My Black Brick

This beautifully balanced incident happened in Hoboken this week. Write your creative captions in the comments section. The best caption will win the title of “Best Caption”!

Thursday I drove the brick from Hoboken, NJ to Springfield, VA. My tank ran dry on the Capital Beltway and I had to pull off in Potomac, MD. I’d gone exactly 300 miles since the last fill up and I hadn’t been paying attention to my mileage. Since my fuel gauge doesn’t work I rely on the trip odometer and usually fill the tank at 200 miles.

There weren’t any gas stations off the exit and I sputtered over the hills of River Road looking for precious fuel. I eventually stalled and called AAA for a couple gallons. I drew this picture while waiting, painting it in watercolor later in the studio.

Living in the city there aren’t any opportunities to hand wash my car. I couldn’t even tell you where I’d be able to get to a water spigot. So I deal with the muck by going to overpriced, brushy car washes in Hoboken.

Luckily my daughters jumped at the chance to wash the brick while we were visiting my parents. I applied a little Scratch X to the hood to smooth out the paint before waxing. Claire managed to wash all the window glass, which is no small feat with a car that looks like a rolling greenhouse. Now we’re slick and Rain-Xed.

When a friend called with a freecycle couch I jumped at it. Perfect for my newly expanded studio. No need to rent a truck. The 6 foot sectional piece fit right in the back, without having to remove the legs. No problem closing the tail gate. Speedy delivery!

Saw this wile driving in front of Neuman Leather in Hoboken. Oops.

I came to a stop in traffic Saturday and noticed the guy behind me swerve to avoid hitting my rear. Idiot tailgater, I thought. It was only later that I realized my brake lights were out. Argh! I checked the fuses and they seemed fine, but I replaced the brake light one anyway. Voila! Hopefully now I can avoid getting rear ended… and arrested.

I parked on the sidewalk to wait for a street sweeper that never came.

I shot these pictures when taking delivery of Girl Scout Cookies last year. Ours was one of 5-6 cars picking up for our troop; my daughters did not sell all of these cookies.

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Today I stupidly tried to plow my brick through a 1/2 block long flood of water and stalled. I pushed the car about 20 yards by myself through knee deep water before jumping back in. After 5 minutes of futile starting attempts my trusty brick sparked back to life and I sputtered to higher ground to dry off. Can’t kill it.

While I didn’t get video of my ordeal, I did manage to shoot plenty of traffic near my studio. This kind of flooding has been happening for years.

Flooding in Hoboken from Stripped Nuts on Vimeo.

Somehow this trucker managed to wedge his trailer under the train trestle at the entrance to Hoboken. This happened today a block from my studio and I shot video and photos. It’s a recycling truck that had just emptied it’s load about a 1/2 mile away. Took the tow company a couple hours to finally pull it out since it was wedged under two different tracks. Hoboken traffic was a mess with this major entry and exit route closed at rush hour.