The other day, my dad called me and told me to expect a package. He knew it had been a rough year, he said, and he wanted to do something nice for me and my brother.

Well, the package arrived today. Remember that RC truck I wanted so badly? Yeah...

"Something nice" doesn't begin to cover it. I'm thrilled, over the moon, and incredibly grateful.

(For the curious, my brother's gift was a Nikon DSLR camera, but I don't know what model. He's a serious nature photographer, so he's as thrilled as I am, I'm sure.)

I have misplaced my iPod. I was istening to it on Friday night out in the garage, while cutting plywood for some new shelves in my study, and I haven't seen it since. I've checked all over the garage, the study, the hallway in between; I've looked near all the tools that I used; hell, I even looked in the box of screws I used to hang the shelves. The damn thing is just not anywhere, and it's pissing me off.

I mean, I'm sure it's somewhere. It didn't evaporate. But I just can't remember where I put it. I remember everything I did: setting up the sawhorses, cutting the wood, sanding the edges, taking the shelves in, leveling them, hanging them up. I remember my elderly neighbor coming over with a package that had been delivered to her house by mistake. I even remember what I was listening to: Urge Overkill's Saturation, and the first half of Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. I put all the tools away, and I cleaned everything up, and somehwere along the line, the iPod just up and left.

It's not uncommon for me to misplace things; a few years ago when NPR did a story about telling the story of your life in six words, I joked that mine would be "Where the hell are my glasses?". Stuff always turns up eventually, and I'm sure the iPod will as well. But in the meantime, I'm stuck worrying about it, when I should be worrying about other things.

You see... My wife has breast cancer. She was diagnosed in February. I haven't mentioned it on here before now, because it was nice having conversations about something, anything, else. Also, I'm kinda new-ish around these parts, and I didn't want to just unload something like this. But honestly, I feel better the more people who know, somehow. I won't go into details, but I will say that it's not the spready kind (as far as they can tell), she won't need chemo, but she is having a double mastectomy in two weeks. The doctors sound confident that that will be the end of it, but I'm still worried, because I lost my mom to breast cancer back in 2004.

We're just... dealing with it. I mean, what else can you do? Shit happens, and you deal with it when it does. But it has left me even more distracted and scatter-brained than usual. And a bit short-tempered at times, which makes the loss of the iPod even worse, because having the right music on at the right time helps. (Seriously, where the fuck did I put that thing?) I'm in for a long year of hospital waiting rooms and doctor's offices and probably more medical stuff than I really want to know about, but shit happens. You deal with it when it does. At least my mother in law and sister in law are coming in to help out. I don't know what I'd do if thy weren't.

Anyway. I just decided it was time to let this community know what was going on, because I really dig you all. This is a good place, and we need all need good places to go from time to time. And no, there's nothing anyone can do, just keep distracting me with silly car stuff. Post photos of '80s econoboxes, British Leyland cars, early water-cooled VWs/Audis, K cars, leaf-sprung 4x4s, and anything cheap and designed by an Italian.

And if you see my goddamn iPod anywhere, please let me know.

"I spend money on weird stuff" is pretty much this site's motto, isn't it?

I had to look up the specs of an old job today, because we're working on something similar, and I got curious and wanted to see how it looked on Google street view. Yep, there it is:

So I started checking out some of my other signs, and found a few. Most of the signs I design are interior ADA/Braille type stuff, but the exterior ones are way more fun to work on...

These two are cooler looking at night; the letters are halo-lit on both.

And this monster is 13 feet long and weighs about 400 pounds. We had to hoist it into place with a forklift.

Don't anthropomorphize inanimate objects. They don't like it.

Yes, it's silly. But here's the question: is it the right amount of silly? And the right kind of silly?

I mean, come on...

...but damn, look what these kids are driving! Both of these are a good 10 years older than their owners. Hope the little shits appreciate them... (j/k, they're both good guys.)

An unexpectedly great soundtrack, courtesy of Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts... honestly, I'm not much of a jazz fan, but this stuff makes me reconsider.

@awesomeaustinv They have 4 or 5 albums and a couple of EPs. Happy hunting! Sadly, they broke up in 2006 and haven't been heard from since...

@mastermario Paint: very much yes. I might have kept the chrome bumpers if they were salvageable, but if they were too rusty, then painted black is acceptable.
Wheels: OK, but it'd be better if they were stock-car-style steelies.
Mechanical changes: OK, not sure I would have gone with air suspension; I'd have spent the money on a Holley Sniper EFI setup instead. Drivability instead of stance.
Interior: Fine except the touchscreen. Why not a period-looking RetroSound unit? They've got Bluetooth and stuff.
Halo headlights: OH DEAR GOD NO KILL THEM WITH FIRE. I hate those things. Every restomod seems to have them these days, and they just ruin the look of the front of the car.

@ibrad The lap portion of the belt in my '89 will lock if I hit too big of a bump. Never really tested the shoulder portion. Maybe one reel is set more sensitive than the other?

@hfv I don't really want to buy anything, I just want to poke around the property and see what else is hiding in there. That cool?

@partypooper2012 Parts of it are in Japanese, parts in English, and apparently parts in a made-up language only the lead singer knows. But it's all awesome.

Making plans and a schedule for the next time I go car shopping... in 2 years. Over on DriveTribe.

@hillrat Wow, that is a LOT of train stuff.

As for the cars, I'd be perfectly happy with the Daytona or the black Fox body. Let other people fight over the '60s iron; I want something from when I was in high school.

@veearrrsix Ugh. I don't want to sit in coach with anybody who eats at Taco Bell.

@long_voyager94 I'd still consider one (particularly a stickshift) as a cheap used runabout. I had a Neon that I actually really liked, so I'm familiar with the platform.

And it's a testament to a car's durability when Jeremy Clarkson can't kill one when he's actively trying to.