Bug Swarms and Baby Showers

Today must have been the longest day ever.

I got up at the crack of dawn, check that, before sunrise, to wash the bug in preparation for the big local VW show taking place later on. Car washes are eerily silent at 5AM. Working quickly I was able to remove a fine layer of road grime and the water spots that the sprinklers at Amy's apartment complex has deposited the night before.

Finishing up at the car wash I stopped back at Amy's to grab breakfast and take a quick shower before rolling out to meet up with some VW friends to head to the show. Over at the famous "Happy Meal McDonalds" at Montfort and 635, I met up with Jason, Jesse and one of Jesse's friends to cruise to the show. After leaving the McDonalds, we immediately encountered at huge traffic jam related to contruction at the High 5 interchange between 635 and 75. It didn't delay us too much and we rolled into the show adjacent to Rusty Wallis VW with plenty of time to do all the last minute cleaning before judging.

The BugSwarm show, in it's eleventh incarnation, is one of the larger local VW shows with both aircooled and atercooled VWs in attendance. This year, for some strange reason they feared low attendance and did away with most of the classing structure. This was a let down as this show is often marked by tight judging in closely competitive classes for coveted first place awards. On the upside, it meant that I didn't have to go absolutely crazy cleaning in the already steamy parking lot. In the end, 88 VWs entered the show, with many nicely kept and restored aircooled VWs being the highlight. After what seemed like an eternity in the hot sun in a parking lot with little shade, it was time for the awards and I was lucky enough to take home a trophy for Top 5 New Beetle. Hot, but happy, I headed back to Amy's place for a shower.

After my quick change, I jumped back in the bug and headed out to south Fort Worth to meet Amy at a baby shower being held for our friends Rodney and Stephanie. I arrived just a few minutes before they opened our gifts, which in a way was anticlimactic since they had kept such a sharp eye on their baby registry at Babies 'R' Us that they almost knew what everybody had given them. It was still cool however, thanks to Ryan's comic relief and a steady supply of cake, cookies, cupcakes and other goodies.

After the shower was over and heading back to Arlington, we met Rodney and Stephanie for dinner at Cheddar's over by their apartment. I had a literal mountain of chicken fingers, which was helpful in fueling me as I helped Rodney assemble a crib and several other pieces of furniture and baby-related items from the shower. Meanwhile, Amy helped Stephanie sort through a mountain of baby clothes and by 2 in the morning, what had been a giant pile of opened presents in their dining room was all carefully put away in order. Amazing. I was absolutely wiped out.