quickly found myself facing west again, that blessed path. Breathing a sigh of relief I got up to speed and continued on my way, little evidence of my adventure though I'm sure my tracks would speak quite the tale. The whole thing probably happened in a space of 4 or 5 seconds though they felt eternal. I was lucky I had a lot of space to play with (it was that stretch between the 410 and 427, by the airport) and that no one was close by but MAN it spooked me.
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