Sunday 19 July 2009

Whacky Monday, and a Past Weekend

Hey Y'all

It's been a while since I last posted, my sincere apologies to those who might have missed me. All too many little things have happened since that post. First off, one week removed, I'd like to pat myself on the back once again (ha ha ha) for fixing my own car. Nothing quite like saving a decent chunk o' money. You see, I had a broken hose (never a good thing), and VW wanted to charge me a whole lot to replace it. I opted to do it myself.


This is the problem I had with the old hose:


This is what it's supposed to look like:


The hose is upside down in the first picture (in case you were confused).

Since I swapped it out, I haven't really noticed an upswing in MPG, but it runs a whole lot smoother, and quieter, so YAY! And all in all it only cost me $55, and 10 minutes of my time (most of which was spent trying to get the original hose clamps off, as they weren't designed to be removed. I also found out that a service some dick, I mean VW Employee that I didn't know, told me I needed, I didn't really need. I was informed of that when I talked to John Paul, who I always try to work with, told me that I did not need that service, so again...YAY! Okay, enough on cars.

That same weekend I started my Friday evening by paying off a long (really really long) overdue late fee. That alone made me feel way better about things. I can pay my bills now, and eat, and still have money left when I get paid again, which is a great feeling that I had forgotten all about. I over paid my Dell account, and felt pretty good about that too. However, today I got another bill from them, and it turns out that they have closed my account, as of 4 days after my recent payment! I called. They based it off of something on my credit report, and my "past" with them. However, my interest rate is now ridiculously high! They tell me that a letter had been mailed to me, at my current address, last month...I never got that letter... So now I am waiting on said letter via e-mail. I haven't gotten that either, although I did get an email confirming that they have my current email address! The perfect thing to happen, just when I start thinking that things are looking much better, and I was planning to apply for a regular credit card.

After I was finished dealing with a computer company rep on the other side of the planet, I heard voices upstairs. When I went up, there was nobody home. I thought that was a bit odd. I came back downstairs, and a short while later I heard another person talking upstairs. Again, I went to investigate, only to find no other humans around. I checked all of the stereos to make sure nothing was on, and they weren't. Odd. If it persists, I'll just add to the list of things to do around here. It's been a fun Monday since I got home from work. Now I'm going to try relaxing.

I hope everybody had a great last couple of weekends, and that everyone heard some awesome music, and had good times and good eats :) Peace out y'all!

Saturday 11 July 2009

Gas and Stuff...

Hey Y'all!

One of these days I might get back to posting on a regular basis. The main issue regarding the lack of writing (and chatting, sorry to you guys too!) is that my computer is in the basement, and I tend to spend most of my time where the sun shines, or rain falls as the recent situation with the wonderful world of weather has provided us midwesterners of late. In short this means that I am not in front of my keyboard non stop like I used to be. This is not a bad thing for me, but I fear I may be losing readers :( Okay, on with the blogging!

I hate Comcast. I could just leave it at that I suppose, but why would I do a thing like that? I wouldn't, ha!!! Here's the low down. I like having my own network, see? I have my own 'puters, my own modem, and my own router. But, as it is, there's some bull hockey regulation in IL that disallows me, and everyone else, from having 2 modems operating in one house at any given time. Put simply that means I can't have my own network. Now, that wouldn't be too bad, except every time the other modem, or router, or Brent's computer has an issue, it knocks out my connection. If his computer is off, I have no connection. If something happens, and he's still doing something online, I have to wait for him to finish before I can reset everything. See, I was cruising along just fine with my own network, but then Comcast had to stick their big nose into things, and killed the good thing I had going. I could get my own account, but not another modem. How wacky is that???! It also means that I can't use my printer, which is not a good thing either (No, my printer is not compatible with Vista :( ) That affects my ability to print out confirmation's. It also means that I can't scan any photos to post online either here or on FB!!! Not cool at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I was looking forward to reading a "letter" from a certain lady (you know who you are...) today, as she told me that she'd devote her Friday night to doing just that. Oh well, I suppose I'll survive. The Cubs won today!!! The sun is shining for once today :) And after I'm finished here, I believe I'll go bask in it for a while. Also I got 34+ mpg from my last tank of gas! I went out for a drive today, just for the sake of burning fossil goo. I was going to get gas shortly after heading out, as my fuel reserves were running low. Instead, I decided to just cruise around until the gas light beeped at me. I kept driving and driving and driving, listened to almost the entire Cubs game on the radio. Side note : During which I heard them say that two huge Cubs fans were watching on their 17th anniversary, Matt and Patty Berardi! Matt's my boss, see. So I called him, wondering if it was indeed him and it was. I had no idea why Matt was taking a long weekend, but now I know, and I congratulated them. Back to the drive, I drove for a very long time until the light finally turned on. When I pulled into a nearby gas station, another VW pulled up to the pump behind me. I was kind of giddy about how many miles I had gotten, I told the other V Dub driver about it. He was rather shocked when he assumed it was a TDI, and I informed him that it was in fact a regular '02 GTI, not a diesel! Here's a picture...

Hee hee hee! And it's only a 13 gallon tank :)

On that note, I'm going to head back to ground level.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and that good music and good foods and laughter is a large part of it!

Peace out y'all.

Thursday 2 July 2009

It's Frirsday!

Hey Y'all!

It's Friday on Thursday, and I fear I may forget this and forget to turn off my alarm clocks tonight! Okay, probably not. My apologies for having not written in so long, but life's been busy, and time's been spent on action instead of relaxation. Much has transpired since my last posting, and here's a condensed list:

The basement was re-carpeted on a Thursday, and on Friday night the basement flooded

Lot's of new people have been met

A few old friends have reunited

A couple of mice have been killed (and even more bugs too)

About 100 mosquito bites have been scratched

I found out I'm getting 30.75 mpg (YAY!!!!!!!)

Comcast once again proved just how idiotic they are (again I say!!!!)

A fence has been rehung, and another fence stained

The basement is nearly livable again (computers set up and running, same for the entertainment system)

And much much more!

Okay, like I said, it was a rather condensed list. But really, I have been so exhausted at the end of most days since I moved here, that I have felt amazingly uninspired to post anything. I just didn't know where to start. However, today after work I came home and finished unpacking the majority of my stuff, and got all the empty boxes and garbage out of the basement. That makes me feel exceedingly more relaxed and focused! Marley is sitting next to me, having been granted the right to sit on my couch again. I've said before that Marley is an attention whore, but he had really come into his own in this new dwelling. Even those who suffer from feline allergies like him (and quite a few sufferers have stopped by in the last month)! Stephanie (Brent's girlfriend) keeps threatening to do unspeakable things to him, but I have yet to come home, or wake up to find him with anything in his hair...yet....

I've wanted to go off about some of the political crap going on in this state, and how it really doesn't jive with the current state of this state! But right now I'm looking forward to a long weekend, so I will spare you all. I know how much everybody likes my ramblings and all, but I'm just not in the mood. So on that note, I'm going to go find something to do, or a good spot to enjoy not doing anything.

Peace out y'all! I hope everyone has a great long weekend, or even a great regular weekend! Go start a controlled fire, cook an animal or two, and have some laughs with friends, as that is your rite in this land of ours! And don't forget to put on some great tunes!!!