http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/537108.html
Probably not if you're not in the Southeast, or at least not in North or South Carolina. But still...it's pretty ridiculous.
Not only are motorists in SC and NC paying the some of the highest amounts in the country per gallon of gas (which is even worse considering we have just about the lowest taxes on gas in the country and are therefore typically the lowest priced gas) but at a lot of places here, you can't even find it at all! Basically since Ike was threatening to come through Texas, back in mid-September, we've had a horrible gas crisis here. If a station has gas it all, it's pretty much guaranteed to not have all different octanes, which leaves you driving around town for a while looking for enough for your tank (if the station will even let you fill your tank...many are capping motorists to $50 at a time, which is about 12-15 gallons max).
Last time I went to fill my tank I only drove past 2 or 3 gas stations that were completely out of gas, and only had to wait in line for 5 minutes or so to fill up, but before that I saw as many as 6-8 stations with no gas at all, plus several that only had higher octanes before finally finding one with good old 87 octane. Of course, there was a line there too.
Honestly, its kinda counter intuitive to me that a storm which reports show did little or at least less than expected damage to the refineries should still be affecting us so greatly nearly a month later! I mean, lets think about this...first of all...the Texas refineries sit right on the Gulf of Mexico. Should we expect and prepare for storms in this area and maybe have a back up plan, other than just cutting off the pipeline to southeastern states? If we didn't before, after 2005 we certainly should have had something in the works. Secondly, the official reasoning for our continued shortage is that "pipelines and refineries are still not up to full capacity" and are expected to take another 3-4 weeks to hit that point. I'm not oil expert, so I can't really assess the truth-value of that statement, but if they're able to shut them down and empty the pipeline literally overnight (2 days before the storm it was business as usual, no increased prices, no shortages, etc., but the day before the storm prices skyrocketed $1 or more overnight and suddenly everyone was out of gas), they why on earth does it take a month and a half or longer to get us out of the woodwork? And don't blame it on people hoarding gas. There is no possible way people can be hoarding gas for this amount of time. Did people go fill up their tanks before the storm out of fear? Possibly, but that was a month ago...I guarantee all that gas has been used by now. We're back to normal usage (or possibly below because of increased prices, etc.) by now for sure. I just don't get it!!! Arrghh!!
NOTE: I originally started writing this post last week, but fell asleep while doing so. I sorta forgot about it and never finished until now. So, here ya go...you get it a week later!
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A fitting end...
...to such a horribly flawed and troubled administration.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush_markets
Since I am unfortunately not at a place now where I have any investments, or even retirement for that matter, and I'm not in a position to be getting a new loan for cars or houses or anything else in the near future, part of me wants to just say "Forget it...let Wall Street sort itself out. The people who were greedy and unwise with their money of the last few years should suffer with the rest of us." But...the compassionate Democrat in me can't let that happen. Not so much because I have compassion for Wall Street, but because I know the damaging effects will trickle down to people who are already so desperately hurting as it is.
I don't know what the answer is...I haven't followed the economy closely enough, not to mention I only had one Economics class in college...and HATED IT!! (Partly because it was all based in theory and nothing in reality...I need practicality, folks...and partly because I just really strongly disliked the professor.) Whatever the case, something needs to be done, but it needs to be done cautiously. We've all seen what happens when people get caught up in excitement and fear and blindly listen to a certain Texan and his advisors.
You all know behind whom I've thrown my support, but regardless of the outcome, January 20th cannot come soon enough!
UPDATE: I forgot to say earlier...My favorite part of the article is how Bush was "tracing the origins of the problem back a decade." I didn't actually see the speech, and am currently too lazy to look for it on YouTube, so I don't know how skillfully or craftily he built this argument, but it is a convenient way to shift the blame just far enough away to make it look like someone else's guffaw (a recurring theme). Now I'm not naive enough to say 100% of the blame for this (or any other of our current problems) squarely falls on the Bush administration, nor am I saying there may not have been contributing factors predating the 2000 election which may have led up to this, but over the last 7 and a half years, our economy has gone through a whirlwind of changes that just 2 years ago many in Washington considered a major feather in their cap. Honestly? Enough crap...time for some people who make sense at 1600 Pennsylvania.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush_markets
Since I am unfortunately not at a place now where I have any investments, or even retirement for that matter, and I'm not in a position to be getting a new loan for cars or houses or anything else in the near future, part of me wants to just say "Forget it...let Wall Street sort itself out. The people who were greedy and unwise with their money of the last few years should suffer with the rest of us." But...the compassionate Democrat in me can't let that happen. Not so much because I have compassion for Wall Street, but because I know the damaging effects will trickle down to people who are already so desperately hurting as it is.
I don't know what the answer is...I haven't followed the economy closely enough, not to mention I only had one Economics class in college...and HATED IT!! (Partly because it was all based in theory and nothing in reality...I need practicality, folks...and partly because I just really strongly disliked the professor.) Whatever the case, something needs to be done, but it needs to be done cautiously. We've all seen what happens when people get caught up in excitement and fear and blindly listen to a certain Texan and his advisors.
You all know behind whom I've thrown my support, but regardless of the outcome, January 20th cannot come soon enough!
UPDATE: I forgot to say earlier...My favorite part of the article is how Bush was "tracing the origins of the problem back a decade." I didn't actually see the speech, and am currently too lazy to look for it on YouTube, so I don't know how skillfully or craftily he built this argument, but it is a convenient way to shift the blame just far enough away to make it look like someone else's guffaw (a recurring theme). Now I'm not naive enough to say 100% of the blame for this (or any other of our current problems) squarely falls on the Bush administration, nor am I saying there may not have been contributing factors predating the 2000 election which may have led up to this, but over the last 7 and a half years, our economy has gone through a whirlwind of changes that just 2 years ago many in Washington considered a major feather in their cap. Honestly? Enough crap...time for some people who make sense at 1600 Pennsylvania.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Where's Mark been?
Hey! I think I mentioned in a recent post that things have been kinda crazy lately and that I would be filling you in soon. Well I guess soon is gonna right now.
About 3 weeks ago, one of my coworkers had the day off and we get a call from her saying she's leaving, can't give a two week notice, just has to pick her daughter up from school and is moving back to her parents' out of state. We have a pretty small staff at work, so we're kinda like family there anyway...so naturally we were concerned. Apparnently her boyfriend and she had gotten into an argument the night before (she found out he was cheating on her....again) and it turned physical. He ended up beating the crap out of her (again) and she was done.
We talked her into coming by the office that afternoon before leaving. So after she picked up her daughter, she came limping into the office with a black eye and all. She had some vacation time saved up so we talked her into taking her vacation to go to her parents and figure out what the best plan of action was. Of course we wanted her to stay, but we all knew the best thing for her and her daughter would be to go back to her parents' and her support system rather than staying up here and trying to make it on her own.
After her week off, she called to officially put in her two week notice so she could leave on a good note and move on. But...she still had to work out her final two weeks back here in SC so she had to come back. Obviously she wasn't going to move back into her (now ex-)boyfriend's house and getting a hotel for 2 weeks would have ended up costing her more than she would have made over those two weeks. So, since I live alone in a two bedroom house, I offered up my guest bedroom (her daughter was staying with her parents during this time). So...for the last 2 weeks, I've had a roommate here. Obviously she had a lot going on trying to take care of her final details up here and filing a police report against the scum bag and everything else, but we took the opportunity to go out and enjoy plenty too, lol.
All in all, it was a good time...she and I get along really well anyway so we had fun, but it was kinda a long and crazy 3 weeks dealing with the beating and all. She took pictures of all the bruising after it all showed up and she looked horrible. I mean covered in bruises! Of course, the ex filed some bogus report saying he told her he was tired of her being drunk all the time or something and she didn't take it well. He accused her of flipping out, locking him in the bedroom and beating him up, haha. We got a kick out of that considering she's all of 108 pounds standing about 5'6" and he's a big navy boy, haha. Oh, he also alleged that his roommate (a former navy boy) was a witness to this beating...as though between the two of them combined couldn't pull my coworker off of him, lol. I think he ended up withdrawing the report, or at least never pressed charges on it.
So yeah...that's been my last few weeks. Honestly...there are very very few people in the world I actively dislike. Almost no one I have such a distaste for that I really don't think I could even be in the same room with them. Or if I were out some where and ran into them I couldn't at least just ignore them and go about my business. But now there's definitely one person on that list in her ex bf. It's obviously a horrible thing that he beat her black and blue, broker her toe, everything else...I mean that's enough of a reason to hate the guy. But what's worse is he did all this while her 6 year old daughter was "asleep" upstairs and heard all this going on...I mean, that's the kinda of stuff that can scar a kid for life! Even more so...he had been cheating on her for a while, but was always around looking like the doting boyfriend through it all. He threw my coworker a birthday party last month and invited everyone from work over...trying to look all sweet, all the while he was messing around on the side. He basically pissed me off even more b/c he was acting like a nice guy trying to get me and everyone else to like him while he knew he was a dirtbag. If I had seen a dirtbag before, it'd be one thing...but to play us all like that? Ridiculous. Honestly...he's a little punk and if I do see him again, he'd better hope I'm not behind the wheel of a car...that's all I'm sayin!
About 3 weeks ago, one of my coworkers had the day off and we get a call from her saying she's leaving, can't give a two week notice, just has to pick her daughter up from school and is moving back to her parents' out of state. We have a pretty small staff at work, so we're kinda like family there anyway...so naturally we were concerned. Apparnently her boyfriend and she had gotten into an argument the night before (she found out he was cheating on her....again) and it turned physical. He ended up beating the crap out of her (again) and she was done.
We talked her into coming by the office that afternoon before leaving. So after she picked up her daughter, she came limping into the office with a black eye and all. She had some vacation time saved up so we talked her into taking her vacation to go to her parents and figure out what the best plan of action was. Of course we wanted her to stay, but we all knew the best thing for her and her daughter would be to go back to her parents' and her support system rather than staying up here and trying to make it on her own.
After her week off, she called to officially put in her two week notice so she could leave on a good note and move on. But...she still had to work out her final two weeks back here in SC so she had to come back. Obviously she wasn't going to move back into her (now ex-)boyfriend's house and getting a hotel for 2 weeks would have ended up costing her more than she would have made over those two weeks. So, since I live alone in a two bedroom house, I offered up my guest bedroom (her daughter was staying with her parents during this time). So...for the last 2 weeks, I've had a roommate here. Obviously she had a lot going on trying to take care of her final details up here and filing a police report against the scum bag and everything else, but we took the opportunity to go out and enjoy plenty too, lol.
All in all, it was a good time...she and I get along really well anyway so we had fun, but it was kinda a long and crazy 3 weeks dealing with the beating and all. She took pictures of all the bruising after it all showed up and she looked horrible. I mean covered in bruises! Of course, the ex filed some bogus report saying he told her he was tired of her being drunk all the time or something and she didn't take it well. He accused her of flipping out, locking him in the bedroom and beating him up, haha. We got a kick out of that considering she's all of 108 pounds standing about 5'6" and he's a big navy boy, haha. Oh, he also alleged that his roommate (a former navy boy) was a witness to this beating...as though between the two of them combined couldn't pull my coworker off of him, lol. I think he ended up withdrawing the report, or at least never pressed charges on it.
So yeah...that's been my last few weeks. Honestly...there are very very few people in the world I actively dislike. Almost no one I have such a distaste for that I really don't think I could even be in the same room with them. Or if I were out some where and ran into them I couldn't at least just ignore them and go about my business. But now there's definitely one person on that list in her ex bf. It's obviously a horrible thing that he beat her black and blue, broker her toe, everything else...I mean that's enough of a reason to hate the guy. But what's worse is he did all this while her 6 year old daughter was "asleep" upstairs and heard all this going on...I mean, that's the kinda of stuff that can scar a kid for life! Even more so...he had been cheating on her for a while, but was always around looking like the doting boyfriend through it all. He threw my coworker a birthday party last month and invited everyone from work over...trying to look all sweet, all the while he was messing around on the side. He basically pissed me off even more b/c he was acting like a nice guy trying to get me and everyone else to like him while he knew he was a dirtbag. If I had seen a dirtbag before, it'd be one thing...but to play us all like that? Ridiculous. Honestly...he's a little punk and if I do see him again, he'd better hope I'm not behind the wheel of a car...that's all I'm sayin!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Admission is the first step...
When I'm flying down the road at 15 or 20 over the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic, flying through every yellow light to make it to the liquor store before it closes...maybe I should take it as a sign that I might have a problem. hahaha
Actually...I do have a problem. But that problem is not alcoholism, it's Blue Laws. See, lovely SC has some holdovers from their ridiculously conservative days (like last week, haha) known as Blue Laws. Basically they're just laws that enforce morality. Don't get me wrong...I tend to fall on the more conservative side of the tracks as far as morality is concerned (well...for most of the world, maybe a bit less so compared to SC), but these particular laws often just irk me.
The main law in question now is one requiring all liquor stores to close by 7 pm every night and not open at all on Sunday. 7:00???? Are you serious?! I guess the goal is to keep the drunks from heading to the store at 2 am and buying some malt liquor or something, but in reality, it just causes people to have to plan their drinking in advance. (Oh...for the record, I arrived at the store at 7:02, but they hadn't locked the door yet, so they let me run in and grab what I needed real quickly. I guess it might have been illegal, haha...I'm a bootlegger now, maybe!)
Last night being the USC Season Opener (that's Gamecocks...not Trojans...don't front!) (and I'm talking football, by the way), I had to grab a little adult beverage to take to my boss's house to watch the game. I picked up a bottle of my new favorite drink....Sweat Tea Vodka!! Seriously folks...it doesn't get too much more Southern than this, I know...but this stuff is great. If you live in the South, check your local package store and see if you can get it. This stuff is dangerous too. It tastes JUST like sweet tea...you don't even realize you're drinking until you go to stand up and things are a bit wobbly. Wow...it's great!
Anyway....other blue laws include: (In certain counties) nothing other than groceries and health and beauty products are allowed to be sold before 1:30 PM on Sundays. So that means Saturday at midnight, all the Super Wal-Marts have to rope off the non-grocery/health & beauty sections until 1:30. Also, I hear rumor that in certain counties, up until a few years before I moved to SC, you couldn't even go to the movies on Sundays b/c that was considered sinful or immoral or something. Ugh!!
Oh...and in case you were wondering, South Carolina shut out NC State 34-0!!! Whooo Hooo!!!
Actually...I do have a problem. But that problem is not alcoholism, it's Blue Laws. See, lovely SC has some holdovers from their ridiculously conservative days (like last week, haha) known as Blue Laws. Basically they're just laws that enforce morality. Don't get me wrong...I tend to fall on the more conservative side of the tracks as far as morality is concerned (well...for most of the world, maybe a bit less so compared to SC), but these particular laws often just irk me.
The main law in question now is one requiring all liquor stores to close by 7 pm every night and not open at all on Sunday. 7:00???? Are you serious?! I guess the goal is to keep the drunks from heading to the store at 2 am and buying some malt liquor or something, but in reality, it just causes people to have to plan their drinking in advance. (Oh...for the record, I arrived at the store at 7:02, but they hadn't locked the door yet, so they let me run in and grab what I needed real quickly. I guess it might have been illegal, haha...I'm a bootlegger now, maybe!)
Last night being the USC Season Opener (that's Gamecocks...not Trojans...don't front!) (and I'm talking football, by the way), I had to grab a little adult beverage to take to my boss's house to watch the game. I picked up a bottle of my new favorite drink....Sweat Tea Vodka!! Seriously folks...it doesn't get too much more Southern than this, I know...but this stuff is great. If you live in the South, check your local package store and see if you can get it. This stuff is dangerous too. It tastes JUST like sweet tea...you don't even realize you're drinking until you go to stand up and things are a bit wobbly. Wow...it's great!
Anyway....other blue laws include: (In certain counties) nothing other than groceries and health and beauty products are allowed to be sold before 1:30 PM on Sundays. So that means Saturday at midnight, all the Super Wal-Marts have to rope off the non-grocery/health & beauty sections until 1:30. Also, I hear rumor that in certain counties, up until a few years before I moved to SC, you couldn't even go to the movies on Sundays b/c that was considered sinful or immoral or something. Ugh!!
Oh...and in case you were wondering, South Carolina shut out NC State 34-0!!! Whooo Hooo!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Those Mischievous Republicans!
A true crime occurred last weekend! Grand larceny in my opinion (although hardly even a crime in the eyes of the law, but that's beside the point). I was robbed!
At some point between when I returned home late Friday night/early Saturday morning and about 3ish in the afternoon on Saturday when I was wandering around my front yard, someone stole my Obama yard sign!! I know!!! Shocking! The literally just picked the sign up off the stakes and carried it away. So depressing!
Haha...I got the image of some geriatric John McCain supporters on their Rascals rolling by and being mischievous, posting videos on YouTube or something. In reality, though, it was probably just some of the neighborhood hoodlums that come from the next neighborhood over and walk down my street to get to the stores and stuff. I think assuming there were some political motives behind the thievery is giving the perpetrators far too much credit, but I can believe!
On that note, I'm sitting here watching the opening of the DNC. I don't think I ever mentioned it on the blog (it was during my summer hiatus) but, following the heated primaries, I decided I needed an election break before losing my mind (or be one of those crazy obsessed politicos with nothing else to do with his life). I decided then that I would virtually ignore the campaigns until at least Convention time and then hop back on board for the remaining 3 months. Guess I'm back on board (and ready to order a new sign).
At some point between when I returned home late Friday night/early Saturday morning and about 3ish in the afternoon on Saturday when I was wandering around my front yard, someone stole my Obama yard sign!! I know!!! Shocking! The literally just picked the sign up off the stakes and carried it away. So depressing!
Haha...I got the image of some geriatric John McCain supporters on their Rascals rolling by and being mischievous, posting videos on YouTube or something. In reality, though, it was probably just some of the neighborhood hoodlums that come from the next neighborhood over and walk down my street to get to the stores and stuff. I think assuming there were some political motives behind the thievery is giving the perpetrators far too much credit, but I can believe!
On that note, I'm sitting here watching the opening of the DNC. I don't think I ever mentioned it on the blog (it was during my summer hiatus) but, following the heated primaries, I decided I needed an election break before losing my mind (or be one of those crazy obsessed politicos with nothing else to do with his life). I decided then that I would virtually ignore the campaigns until at least Convention time and then hop back on board for the remaining 3 months. Guess I'm back on board (and ready to order a new sign).
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Overheard at Taco Bell
Remember my obsession with Taco Bell? Well I was having lunch there today and I overheard a Rhodes Scholar at the table behind me. She was chatting with her boyfriend at a volume loud enough for pretty much the entire restaurant to hear. Here's a few highlights from her chat:
"See that sign that says '79 cents makes sense'? Shouldn't it say c-e-n-t-s instead of s-e-n-s-e? Isn't that what they meant?"
"Ooh, I saw a typo on the Closed Captioning the other day." (which, as we all know, is practically the MLA standard of writing) "Well, at least I think I did. The Korean woman was asking why she couldn't find (something) and they put the question mark outside of the quotation marks. I think I was always taught they go inside the quotes. But maybe that's wrong."I think there were others, but that's all I could remember...and all I could stomach before my lunch was done. It's nice that she was kind enough to share her genius with the entire restaurant. I'm sure we all needed something to blog about today. Although I think I wondered more about the guy who was there with her. I mean, how could he really sit there and listen to that kind of high brow conversation day in and day out without going insane? I could only imagine what might come out of his mouth, haha.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kinda a crappy day
In stark contrast to my last post, Wednesday was overall kinda a crappy day. I wasn't feeling particularly great Wednesday morning, so I decided not to go into work. I probably could have pushed my way through physically, but mentally just wasn't really there for the day, so I just rolled over and went back to sleep. I actually ended up staying in bed pretty much all day. I got up for a little bit in the afternoon to make some calls I needed for work, then grabbed my laptop and hopped back in bed.
I kinda napped and rested for a bit longer and then got online and was checking e-mail, etc. Finally, at like 10 or 10:30pm, I decided I needed to eat something, so I wandered off to the kitchen. Tuesday I thought I'd branch out from my norm and try making some chili to eat. True to my normal amazing culinary skills (please read the extreme sarcasm in that statement...I'm laying it on pretty thick here folks), the food didn't end up all that good. Actually, I managed to burn the chili and it was all stuck to the bottom of the pot. So, I had it soaking in the sink so I could clean it.
Well, before cooking I decided to try to clean up a bit and clean out that pot. When I dumped the chili-laden water into the sink and turn on the disposal. Instead of going down the drain, however, the other half of my sink started filling up. Yeah...my drain was clogged! I tried some Drain-O, but no dice. Great! Now at 11:00 at night, I'm going to have to put on clothes, head to Wal-Mart and buy plumbing tools. I was too hungry to do that at the moment, so I microwaved some food, moved to the sofa and started chatting with some friends online.
After chatting for a while, I notice my internet isn't working. For some reason, I'm still able to talk on AIM, but can't load a web page. I rebooted the computer and now I couldn't even sign online at all! Arggh! I tried plugging my computer directly into my wireless router...nothing. Tried plugging directly into the modem...nada. Tried everything I knew and still couldn't make it work. Soooo, then I called Time Warner to see what was wrong with my modem. Fortunately, I hate them so much and have had to call them with complaints/issues so many times before that I knew their number by heart. The lovely little automated recording told me that there were "outages in my area and service was expected to be restored in 90 minutes." Lovely...guess those conversations I was in the middle of are now over!
I decided it was a good time to head to the store and begin my plumbing oddessy. So now I'm driving up to the store and I get pulled over! Well, not entirely pulled over...it would be more honest to say I had a run-in with one of the laziest and dumbest cops around. As I was driving by doing about 45 mph or so, he pulls out of a parking lot behind me and follows me into the Wal-Mart parking lot. He never turns his lights on or anything, but just stops behind my car as I pull into my parking space. As I get out of the car, he rolls a window down and says something to the effect of "Hey fast car, you need to slow down out there on [street name]." I kinda looked at him and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. What's the speed limit out there?" To which he replied "It's 35." I said, "Oh, sorry. I didn't know" and walked into the store. haha First of all...that had to be the laziest cop in the world. I mean, who makes a traffic stop without even getting out of the car? I have a hunch that had I not been a decently dressed young white guy, he might have cared more about how I was driving. Secondly, that is a very very dumb move for a cop, and I know is rather against protocol. I mean, I don't care if you are in a well lit parking lot, no cop should ever just wait for someone to get out of the car. I could've gotten out with any kind of weapon or anything and taken him out if I had other charges pending or something. What a moron! Thirdly...the speed limit on that road was, as I suspected, 40 miles an hour (I made a point to check on the way home). I knew it was either 40 or 45 so was driving somewhere in that range, so I wasn't even speeding! Who knows what his plan was, but at least I didn't get a ticket...that would've just been the icing on the cake for the night.
I got what I needed and headed back home. When I got home, I heard a steady dripping sound coming from the kitchen so I thought...great, the Drain-O has helped some and it's slowly draining now. Instead, I walked into the kitchen and stepped in a big puddle and looked to the chili-laden water dripping out of my dishwasher! Yeah, gravity pulled the bulk of the water out from my sink, through the drain line and into the dishwasher, which had become so filled with water, it was beginning to leak out. Ugh!!! I went out to the shed, grabbed some old towels and began to mop up my floor. Once that was under control, I snaked the drain and was able to loosen the clog and it drained. Of course at that point I had to re-wash all the clean dishes I had sitting in the sink, run the dishwasher to drain it, and clean up the mess left by the standing water.
Now, thanks to sleeping all day, I'm up all night, unable to sleep...so Thursday's gonna be a long one too. Add this to the stuff that's been on my mind (as I mentioned in my previous post) and it's just been interesting this week. Ugh!!!
I kinda napped and rested for a bit longer and then got online and was checking e-mail, etc. Finally, at like 10 or 10:30pm, I decided I needed to eat something, so I wandered off to the kitchen. Tuesday I thought I'd branch out from my norm and try making some chili to eat. True to my normal amazing culinary skills (please read the extreme sarcasm in that statement...I'm laying it on pretty thick here folks), the food didn't end up all that good. Actually, I managed to burn the chili and it was all stuck to the bottom of the pot. So, I had it soaking in the sink so I could clean it.
Well, before cooking I decided to try to clean up a bit and clean out that pot. When I dumped the chili-laden water into the sink and turn on the disposal. Instead of going down the drain, however, the other half of my sink started filling up. Yeah...my drain was clogged! I tried some Drain-O, but no dice. Great! Now at 11:00 at night, I'm going to have to put on clothes, head to Wal-Mart and buy plumbing tools. I was too hungry to do that at the moment, so I microwaved some food, moved to the sofa and started chatting with some friends online.
After chatting for a while, I notice my internet isn't working. For some reason, I'm still able to talk on AIM, but can't load a web page. I rebooted the computer and now I couldn't even sign online at all! Arggh! I tried plugging my computer directly into my wireless router...nothing. Tried plugging directly into the modem...nada. Tried everything I knew and still couldn't make it work. Soooo, then I called Time Warner to see what was wrong with my modem. Fortunately, I hate them so much and have had to call them with complaints/issues so many times before that I knew their number by heart. The lovely little automated recording told me that there were "outages in my area and service was expected to be restored in 90 minutes." Lovely...guess those conversations I was in the middle of are now over!
I decided it was a good time to head to the store and begin my plumbing oddessy. So now I'm driving up to the store and I get pulled over! Well, not entirely pulled over...it would be more honest to say I had a run-in with one of the laziest and dumbest cops around. As I was driving by doing about 45 mph or so, he pulls out of a parking lot behind me and follows me into the Wal-Mart parking lot. He never turns his lights on or anything, but just stops behind my car as I pull into my parking space. As I get out of the car, he rolls a window down and says something to the effect of "Hey fast car, you need to slow down out there on [street name]." I kinda looked at him and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. What's the speed limit out there?" To which he replied "It's 35." I said, "Oh, sorry. I didn't know" and walked into the store. haha First of all...that had to be the laziest cop in the world. I mean, who makes a traffic stop without even getting out of the car? I have a hunch that had I not been a decently dressed young white guy, he might have cared more about how I was driving. Secondly, that is a very very dumb move for a cop, and I know is rather against protocol. I mean, I don't care if you are in a well lit parking lot, no cop should ever just wait for someone to get out of the car. I could've gotten out with any kind of weapon or anything and taken him out if I had other charges pending or something. What a moron! Thirdly...the speed limit on that road was, as I suspected, 40 miles an hour (I made a point to check on the way home). I knew it was either 40 or 45 so was driving somewhere in that range, so I wasn't even speeding! Who knows what his plan was, but at least I didn't get a ticket...that would've just been the icing on the cake for the night.
I got what I needed and headed back home. When I got home, I heard a steady dripping sound coming from the kitchen so I thought...great, the Drain-O has helped some and it's slowly draining now. Instead, I walked into the kitchen and stepped in a big puddle and looked to the chili-laden water dripping out of my dishwasher! Yeah, gravity pulled the bulk of the water out from my sink, through the drain line and into the dishwasher, which had become so filled with water, it was beginning to leak out. Ugh!!! I went out to the shed, grabbed some old towels and began to mop up my floor. Once that was under control, I snaked the drain and was able to loosen the clog and it drained. Of course at that point I had to re-wash all the clean dishes I had sitting in the sink, run the dishwasher to drain it, and clean up the mess left by the standing water.
Now, thanks to sleeping all day, I'm up all night, unable to sleep...so Thursday's gonna be a long one too. Add this to the stuff that's been on my mind (as I mentioned in my previous post) and it's just been interesting this week. Ugh!!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
I swear the restaurant mafia is out to get me!
I have a standing lunch date with a friend of mine for the first Tuesday of every month (except we've been lazy lately so we missed the last 3 or 4 months) and today was that day. I picked her up at her office and she asks how I feel about having breakfast for lunch, as she's been craving some good breakfast food, but her boyfriend won't go eat it with her. I didn't really care where we went so we headed over to IHOP for a little mid-day breakfast.
I should mention that this is one of those friends that I get along so great with b/c when we're together we normally just sit around and throw sarcastic comments back and forth the whole time! Plus we have one of those wonderful relationships with few boundaries that we just really speak our minds to each other all the time too. It works out well for us, but when we're together we do sometimes have a bad habit of talking about people around us (oops).
So our waitress comes up to take our order and my friend orders the Vive la French Toast. I wasn't really listening to her order, but she made some special request that something be put on the side, rather than on top of the toast. Our waitress, in her broken English, asks my friend if she wants her scrambled egg on the side too. Sarcastic Friend (we'll call her that...at least for now) kinda looks at the waitress puzzled and says "Doesn't the egg normally come on the side?" The waitress tells us "No, it comes on the French Toast." Of course, Sarcastic Friend and I exchange very confused glances and she clarifies again "So the French Toast comes with scrambled eggs as a topping?" Anyway, this went on for a little bit longer and we both were just sitting there looking really confused at the waitress, not understanding why scrambled eggs are served on toast and not as a separate item. It was truly a very odd exchange...but not the point of this post, so I'll move on.
When it comes to my turn to order, I order Strawberry Banana French Toast with a side of hash browns. The waitress brings out our orders and I'm initially overwhelmed by the amount of whipped cream and strawberries and other items on top of my entree. Sarcastic friend notes that I might need some insulin at the end of that meal. I was about to dig in to my french toast when I realize...wait...this French Toast is round...and rather flat. Much like a pancake! Yeah...the waitress definitely did not bring me what I ordered, but instead brought me a big 'ol stack of pancakes with various toppings (fortunately, no scrambled eggs as toppings, though).
Even though I had kinda got my stomach all excited about some French Toast, I decided that, in light of my previous incidences with restaurants this week that I wouldn't push my luck and would settle for the pancakes. About halfway through my pancakes, though, I realize further that these pancakes don't just have fruits and sugar on top of them, but they're actually cooked with bananas in the batter. Yeah...there little slices of banana cooked into my pancakes. Ewwww! It just wasn't very good at all. I really only made it about halfway through that meal.
Honestly, I don't know what it is about restaurants here! I seriously am going to have to eat at home until this whole thing blows over I think. Oh well...they say bad things happen in threes, right? Maybe that means I'm done now! Ugh!!
PS - I called Ruby Tuesday's Corporate office to file a complaint about the horrible service the other day. They took the message, told me they'd pass it along to the District Manager and that he'd be giving me a call to discuss the issue. On Monday afternoon I got a voicemail regarding the matter...from no other than Manager Mike!! I couldn't even listen to his voicemail I was so infuriated. I mean I gave this guy a chance to fix the problem when it happened and he didn't effectively handle the situation then, so why would I want to hash it out over the phone with him now. Not to mention...if he's the one I'm complaining about, why would his DM think it's a good idea for me to talk to him again? Doesn't it only make sense that you should talk to the supervisor of the person you're making a complaint against, not the person themselves? I called the corporate number back today and left them a voicemail informing them that I would not be calling Manager Mike back, that I was done dealing with him and requested that his supervisor contact me, not him. We'll see how this goes! Grrr!
I should mention that this is one of those friends that I get along so great with b/c when we're together we normally just sit around and throw sarcastic comments back and forth the whole time! Plus we have one of those wonderful relationships with few boundaries that we just really speak our minds to each other all the time too. It works out well for us, but when we're together we do sometimes have a bad habit of talking about people around us (oops).
So our waitress comes up to take our order and my friend orders the Vive la French Toast. I wasn't really listening to her order, but she made some special request that something be put on the side, rather than on top of the toast. Our waitress, in her broken English, asks my friend if she wants her scrambled egg on the side too. Sarcastic Friend (we'll call her that...at least for now) kinda looks at the waitress puzzled and says "Doesn't the egg normally come on the side?" The waitress tells us "No, it comes on the French Toast." Of course, Sarcastic Friend and I exchange very confused glances and she clarifies again "So the French Toast comes with scrambled eggs as a topping?" Anyway, this went on for a little bit longer and we both were just sitting there looking really confused at the waitress, not understanding why scrambled eggs are served on toast and not as a separate item. It was truly a very odd exchange...but not the point of this post, so I'll move on.When it comes to my turn to order, I order Strawberry Banana French Toast with a side of hash browns. The waitress brings out our orders and I'm initially overwhelmed by the amount of whipped cream and strawberries and other items on top of my entree. Sarcastic friend notes that I might need some insulin at the end of that meal. I was about to dig in to my french toast when I realize...wait...this French Toast is round...and rather flat. Much like a pancake! Yeah...the waitress definitely did not bring me what I ordered, but instead brought me a big 'ol stack of pancakes with various toppings (fortunately, no scrambled eggs as toppings, though).
Even though I had kinda got my stomach all excited about some French Toast, I decided that, in light of my previous incidences with restaurants this week that I wouldn't push my luck and would settle for the pancakes. About halfway through my pancakes, though, I realize further that these pancakes don't just have fruits and sugar on top of them, but they're actually cooked with bananas in the batter. Yeah...there little slices of banana cooked into my pancakes. Ewwww! It just wasn't very good at all. I really only made it about halfway through that meal.
Honestly, I don't know what it is about restaurants here! I seriously am going to have to eat at home until this whole thing blows over I think. Oh well...they say bad things happen in threes, right? Maybe that means I'm done now! Ugh!!
PS - I called Ruby Tuesday's Corporate office to file a complaint about the horrible service the other day. They took the message, told me they'd pass it along to the District Manager and that he'd be giving me a call to discuss the issue. On Monday afternoon I got a voicemail regarding the matter...from no other than Manager Mike!! I couldn't even listen to his voicemail I was so infuriated. I mean I gave this guy a chance to fix the problem when it happened and he didn't effectively handle the situation then, so why would I want to hash it out over the phone with him now. Not to mention...if he's the one I'm complaining about, why would his DM think it's a good idea for me to talk to him again? Doesn't it only make sense that you should talk to the supervisor of the person you're making a complaint against, not the person themselves? I called the corporate number back today and left them a voicemail informing them that I would not be calling Manager Mike back, that I was done dealing with him and requested that his supervisor contact me, not him. We'll see how this goes! Grrr!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Continuation on a theme...
In an effort to not sound snobby or pushy or rude or whatever, I ordinarily wouldn't write this post, but in light of my last post, it seems only appropriate.
After work tonight, I had a meeting to go to with my boss so he and I stopped for dinner on the way. We couldn't decide on anything on that side of town, so we ended up at Ruby Tuesdays. I don't ordinarily care for Ruby Tuesdays that much, but we both agreed that it's better than Applebee's, which was our next best option, so we went. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so at my boss's suggestion, I ordered the Triple Prime Cheeseburger.
I should also add, that our server was a little strange to begin with. He was one of those guys that just seemed really nervous and even a bit shy. It's fine if that's your personality, but perhaps food service isn't the best employment choice for you. I typically expect wait staff to be very personable and friendly and to really make you feel like they're happy to serve you, not like they're afraid to speak to you. Anyway...
Like I always do with beef products, I ordered my burger medium rare. Say what you want, but cooking meat anything beyond medium just sucks all the flavor right out of it! When the burgers come, my boss and I both comment on the lack of condiments they bring us. For an entire plate of fries and a burger we were each given half a ramekin of ketchup and there was about a drop of mayonnaise on each burger (I know, too bad I didn't have any of that taco sauce with me, but that's not the point), so we sent him off into the kitchen to get us more.
While he was gone, I took a big bite into my burger and noticed it tasted a little funny. In actuality, it tasted...mushy. My first thought was that the bread must have absorbed some of the grease/juices from the meat and got soggy. I lifted the bun off, however, and looked at my bite to see a very bright pink burger. I kinda pulled the burger apart and saw that the whole thing was completely raw inside!!! I immediately announced "Oh my gosh...this is raw!!" (and not very quietly at that) When I said this, another server happened to be walking by and she just kinda ignored me and kept walking. I kept looking at the kitchen door waiting for our server to come back with the ketchup so I could complain to him, but he was taking too long. There was another guy walking by (I think he was a host or bus boy or something) so I grabbed him and said, "Excuse me, you need to get a manager over here please." (haha, you'll all remember my short temperament for poor service.)
He told me "Sure, is there a problem?" So I showed him my burger and told him that it was uncooked, so he took the plate off to his manager. A minute or so later, some guy comes walking around the corner with my plate in hand and introduces himself. It went something like this:{Skip to 8 minutes later}
So now I eat my burger in a big hurry b/c we're late for our meeting (which I knew we were going to be a little late to anyway, but now we're really late) and it really wasn't all that good. In truth, half of the burger was still slightly undercooked, but it didn't seem to have quite the same e. coli risk, so I ate it anyway. When our server brought the bill out, I looked to see what the "discount" was that they so graciously gave me. All they did was apply the employee discount (40%) to my burger. Not to the entire check, not even to my sweet tea....just the burger. Grrrrr!!!
At this point I was so annoyed it wasn't even funny. If I didn't have to run out of there to get to my meeting, I really would've hung around and at least insisted that the meal be free, but I didn't have the time or energy to throw down right then. I'll just call corporate in the morning, hahaha.
Please don't misunderstand me here either...while I was annoyed that I took a bite out of raw meat, I do understand that mistakes can happen, especially in a kitchen. Honestly, I probably would have been okay with the whole thing if the manager came out and profusely apologized, offered me the discount or comped the meal or whatever, and if the server had apologized. I know neither of them was anywhere near the grill at the time, but in a service atmosphere, that's your role. But neither of them seemed to care...in fact the manager seemed annoyed that he had to come out of his office and speak to one of the 7 customers who were in the restaurant at the time (heaven forbid!). I gave the waiter a 10% tip for that one...and those of you who currently or previously worked in food service...don't yell at me! I'm normally at least a 20% tipper and only if the service is particularly bad do I give a 15%. I NEVER give below that. But tonight, I was so annoyed that he didn't even at least pretend to apologize there was no way I could give 15%. A simple "I'm so sorry about that" at any point in the evening would have at least earned him that much.
Anyway, like I said, in light of my last post, I thought I'd just add this one on as a part two. It looks like I'm running out of places to go eat around here. Maybe one of these days I'm gonna have to learn how to cook! Ack! Nevermind...I'll just get a girlfriend who likes to cook...or hire a personal chef...or both :)
After work tonight, I had a meeting to go to with my boss so he and I stopped for dinner on the way. We couldn't decide on anything on that side of town, so we ended up at Ruby Tuesdays. I don't ordinarily care for Ruby Tuesdays that much, but we both agreed that it's better than Applebee's, which was our next best option, so we went. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so at my boss's suggestion, I ordered the Triple Prime Cheeseburger.
I should also add, that our server was a little strange to begin with. He was one of those guys that just seemed really nervous and even a bit shy. It's fine if that's your personality, but perhaps food service isn't the best employment choice for you. I typically expect wait staff to be very personable and friendly and to really make you feel like they're happy to serve you, not like they're afraid to speak to you. Anyway...
Like I always do with beef products, I ordered my burger medium rare. Say what you want, but cooking meat anything beyond medium just sucks all the flavor right out of it! When the burgers come, my boss and I both comment on the lack of condiments they bring us. For an entire plate of fries and a burger we were each given half a ramekin of ketchup and there was about a drop of mayonnaise on each burger (I know, too bad I didn't have any of that taco sauce with me, but that's not the point), so we sent him off into the kitchen to get us more.
While he was gone, I took a big bite into my burger and noticed it tasted a little funny. In actuality, it tasted...mushy. My first thought was that the bread must have absorbed some of the grease/juices from the meat and got soggy. I lifted the bun off, however, and looked at my bite to see a very bright pink burger. I kinda pulled the burger apart and saw that the whole thing was completely raw inside!!! I immediately announced "Oh my gosh...this is raw!!" (and not very quietly at that) When I said this, another server happened to be walking by and she just kinda ignored me and kept walking. I kept looking at the kitchen door waiting for our server to come back with the ketchup so I could complain to him, but he was taking too long. There was another guy walking by (I think he was a host or bus boy or something) so I grabbed him and said, "Excuse me, you need to get a manager over here please." (haha, you'll all remember my short temperament for poor service.)He told me "Sure, is there a problem?" So I showed him my burger and told him that it was uncooked, so he took the plate off to his manager. A minute or so later, some guy comes walking around the corner with my plate in hand and introduces himself. It went something like this:
Mgr. Mike: Hi, my name is Mike and I'm the manager here. How are you gentlemen doing tonight?
Me: Uhhhh....well.... (looking down at the empty table in front of me and the raw meat in his hand)
Mgr. Mike: Ok, well how did you request this to be cooked. (before this statement there's a very slight chance he may have thrown out a flippant apology, but I'm not entirely sure because his tone and actions were anything but apologetic)Me: Medium Rare (thinking..."If you dare try to tell me that that is medium rare or that anything cooked below medium will in fact come out a bit pink, assuming that's normal, I swear I'll go all Madea (video here) up in here!") (PS--That's for you, K!)
Mgr. Mike: Alright, well I'll take this back and have them make you a new one. [Starts to walk away]
Me: (Looking at the time on my phone) Well excuse me, I have to be somewhere in 15 minutes, I don't think I have time to just sit here and wait for you to cook a whole new meal.
Mgr. Mike: (With a strong amount of attitude) Well...do you want me to have them make you something else?
Me: (Looking around to see if there was a menu anywhere, since one was very clearly not offered.) Uhhh, welll...I guess not. I guess I'll have to have another one of those, but they'd better make it fast, I can't sit here all night.
Mgr. Mike: I'll have them make you another.
Me: Make sure it's fast!
Server comes out and awkwardly sets a new plate down in front of me and nervously stands there without saying a word. I kinda picked at a piece of the meat to see if it was edible.Please note that through this entire exchange, no one once offered an apology for the mistake or has acted apologetically at all!! They really seemed more annoyed that I requested my meat to be cooked!
Server: (Sheepishly) So, ummm...Is this one okay for you?
Me: Hmm, well, yes, I think this will be fine.
Server: Okay. (slowly walks away)
Me: So, are you going to comp this meal for me or what?
Server: (Still sheepish) Oh, umm, he said he'd give you a discount on it.
Me: Fine.
So now I eat my burger in a big hurry b/c we're late for our meeting (which I knew we were going to be a little late to anyway, but now we're really late) and it really wasn't all that good. In truth, half of the burger was still slightly undercooked, but it didn't seem to have quite the same e. coli risk, so I ate it anyway. When our server brought the bill out, I looked to see what the "discount" was that they so graciously gave me. All they did was apply the employee discount (40%) to my burger. Not to the entire check, not even to my sweet tea....just the burger. Grrrrr!!!
At this point I was so annoyed it wasn't even funny. If I didn't have to run out of there to get to my meeting, I really would've hung around and at least insisted that the meal be free, but I didn't have the time or energy to throw down right then. I'll just call corporate in the morning, hahaha.
Please don't misunderstand me here either...while I was annoyed that I took a bite out of raw meat, I do understand that mistakes can happen, especially in a kitchen. Honestly, I probably would have been okay with the whole thing if the manager came out and profusely apologized, offered me the discount or comped the meal or whatever, and if the server had apologized. I know neither of them was anywhere near the grill at the time, but in a service atmosphere, that's your role. But neither of them seemed to care...in fact the manager seemed annoyed that he had to come out of his office and speak to one of the 7 customers who were in the restaurant at the time (heaven forbid!). I gave the waiter a 10% tip for that one...and those of you who currently or previously worked in food service...don't yell at me! I'm normally at least a 20% tipper and only if the service is particularly bad do I give a 15%. I NEVER give below that. But tonight, I was so annoyed that he didn't even at least pretend to apologize there was no way I could give 15%. A simple "I'm so sorry about that" at any point in the evening would have at least earned him that much.
Anyway, like I said, in light of my last post, I thought I'd just add this one on as a part two. It looks like I'm running out of places to go eat around here. Maybe one of these days I'm gonna have to learn how to cook! Ack! Nevermind...I'll just get a girlfriend who likes to cook...or hire a personal chef...or both :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wasteful
Busy day at work today. I spent all afternoon getting ready for something I had to do with work tonight. So, in all my rushing around, I ran through the Taco Bell Drive Thru (I recognize that's not the proper spelling of that word, but that's what the sign calls it...don't blame me!) to grab a quick dinner. In my bag, I found that I received no fewer than 31 packets of sauce for my 3 (three) soft tacos!Seriously?!? Did that guy think there was anyway possible that I could even try to use 10 packets of sauce per taco? Little wasteful things like this (due to the laziness/lackadaisical attitudes of people) really annoys me for some reason. I mean, is it really that much effort to care about little things?! Arrgh!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Rejected!
I wanted to add one more quick post before heading to bed...
Remember this post about my lack of fingerprints? Well, I finally got a notice in the mail from the state yesterday telling me that my finger print card had been rejected due to "ridge characteristics being not distinct or smudged." So now it seems it's official that my fingerprints are crap! haha I guess I'm gonna have to go get them printed again, but I don't know that we can expect different results. I mean, we tried at least 3 times the first go-round and I haven't exactly grown new fingers since then! I've left a voicemail for the person at the state to see if there was another way this could be done, instead of just submitting more bad fingerprints, but I doubt it.
Oh yeah...also in the mail yesterday I got a postcard saying there was a recall on my car, haha. I called the dealership today to learn that it was a false alarm (as though there's much left on my car that's original anyway) and apparently just some marketing push Nissan used to get people to try to schedule a service or something. He did ask how the car's doing (he and I are on a first name basis, remember?). I told him that the check engine light is still coming on and off constantly and that there's a loose wire in radio again, as the subwoofer keeps coming and going (reaaalllly annoying when you're listening to something like this and your bass goes out! Not cool!). I told him I just haven't had the time (or the patience, honestly) to take it up there again, but hopefully I'll make it soon. What fun!
Remember this post about my lack of fingerprints? Well, I finally got a notice in the mail from the state yesterday telling me that my finger print card had been rejected due to "ridge characteristics being not distinct or smudged." So now it seems it's official that my fingerprints are crap! haha I guess I'm gonna have to go get them printed again, but I don't know that we can expect different results. I mean, we tried at least 3 times the first go-round and I haven't exactly grown new fingers since then! I've left a voicemail for the person at the state to see if there was another way this could be done, instead of just submitting more bad fingerprints, but I doubt it.
Oh yeah...also in the mail yesterday I got a postcard saying there was a recall on my car, haha. I called the dealership today to learn that it was a false alarm (as though there's much left on my car that's original anyway) and apparently just some marketing push Nissan used to get people to try to schedule a service or something. He did ask how the car's doing (he and I are on a first name basis, remember?). I told him that the check engine light is still coming on and off constantly and that there's a loose wire in radio again, as the subwoofer keeps coming and going (reaaalllly annoying when you're listening to something like this and your bass goes out! Not cool!). I told him I just haven't had the time (or the patience, honestly) to take it up there again, but hopefully I'll make it soon. What fun!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Year in Review
I started writing a year in review post about two weeks ago. I got about half way through it and realized that I didn't want to write all that and you probably didn't want to read it all. It was kinda turning into a venting post about a lot of things that frankly I didn't want to rehash! haha Soooooo...I scrapped it and will now give you the very very abridged version. If you really care and want more details, you can always e-mail or IM me...I'll oblige you.
So here's the short version:
2007 SUCKED and I'm very glad it's over. I've decided I'll settle for no less than a MIND-BLOWING 2008.
Okay, so you might want a little more than that. I'll give you a brief rundown of why it sucked and, in the spirit of optimism, try to add a little anecdote to find something positive as a result. Here goes!
Anyway, to sum it up, I started the year off with a major blow and spent the rest of the year desperately trying to get back on my feet. So far it hasn't happened and, from the outside, it looks like I ended my year in a much worse position than I started it. I know, however, that I'm actually in a better position now than ever before as far as how much potential and opportunity I'm sitting on...I just need it all to manifest! I've never been more excited for one year to end and another to begin in my life!
So here's to a MIND-BLOWING 2008!!!!
So here's the short version:
2007 SUCKED and I'm very glad it's over. I've decided I'll settle for no less than a MIND-BLOWING 2008.
Okay, so you might want a little more than that. I'll give you a brief rundown of why it sucked and, in the spirit of optimism, try to add a little anecdote to find something positive as a result. Here goes!
- Crappy part:I started out the year losing my old job. What a great way to kick off a new year filled with hope and promise! Keep in mind this came no less than 4 months after purchasing my first home! Nothing like new bills and no income to pay for them. Optimism: I actually kinda hated that job anyway. I hadn't been happy for about 8 months and was already planning my escape route for the coming months...just didn't see it all going down like that. Oh, and as for the house...good thing I had some common sense when I was shopping and actually bought something with a manageable monthly payment, rather than trying to stretch myself!
- Crappy part: I decided on a new career field I wanted to break into, but couldn't get hired in it for anything. Everyone loved me but said I was overqualified for the entry level position, but wouldn't hire me for anything else without experience having done the entry level position. Optimism: I had a lot of time to read and learn important stuff. It also forced me to think 'outside of the box' as far as my plans for my life. This thinking is setting me up for a whole new avenue.
- Crappy part: In an act of desperation, I took a part time retail job, previously referred to as job #2. It was pretty much a horrible place to work and I hated almost every day of it. And the crappy hours they made me work greatly stunted my social life, which was one of the last things keeping me sane through the rest of the turmoil. Optimism: My mortgage continued to be paid. Oh, and I did get a nice pair of designer jeans and a bottle of good smelling cologne for free from them (no...I didn't steal them!).
- Not so Crappy part: I began working part time for a small company doing a job that I was really excited about and was a great combination of all the things I was looking for in a job. Crappier part: Being small, the company couldn't afford me full time, or really even to pay a great wage part time, so I had to stay at job #2. Also...we've been through a lot of turmoil on that job just through circumstances that we (my bosses or I) couldn't really directly control. This means that a lot of the promises made to me at hiring and plans/goals we had for the company have yet to come to pass. Not really what I signed up for!
- Sorta-Crappy part: The small, independent company I started working for transitioned into a national company to help us out a bit. This has meant a lot more work for me moving things over (and that still continues) and a bit of instability/turmoil during the entire transition. Upside: The national model allows us the structure we need to get our company back going again and the tools to be more successful than ever. Also, it allows opportunity to do stuff on my own which sets me up to make a TON more money than ever before (even at the crappy old job) and some long term stability and happiness. This opportunity just requires more work than I ever anticipated and was probably one of the last things I would have thought I'd be doing at the beginning of the year, but...all that learning and out of the box thinking at the beginning of the year prepared me for this, even when I didn't know it was coming.
Anyway, to sum it up, I started the year off with a major blow and spent the rest of the year desperately trying to get back on my feet. So far it hasn't happened and, from the outside, it looks like I ended my year in a much worse position than I started it. I know, however, that I'm actually in a better position now than ever before as far as how much potential and opportunity I'm sitting on...I just need it all to manifest! I've never been more excited for one year to end and another to begin in my life!
So here's to a MIND-BLOWING 2008!!!!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
It's like some sort of parallel universe!
Normally I'm one of those people who's really good at directions. I'm kinda a visual thinker and so it's easy for me to sorta draw a map of wherever I am in my head and think logically about where I need to go. I've always been one of those people who can go to a new city and find my way around fairly quickly. Normally when I'm lost, people who are with me don't even realize I'm lost because I can get back to where I need so quickly.
I think there's probably a few reasons this works for me. First off is the one I mentioned above...being a visual thinker. Also, growing up, my dad got lost a lot when we would go on vacations. Well, to be fair, we just referred to it in my family as "taking the scenic route," but same concept. Getting used to watching us drive through random streets in attempt to get back to where we need I guess wore off on me. Also, if it's somewhere I've ever been before I'm almost guaranteed to find my way. Along with my visual thinking, I have a very good memory. Like if I see a building or intersection once, I'm probably going to recognize it again for the rest of my life (crazy, I know). Also, I'm one of those people who, if I get any amount of time in a city, I just drive around the streets checking them out and learning where they go. I get familiarized with cities really quickly!
That brings me to the title of this post, however. Charlotte must exist in some sort of parallel universe! There's some sort of Kryptonite or something around that city that renders my super powers useless! I don't know what it is about that city but every time I go there I just get lost! What makes it even crazier is when I've asked for directions in the past, the people who live there can't even give me the right directions to major places! For instance, when I was up in the city last May, I just wanted to find the South Park Mall. I think everyone pretty much knows that place and where it is, but yet, I couldn't get there. I ended up driving for about an hour or so once I got in the city trying to find it. I stopped and asked directions at least 3 different times before I got there! The directions that finally got me there were from a 15 year old girl (the previous person's directions led me up a dead end road that ended in her high school parking lot, so I just asked someone there, haha). What's the most frustrating is that I'm usually no more than 5 miles from where I need to go, but just can't manage to get there. I drive in circles for half an hour or an hour at a time!
Even last time I was up there a week ago, I couldn't get anywhere. After my seminar was over I wanted to go to a couple of places around town, including the same mall. Even though I knew full well where the mall was, I couldn't figure out where I was! I basically again, drove in circles for about an hour or an hour and a half just trying to get there! Then, after leaving the mall, I decided to back uptown to hang out for a bit. I had just been uptown and knew exactly where I wanted to go. I was excited because, for probably the first time, I could get where I wanted without getting lost. Or so I thought! There was some sort of big high school football game going on up there which caused the road I wanted to be on to be closed. I drove around trying to find another street running parallel to it or one I could use to intersect my road later...but alas, nothing. Again, I spent another 30 mins. literally driving in circles in what was about a 10 block radius of where I wanted to go! (well, except for the time I ended up on some random freeway that I couldn't get off of for about 2 or 3 miles).
Ugh! Oh well, point is, I did eventually make it home, just probably drove an extra 50-100 miles and used half a tank of gas. I get so annoyed and frustrated every time I go up there because that is the one city I just can't make it in!! Pretty town...horrible roads! :)
I think there's probably a few reasons this works for me. First off is the one I mentioned above...being a visual thinker. Also, growing up, my dad got lost a lot when we would go on vacations. Well, to be fair, we just referred to it in my family as "taking the scenic route," but same concept. Getting used to watching us drive through random streets in attempt to get back to where we need I guess wore off on me. Also, if it's somewhere I've ever been before I'm almost guaranteed to find my way. Along with my visual thinking, I have a very good memory. Like if I see a building or intersection once, I'm probably going to recognize it again for the rest of my life (crazy, I know). Also, I'm one of those people who, if I get any amount of time in a city, I just drive around the streets checking them out and learning where they go. I get familiarized with cities really quickly!
That brings me to the title of this post, however. Charlotte must exist in some sort of parallel universe! There's some sort of Kryptonite or something around that city that renders my super powers useless! I don't know what it is about that city but every time I go there I just get lost! What makes it even crazier is when I've asked for directions in the past, the people who live there can't even give me the right directions to major places! For instance, when I was up in the city last May, I just wanted to find the South Park Mall. I think everyone pretty much knows that place and where it is, but yet, I couldn't get there. I ended up driving for about an hour or so once I got in the city trying to find it. I stopped and asked directions at least 3 different times before I got there! The directions that finally got me there were from a 15 year old girl (the previous person's directions led me up a dead end road that ended in her high school parking lot, so I just asked someone there, haha). What's the most frustrating is that I'm usually no more than 5 miles from where I need to go, but just can't manage to get there. I drive in circles for half an hour or an hour at a time!
Even last time I was up there a week ago, I couldn't get anywhere. After my seminar was over I wanted to go to a couple of places around town, including the same mall. Even though I knew full well where the mall was, I couldn't figure out where I was! I basically again, drove in circles for about an hour or an hour and a half just trying to get there! Then, after leaving the mall, I decided to back uptown to hang out for a bit. I had just been uptown and knew exactly where I wanted to go. I was excited because, for probably the first time, I could get where I wanted without getting lost. Or so I thought! There was some sort of big high school football game going on up there which caused the road I wanted to be on to be closed. I drove around trying to find another street running parallel to it or one I could use to intersect my road later...but alas, nothing. Again, I spent another 30 mins. literally driving in circles in what was about a 10 block radius of where I wanted to go! (well, except for the time I ended up on some random freeway that I couldn't get off of for about 2 or 3 miles).
Ugh! Oh well, point is, I did eventually make it home, just probably drove an extra 50-100 miles and used half a tank of gas. I get so annoyed and frustrated every time I go up there because that is the one city I just can't make it in!! Pretty town...horrible roads! :)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Okay, this is getting almost comical!
Despite my plans for other great accomplishments today (like, say, working) I spent pretty much all day today having work done to my much-storied car (here, here, here & here). Basically, today I spent over $200 that I don't have on various repairs/maintenance to it and probably should have spent at least another $200-300 more! I mean, seriously, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to create a blog label just for my car!
I started out by calling the one place in the yellow pages that said they repaired rims (well technically, there are two, but it turns out one is actually located in Greenville, 100 miles away, but for some reason decides to advertise in our book). I was really excited when the guy told me they could probably repair it in a little over an hour or so (not a day or more, as previously feared and as the place in Greenville seems to take), and that he could do it for probably $115 or so, co
nsiderably less than I feared. Before actually going to see him, though, I decided to go back to the Tire Kingdom I originally went to on Saturday to have them look at the remaining slow leak and rotate my tires. When I got to the Kingdom, they had a long wait (I did accidentally wait until lunch time to get there, oops!) so I just made an appointment for later that afternoon and went to the rim shop. I walked in and told the guy what I needed and he said "Oh, did you call me earlier today? Yeah, we'll take care of it for you." I dropped the tire off and now had an hour or two to kill before I had to be back. Inspired by my outpouring of cash into the car and in preparation of my upcoming Thanksgiving travels, I decided I may as well get the long over due oil change I needed.
I ran up the road to the place I always go and handed her the keys. I also asked about getting a transmission fluid change, since I have known for a long time I need that done, but decided without a coupon and in light of all the money I was spending on everything else that day, that I should chance it for a little bit longer. The repair guy also told me I should have my fuel injection system cleaned every 12-15 months or so. I normally don't 100% believe repair people when they tell me what I "should" do (not that I would know better than they would, I just like to think that I do), but since I've never had it done, I did entertain the thought. I ruled it as out of the budget too.
When they finished, I did swing by the office for a bit to get together some stuff for my boss and find something to do that wouldn't cost me money while I waited for the rim. Finally, I head back up to the rim place and pick up my tire. They mount it for me and end up only charging me $100 total, parts & labor, for the work. Awesome! After I left there, I realized I should've just had them look at the leak in my other tire and rotate them, since they did seem to do tire work, but I didn't realize that before, thinking they primarily just sold custom rims. Oh well. Once the wheel was mounted, it left me just enough time to run back up to the Kingdom for my afternoon appointment. The guy pulled the car in and lifted it up, then did what every car owner dreads when work is being done...comes in to speak to the customer!
I walk into the garage with him and he tells me 3 things...first, there's a lug nut on the back wheel which is stuck on there and he's afraid he'll destroy the stud if he removes it. (You may remember, this is hardly the first time I've had lugs over torqued and destroy wheel studs...in fact, if I count right, this is at least the 7th stud to suffer such a fate. Why do people have it out for my wheel studs?) I told him to go ahead, even if it meant stripping it and replacing the stud, (which would add about $30-40 to my bill) basically under the 3-fold logic of
The third thing he told me(and here's where it gets comical, folks) is this:
he was saying, I knew enough and, seeing where he was pointing, realized that this is the exact same part the dealership replaced not 3 weeks ago!!! Yeah...that $1100 repair they did, guess it didn't work! I told him not to worry about that and assured him I'd take it to the dealership. Oh, they did find a nail in that tire with the slow leak, in case you were curious...maybe I should have had it looked at some point earlier over the 6 or 9 months it's been slowly leaking...oops! :)
Once they finished up all they were doing and I paid another $75 or so, I was deciding how to set up an appointment with the dealership to have them re-repair my CV joint (or whatever). I was going to call, but I didn't have their number and I had to drive right by there anyway, so decided to just stop in and make one in person for next Monday when I get back. I told the guy at the dealership what the man at the Kingdom said and admitted that it was still making a strange noise, but, since it was considerably quieter than the noise it was making before, I had sorta relegated to just being the noise my car was going to keep making...at least until I got sick of it wanted to brave the dealership again. At first the guy was content to just make an appointment, but when I told him what was wrong, he got all concerned that I was going to driving through the mountains with this potential problem and wanted to have it looked at immediately. This was fine with me and actually, I just didn't suggest it b/c it was already 4:30 when I got there and didn't want anyone to have to stay late.
I then headed back toward the waiting room where I've grown so accustomed to staying and ran into several other of the employees I've come to know around there (yeah...clearly I spend to much time there!). I chatted a bit and then went back to reading the book I'd been working on all afternoon. Half an hour later, the service guy tells me that they looked at it and they're going to have to order the same part again and install a second new one to try to fix the problem. He did assure me that I would be fine driving on it (a concern I did not have until he raised it) and I'm supposed to hear from them when the parts come in. Oh, then I put $40-something worth of gas in it and was done on the car for the day.
After spending all this time at the dealership, I'm beginning to notice a trend. A very unpleasant trend, but a trend nonetheless. Any guesses?
Yeah...it seems they like to do all of their work multiple times! Let's recap again...
Oh well, at least an old friend was rolling through town so she stopped to hang out. She introduced me to Raspberry Martinis and Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grill! Not a bad way to end the night!
I started out by calling the one place in the yellow pages that said they repaired rims (well technically, there are two, but it turns out one is actually located in Greenville, 100 miles away, but for some reason decides to advertise in our book). I was really excited when the guy told me they could probably repair it in a little over an hour or so (not a day or more, as previously feared and as the place in Greenville seems to take), and that he could do it for probably $115 or so, co
nsiderably less than I feared. Before actually going to see him, though, I decided to go back to the Tire Kingdom I originally went to on Saturday to have them look at the remaining slow leak and rotate my tires. When I got to the Kingdom, they had a long wait (I did accidentally wait until lunch time to get there, oops!) so I just made an appointment for later that afternoon and went to the rim shop. I walked in and told the guy what I needed and he said "Oh, did you call me earlier today? Yeah, we'll take care of it for you." I dropped the tire off and now had an hour or two to kill before I had to be back. Inspired by my outpouring of cash into the car and in preparation of my upcoming Thanksgiving travels, I decided I may as well get the long over due oil change I needed.I ran up the road to the place I always go and handed her the keys. I also asked about getting a transmission fluid change, since I have known for a long time I need that done, but decided without a coupon and in light of all the money I was spending on everything else that day, that I should chance it for a little bit longer. The repair guy also told me I should have my fuel injection system cleaned every 12-15 months or so. I normally don't 100% believe repair people when they tell me what I "should" do (not that I would know better than they would, I just like to think that I do), but since I've never had it done, I did entertain the thought. I ruled it as out of the budget too.
When they finished, I did swing by the office for a bit to get together some stuff for my boss and find something to do that wouldn't cost me money while I waited for the rim. Finally, I head back up to the rim place and pick up my tire. They mount it for me and end up only charging me $100 total, parts & labor, for the work. Awesome! After I left there, I realized I should've just had them look at the leak in my other tire and rotate them, since they did seem to do tire work, but I didn't realize that before, thinking they primarily just sold custom rims. Oh well. Once the wheel was mounted, it left me just enough time to run back up to the Kingdom for my afternoon appointment. The guy pulled the car in and lifted it up, then did what every car owner dreads when work is being done...comes in to speak to the customer!
I walk into the garage with him and he tells me 3 things...first, there's a lug nut on the back wheel which is stuck on there and he's afraid he'll destroy the stud if he removes it. (You may remember, this is hardly the first time I've had lugs over torqued and destroy wheel studs...in fact, if I count right, this is at least the 7th stud to suffer such a fate. Why do people have it out for my wheel studs?) I told him to go ahead, even if it meant stripping it and replacing the stud, (which would add about $30-40 to my bill) basically under the 3-fold logic of
- I really do need my tires rotated regardless,
- Heaven forbid the tire should go flat and I would be left on the side of the road trying to man handle that thing, and
- I'm already dumping money out, so why not!?
The third thing he told me(and here's where it gets comical, folks) is this:
"Have you had someone look at your CV boot (or some other part he was pointing to that I had no idea what he was talking about)? You see, it's leaking here and it is basically dripping all the oil right out of it and slinging it away. You can see it here...(still pointing)"At this point, I just start laughing, because while I didn't understand exactly what
he was saying, I knew enough and, seeing where he was pointing, realized that this is the exact same part the dealership replaced not 3 weeks ago!!! Yeah...that $1100 repair they did, guess it didn't work! I told him not to worry about that and assured him I'd take it to the dealership. Oh, they did find a nail in that tire with the slow leak, in case you were curious...maybe I should have had it looked at some point earlier over the 6 or 9 months it's been slowly leaking...oops! :)Once they finished up all they were doing and I paid another $75 or so, I was deciding how to set up an appointment with the dealership to have them re-repair my CV joint (or whatever). I was going to call, but I didn't have their number and I had to drive right by there anyway, so decided to just stop in and make one in person for next Monday when I get back. I told the guy at the dealership what the man at the Kingdom said and admitted that it was still making a strange noise, but, since it was considerably quieter than the noise it was making before, I had sorta relegated to just being the noise my car was going to keep making...at least until I got sick of it wanted to brave the dealership again. At first the guy was content to just make an appointment, but when I told him what was wrong, he got all concerned that I was going to driving through the mountains with this potential problem and wanted to have it looked at immediately. This was fine with me and actually, I just didn't suggest it b/c it was already 4:30 when I got there and didn't want anyone to have to stay late.
I then headed back toward the waiting room where I've grown so accustomed to staying and ran into several other of the employees I've come to know around there (yeah...clearly I spend to much time there!). I chatted a bit and then went back to reading the book I'd been working on all afternoon. Half an hour later, the service guy tells me that they looked at it and they're going to have to order the same part again and install a second new one to try to fix the problem. He did assure me that I would be fine driving on it (a concern I did not have until he raised it) and I'm supposed to hear from them when the parts come in. Oh, then I put $40-something worth of gas in it and was done on the car for the day.
After spending all this time at the dealership, I'm beginning to notice a trend. A very unpleasant trend, but a trend nonetheless. Any guesses?
Yeah...it seems they like to do all of their work multiple times! Let's recap again...
- this piece was replaced three weeks ago and will now be replaced again in a week; my air conditioner was "fixed" once in June and then surprisingly broke again a month later,
- the motor on one of my power windows needs adjustment almost annually, and
- my radio has been replaced not once, not twice, but three separate times!
Oh well, at least an old friend was rolling through town so she stopped to hang out. She introduced me to Raspberry Martinis and Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grill! Not a bad way to end the night!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Nothing like changing a tire in cashmere...
Remember how yesterday I put off getting my tires looked at? The logic was, "Oh, they're just slow leaks, they won't go anywhere." Well, this morning I got up early to go to church (I was going to early service to be able to go by the tire place and still get other stuff done in the afternoon) and walk outside to see the tire with the "significantly less slow leak" was completely flat. Ugh...no I have to change the tire! So yeah, it's 7:30 in the morning, 45 degrees outside and I'm wearing a Banana Republic cashmere sweater and now I have to change a filthy tire - lovely!
I had to fight with the tire b/c it didn't really want to come off, but I finally got it. After looking at it, I saw that in addition to having a bad valve stem, the rim is bent also!!! I have no idea how that happened. I mean, Columbia's roads are really crappy, but I haven't particularly noticed hitting any new pot holes or bumps over the last few days. Best I can figure, I'm thinking maybe the bad valve stem let the air out of my tire and, while driving around with low pressure, I hit one of the normal bumps which caused the bend. Anyway, moral of the story is, reshaping the rim is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than a little patch or new valve stem, and may not even be fixable at all, but may require replacement. I'm really hoping replacing isn't the way I have to go, seeing as I checked into getting a new rim from the dealership several years ago and was quoted a price of $634 per rim, or something like that. Not what I need!
I threw the little donut spare tire on, tried washing my hands, and rolled on to church. Of course, I was an hour late, and really dirty, but at least I made it. I couldn't get anything done about the tire today, since most tire shops won't repair a bent rim; I'll have to so see a guy that specializes in it this week. The timing of this is so perfect too, since starting Wednesday I'll be driving 500 or so miles next week on the interstate, through the mountains, and on dirt roads with possible ice and snow. I'm reeeeaaalllly hoping I don't have to do all that on the donut at 55mph.
Yeah...I'm soooo over this car! Let's just recap what this car has put me through over the last 6 months:
Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury, I cracked my KRZR yesterday! I dropped it in Barnes & Noble and noticed later that the face of it had a big crack across it. Of all the phones I've had since I first got a cell phone 6 or 7 years ago, and of all the times I've dropped them in the dirt, on the floor, even on asphalt in roads and parking lots, I've never had one break like that...and this happened on carpet!! Piece of crap! Verizon told me they'd replace it for $50. In light of the tire situation, I think I'll keep my money and my cracked phone. Grrrr!
I had to fight with the tire b/c it didn't really want to come off, but I finally got it. After looking at it, I saw that in addition to having a bad valve stem, the rim is bent also!!! I have no idea how that happened. I mean, Columbia's roads are really crappy, but I haven't particularly noticed hitting any new pot holes or bumps over the last few days. Best I can figure, I'm thinking maybe the bad valve stem let the air out of my tire and, while driving around with low pressure, I hit one of the normal bumps which caused the bend. Anyway, moral of the story is, reshaping the rim is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than a little patch or new valve stem, and may not even be fixable at all, but may require replacement. I'm really hoping replacing isn't the way I have to go, seeing as I checked into getting a new rim from the dealership several years ago and was quoted a price of $634 per rim, or something like that. Not what I need!
I threw the little donut spare tire on, tried washing my hands, and rolled on to church. Of course, I was an hour late, and really dirty, but at least I made it. I couldn't get anything done about the tire today, since most tire shops won't repair a bent rim; I'll have to so see a guy that specializes in it this week. The timing of this is so perfect too, since starting Wednesday I'll be driving 500 or so miles next week on the interstate, through the mountains, and on dirt roads with possible ice and snow. I'm reeeeaaalllly hoping I don't have to do all that on the donut at 55mph. Yeah...I'm soooo over this car! Let's just recap what this car has put me through over the last 6 months:
- My A/C has broken...twice!
- I replaced a wheel stud that had been cross thread and stripped.
- I replaced my front brake pads.
- I replaced the rear pads and turned the rotors.
- I had an $1100 repair done to the CV joints.
- And now...I have a bent rim that will need repair/replace.
Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury, I cracked my KRZR yesterday! I dropped it in Barnes & Noble and noticed later that the face of it had a big crack across it. Of all the phones I've had since I first got a cell phone 6 or 7 years ago, and of all the times I've dropped them in the dirt, on the floor, even on asphalt in roads and parking lots, I've never had one break like that...and this happened on carpet!! Piece of crap! Verizon told me they'd replace it for $50. In light of the tire situation, I think I'll keep my money and my cracked phone. Grrrr!
Friday, November 2, 2007
I'm Baaaaaaack!!!!
Yes...after my longer-than-expected hiatus, I have returned to the world of blogging. If only that hiatus had been spent sunning my self on the shores of some tropical island. Alas, it was just spent here, doing my usual boring life. Oh well.
Taking two weeks off from the blog almost got me out of the habit of things, but I wouldn't let it go that easily. I know my waiting public would be crushed without me. I couldn't let you all down like that! This post has been a couple days in the making since I do have 2 weeks worth of life to catch up on. Feel free to read it in sections.
THE MOUNTAINS
So I did spend the weekend in the mountains with my parents. Looking back, I guess I never really told you why I was going to the mountains. My aunt & uncle have had a house in the mountains for about 20 years now and we've always gone there for Thanksgiving and occasionally other times in the year. Recently my aunt & uncle bought some property across the road from their cabin and subdivided it into several smaller lots. My parents bought one of those lots and had their own cabin built on it since we've enjoyed going there so much. Their plan is to keep it as a second house for now and then when they retire in 5 years or so, split their time between there and a house in FL (where they currently live, although they'd probably sell their current house and get a smaller one). The house was just about done, so I was going up to help my parents move in furniture that they'd been collecting.
Nothing too terribly exciting happened there. I arrived late Friday night, sometime around 12:30ish or so, as I came directly from my last day of job #2. We were staying at my aunt & uncle's, since we don't have the CO on our house yet. Woke up Saturday and started assembling beds, moving dressers and what not with mom, while dad took the rental truck off to pick up some sofas they had bought from a store up there. The builder and his wife (who happen to be neighbors on the mountain) had told my parents they wanted to take us to dinner to celebrate the new house.
We were a little nervous as to where we might be going, as, after nearly 20 years of visiting the mountains, we hadn't really found any amazing restaurants up there. We also were unsure because we were assured that while this restaurant was good, we would blend right in wearing jeans there (that's not a combination I generally have much confidence in). Well, we ended up eating here. You can read the story on their website if you want, but basically, it's a little mountain lodge that hikers on the Appalachain Trail visit frequently for a good meal and nice place to stay while hiking. They had a little hiking store and some rooms to rent in addition to the restaurant. It actually was a good restaurant and we all had really good food. I ordered some ribs (which the server told me they referred to as "pork lolipops" haha! very down home!) What also made this trip interesting was that the restaurant was located in a dry county (yeah, those still exist, apparently). When they made the reservation, we were told that if we brought our own wine they'd give us gla
sses (it seems you're allowed to have it, just not buy it there). But when we got there, we found out that this place got a winery license last year or so and now makes their own wine...and, in this county when you are a winery, you're allowed to sell your own wine. So, in a rare treat in these mountains, we actually got to order a couple bottles of wine with our dinner. Of course, my mom doesn't drink wine, but fortunately she had a Jack & Sprite in the car (don't worry, she didn't drink alone...the builder, who was driving, had some wine on the way too). Anyway, everyone (myself excluded) got rather tipsy, but we all had more than plenty of food, lots of wine and good company. (Side note- I don't really know why everyone else was so drunk and I wasn't. I had at least two good size glasses of wine, just like everyone else, and the wine was apparently fairly strong. Guess I just have a better tolerance than the rest.) Although my parents had obviously met them, this was the first time I'd met the builder and his wife and they are really nice and very entertaining. They'll make good neighbors! All-in-all a great evening.
Then we went home, I watched Auburn almost beat LSU and went to bed while dad fell asleep on the couch. The next day we woke up, did a little more cleaning at the new house, then packed up and hit the road. Dad had to return the rental truck at some place down the interstate and then I took them to the airport so they could fly home. Of course, once he was in the car, it only took dad about 10 minutes to complain about my driving, but oh well. I quickly put an end to that! haha. After dropping them off at the airport, I went up to the South Park Mall and wandered around (I love that place). Then I hit the road back home. Nice weekend.
**FYI - The pictures are, in order: My Aunt & Uncle's Cabin; Our Cabin (the one in the back); and the view from our front porch.
COMPUTER WOES
As you well know, when I came back from the mountains I found that the power cord on my laptop was no longer working. I think the AC adapter was shot for some reason. After I convinced Dell they needed to send me a new power cord, I waited for it to arrive. Sure enough, a few days later a package arrived. Unfortunately, tho
ugh it was only part of a power cord...and not the part with the AC adapter in it. I called them back and made them send me the correct part instead. Problem is...they sent it to the wrong address. Yeah...they sent the second power cord to my old work, since that was the address I had the computer shipped to originally like 2 years ago. I don't know how many times I have to tell Dell that's not my shipping address anymore. I get a call from the receptionist at my old job saying they have a package there for me. I had to go by that afternoon and pick it up. I didn't really want to go there b/c pretty much everyone around there I want to see any more I will meet outside of work, but oh well. I actually showed up just before the annual Halloween Party began (everyone brings their kids and hops them up on sugar and lets them run around like crazy around the building) so everyone was a little distracted and I didn't have to see too many people. Oh well, computer's up and running again and I didn't have to pay for it...yay!!
MORE WARRANTY FUN
Last week I took my car into the shop to get a general inspection done and I also mention that one of the wheels was making some strange noise. As you'll recall...the car's been making certain noises for a while and I don't know if this was the same noise or completely unrelated, but it got worse while I was in the mountains, so I thought I'd have it looked at. Turns out it had something to do with my CV joints and was going to cost about $1100 to fix. Thankfully, I bought a very comprehensive extended warranty on my car so it covered it. No cost to me. So here's the running tally of what that warranty has gotten me since I got the car about 2 and a half years ago:
TV UPDATES
So, busy week in my TV world. I know I still owe you all so many editions of "What's in Mark's DVR?" but I do need to take a moment to comment on my shows. First off, Nip/Tuck debuted this week! Yay!!! I'll give the full dish on Nip/Tuck later, but I will say it is definitely my favorite show on TV currently. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me! The verdict is still out on this season...it's a bit campy so far, which is a welcome departure from the previous seasons which were a bit heavy, but I just hope they have crossed the line. We'll see.
In more important news...DWTS was a complete and utter shock! Sabrina got eliminated??
!! That's disgusting and appalling and everything horrible. I know I said I hadn't particularly fallen in love with any of the celebrities this season, but Sabrina was far and away the most accomplished and superior dancer this season. The fact that the judges were completely shocked, with Carrie Ann having tears in her eyes, is a testament to the fact that this was uncalled for. I'm not necessarily accusing anyone of anything, but I will say if a hanging chad was involved, I wouldn't be entirely surprised. What's the protocol for a recount? By the end of last season, I was getting ready for a "They Were Robbed" season, where celebrities who got eliminated far too early would be invited back for another shot. Now I think it's almost necessary. Among others, Laila Ali, Mario Lopez, Vivica A. Fox, and now Sabrina, should all be invited for one all out dance war! (No, not like Carrie Ann & Bruno's new reality show, which will probably be lame.) I seriously was stunned for a couple of days and almost don't care how this thing turns out now. I'm disgusted.
***UPDATE*** While looking for a picture for this post, I just ran across this juicy little bit of gossip. At least she got something out of the show! It may not be the coveted shiny mirrored ball trophy, but I guess it's not a bad runner's up prize.
EXERCISING
Still running. Yeah, who would've guessed! It actually hasn't been as bad as it was when I first started. I decided I needed to run a little more frequently than I had originally planned if I actually wanted to get anywhere, but so far it hasn't been near as painful. After 1/2 mile nearly killed me, I pushed myself to running 3/4 miles. Yeah... thought I was going to throw up for a good 15 minutes after that one. I made it though. I've kept pushing myself and now I can do a mile and a half without feeling too bad. I guess this whole exercising thing has its benefits. I mentioned on the phone to my parents the other night that I went running. My dad's response was "What happened, is your car broken?" My mom said "You did what?" Apparently the thought of me exercising is surprising to more people than just me!
THE CAT'S MEOW
I was cat-sitting for some neighbors over the weekend. I don't think I've shared with you my sordid past with felines, but for now, lets suffice to say that the roommate & roommate's wife got an evil sick little cat when we were living together that I didn't get along with so well. Anyway, the neighbors' cats weren't so bad...I did only have to see them twice. The neighbors' house was a complete sty though! Literally, the kitchen floor was covered in laundry and there was a bowl of PJ sitting on the kitchen table which was leftover from a Halloween party I attended there a week before! And it's girls that live in this house!! Wow. Oh well, on the upside, they got a Wii not that long ago, so I stayed there for a couple hours on Saturday playing that while the cats ran around.
Taking two weeks off from the blog almost got me out of the habit of things, but I wouldn't let it go that easily. I know my waiting public would be crushed without me. I couldn't let you all down like that! This post has been a couple days in the making since I do have 2 weeks worth of life to catch up on. Feel free to read it in sections.
THE MOUNTAINS
So I did spend the weekend in the mountains with my parents. Looking back, I guess I never really told you why I was going to the mountains. My aunt & uncle have had a house in the mountains for about 20 years now and we've always gone there for Thanksgiving and occasionally other times in the year. Recently my aunt & uncle bought some property across the road from their cabin and subdivided it into several smaller lots. My parents bought one of those lots and had their own cabin built on it since we've enjoyed going there so much. Their plan is to keep it as a second house for now and then when they retire in 5 years or so, split their time between there and a house in FL (where they currently live, although they'd probably sell their current house and get a smaller one). The house was just about done, so I was going up to help my parents move in furniture that they'd been collecting.
Nothing too terribly exciting happened there. I arrived late Friday night, sometime around 12:30ish or so, as I came directly from my last day of job #2. We were staying at my aunt & uncle's, since we don't have the CO on our house yet. Woke up Saturday and started assembling beds, moving dressers and what not with mom, while dad took the rental truck off to pick up some sofas they had bought from a store up there. The builder and his wife (who happen to be neighbors on the mountain) had told my parents they wanted to take us to dinner to celebrate the new house.We were a little nervous as to where we might be going, as, after nearly 20 years of visiting the mountains, we hadn't really found any amazing restaurants up there. We also were unsure because we were assured that while this restaurant was good, we would blend right in wearing jeans there (that's not a combination I generally have much confidence in). Well, we ended up eating here. You can read the story on their website if you want, but basically, it's a little mountain lodge that hikers on the Appalachain Trail visit frequently for a good meal and nice place to stay while hiking. They had a little hiking store and some rooms to rent in addition to the restaurant. It actually was a good restaurant and we all had really good food. I ordered some ribs (which the server told me they referred to as "pork lolipops" haha! very down home!) What also made this trip interesting was that the restaurant was located in a dry county (yeah, those still exist, apparently). When they made the reservation, we were told that if we brought our own wine they'd give us gla
sses (it seems you're allowed to have it, just not buy it there). But when we got there, we found out that this place got a winery license last year or so and now makes their own wine...and, in this county when you are a winery, you're allowed to sell your own wine. So, in a rare treat in these mountains, we actually got to order a couple bottles of wine with our dinner. Of course, my mom doesn't drink wine, but fortunately she had a Jack & Sprite in the car (don't worry, she didn't drink alone...the builder, who was driving, had some wine on the way too). Anyway, everyone (myself excluded) got rather tipsy, but we all had more than plenty of food, lots of wine and good company. (Side note- I don't really know why everyone else was so drunk and I wasn't. I had at least two good size glasses of wine, just like everyone else, and the wine was apparently fairly strong. Guess I just have a better tolerance than the rest.) Although my parents had obviously met them, this was the first time I'd met the builder and his wife and they are really nice and very entertaining. They'll make good neighbors! All-in-all a great evening.
Then we went home, I watched Auburn almost beat LSU and went to bed while dad fell asleep on the couch. The next day we woke up, did a little more cleaning at the new house, then packed up and hit the road. Dad had to return the rental truck at some place down the interstate and then I took them to the airport so they could fly home. Of course, once he was in the car, it only took dad about 10 minutes to complain about my driving, but oh well. I quickly put an end to that! haha. After dropping them off at the airport, I went up to the South Park Mall and wandered around (I love that place). Then I hit the road back home. Nice weekend.**FYI - The pictures are, in order: My Aunt & Uncle's Cabin; Our Cabin (the one in the back); and the view from our front porch.
COMPUTER WOES
As you well know, when I came back from the mountains I found that the power cord on my laptop was no longer working. I think the AC adapter was shot for some reason. After I convinced Dell they needed to send me a new power cord, I waited for it to arrive. Sure enough, a few days later a package arrived. Unfortunately, tho
ugh it was only part of a power cord...and not the part with the AC adapter in it. I called them back and made them send me the correct part instead. Problem is...they sent it to the wrong address. Yeah...they sent the second power cord to my old work, since that was the address I had the computer shipped to originally like 2 years ago. I don't know how many times I have to tell Dell that's not my shipping address anymore. I get a call from the receptionist at my old job saying they have a package there for me. I had to go by that afternoon and pick it up. I didn't really want to go there b/c pretty much everyone around there I want to see any more I will meet outside of work, but oh well. I actually showed up just before the annual Halloween Party began (everyone brings their kids and hops them up on sugar and lets them run around like crazy around the building) so everyone was a little distracted and I didn't have to see too many people. Oh well, computer's up and running again and I didn't have to pay for it...yay!!MORE WARRANTY FUN
Last week I took my car into the shop to get a general inspection done and I also mention that one of the wheels was making some strange noise. As you'll recall...the car's been making certain noises for a while and I don't know if this was the same noise or completely unrelated, but it got worse while I was in the mountains, so I thought I'd have it looked at. Turns out it had something to do with my CV joints and was going to cost about $1100 to fix. Thankfully, I bought a very comprehensive extended warranty on my car so it covered it. No cost to me. So here's the running tally of what that warranty has gotten me since I got the car about 2 and a half years ago:
- 3 new radios
- 1 new power window motor
- 2 adjustments to another power window motor
- air conditioner repairs
- new CV joints
TV UPDATES
So, busy week in my TV world. I know I still owe you all so many editions of "What's in Mark's DVR?" but I do need to take a moment to comment on my shows. First off, Nip/Tuck debuted this week! Yay!!! I'll give the full dish on Nip/Tuck later, but I will say it is definitely my favorite show on TV currently. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me! The verdict is still out on this season...it's a bit campy so far, which is a welcome departure from the previous seasons which were a bit heavy, but I just hope they have crossed the line. We'll see.In more important news...DWTS was a complete and utter shock! Sabrina got eliminated??
!! That's disgusting and appalling and everything horrible. I know I said I hadn't particularly fallen in love with any of the celebrities this season, but Sabrina was far and away the most accomplished and superior dancer this season. The fact that the judges were completely shocked, with Carrie Ann having tears in her eyes, is a testament to the fact that this was uncalled for. I'm not necessarily accusing anyone of anything, but I will say if a hanging chad was involved, I wouldn't be entirely surprised. What's the protocol for a recount? By the end of last season, I was getting ready for a "They Were Robbed" season, where celebrities who got eliminated far too early would be invited back for another shot. Now I think it's almost necessary. Among others, Laila Ali, Mario Lopez, Vivica A. Fox, and now Sabrina, should all be invited for one all out dance war! (No, not like Carrie Ann & Bruno's new reality show, which will probably be lame.) I seriously was stunned for a couple of days and almost don't care how this thing turns out now. I'm disgusted.***UPDATE*** While looking for a picture for this post, I just ran across this juicy little bit of gossip. At least she got something out of the show! It may not be the coveted shiny mirrored ball trophy, but I guess it's not a bad runner's up prize.
EXERCISING
Still running. Yeah, who would've guessed! It actually hasn't been as bad as it was when I first started. I decided I needed to run a little more frequently than I had originally planned if I actually wanted to get anywhere, but so far it hasn't been near as painful. After 1/2 mile nearly killed me, I pushed myself to running 3/4 miles. Yeah... thought I was going to throw up for a good 15 minutes after that one. I made it though. I've kept pushing myself and now I can do a mile and a half without feeling too bad. I guess this whole exercising thing has its benefits. I mentioned on the phone to my parents the other night that I went running. My dad's response was "What happened, is your car broken?" My mom said "You did what?" Apparently the thought of me exercising is surprising to more people than just me!
THE CAT'S MEOW
I was cat-sitting for some neighbors over the weekend. I don't think I've shared with you my sordid past with felines, but for now, lets suffice to say that the roommate & roommate's wife got an evil sick little cat when we were living together that I didn't get along with so well. Anyway, the neighbors' cats weren't so bad...I did only have to see them twice. The neighbors' house was a complete sty though! Literally, the kitchen floor was covered in laundry and there was a bowl of PJ sitting on the kitchen table which was leftover from a Halloween party I attended there a week before! And it's girls that live in this house!! Wow. Oh well, on the upside, they got a Wii not that long ago, so I stayed there for a couple hours on Saturday playing that while the cats ran around.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Update...
Well, as I thought, it didn't take Dell the two weeks they said it would to send me the new power cord for my computer. In fact, I recieved the package yesterday morning. Only problem is, they didn't send the right part!! Well, to be fair, they just didn't send me all of the correct part. They only sent me the part of the power cord that connects the AC adapter to the outlet and not the part of the cord that has the AC adapter and connects to the computer. I assumed when I told the woman "I need a new power cord, the green light on the AC adapter no longer comes on" that it was fairly understood that odds were good there was something wrong with the adapter and that I'd be getting the entire cord, or at the very least, that she would ask more questions if it seemed unclear to her. But you know what happens when you assume... And apparently that same thing happens when your "customer service reps" are stationed in a third world country and the only English they know is what's written on a script in front of them! GRRRRR!!
Anyway, I've spoken with the new rep (who I think happens to be somewhere in America) and she has ordered the correct part for me. Hopefully I'll be getting it soon!
Anyway, I've spoken with the new rep (who I think happens to be somewhere in America) and she has ordered the correct part for me. Hopefully I'll be getting it soon!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
A Brief Sabatical
Posting will be light (more likely non-existent) for the next few days. But don't worry, loyal blog readers, it's not because I drove off a mountain or got kidnapped by the locals with shotguns while out of town last weekend. I did, in fact, make it home safely, but found upon my return that the power cord to my laptop no longer works. It had been acting up for serveral weeks now, but I guess it finally gave up the ghost.
Not wanting to wait for a new one to be sent from Dell, I ran up to BestBuy to try to get one on my own. Turns out, those suckers cost $130 !!! Well, there was no way I was paying that considering my computer is only a year and a half old, so I decided to give Dell a shot. I spent about an hour on the phone with their lovely customer service reps in India or Pakistan or somewhere that no one speaks English, and finally fussed enough to where they agreed to overnight me a new power cord for free, even though my warranty expired in February. Yeah, I got it like that! Only catch is, they say it will be mailed out by October 31. In my past experiences with Dell, they usually get stuff out much faster than they claim, so hopefully I'll have it by the weekend, but if not, I guess I'm going back to the dark ages for a couple weeks with no internet. So painful!!
Anyway, I'm using a computer at work now, but unless I get reallllllly bored, I probably won't get on here to update the blog again, so we're all stuck waiting until UPS brings me my gift from Dell.
In the meantime, reflect on this....Is there really more to life than just being really ridiculously good looking? Feel free to comment with your responses.
Not wanting to wait for a new one to be sent from Dell, I ran up to BestBuy to try to get one on my own. Turns out, those suckers cost $130 !!! Well, there was no way I was paying that considering my computer is only a year and a half old, so I decided to give Dell a shot. I spent about an hour on the phone with their lovely customer service reps in India or Pakistan or somewhere that no one speaks English, and finally fussed enough to where they agreed to overnight me a new power cord for free, even though my warranty expired in February. Yeah, I got it like that! Only catch is, they say it will be mailed out by October 31. In my past experiences with Dell, they usually get stuff out much faster than they claim, so hopefully I'll have it by the weekend, but if not, I guess I'm going back to the dark ages for a couple weeks with no internet. So painful!!
Anyway, I'm using a computer at work now, but unless I get reallllllly bored, I probably won't get on here to update the blog again, so we're all stuck waiting until UPS brings me my gift from Dell.
In the meantime, reflect on this....Is there really more to life than just being really ridiculously good looking? Feel free to comment with your responses.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
T.I.N.S.T.A.F.L.
So, I've known for some time that there truly is no such thing as free lunch...I mean everything's gotta cost you (or somebody) something. But my dreams of a deeply discounted lunch are becoming dashed now as well.
A few months ago my brakes started making noises, so I knew something needed to be done. Not having tons of money to dump into car maintenance, I decide to call up a friend of mine who rebuilds Nissans for fun (I know, crazy hobby, but it works for him). Anyway, I determine that the noise just means that my front brake pads need replacing, so I get some pads, set a time to meet with him (which took about 2 weeks because of our busy schedules) and we get started. While changing the brake pads, we notice that one of my wheel studs was stripped, meaning the lug nut wasn't tightening all the way and was in need of replacement. After driving to 3 different auto part stores, we cannot find a wheel stud to fit my Maxima.
So over the next week, I head to the dealership to get a wheel stud and call my friend again to set up a time to get him to install it. We play phone tag for several weeks and I get a bit frustrated. After about 3 weeks of carrying this stud around in my cup holder, my car starts making even more (and notably worse) noises coming from my wheels. At this point, I assume one of two things...either there's something wrong with the new brakes or the missing wheel stud is causing greater issues and must be installed immediately. I guess I finally sounded desperate enough on the phone b/c my friend finally worked in some time to look at my car.
So we finally meet, he hears the horrible noises and tells me that it is actually coming from my rear wheels. Yes, that's right...now my back brakes have gone out and need changing. Arrgh! Well, he didn't have time to change them then, so we just changed the wheel stud and agreed to meet again at a later date for the brakes. More phone tag ensues (keep in mind, with every mile I drive, I have to listen to my brakes rubbing on my rotors b/c the pads are essentially gone) and finally, about two weeks later, I'm able to get a hold of him and we agree to meet last Friday afternoon b/c he was getting off work early. Friday comes, I get to his house and, lo and behold, no friend. I wait...no friend. I call him at work...no answer. Call his cell...no answer. After sitting in his driveway for 45 minutes or so, I give up and go on to my second job. Finally we agree to try again this morning as he was off work today.
Well, I get to his house this morning, and he was there waiting (fortunately). We knew we needed to have the rotors turned (since driving with the bad brakes for so long created groves in them) so what was to be a simple brake pad change, turned into removing the whole wheel, taking the rotors to a shop and having them turn them. One of the rotors is stuck on, but after 20 minutes or so of fighting, it finally breaks loose. We take them up to a shop where a friend of his works to get them turned and they tell us it will take an hour! We go off and run some errands he had to do and came back to pick them up. Then, when putting it all back together, we realize the auto parts store gave us the wrong pads! Back in the car we go to exchange those and finally we get them put on. What should have taken 1 hour or an hour and a half at most today (including having them turned) ended up lasting about 4 hours!! And of course that's not to mention the 3 or 4 months that have passed since I first started having problems!
Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative of the help my friend has offered b/c I know, even if he doesn't mind doing it, there are better ways he could be using his time. And although it was insanely frustrating playing phone tag for a couple months (and by phone tag, I basically mean me leaving him voicemails which were unreturned), I do realize that we both have very busy schedules, so it was bound to be difficult. I'm just frustrated b/c what should have been been an easy thing to do and shouldn't have cost much ended up becoming an ordeal! To top it all off, between the pads and the rotor turning and everything else, I still ended up spending about $70 on the rear brakes alone. Naturally that doesn't include what I had to pay for the front pads and wheel stud and everything else. So really how much money did I save? I know a shop would have cost more, probably $150-$200, but also with a shop I could have just dropped my car off in the morning months ago when I first had issue, told them to look at the wheels, had them find all the problems at once, fix them and I could have been back in my car, problem free by the afternoon. This whole ordeal never even needed to be an ordeal if I could have just paid someone to do it up front!
Ugh! All I can say is, I can't wait until I have enough money coming in to just take care of stuff like this the right way from the start! I'm not necessarily trying to say money can by happiness (although I'm not denying it either) but in this situation, a little bit of money sure could have saved a lot of frustration and time! So much for big discounts!
A few months ago my brakes started making noises, so I knew something needed to be done. Not having tons of money to dump into car maintenance, I decide to call up a friend of mine who rebuilds Nissans for fun (I know, crazy hobby, but it works for him). Anyway, I determine that the noise just means that my front brake pads need replacing, so I get some pads, set a time to meet with him (which took about 2 weeks because of our busy schedules) and we get started. While changing the brake pads, we notice that one of my wheel studs was stripped, meaning the lug nut wasn't tightening all the way and was in need of replacement. After driving to 3 different auto part stores, we cannot find a wheel stud to fit my Maxima.
So over the next week, I head to the dealership to get a wheel stud and call my friend again to set up a time to get him to install it. We play phone tag for several weeks and I get a bit frustrated. After about 3 weeks of carrying this stud around in my cup holder, my car starts making even more (and notably worse) noises coming from my wheels. At this point, I assume one of two things...either there's something wrong with the new brakes or the missing wheel stud is causing greater issues and must be installed immediately. I guess I finally sounded desperate enough on the phone b/c my friend finally worked in some time to look at my car.
So we finally meet, he hears the horrible noises and tells me that it is actually coming from my rear wheels. Yes, that's right...now my back brakes have gone out and need changing. Arrgh! Well, he didn't have time to change them then, so we just changed the wheel stud and agreed to meet again at a later date for the brakes. More phone tag ensues (keep in mind, with every mile I drive, I have to listen to my brakes rubbing on my rotors b/c the pads are essentially gone) and finally, about two weeks later, I'm able to get a hold of him and we agree to meet last Friday afternoon b/c he was getting off work early. Friday comes, I get to his house and, lo and behold, no friend. I wait...no friend. I call him at work...no answer. Call his cell...no answer. After sitting in his driveway for 45 minutes or so, I give up and go on to my second job. Finally we agree to try again this morning as he was off work today.
Well, I get to his house this morning, and he was there waiting (fortunately). We knew we needed to have the rotors turned (since driving with the bad brakes for so long created groves in them) so what was to be a simple brake pad change, turned into removing the whole wheel, taking the rotors to a shop and having them turn them. One of the rotors is stuck on, but after 20 minutes or so of fighting, it finally breaks loose. We take them up to a shop where a friend of his works to get them turned and they tell us it will take an hour! We go off and run some errands he had to do and came back to pick them up. Then, when putting it all back together, we realize the auto parts store gave us the wrong pads! Back in the car we go to exchange those and finally we get them put on. What should have taken 1 hour or an hour and a half at most today (including having them turned) ended up lasting about 4 hours!! And of course that's not to mention the 3 or 4 months that have passed since I first started having problems!
Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative of the help my friend has offered b/c I know, even if he doesn't mind doing it, there are better ways he could be using his time. And although it was insanely frustrating playing phone tag for a couple months (and by phone tag, I basically mean me leaving him voicemails which were unreturned), I do realize that we both have very busy schedules, so it was bound to be difficult. I'm just frustrated b/c what should have been been an easy thing to do and shouldn't have cost much ended up becoming an ordeal! To top it all off, between the pads and the rotor turning and everything else, I still ended up spending about $70 on the rear brakes alone. Naturally that doesn't include what I had to pay for the front pads and wheel stud and everything else. So really how much money did I save? I know a shop would have cost more, probably $150-$200, but also with a shop I could have just dropped my car off in the morning months ago when I first had issue, told them to look at the wheels, had them find all the problems at once, fix them and I could have been back in my car, problem free by the afternoon. This whole ordeal never even needed to be an ordeal if I could have just paid someone to do it up front!
Ugh! All I can say is, I can't wait until I have enough money coming in to just take care of stuff like this the right way from the start! I'm not necessarily trying to say money can by happiness (although I'm not denying it either) but in this situation, a little bit of money sure could have saved a lot of frustration and time! So much for big discounts!
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