Hoo-ray

So I haven't written anything in a little over a week because I didn't want to write until I had some good news. It just seems like I've been on a downer for the past month or so.

Anyway, my car. It is fixed! The best part was that my mechanic decided that it wasn't the transmission like he said, but the linkage, like I said. To his credit though, this car has a weird linkage setup. Basically, the linkage goes to a box which then in turn moves some more links around to actually make the transmission change gear. It seems fairly redundant to me too, but whatever. So basically, instead of buying a used transmission for $800, then putting it in for another $900 or so in labor, plus another however much for fluids and washers, it only cost me $500 for the part, and $200 in labor. All in all it only cost me $731.81! That leaves enough money left over for me to get some new rubber for the corners. My front tires are getting pretty worn and my back tires are mismatched from blowing one out on a pot hole a long while back. So, all in all, my day has been goin' pretty OK.

That's about the extent of my news though - OH, I forgot, I saw "Speed Racer" this past weekend. It was friggin' fantastic. Well, maybe not "Friggin' Fantastic" but it was quite enjoyable.

Quotes:
1) "Someone tell the fat lady, she's on in five."

2) "Cinderella Story here at Augusta."

3) "Oh My Dear Little Librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you have nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays."

4) "Moisture is the essence of wetness. Wetness is the essence of beauty."

5) "I've been following my gut since I was 14 years old. I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains."

6) "You're not the same man I knew ten years ago."
"It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."

7) "Don't be lost when your time comes! Because the Day of the Lord cometh, as a thief in the night."

8) "You're a very handsome man."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
"Just get rid of that grin. You look like a schmuck."

9) "Mike broke the Hubble! Mike broke the Hubble"

10) "I bet they've got a lid on every trash can... and a fence around every tree."

Holy Crap

A new update.

So, nothing really new goin' on in my life right now. Still the #1 thing on my mind right now are my car troubles, but those are soon going away. Basically, it was not just the linkage on my Focus that was the problem, it was the transmission itself. It exploded. So they quoted me a $1,400 rebuild, or I could get a used one for $600. So I'm getting a used transmission and a new clutch. The most heinous thing about it is the labor though. 8 friggin' hours at $90 an hour. So the whole ordeal will cost about $2,000. I've enough saved up to get it fixed... well... almost, but Accurate Fire owes me 5 days of vacation pay from the time that I didn't use last year. So they're picking up the rest of what I don't have and call us square. So the mechanic is going to start working on it tomorrow and that's that.

I was going to go to Oregon this weekend to visit my friend Jason Wunschel, but because of these expenses I cannot. I think Rebecca and I will go up there the weekend of the 4th though. I should have my car back by then. So that'll be a lot of fun.

Outside of car problems, my life has been almost too ordinary. Nothing really exciting. I did see watch a movie the other day and I can't understand why I keep giving Ridley Scott chances to impress me with his movies, but of all the movies that I've seen, that guy has made only 2 movies that didn't suck, and they weren't that great (Matchstick Men, and G.I. Jane). Anyway, I watched Blade Runner. Ugh, someone needs to give that guy more than just a spelunkers headlamp to light his movies with. The thing that I don't understand the most is not his inability to make good movies, but the public opinion that this guy is an absolute genius movie maker. I have no idea why everyone and their mothers (except me and mine) loved this movie. It was a bad movie. At one time, I had a point by point argument as to why it was a bad movie, but I forgot them because I *thankfully* have forgotten the movie. I just remember that it was bad.

Anyway, I'm at work, just typing on my break, so I better get goin'.

The last quote was from "Starship Troopers"

New Quote... kinda easy, but it made me laugh:
"Aw man, I shot Marvin in the face."

Yet more car troubles.

So, I took Rebecca's car in for the 60,000 mile tune up and I decided to go to the dealer because I simply didn't trust the other guys. Well, as they were draining the fluid from the transmission a few pieces of a washer came out. This is a washer that puts pressure on a plate so that it changes gear smoothly and is apparently rather important. He gave me a quote, and by California state law, he also had to include a new torque converter which came to a total of, are you ready for this, $3,034! He said that I probably wouldn't need a new torque converter so the price would probably be around $1,800. I asked him what would happen if I just didn't do anything, what's so bad about having a hard shift. I mean sure there would be more wear and tear, but we weren't planning on keeping the car that much longer anyway. He told me that not all of the washer had come out, so there's still a piece in there and if it got into the pump it would destroy the whole transmission, which costs $4,500 on it's own without labor. In addition to that, they recommended that I get a new timing belt; price for that: $830. But wait! There's more! The heat plate on the O2 sensor has gone bad so I need a new one of those too; $275. This brings the grand total that I'm going to need to have to get the car fixed up to $4,139.00 or somewhere thereabouts. That's HALF the price of what I could SELL it for. I don't know what I'm going to do. I think I'm just going to do the jackass thing and get the O2 sensor fixed so the "Service Engine Soon" light turns off, then unload the car on some hapless sap. This is precisely why I am always going to buy my cars from a dealer; because of people like me.

I am going to get my Focus in to the shop come Monday. I have about $600 to spend right now and I *hope* that will be enough to get it fixed (please oh please just be the linkage). If it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that Tom & Joel will just let me put it on the Accurate Fire account we have with this guy and I'll just pay them back when I can... probably by having them take it directly out of my pay check. So, with any luck, I'll be back in my Focus by the end of next week.

Other news on the Rob Front... Well, not much to report really. Because of these car troubles I haven't had any spare money for anything fun. However; there is a bit of a silver lining about it. Rebecca and I are actually growing up. We made ourselves a Menu for the next two weeks for both lunch and dinner. We went down to the super market and bought everything we needed and now I'm brown baggin' it every day. It's going to be a super money saver. We spent 'round about $200 on groceries for the next two weeks, which is just about the same amount I spent for eating out just for myself. Yay for not spending money on food so I can spend it on cars.

I'm also getting a new video game today. Before y'all go "The hell?! This fool just spent the entire post bitching about money and he's buying a video game?", let me explain. I pre-bought the game like 7 months ago. The money is spent, and all I can get back is store credit so I might as well just get the game. It's called "Ninja Gaiden II" and it's going to be super awesome! I simply loved the first one, so I have high hopes for this one.

I hope everyone else is having a fantastic week.

"Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center. Sounds charming."

EDIT: Goodness you're too quick Dad...

Alright, here's another one, and I'm pretty sure this one is Dad proof:
"Sir, I don't understand. Who needs a knife in a nuke fight? All you gotta do is push a button... sir."