Gas Miser

In the last few weeks, the price of gas lept up to over $4/gallon! Since then they've hovered around the high $3's, but the writing is on the wall. It now costs over $50 to fill my gas tank.

So lately I've become very stingy about using my car. I'm now cursing that my Girl has TWO soccer practices a week, which are only about 20 miles away. But hey, that's 40 miles round trip!

I went through a drive-through line the other day, and got really impatient that the service wasn't faster. Partly because I could see my order was ready on the counter when I pulled up, but the guy poured some drinks before getting to me. Don't they know that we're burning away money, waiting there in line?

Last weekend K wanted to take his car to the shop, to get his taillights fixed. He wanted me to drive with him, so I could bring him back. Then I'd have to drive him there again, to pick it up. Again, Burbank is only 15-20 miles away, but I told him that was too much gas. So he agreed to take it early on Monday, and just wait until it's finished.

Last week we took our dog to get groomed. Every year this time he seems to get a really itchy butt, so I was hoping a flea bath and a grooming procedure would help him out.
When I dropped him off, they said it would be 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Wow! But I didn't want to drive the 10 miles home, only to turn around and come back, so we puttered around and looked at some of the shops in the area. After about an hour, we were done, so I went back to check on the dog.

The dog was alone in a cage when we got back, looking utterly dejected. His head was down on his paws, and he looked sure we were never coming back. Then he heard the Girl and my voices, and he perked up and squinted at us. (I don't think he sees very well.) Then he recognized us, and barked at us to get him out of there.

So I went to the register to see if they knew where all the grooming people were. I guess they were on break, because soon the girl showed up (looking flustered) and said she still needed to clip his nails. After this we took him home.

But his butt still seems as itchy as ever, so I wonder if I didn't hurry the girl so much that she forgot some of the services I'd requested.

So already this gas saving kick is already causing a few problems.

Do you think it will be the end of drive-throughs?

Doctor visit

I went to see the doctor on Monday, to remove a wart on my finger. Gross, I know. I'd had it removed before - they just sprayed it with the stuff that instantly freezes things, and put a bandaid on it. They said at the time it might grow back, though, because it's by a joint on my finger.

So I arrived at the facility in Hollywood barely on time, and I parked in a big shopping center parking lot that's right next door. At times they've had a guy policing the parking lot for people like me, but that day I didn't see anyone. Yay! I parked and went into the building, where I saw a sign saying not to park in the parking lot next door, as they might TOW YOUR CAR AWAY!

Those of you who've known me (or my blog) for awhile might remember that last Thanksgiving we had soul-twisting experience that is "towing your car away", and since then I've been terrified of repeating it.

So, what should I do? I asked the security guard in the lobby if the sign was true, but she claimed to not know anything about it. Plus, I was late for my appointment, so I hurried inside and hoped that the procedure would be fast.

I checked in at the front desk, then again at the nurses station, and was actually called in very quickly. I explained to the nurse that I was worried about my car, and she said that this doctor (nurse practitioner, actually) was fast. She put me into a room to wait, which overlooked the parking lot and I could see my car!

This made me feel a little better at first, but then I started imagining that every man who walked by was getting my license plate number, and this made me even more nervous.

Then the male nurse walked in, and took a look at my finger. I told him its history, and he said, "Well, I'm not sure that's a wart." as he peered at it through a microscope device. "Then what is it?" I asked, but he didn't answer. Then he announced that he'd take care of it, and I asked, "Oh, are you going to spray it with that freezing stuff?" and he said, "No, I'm going to cut it open and dig it out."

What???

"Well, that sounds just terrible!" I informed him. Then I asked, "Do you think I should move my car?"

He asked why, and I told him. Then he surprised me by saying, "Yes, you'd better go move your car." "Really?" I asked. "Yes," he said with some authority, "you'd better go move it." He said he thinks that the shopping center people have a deal with the towing company for kickbacks, and I think most places that tow are like that.

So I escaped the building and moved my car. As I was moving it, I called K and told him about the doctor visit. "Do you think I should just leave?" I asked him. It was really tempting, and it wouldn't be the first time, either. K asked why, and I told him that I just wasn't prepared for him to "cut it open and dig it out." Someone needs to be prepared for something like that, and I didn't gear myself up for "surgery", just a little freezing. I reminded him that I'd nearly passed out just looking at an X-ray before.

He said, "No, honey, you're already there. Just go let him do it." So I said OK, and bravely went back inside. I had to wait a little while for the Nurse to come back, but not too long. When he came back I told him that I just couldn't look at it, so I pulled a book from my purse and determinedly focused on reading it. He probably thought I looked a little silly, reading a book while someone "operates" on her finger, but I know if I looked at it, it would be a big deal involving smelling salts and lying down.

K was proud of me, being so brave.

Before I went home, I stopped by Children's Hospital, which is only about a block away. KK was there again with her little boy, frustrated because they couldn't go home. After the boy's chemo, he had a fever, so they wouldn't let him go home until it got better. Then, he got a microbacterial something in his "line", and they took it out and were waiting for him to have a clean blood screen for an entire day. Meanwhile, she won't go home and leave him alone, so she'd been there with him for over a week this time.

I guess bravery is in the eyes of the beholder.

Coincidence

Right before Christmas, I backed into shopping cart in the parking lot outside Best Buy. I heard that awful "crunch" that sends your heart into your stomach, and was relieved to see it was just a shopping cart, even tho it was embarrasing to have not seen it. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I noticed a lot of smoke behind me.

At the first stoplight, I noticed the smoke again, and looked around to see if anyone else's car was doing that. But no, just mine. Then the smoke got lighter, and as I drove around I didn't notice it anymore. I considered taking it immediately to The Shop, as it was nearby. But the smoke seemed to stop after awhile.

When I got home I noticed an electrical smell and pointed it out to K, but then that went away too. We drove it to The Boy's basketball game, and parked in front of the school. When we came out after the game, it wouldn't start! The starter wouldn't kick in. We called Auto Club and K waited and the rest of us hitched a ride home.

The Auto Club guy tried to jump the car, but decided that it was definitely the starter, and would have to be towed to the shop. So we had to wait until the next day, to make sure our mechanic would be there (sometimes he isn't). He was, so K had it towed to The Shop so it could be fixed.

After a few days it was done, and K went to pick it up. When he started it up to bring it home, he noticed the smoke was still coming out of the tailpipe! In fact, it got worse really quickly. So K had to leave it there again.

A few days later we got really bad news. It was the head gasket, which is expensive because the whole engine has to be taken out to get at it! So I think I mentioned this before - it's around $1500!!!

We finally got it back after the holidays, and now the tailpipe is making noise! Like it has a hole in it and is saying "putt, putt, putt" really fast.

Now this seems strange to me, because these are all unrelated parts of the vehicle, in different places, but they all went out one after another so quickly! And it all started when I backed into the shopping cart, yet it just doesn't make sense that backing into a cart would cause all of this. I wish it HAD, because then maybe I could claim it on my insurance. But our mechanic says it was unrelated, so what can I say?

It's like backing into the shopping cart broke the rubberband/wire hanger/gum combo underneath the car that was holding everything together!

Huh.

The day after Christmas, our friend D sprained ankle and fell off a ladder. On Wed, my Dad twisted his leg on the ice/snow and sprained the ACL in his knee. On Thurs, The Boy came down on his foot wrong in a basketball game and... sprained his ankle!
Is it in the air or something? Why the coincidence?

On New Year's Day my Mom called to say they'd seem a float from the town we live in in the Rose Parade. When I went to work the next day, a co-worker told me she'd been busy over the holidays working on a Rose Parade float. She told me there were left-over mums in the breakroom, and I should take some. I guess I didn't make the connection, because I was thinking, "Mums? Aren't they flowers?"

I went back to the room and found jars full of mums, and then made the connection. Oh, MUMS leftover from the Rose Parade float!

Who can say no to free flowers?

Notre Dame vs. USC

K had the idea to go to the game on Saturday night and see if we could buy tickets in front of the game, since the game was sold out. He and his family (and even MY dad, go figure) are big ND fans. It didn't seem like we would get in, or even if we did, ND would have trouble winning. It sounded possibly expensive and futile, but I thought at least we could have a margarita and watch it in a nearby restaurant if plan A failed.

You see, way back in 2003 the husband and I were in a laundrymat in Rome trying to wash our laundry. A few americans students were there, and we overheard them talking about going to a concert and trying to get tickets there. Someone asked what if they got counterfit tickets? A girl responded with, "Who cares? It will be a great story!" and we were impressed with how positive and adventurous she was.

So we figured that even if we didn't get in, we'd have a story. We ended up leaving later than we wanted to, and got to South Central LA just as the game was starting. We checked out the parking lots that weren't yet full, and we expected it to cost a lot, but we were shocked to find they wanted 60$! I consider myself something of a "parking bandit", and looked for a spot we could get away with. I'm pretty lucky at making up spots and not getting tickets. Finally I spotted an area with lots of other cars around - a gas station/MacDonalds lot. I thought it looked OK since game already starting. We parked in the corner, by the trash bins.

We walked over to Forum, and found the scalpers tickets too expensive ($400 or $325 for 2). There weren't many scalpers, but lots of cool tents and tailgate TV situations and plasmas and very large sets. And food and alcohol. Then we walked over to restaurant, and found it not open anymore, just parking. No margarita for me. So we walked back to stadium. I was ending up getting a lot of exercise! K dissapeared suddenly and came back with tickets. Don't ask what he paid, it was a deal but it was still a lot.

We found our way inside (the tickets worked!), and found our seats at very, very top row. That forum has some tall steps, and I was very tired by time got there. Then we had to scoot in front of everyone who seemed to be standing anyway.

We tried very hard to bring ND luck, but were not too sucessful. We tried standing up, sitting down, but nothing helped. There were lots of ND fans scattered in the crowd. The guy sitting next to us had a Fighting Irish Leprechan tatoo on his hip! He told us that at 4:00 they released another 1500 tickets, so even tho it was sold out he still got a ticket for $65.

At halftime, Andre 3000 sang with the USC marching band. Then they played the Fleetwood Mac hit, Tusk, causing people in the audience to dance like elephants and shout out "UCLA Sucks!"

We finally left a lttle early, as we were worried about the car. Got heckeled on way out, that was fun. When we got back to the parking lot, there was another car parked where we'd left our car. Damn! I couldn't believe they'd really towed it, and actually was considering that it had been stolen!

We asked the tow guys who were in the parking lot, but they were no help. They said we'd have to call the number on the sign. We found a pen and got the address to impound lot. We asked the tow guys if they could take us there, and they said no. I was so mad that I'd actually been towed (this was my first time). I shook my head and told one guy, "I can't believe you guys." He was really big, and leaned forward defiantly, "What?" he snarled. He didn't want to hear any of it.

So we crossed the street, and tried to catch taxi. People kept running in front of us & taking cabs (were they from NY?) One guy even went clear out to the highway off ramp to be the first to catch the next cab. So I called Yellow Cab, and asked them to send us a cab. I gave him the address of Tom's Burgers on the corner. We waited and finally pulled one cab over, but the driver didn't know how to get to the address we were given - Robertson and Exposition.

We bailed on him and got into second cab. The driver was really nice, and followed Exposition till it ran out. Couldn't these guys have towed it somewhere a little closer than Culver City? After awhile we were lost & driving around. We told the driver we only had $25, so he was going to have to let us know when our time ran out. Well, we drove around and around, and finally he just turned off the meter. I think he felt badly that he couldn't find it.

Finally I decided to use the navigation system in my new phone. I laboriously entered the intersection into the system, and tried to understand what it was telling me to do. I kept telling the driver, "We're almost there!" and after awhile that made him chuckle.

I think that driver was possibly the nicest person in whole world. Finally we found Robertson, but Exposition was nowhere to be found! Robertson is a funny little street that goes in a circle at one point, and this made K mutter under his breath about going in circles. Finally I called the tow lot again, and he said we needed to go to Robertson and Venice, next to the Christmas tree lot.

So telling us to go to Exposition was like a dirty trick, really, because it's only about 50 feet long at that spot. We finally found the Christmas Tree place and the tow lot, but there was nobody there! I'd found another $10 in my pocket, so we gave the driver $35 and thanked him profusely. I called the tow place and they told us to wait there 10 minutes.

Then I got a call that our cab had arrived! I say this was the funniest moment of the night.

We got tired of waiting, and I called the tow place again. It went to voicemail, so I left a message asking why they told us to come here if they weren't here, and just for that, they weren't getting a tip! (K thinks that was the funniest thing of the night)

When they finally showed up, it was the very same tow guys who wouldn't give us a ride to the lot. By now we were wondering if they weren't the same person who answered the phone! I was mad at them, so I told the smaller guy "What comes around, goes around you know." He looked alarmed, and asked what I was going to do. I said nothing, that was just karma.

Well, he went back and told the big guy what I'd said, and he got very upset. "Fuck this!" he said, "I didn't even have to come back here! You can come back and get your car tomorrow!" and started putting the padlock back on the fence.

It was so absurd that I was pretty much speechless after that. Such big guys getting all emotional about Karma. I let K smooth it over with them. They even made us walk to the store to get cash, so I just waited there for K to get back. Those guys were just too surly and crazy. People must hate them every day, and they're just determined to not hear any of it. And probably I was more mad at myself than them, anyway.

K came back in just a few minutes, $260 dollars lighter, but with our car. While he was getting the car, some other guy some guy gave him a free ND T-Shirt! What a crazy night.

What I learned:

When someone tows your car away, don't tell them they're going to have bad Karma.
Even McDonalds will tow your car if it's anywhere near USC
Even if you're lucky at something, sooner or later your luck can run out
It almost never helps to get mad

I'm not too sure the good story panned out, either.

When we got home, we stayed up and watched SNL. Beck was the band, and they played along with a puppet show of the band. The second song was Nasuea, and most of the band sat at a table (appropriate for Thanksgiving, no?) and played percussion with glasses, spoons, etc. It was great.

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.