You know what? To hell with that hopeless defeatism! I'm going to Chicago, money or no money. I'm not letting the bastards keep me down. What will come of this car trouble? Who knows? I may stick with the Focus. I may ditch it and get something more reliable. I may ditch it and get something less reliable, but that I can work on myself. Whatever the long-term outcome, the short-term outcome is going to be my ass it Chicago this weekend.

Posted 8:20 AM by Jackson Cooper |

If I didn't hate that kind of crap on web pages, I would be typing in big pulsing blood-red letters with a black background right now. I took my car in to be checked and tuned-up for my impending trip to Chicago this morning. I knew the brakes were bad. And I knew the engine was doing something funny. But now I'm faced with a 2001 Ford Focus with a bad fuel pump. And over $1000 in parts, labor and taxes to take care of everything.

So that means no trip to Chicago, because now I cannot afford to spend the necessary money to get up there and back. Because my practically new, but remarkably out-of-warranty car is broken. DAMNIT! And that also means no trip up to Newport, Ky to see Interpol with Ben.

What's the answer here? Should I have not bought this particular car? Is it no good? This was supposed to be the new, reliable efficient, European-designed Ford! But it's just a heap of crap like every other heap of crap out there. If I'm going to be driving a heap of crap, I want my damn 1979 Ford F100 back. I want to be able to fix it myself. And I don't want expensive things breaking after a mere 45,000 miles. Sure, that's a bunch of miles for a 2001 to have. But it's nowhere near enough to justify this outlay of cash.

Like I said, BIG blood-red pulsing letters here. I know I'm not going to be able to get anything else done at work here today, but of course I have to wait to get a ride home. Because my god-forsaken piece of trash car is in the shop! I'm starting to get little muscle twitches in my face I'm so mad. There must be waves of heat and anger radiating from my head right now.

Posted 4:47 PM by Jackson Cooper |

Here are the pictures:

Hiking and Rocking

Posted 10:29 PM by Jackson Cooper |

I don't know what to say, except WOW! It was a marathon concert tonight at Headliners with the fantastic Bobby Bare Jr. and the super-fantastic My Morning Jacket. I know I probably sound like their promoter at this point, but I care not. The boys hit a new peak tonight in front of their hometown crowd. And they let loose even more new material, hinting at the impending greatness of the album they are about to record.

Keyboardist Danny Cash warned me before the show that it was going to be a long one. "I hope you brought some no-doze" he said. But the no-doze wasn't necessary. The time flew by. The only discomfort was the unbelievable heat. But I wasn't about to let that get in the way of a great show. And neither were the other 800 people packed into the hall.

One of these days I'll catch up on my pictures. I've got some good ones from tonight that I'll get up soon, as well as those Hiking pics I talked about. For now, here's another thumbnail for ya.

Posted 3:34 AM by Jackson Cooper |