Monday...

Sunday was bad and good.  Started like this...

Woke up a little later than I planned but still earlier enough.  I was going to meet my brother and his girlfriend for snowboarding.  It had rained the night before and my car was nice and clean.  Packed up my stuff and headed out.  On my way to the freeway I stopped and got gas - $70!!!  My stupid Jeep is making me broke (I shall elaborate more on this in a bit).  Got on the freeway and was flying.  Then hit traffic... at 7am.  Cars were at a complete stop - RIDICULOUS.  Was stopped for about 20 minutes and then started moving.  I saw no sign of any accident by the way.  Started flying again and I was making good time.  Started going up the hill and it was raining pretty hard.  I was getting excited because this meant that it would be snowing on the mountain.  I started to make my way up the mountain and then had to turn around to buy some snow chains.  Unfortunately my Jeep is only 2WD.  So I turned around, drove about 10 minutes and bought some chains.  Side note - I actually already own a pair of snow chains, heavy duty ones too, but they were left at my old apartment with my ex-girlfriend.  Whomp whomp.

So I bought the chains and made my way back up to the checkpoint.  I pulled over and put the chains on my tires.  Wasn't too hard and only took about 25 minutes.  Felt like longer though because it was COLD and WINDY.  I started to drive off and then I hear a thumping sound.  I thought it was just the chains getting used to the car but it was really unnatural sounding.  I pulled over and took a look at my tires and the chains on my left tire had torn.  Apparently I bought some defective chains.  So with only one side of snow chains on my car, I made my way back down and went to the same store and bought another set.  They wouldn't refund me or exchange.  Apparently it's a manufacturers thing and I have to take it up with them.  It was a like a convenience store with only this Asian lady there.  So I just bought another set.  I put the left side on my car right there just in case it broke again but luckily it didn't.  I made my way up and finally got to the resort.  By the way, luckily I didn't just risk driving up with only one side of snow chains on because as it got snowy and the entire road was cold and covered, I could feel my front tires sliding.

So, I finally got to the resort, parked, saw a family with their kids and dog running in the snow (really cute), and started getting ready to snowboard.  Let me just say that I haven't been boarding since last February 2010 when I was in Vancouver for the Olympics.  Great place to snowboard by the way.  So I have had this incredible itch to go snowboarding for the longest time now which made this trip exciting for me.  So, all changed and my snowboard ready, I walked up to the lodge and met up with my brother and his girlfriend.  We went to the ticket booth and got lift tickets.  However, it was extremely WINDY.  It was snowing which was absolutely great but it was so windy that while we were standing around the lift waiting, almost everybody was knocked down due to a huge gust of wind.  At this point the resort decided to close the mountain.  It was not safe to be on the lifts with this kind of wind.  I appreciated the safety concerns that the resort expressed and the fact that they gave everyone vouchers for another day in the season but I was still BUMMED.  This was my chance to get back on the mountain and snowboard and it was swiftly gusted away.  At least I got 10 seconds of snowboarding in as I glided from the lift back to the lodge. =(

So, we regrouped and decided that we'd just go grab something to eat.  We decided on Boiling Crab in Alhambra.  So driving down the mountain was fun, tedious, and SLOW.  Still, I appreciate everyone's safety concern.  I eventually made it to the checkpoint and got out to take off my snow chains.  Once I walked around to the back on my Jeep, I noticed my right taillight was just hanging there.  Apparently, the fantastic crew at Pepboys remembered to put the screws holding my light back in.  If I haven't said so before, I just LOVE Pepboys.  (Sarcasm, major sarcasm)  I pushed it back in and hoped for the best that it would knock itself back out since the chains were off now.  I started driving again and was cruising but then I noticed that stupid OBD indicator light was on.  The car was acting fine and I don't know how long that light had been on but it wasn't there when I left the mountain.  So I exited the freeway and pulled into a gas station.  I consulted my car's manual and it said the car was still drivable but I should take it in to get it diagnosed and serviced as soon as possible.  So I figured there's nothing I can do here at this moment so I got back on the freeway and continued to the head to Alhambra, while constantly looking at that stupid indicator light.

I got to Alhambra with no more incidents and made my way to Boiling Crab.  It was about 12:45 and they had just opened at 12pm but nevertheless they had a line with about a hour wait.  After waiting for 10 minutes we decided that we would just take it to-go and eat at my place.  So we ordered 4 pounds of seafood and some side dishes and took off.  The freeway was moving but then we hit traffic again.  Pretty much stopped but moving ever so slowly.  I could see flashing lights ahead in the far distance and it was raining pretty hard so I cursed my luck that people just do not seem to know how to drive in the rain, especially in LA.  Eventually got past it and saw that a car was upside down on the right side of the freeway.  I do hope that the driver and any passengers in the car and anybody in any other car involved in the accident are okay.  So I finally made my way past the accident and got home.  Cleaned up a bit and got ready for the feast.

After all the chaos that went on during that morning and afternoon, it was nice having lunch with my brother and his girlfriend while watching college basketball and Chopped on Food Network channel.  I say "college basketball" because I partly don't care about the tournament anymore now that UCLA is out.  Stupid Florida... it's always Florida.  Once our stomachs were full which had been growling like monsters after our "long" snowboarding session, we commenced in a game of Super Mario Bros on the Wii.  We accomplished a lot and overall, it was full.  They eventually took off and I was left with peace and quiet again.  But then my phone notified me of the score of the Ducks vs. Flames game.  I'm a hockey fan by the way, specifically an Anaheim Ducks hockey fan.  The score was 5-4 Final in overtime in favor of the Ducks.  This got me excited and also sad because I forgot about the game and didn't get to see it but fortunately there was a replay of the game at 1am.  So it's recorded and waiting for me on my DVR.  Go Ducks!


So to recap the day: woke up late, got stuck in traffic, bought 2 sets of snow chains, didn't get to snowboard, need to get my car fixed, didn't want to wait in line, got stuck in traffic again, ate seafood, played Wii, missed the Ducks games, watched TV.  Not the best Sunday, but still an adventure.

_andyjoe