I'm in Atlanta for the summer, and I didn't take my ski racks off before

I came down.  Although rendered useless for their primary purpose, I'm

finding them incredibly convenient when searching a vast parking lot for

my 2007 suby impreza.  No one here has ski racks, and no one knows what

they are.  As depressing as it is being surrounded by snow-loathing

sunbiddies and heatbros, it's extremely cheering when I'm in the

sweltering god-forsaken sun all day at work to feebly shuffle toward my

car and see those bars atop my car gleaming at me at the end of every day, as if to say

"It's okay Julie, soon enough you'll be back up north where it could

snow at any given moment during any given month, and people know what

'steez' is, for better or worse, and the mountains are always just beyond the horizon!"

More importantly, they serve as a constant reminder for me to get off my

lazy ass and onto a treadmill during the off-season, and seeing as I

tore my friggin ACL in March (for the SECOND TIME IN TWO YEARS FML),

there can never be too many reminders..especially with how lazy and

irritable I am in the heat. 

Seeing as I have no cable and I had worn out my tv series DVDs that I brought down eons before even leaving for this blazing tar pit, my ski racks provide continual inspiration to watch the ski movies I brought with me, and follow the more fortunate (and..sigh..skilled) soldiers on ns as they embark on colder summer endeavors. 

And as if all this spiritual inspiration wasn't enough, my ski racks have been exceedingly handy in

1. holding my coffee and breakfast up when I shuffle all the shit I take with me into my car every day

2. providing superior travel security for my crutches and poles (the skis left before the poles, plus I found like 7 other sets of poles when moving out of my apartment) so that I can fit more useless shit in my car, like clothes that I don't need and toys/instruments that go unused

3. already mentioned but worth re-mentioning: serving as a lovely beacon of hope when I'm looking for my car in a hopeless parking lot desert

4. making my car look super sexy

5. making me feel way cooler and sexier driving around

6. probably costing me money in gas due to decreased aerodynamics or whatever witchcraft car-lovers call it..

7. something to tie things to when I have contraptions that do not fit inside my car (not like that ever happens but if it does I'm ready!)

That's about it...this ship is asailin.  Until the next time i'm bored to death at work with nothing to do but read articles on shit I don't care about (i.e. monkeys...because that's what my job is this summer..working with monkeys..no joke.)