We tried out the tennis courts in the complex today. They are NICE. Dare I say they are nicer and better maintained than those at UCSB. Kiki and I spent about 40 minutes knocking balls around and reminding each other with every ill-executed backhand how LONG it's been since either of us had played tennis. My raquet is so old that the binding on the handle started to disintegrate. Still good times and got us out of the house for a bit.
Later on that evening we headed to Visions. That went no bueno after the SoCo shot Kiki's work friend got us. Both Olga and Kiki were instantly buzzed. However, it seemed to have a terrible effect on Kiki. The girl is simply not used to drinking cheap whiskey - as well no one should ever get used to drinking!
There are times when I truly am a pessimist. Bleh. I wonder when the other shoe will drop, wonder what's next around the bend...rather than letting myself enjoy sometime. If this is what it means to be adult, I'll pass! haha!
It still has NOT sunk in that this car is mine. That this wonderfully crafted automobile is truly mine. I find myself at times walking out of my office, past the parking lot to see if I can get a glimpse of it to make sure it's still there. haha! There is no shortage of people who want to get a closer look at it either. I'm chalking it up to there not being a whole Pontiac G8's roaming the highways and roads of SoCal. Today we went for lunch off-property. We sat on the patio, which happened to have a clear shot of where the car was parked. This older fellow walks up to it, does a double-take then peers at the back intently. He then walks over to the side and peeks in the window, nodding in approval. All the while, I'm ready to bound over the railing if he got too close and I had to defend my car's honor...hahaha!
The same thing happened to Kiki as she sat in it as I went to the bank. Apperantly people just walked right up to it, and started looking around it, inside it - all the while oblivious to Kiki INSIDE the damned car! Come on now people!!! haha!
After the bank it was off to see Wanted. First of all, it was nice to finally see some previews we hadn't already seen a bazillion times. Wanted itself was ok. May be if I had read the graphic novel I would've been more enthused. Some of the action sequences were very different. "Bullet bending" is definitely a concept way past due in exploring!
I really, really, really, really like my car. Part of me wonders if I made a mistake - should I have gotten a smaller car, cheaper car, better fuel economy car...but then I get behind the wheel. At 6'2, there is more than enough head room even with the sunroof. I settle in and the seats are hella supportive for my bulk. I drive up the windy hill to the property and the temperature guage doesn't even flinch while the AC is going. It's weird being able to drive now and not have to worry about what may break or fall off. Sad but true.
There may have been smarter choices to make, but certainly no other choice that would've made me this happy to be driving.
I thought I would be happy, ecstatic even to see my old car go. But none of those things emotions hit me last night as me and Kiki cleaned out the old car. Papers, receipts, random what-nots were all over the inside. Not to mention a sound system that took the better part of 5 years to put together and tune properly. The dealer asked if there was a CD player and changer in it...and surely there was. Thanks to my hook-up, all that stuff came on the cheap. However, they were NOT getting the sub and amp rack. That was not part of the deal! A cordless drill and flashlight made short work of everything in the trunk. Some day soon, that JL Audio 13" sub will live in the new car.
Kiki drove my old car this morning as I followed in the new one behind. As I watched the car from behind, all sorts of memories flooded through my brain. That car had been with me from the beginning at UCSB. The first year or so, there were a ton of issues, but then it seemed to normalize. A couple of years later the transmission died on the way home. Then she normalized again. The car ran without incident for a long time. Then last year a friend of mine busted the passenger side window mechanism. Rather than paying the $700 to repair it, it was locked in the up position.
Still that car has been through and seen me through a lot. When I left California, it took me and Nils safely and swiftly to Delaware. It worked well through 2 more cross-country ventures like that. It continued to work well when I was laid off and could NOT have afforded the repairs or getting a new car. It continued to run well when I moved to San Diego and was getting situated.
Towards the end, I never admitted it, but it was getting far worse than I had let on. The transmission was slipping in 4th gear. Myself and others had done a ton of diagnostic work, but the transmission was the only thing left. 4th gear in particular. The electrical system was on the fritz well.
Still that car meant and still means a lot to me. Now I have a new charge.
Tonight I bought a new car.
That pretty much sums up the day. LOL
All the research had been done. The financing secured. A matrix comparison of other similarly sized, equipped vehicles was done...comparison of insurance costs, fuels costs, warranty coverage...ad naseum! After that weekend in the central coast, it occured to me that the car was not as stable or reliable as I needed it to be. I was hoping it would last for another few months, but that was growing less and less likley everyday. Thoughts of being stranded or the car suffering from some major issue making it unsafe for me and/or my passengers plagued my frontal lobe. Clearly my plan for my car, and my car's plan for were not in sync.
Knowing the car I wanted and FINDING that car was proving to be a challenge. The car only has 4 available options and finding 1 vehicle with that permutation in Southern California was getting to be a pain. And then there was the color...gawd. Expanding the search to Nevada helped, but even then not so much. So then it happened. A dealership in Poway said they had JUST gotten in 2 of the 2009's. What? 09's?? Already?? The car arrived on their lot 2 days before.
Me and Kiki went after work, ostensibly just to take a look. Just in case I pulled my credit reports, printed out 2 independent pricing guides, got a copy of the pre-approved financing and headed out. I could spot the 2 09's a mile away, even thought they were sitting in a see of 08's.
The test drive went wonderfully. The car only had 12 miles on it. We got back to the dealership, and the guy asked me what I thought. Clearly I liked the car, but we needed to talk numbers. Most dealers were offering this car at sticker or $3,000 above. I told him I know what this car invoices and MSRP's for, and I don't want to sit here for 4 hours haggling over minor points. I made what I thought was a good offer. He countered with a couple hundred more...and we were done. Then following a friend of mine's advice I told him I had a trade - treating each thing like a seperate deal. Given the condition my old car was in, I was very happy with what I got for it.
::drum roll::
I am the proud owner of a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT in Panther Black Metallic with black/onyx red leather trim.
::exhale::
We saw The Happening today and it deally did NOT live up to its hype. Of M. Night's work The Village or even Signs was way better. Once it was revealed what the issue was, it just became a waiting game to see how much longer the movie would go for. He gets credit for creating a very different sort of premise. I see it happening in some form or another: the earth or its non-human inhabitants are going to start seeing mankind as a threat. And in some way the earth is going to defend itself. That much I can totally see happen. Other than that...yea, not so much.
Afterwards we went to Applebees and sat in this dude's section we think has a thing for me...LOL. When helping us out, he does not acknowledge Kiki at all. Yet, he's there checking on me, making sure things are ok...I think it's kinda funny.
Ok, this BBQ popped off completely randomly. It went from a few people at work seeing what we were all doing this weekend to a full on BBQ at the house. How does this shit happen?? It was a pot luck affair with people bringing their own booze and sides. I made bbq chicken legs and thighs, garlic bread and ribs. I am homing in on the ribs recipe. There's a technique I think that I have down that works to make the ribs tender and flavorful. Now I just need to master how to make the bbq sauce properly glaze on 'em. The ribs literally fall off of the bone...more to the point the bones fall away from the meat. There are worse things in life I suppose...haha!
Anna came through with a MESS of jell-o shots. Chica went nuts and was concocting all manner of jell-o shots!
Good times. Good times indeed.
I've said it before and I will continue to say it: I am OVER JOYED that Marvel Comics is allowed to make its movies the way it wants to make them!! Thank goodness!
A perfect example of this is the Incredible Hulk. It does the comic justice. It does the tv show justice. It does the allegory of the Hulk justice. Go see it!
I consider John & Cami's my 2nd home. I feel nothing but welcomed there. I can roam free, use the pool, get something out of the fridge at will...and all around kick back. I don't know exactly how that came to be, but it is, and I am grateful.
I missed my 1st home in San Diego tremendously. After spending so much time in a different bed, in a different shower, not having my usual toiletries handy and basically being a fish out of his element. The drive back to SD was pretty quick and uneventful. We must have left during the golden hour to leave SB. We only hit traffic near the 101/405 exchange. And then we spend over the hill, past Brentwood, past the Getty and it was near the 405/10 that we were bogged down a little bit. It was slow going, but we kept moving nonetheless.
We picked the car up from Firestone and they made SOME attempt to redeem themselves. I think honestly it had something to do with the service manager getting involved in the picture. They *discovered* that a hose was damaged that had escaped their initial inspection, so they swapped that out for free. Thanks for the $21.17 (probably $5 at cost).
Review of Firestone of Santa Barbara on upper State St. in Santa Barbara:
Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware!!!
All of the unnecessary *preventive* maintenance crap they initially attached to my bill, inflated the bill by over 30%! And if you have the time, before you accept their bids for parts call around. It took haggling for them to admit they had increased the cost of some of the parts. I'm all for people making a profit. Hell I am a born Capitalist, but when stuff is marked up 40-50%...that's just some bullshit. How are you gonna charge $45 for a serpentine belt and $30 to install it?? The process takes a socket wrench and 5 minutes.
All that aside this one of our first stress situations. Nerves were frayed, tensions ran high, there was a bit of melodrama. At the end of it we made it back home. Lessons were learned.
I think the mechanics and front desk people up at the Firestone in Santa Barbara are smoking crack or some other illegal substance. May be they've been sniffing the gasoline from people's tanks? Or may be they've been shooting up anti-freeze in the back. This has GOT to be the only reasonable explanation for the bullshit they tried to pull on me today.
I called them the find out what the status was with getting the parts. All told they only had to find 3 parts: power steering pump (w/ resevoir), power steering pulley and a radiator. That's it. While SB isn't known for being a automtive parts mecha, there are Sears, Kragen and smaller businesses in SB specializing in parts including radiators. I know, as the YellowPages turned up a bunch of them. The guy at the desk, we'll call him Gil...because well that is his name...who really needs to lay off the Red Bulls...initially told me he couldn't find ANY of the parts of my car. At first I accepted this explanation. The car is afterall 13 years old, right? But wait, GM is a cross-platform pimping automaker. They will use the same screw across 10 models to save a penny if they had to right? So why then my car which shares parts offhand with the Buick Regal, Chevy Monte Carlo and Buick Sunfire is it so hard to find parts.
I call them back a few hours later to see how the search was going. He was able to find one of the things needed for the powersteering, but he was having trouble finding the other. Then he starts in on the stuff they claim needed to done:
Fucking shit. So much for professionals.
Woke up first thing in the morning on Dave & Eydie's very, very comfortable Aerobed and we immediately all began brainstorming as the best way to handle the situation.
This may sound like bragging...but I really don't care. I have some really awesome friends. And they have some really awesome friends. If it weren't for their assistance I would've been up shit creek sans paddle, sans canoe and sans bouyancy.
The mechanic where the truck driver dropped the car off was useless. They came in for 30 minutes to do a tire change and left. All they could offer to help was to leave the car there overnight and MAY BE they could get to it. Dave had the idea of getting a trailer to take the car to Santa Barbara. My AllState didn't cover a tow that far. My cute idea of signing up with AAA with better service didn't fly either. They have a fine print I have YET to find that says you can't take advantage of the neat features until 7 days later. I swear I NEVER saw that in any of the documentation. Ok, well off to the next plan.
Between Dave and Akilah, they found a trailer to tow my car on behind Dave's friend Honda Pilot. I was a wee bit concerned because the Pilot packs only a V-6, and it was going to have to carry a 3,600 lbs vehicle up some serious grades. We got the Pilot and I inspected the toe hitch. It said it was rated for 4,500 lbs. Well we headed to SB and go the trailer and the Pilot didn't skip a beat handling it. Back up the coast to get the car and we loaded it up. I think that driving the car up those skids may have caused more damage, but there was no other way. And oh yea, once the car was on the trailer the door banged on the wheel well of the trailer...haha! I had to do a Dukes of Hazzard to get out...and all my girth was not helping!
So off we went, foreign full-sized SUV towing an American full-sized coupe in its wake. Seriously, the entire trip could've been an ad for Honda. That Pilot didn't skip a beat. The RPMs remained steady and the temperature gauge didn't fluctuate at all as it hauled 3 large adults, a trailer and a big ass disabled car. I was impressed. We were all pretty damned impressed. Even the Firestone guy was impressed.
After dropping the car off, we made off for John & Cami's for some much needed R&R and drinks. John makes the best margarita - and there isn't a single ounce of margarita mix in the entire thing. We sat around talked, caught up, ate some bbq from a place nearby and just tried to decompress.
What a long ass day.
Today's was my Mollie's graduation from Cal Poly. I was never more proud. I never had much more love. It just would've been great if we could've actually SEEN her in the ceremony. No, I am not giving her shit. This is just a classic Mollie-ism to get times mixed up. She made it through school, so that's all that matters. And she had a great time and made great friends while doing so.
On the way back to Mollie's place, me and Kiki observed a young woman turning onto the main road, and getting in the bike path. I looked at her and thought how funny it was that in school towns students and the like will bike everywhere. We got to about 2 or 3 blocks past her and I glanced in my rear view mirror and in an instant her front wheels comes to a sudden stop, and the girl is hurled face first over her handle bars. Her head literally hopped off the pavement after it made contact. I was in shock. Usually you see that stuff AFTER the person spills, not watch it as it happens. Akilah yelled and knocked me out of my stupor. I hastily did a poor 3 point turn, and hopped my front passenger wheel on the curb. After which the car starting making all kidns of nasty noises.
We went back and saw that people had pulled over to help her. A cop was also nearby and someone had flagged them down. She was crying and moving around and getting attention. Whew.
Bad news, was the car had taken some kind of damage when I hopped that curb. Turning the steering wheel left or right created a nasty sound, especially turning it to the right; in the direciton of the wheel that hopped the curb. After parking the car I gave the car a quick once over and nothing seemed out of place. The next item on the agenda was a bbq at the park.
Quick aside: Dads of grads crack me up. Save for John, each of those dudes were hella competitive in making sure that their *little girls* were taken care of. They seemed to be fighting over each other to see who could get xyz the fastest, who could flip more burgers, turn more brats...it was damned hilarious to watch. I wonder if I will be like that when/if I were to have kids.
Anyway, after the park we headed back to the house. While people were in there watching a mini-Friends marathon (I so hate that show) I went to check on the car. So I moved the car from one parking spot, to another and that's where I see the pool of fluids. At which point I pray we can at least make it back to SB, if not San Diego. However my car had other plans for us that night.
We got as far as the 101/154 interchange before all hell broke loose. First, we hear a thumping sound underneath the hood as if something flew up into the hood from inside the engine bay. The following I am not sure what happened in what order, but this is what I noticed: the battery light starts to blink. It's a bright red icon and I was fixating on it. Then the service engine light came and went off, and then back on again...and then it STAYED on. Then the heat indicator started blinking at me and I glanced at the temperature gauge spiked, to well past 260 degrees. I looked for the next well lit exit and pulled off.
After popping the hood, it was clear that the power steering pully had snapped off. It was lying in the wheel well of the car. With the pulley gone, there was no tension on the serpentine belt. This explained the spike in temperature, lack of power steering and the battery indicator light going wilde as the alternator wasn't doing anything to charge battery. Off to the side was the radiator was steaming and leaking fluid. About 15 minutes later a car phone of folks pulled up rather suddenly, and the driver asked if we needed a hand. Turned out the dude was a mechanic and had a full suite of tools in his back seat. The entire encounter with them was odd, but then again it was a dark road, not a lot of witnesses - the makings for a lot of horror movies. The guys said the pulley was shot, and an attempt to shove it on by hand failed. About 10 minutes after that, they 2 OTHER guys in a little red car fly into where we were, swapped positions in the car and asked how we were. They left and then after about another 10 minutes of trying the mechanic dude left. As freaky as it was, I appreciated them stopping. Then a Sherriff's deputy pulled over and stayed with us as I tried to get AllState's motor club on the phone. That was so fucking frustrating!!! They kept dropping me! FINALLY I got a tow to Buellton. The guy towed the car to a place he figured would be open in the morning and was then nice enough to take us around to different motels for the night. Half way through the motel search I remembered that Dave & Eydie live in Buellton. Duh.
I couldn't raise either on their cell phones, so I left messages while we checked out one last place, a Quality Inn. The night manager was trippin'. LITERALLY the dude was trippin' on some serious shit. As I walked through the door, I could see him in the back office pacing back and forth. Then he kicks over a trash can and tries only slightly successfully to pick it up. I do the *ahem* to get his attention. He hears me and I ask him if they have an vacancy. He says they're 100% occupied and starts to pace back and forth again and starts talking to himself about who could call to see. At this point Dave groggily calls back and he says he can come get us in 10 minutes. So I turn to the night manager, whose name is Herky (tweeker name if I ever heard one), and ask him if me and Kiki can wait in the lobby while our friend comes to get us as it is freezing outside. He looks at me, then behind me and starts to pace some more and say no. That we could wait on the benches - outside. I ask again, if it would be ok...because it is really really cold and my friend will be by shortly. He raises his voice and starts to get even more agitated saying that's all he can do and how he just got on shift. I told him to relax and start for the door. I turn and ask him for a card, which he hands to me and I look at him and said that I am filing a complaint because it seems really odd that we couldn't just wait in the lobby. As I almost reach the door, he yells out "fuck you man!".
So me and Akilah are standing in the parking lot freezing our assess off. My back is to the office and Akilah can see around me that the guy is pacing back and forth getting more agitated. We can hear he's on the phone and he yells to the person he's talking to that, "yea, and some rastafarian was in here starting trouble!!". Thankfully Dave got us in no time.
The plan for today was to leave work a bit early and then head home and get the place ready for departure. hate coming home to a junky place, so tidying up is one of my little rituals. Who likes to be gone for awhile, expecting to come home only to find a mess. Then nap time. Rest is important yo!
San Diego to Santa Barbara in 3 hrs and 30 minutes with a stop off in Malibu for dinner.
No joke. We left SD around 8:30 and pulled into John & Cami's around midnight. While also being afforded the opportunity to see what HAD to have been a first time online meeting in MickeyDees around 11PM. The questions asked, the body language, the way how the guy was dressed to impress for McDonalds!! I hate saying this but, homie was clearly out of his league.
Did they not exchange pictures?!?!?
I picked up my diploma from UCSB today. So I guess it's official that I'm a graduate? LOL Now if only I could shave off some time from the decades of student loans I racked up! Seriously, it was crazy seeing my name there, spelled correctly no less on my diploma. My high school diploma was spelled incorrectly and it was sent back, and the new one was never to be seen. LOL
I can't really describe the feeling of actually seeing the thing. All the money, time spent craming, hours and hours spent in class, the nearly flunking out...it hasn't really sunk in yet.
Afterwards we went on an abbrviated tour of campus. I've visited UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, Northride and Santa Cruz...and UCSB is my favorite. That's probably blatant favoritism, but I really don't care. LOL
Then it was off to Freebirds in IV. Gawd, I forgot how good their food was! And I forgot how expensive nachos can be!! WTF! And of course like a dumbass I park in the back parking lot. You NEVER ever want to do that. If at all possible, you park on the street even if it means walking a block or 2 because it saves you from what happened to us next: sitting by the car for a good 30 minutes because we were blocked in by this big ass service van! A few of the work folks from Freebirds came by to see what was up and promised to check on it. We and this other guy who got stuck walked over to the restaurant to see if we could tell who the truck belonged to. It was a carpet/housekeeping truck so I was thinking someone in uniforms. No joy.
Finally 5 people pile into the truck from out of nowhere. They had been eating their lunch the whole time, oblivious to the fact that their 17 ft long truck could possible block someone in!! To top it off...no sorry, no kind of apology, no kind of acknowledgement or ANYTHING. Bitches.
It was off to SLO after that. Cami rode with us and we were able to get caught up on some of the happs I had missed out on. Damned good to be back!
I have had no desire to write. It's not that all kinds of horrible things are going on in my life and I don't want to document them. Quite the opposite. Akilahs is settling in. The office is finally clearing out of boxes and we can see the floor. Downstairs finally looks like a living space again. Indeed, while it may not seem like monumental deal of any sort. I HATE clutter. I have boxes lying about. Having a bunch of clutter kind of slowly saps my energy.
Speaking of sapping energy, we were up LATE working on our respective computers. I finally rolled to bed around 5AM. I think she finally knocked off around 7AM. And in turn I slept all day. Which I friggin' hate. The day is pretty much wasted at that point.
After a late, um, brunch/supper...lol...we cruised over to her sister's to play Shanghai. One of these days I wll break down the rules of Shanghai and see if it spreads like wildfire on the internet. LOL It's an addicitice card game. Of the dozens of times we've played over there, I have won may be 1 or 2 games. Grrr!!!