So, this will pretty much sum up the weekend that I just had with my parents. Let me preface this by saying this visit was the first time they'd been to Los Angeles in about 10 months and it was the first time they'd seen my apartment furnished and decorated. When I woke up this morning, my apartment was empty because my parents left at 6am to beat the morning rush hour in L.A. and the afternoon rush hour in Phoenix. They left a note on my kitchen table. The top part was from Mom. She wrote: The apartment looks great! It was so great to see you and we love you very much and can't wait to see you in only two weeks for Thanksgiving! Love, Mom. Underneath that was this from my father: I forgot to tell you before -- you're grinding your teeth in your sleep again. Aren't you supposed to wear a mouthguard for that? The problem is that I can't bear them any ill will, especially not after the day they had today. When my phone rang at around 3 this afternoon, I expected it to be them saying they were home safe in Tucson. Instead, they were calling me from Blythe, California, which is just outside the Middle of Nowhere and on the California-Arizona border. Here's a map to give you some idea of where they were -- the star is where Blythe is. Seems that 15 miles outside of Blythe, which is officially the Middle of Nowhere, their less-than-2-year-old, less-than-20,000-mile Honda Accord threw a rod, which went straight through the engine while it was going 80 mph, resulting in a very loud BANG and the subsequent destruction of the engine. So they had to sit and wait in the Middle of Nowhere for AAA to dispatch a truck from Blythe to tow them into town, where they were told they need to take the car to a Honda dealership because the engine is completely destroyed and they need a new engine. The hell of it all is that not only is the nearest Honda dealership 65 miles away, but when they rented a car from Enterprise, they were told that Enterprise doesn't do one-way rentals and they'll have to return the car back to Blythe. At least they got home safely, but I find it ironic this happened only a day after my dad said, "Hondas and Toyotas are the only cars that are quality-made these days. If you treat them right -- like we have -- they'll last you a quarter of a million miles without any trouble."