Adventures in shopping

We bought another car last week.

I'd say a "new" car, but it's not really new - just new to us. We looked at a few the same age as my broken Previa, but the first was not in very good condition. When we went to look at it, it was parked on the street in front of where we used to live in G;lendale! That was weird. It was parked on the main street, but we didn't like the looks of it (except it was blue!) and so never even drove it around.

The second (also blue) car looked better than the first, and when we drove it around it sounded fine. The body had some big scratches and the tape player was broken. I didn't like it that he seemed in a hurry for us to decide right then. There was still another van I wanted to see first, but K seemed eager to tie it up too. The guy said he was in a hurry to sell it because it had to be registered by the next day, and he was hoping we'd take on that cost. Finally I told him we could leave a deposit on it, but he said no, if we were sure, he could wait until tomorrow. Altho I wasn't sure, K shook his hand and said "It's a deal!"

The next day we left in the morning and drove out to see the third car at a dealers. It seemed far away, since we'd never been to that part of town, and we drove through several areas of town to get there.

It was weird weather that day, sometimes cloudy, so that sometimes K would say, "This town is too hot!" We'd drive awhile further and it seemed cooler there, and K said, "Oh, this town is much cooler."

Finally we found the dealership, and the car there was in the best condition, plus it had a radio/tape player and a 10-CD Changer in it too. It's gold. When we drove it I thought it didn't sound the best, but it was a few years younger than the other two and it had far fewer miles. And it's a Toyota, right?

So it seemed clear that was the one to buy, and we quickly came to a deal on the price. Then we felt bad about calling back the guy from the car the day before, but we offered to pay him a $100 deposit we had meant to give him. He said that was OK, which I thought was really cool of him. I haven't been nearly as cool lately when people have gone back on me.

We had to wait around while they got it ready for us, so we decided to go have lunch. I think it was a Vietnamese part of town, and altho I love the food in Denver, I haven't found a Vietnamese restaurant out here. So we walked to the corner and passed a restaurant named "My Dung", but I didn't like the sound of that. That's almost as bad as the restaurant sign near us that says, "Poo Ping".

But I digress. We went into a restaurant that looked nice, but we had no idea what the food would be like there. K ordered filet mignon, and I ordered sizzling beef with spaghetti. K's steak was sliced into chunks and laid in a bed of an asian garlic sauce that was delicious. I added a little hot sauce to mine, and was in heaven. It had sliced beef in it, and seasoning to the noodles, but I have no idea what seasoning. It was like a taste adventure.

Finally we left and went back to the dealership. We told him we'd gone and had lunch, and he said, "Where? My Dung?" and we said oh no, not there.

Then we drove two vehicles home.

How come every time I try harder, it gets harder?

I've been trying harder to take care of the details in my life. I'm trying to pay bills faster, and get some details out of the way faster. Like negotiate with the low-balling insurance company, getting another car, stopping my old dialup ISP from charging to my credit card - you know, little aggravating details.

So the other day when I checked the mail, I was surprised to see a letter from parking violations! I opened it up, and thought it must be a mistake. I thought it was about a ticket I got a year ago when I picked up my sister from the airport - but I knew I'd paid that. So I looked closer, and saw it was indeed at the airport, but it was dated April 1st! At 3:15 in the morning!

If someone gives you a ticket, shouldn't they actually GIVE it to you? Shouldn't you KNOW you got a ticket? If we weren't there long enough to GET a ticket, why should they give us one?

Wasn't it enough to get into an accident that totalled my car that night? Did we have to get a ghost ticket on top of that?

Why even give tickets at 3 in the morning? Was it crowded at the curb? No. Shouldn't people who have to catch a ride at 3 in the morning get some kind of break? Or people that are picking up people at that hour? Do they really need to worry about getting a ticket, too?

Geez!

I learned a lot about cruises.

We decided to try a short cruise first, to see if we even liked it.

I'd always heard about 24-hour buffets and all you can eat benefits of cruises, but I don't think I realized that every night there are gourmet meals! Every night we got to choose an appetizer, salad, meal, dessert - all first rate choices! I even tried escargot (tastes like herb butter). J got strawberry soup and pear soup, but didn't care for the watermelon soup. It's those meals that I missed most of all when it was over.

And I knew they charged for acoholic drinks on cruises, but they also charge for sodas and water! Well, I didn't want to drink the tap water because my Mom got something weird on a cruise and besides it tasted funny. So it came down to drinking the bottled water they had in the rooms, which were small and over $2 each. So it was hard to stay properly hydrated, and was one of the only things I didn't like about the cruise. That and a distinct rolling sensation on the ride back to San Pedro. Couldn't they just drive fast at night when I'm asleep?

Tipping is a big deal on the ships, as I guess no one is paid very much. They actually recommend how much you should pay, and it comes out to around $10 per person per day. Yikes!

I tried to rationalize that J is only 9 and therefore only half an adult and shouldn't cost as much, but when I thought about it, the staff really went out of their way to make her happy. They remembered what she liked and brought her a fancy chocolate-coated glass of milk every night. They were really working those tips!

Once you've paid your tips, though (the last night of the cruise), things really change. They really kick you off that boat but fast! We had to have our bags packed and in the hallway by midnight, and we had to be out of our rooms by 8am! I kept saying that it couldn't be true (I thought people were messing with me!), but it was.

Things have stranges names on ships. We had an emergency drill the first day, and we all had designated spots we were to report to if the siren went off. Those spots are called "Muster Stations."

And when we went to Catalina, we had to go in a ferry, which they called a "Transom." Never heard of that before.
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Anyway, we had a great time and came home exhausted. The wife of a man I work with arranged the trip for a group from my office, so I already knew some people, which was nice. The first day we went to San Diego, where I took J to Seaworld. We had a great time, but it was not the warmest of days and we got SOAKED in the Shipwreck ride! Cold water, heavy, soaked. I finally had to buy some sweatpants to get through the rest of the day. We saw whales and dolphins and some great pet tricks. I didn't know cats could be trained!

The next day was Catalina, where my shoe broke and I had to buy new shoes! K was so excited to be able to say I blew out my flip flop (like the Jimmy Buffett song.) That night, some friends said they were having Salsa lessons in one of the bars, so we went over there for awhile. They were teaching the Marengo (sp?) and lined up the men on one side and the women on the other. I was looking over at K (he's so cute!). Then I looked a few people down from him, and with a shock I recognized my Uncle Frank!

The strangest things seem to happen to me. What are the odds of seeing a relative who lives in another state on the same cruise? (Actually he's a second cousin, but he seems more like an Uncle.) And it's strange because both our families lived in Germany at the same time, and I used to hang out with his daughters for awhile. Later he became estranged from his wife and daughters, and now has a new wife and lives in Arizona! So I haven't seen him since my Grandpa died in Nov. of 1999. I haven't seen his daughters since High School.

We went to visit his mother last summer, though, on our way back from Colorado. She was my Grandpa's sister. I told him I couldn't wait to call my mother and tell her, and he said he was going to call his mother when he got home too!

BTW K really enjoyed learning this Marenge dance, because it was easy and he got to lead! He had me doing lots of turns and was pretty proud of himself.

The last day we went to Ensenada. We used to go there a lot, so there's very little there to tempt us into buying anymore. I bought a few cute bags and a little painting, but that was it. No blankets or ponchos or ceramic hamburgers. K and I looked for the restaurant we always used to go to there, but all we could remember is that it had a tree inside, and we didn't find it. We found our friends, tho, and so we went to Pappas and Beer for a few shots and a few beers. It felt like old times with new friends.

That was fun, but we should have negotiated our drink prices before we sat down, because when the bill came I had a shock. I think every drink was about $5! So next time, no Pappas and Beer without negotiating first. J decided to buy a stuffed monkey on the way back. It was $12, so I told her, "Ask him if you can have it for $10." The guy kindof looked at me, but then he told her, "Tell you what, I'll give you 10% off." so that was some discount, at least.

Then we went back to the boat and ate a buffet, and J climbed the climbing wall about 8 times. She did it 12 times total, for the trip. She's got a lot of energy, that's for sure! She had fun going to the shows with me. I got to see my Uncle a few more times, then they kicked us off the boat early the next morning.

Welcome home!