5063 I can't win

Friday, March 11, 2016

Social media has raised writing to a new low.

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I'd been trying to get up to the country house for the past three weeks, but there was always somthun....  I was all ready to go this past Tuesday, but a big chunk of metal fell out from underneath the van onto the driveway.  I think it's the thingy that you're supposed to use for placing a jack, but until I find out how badly rusted things are under there, I don't trust the frame not to break in half on the NYS Thruway.  So I drove up Wednesday morning with the little car, and returned last night.

Didn't get a damn thing done up there, but that's ok.  I had a late lunch with Piper.  I fired him.  It's ok.  I think he's angry, and he thinks I'm making a mistake, but that's ok.  (What bugs me is that he seems to think he has done a wonderful job with my investments.  What he doesn't know is that I've kept track of my "pre-Piper" portfolio online, and if we had never touched that stuff, left it as it was, it would be 50%+ higher now, even considering what I have pulled out over time.  The trouble, the reason I went to him in the beginning, was that it was all oil companies, mining companies, technology, and chemicals.   I felt a need to diversify.  I guess I should have left it as it was.)

I got a late start returning, I knew I'd hit the end of rush hour traffic on the Garden State Parkway, but that's ok.  I wanted to be home by 8 if possible to catch Big Bang Theory, but if not I could watch it today on CBS.com (which I did).  The GPS predicted an arrival time of 7:32. 

BUT!  There was an accident on the GSP.  After 25 minutes of creeping in the middle of the three lanes - 3mph for 3 car lengths, stop, wait, 3mph, stop, wait, repeat - I finally got to the point where I could see all the flashing lights way ahead.  By then there was no way I'd be home by 8:30, let alone 8, but at least I knew that my clutch foot would finally get some relief soon.  The BMW does NOT like moving at idle speed.  It took a lot of coordination between the clutch and gas to keep it from stalling.  My left foot was getting tired.

So, at one point I stopped after creeping at the usual 3 mph, and within less than a second after stopping, I got hit from the back.  Bonk.  The car jumped a little.

I had to move over through the right lane bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to the shoulder and find out what my bumper looked like, and that maneuver left me more shaken than getting hit did.  Amazingly, the huge white pickup who had hit me followed me over.  We couldn't see a damn thing, it being dark, but we started to trade info when a cop showed up out of nowhere and shooed us back into our vehicles.  He took our documents and info, said I could get an accident report at a certain website, and sent us back onto the road.

(And then, I got lost when I got off the Garden State onto what was supposed to be Rte. 9.  The GPS lady kept telling me to bear right on the exit, but I was still distracted and my left-right confusion kicked in so I very carefully went left and ended up on the NJ Turnpike headed north, exactly the wrong direction.  I ended up wandering through city streets to get back to route 9, near Newark, of all places.)

Today, in daylight, I got a look at the bumper.  There's a smear of white paint, and a star of hairline cracks all of maybe 2.5 inches by 2 inches.  It's near the backup sensor, so I don't know if that got messed up or not.

I called my insurance company today, I'll get some kind of appraisal on Monday, and then whatever comes next.

I'm almost embarrassed to make any noise about this.  If there's no hidden damage, then it's almost nothing.  On the other hand, it's NOT nothing and not my fault.  On the third hand, I know from an earlier incident that BMW doesn't like to repair plastic bumpers, and a replacement bumper will be over $1,000.   And the guy was so nice to follow me over to the shoulder.  He says he was hit from behind and pushed into me.  Whoever hit him just kept on going, and remains unidentified forever.  He could have done that, too.  This is NJ.  I'd almost expect him to have kept going.  I'd hate to be the one to make him regret pulling over.

Oh, well. 
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5009 Rambling

xxxday, September 1x, 2015

...electricity is a myth. Everything actually runs off smoke. We know this

because once you let the smoke out of something, it doesn't work any more.

-- "SteveM", in a comment in Scienceblogs.com http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/frickin_electricity_how_does_i.php

----------------------------[the link may not work any more]---------------------------

Regular gas is less than $2 now!  Something like $1.95.  When did that happen?  Why?  I don't understand.

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I had long ago noticed that every time I wash my hair, it's longer than before I washed it.  It's especially noticeable now that it's so long that I can get away with washing it once a week, so the increase in length is almost 2 inches.

After all these years, I think I've figured out why.

My hair isn't curly -- it's crinkly.  So over a week, the individual hairs crinkle up, making the whole look shorter without showing obvious curl.  Then when it gets washed, it straightens out.

Weird. 

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Are crickets more populous in the late summer and fall?  They're all over outside now.  Inside, I'm finding, um, pieces of crickets everywhere, upstairs and down.  When Jasper's not sleeping or begging, he's hunting.  He doesn't eat them, he just takes them apart and then looks disappointed when they can't hop anymore.

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A hitherto unconsidered benefit of retirement:
I took Hal in for his annual service.  Well, Hal's records report that since purchase, I have driven him an average of 67 miles per week.  No wonder I hadn't noticed that the cost of gasoline had gone down.  In the past 4.5 years, he has had four oil changes.  ...Almost balances out the six (or more? I've lost count) new tires.

I should report that mileage to the insurance company - they might lower my premium.

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I don't know why anyone puts "THIS SIDE UP" and arrows on boxes.  I do almost all my shopping online, so I get about four boxes dropped on my porch per month, and I have never yet seen even one box with the arrows pointing up.  (UPS, are you listening?)

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I want to buy Nugget some toys I loved when I was a child, and Daughter also had.  I'm going slightly crazy because I can't find the right things new anywhere online.

I want a pump-type spinning top, you know, the big one that sings, and flaps open inside a clear plastic top showing spinning colored panels that blend as it spins to make changing colors.  All I can find are solid metal with stuff painted on top.  They sing, but nothing else interesting happens.  I did find one on Amazon that almost fits the bill, but Amazon has "temporarily" suspended sale of that item due to some kind of shipping problem.

I want a nice kaleidoscope.  The case doesn't matter, but it must have translucent random-shaped colorful bits in the turning part.  No, I don't want opaque beads.  Duh?  Opaque?  Beads?  I don't want paper clips and other metal bits.  I don't want a solid lead-set stained glass wheel that doesn't give an ever-changing pattern.  I don't want a tube that gets pushed through the viewing chamber.  I don't want one so small that there is little in the chamber.  I also don't want to pay over $30 - I'm not looking for artwork here.  Remember the ones with odd-shaped bits of glass that shifted into view as you turned the end, and made glowing blossoms that never repeated?  Good interesting ones don't seem to exist anymore, not new ones, anyway.  I don't know - maybe kids were taking them apart and getting cut by the shifty bits or something.  I ended up buying a "vintage '50s" one on eBay.  

Still looking for the top.
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3973 Highly annoyed

Friday, September 5, 2014

NOTE to everyone who has a blog I occasionally comment on, AND uses a Yahoo email id for comment notifications:  For some unknown reason when I comment on your blog I am getting "undelivered" messages from Yahoo, saying that the notification was not delivered.  As far as I can tell, Blogger sends you an email about the comment and changes the path to indicate that it came from me (or something like that) and Yahoo has decided not to honor "third party" emails.

This is complicated by the fact that I often comment on old posts, like a few days old, when maybe you no longer have any reason to revisit the post --- so you are unaware I have commented.  Sorry.  I'm really not ignoring people.  I can't do much about it except complain to Yahoo, and I'm not sure how to do that exactly. 

Oh well.

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Toward the end of July, Hal started throwing codes.  You know, the check engine light stuff.  Randomly. 

I took him to the dealership, and two weeks, a new sensor, and $450 later, he behaved again.

Exactly three weeks after that fix, last Friday, he started doing weird stuff again.  I had pulled into a WaWa, set the brake, turned him off, pulled the key, unfastened the seat belt, opened the door, and the siren went off.  For no reason whatsoever. 

When I came out of the WaWa and started him, he popped up the check engine light.  This is 6 pm on a Friday of a three-day holiday weekend.  Of course.  Can't do anything until Tuesday.

The Check engine light was yellow, not red, and the book says I can still drive, unless it turns red, then I have to stop immediately, so I drove (a little bit) during the weekend --- during which time the "service engine soon" light (which means that Hal thinks it's time for regular maintenance) came on as well as the check engine light.  By Tuesday the check engine light was off.  I called the dealership on Wednesday, and I have an appointment tomorrow.

I am completely and utterly pissed.  Especially since his warranty expired in early summer.  Funny how that happens.

Long time visitors to this blog may remember when Fred, the van, started doing much the same kinds of things, and one year, $9,000 in service, sensor replacements, and rental cars later, I gave up, bought Suzie the Suzuki, and Fred spent the next three years or so parked in the driveway, until an independent mechanic found a split in the rubber cover over the computer.  Fixing that fixed Fred.  It wasn't the sensors at all; it was the computer.  Everytime it was damp out, the computer threw random codes, made bad decisions, and stalled in the middle of intersections.

I HATE those sensor things.  Seems like they are supposed to warn you when things are wrong in the unit they're supposed to be sensing, but the fix IN EVERY CASE I have ever experienced is to simply replace the sensor.  There's something very stupid about that.

What makes all this worse is that I'm planning to go to Gettysburg next Tuesday.  This has  been in the works for two months.  And now I have an undependable car.  I am completely and utterly pissed.
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3830 Hal and I are on the map

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

A few months ago (last summer?) I happened to be stopped at an intersection when the Google Maps car went by.

If you go to https://www.google.com/maps/place/919+N+Concourse/@40.445829,-74.213752,3a,15y,318.04h,78.26t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sROo6PdNZcJUFKafqRsJglA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x89c234b38a33c909:0x3f9818f443aaac80 (I hope that link works for you) you'll see a little black convertible (Hal) with a little old lady inside (me).

If the link doesn't work, go to maps.google.com, ask for 919 N. Concourse, Keyport, NJ, pick up the little man (street view) and move him to the nearest intersection, drag the screen to face him the right direction, zoom in, and with luck, we'll be there.

I'm almost sorry I wasn't doing something embarrassing.
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3738 Diary

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers ... 

Each one owes infinitely more to the human race

than to the particular country in which he was born. 

-- Francois Fenelon --

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Yesterday I went to the bank, picked up some file boxes at Staples, stopped at the "hand wash only" car wash place to find out what detailing entails and how much it costs and made an appointment for today for the BMW, went to Verizon to get the replacement wifi box mated to the laptop (2 hours again), got the oil changed and the radiator flushed in the van ($160!), and stopped at the IHOP to get takeout garden crepes.  Arrived home at 4 pm to find Daughter and Nugget on my porch.

Things somehow went west from there.  I offended Daughter somehow.
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3622 Gas burbles

Monday, September 24, 2012

If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples.

-- Japanese proverb --

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I was planning to go upriver this afternoon, so this morning I took Fred The Van to get gas.  His gauge doesn't work any more, so when I get gas I set the trip odometer, and I know he's good for 300 miles.  He's sitting at 287 now, so I knew he'd need filling before the trip.

Nope.  The pump kept cutting out.  It wouldn't even put a few drops in.  The internet lists a slew of possible reasons.  Fred is now at the car hospital getting his throat checked.  Also his hips - he's still leaking transmission fluid.  I'm afraid he may be giving up.  Although he's eleven years old, he has fewer than 65,000 miles on him.

Last time I went upriver I took Hal The BMW.  I filled him before we left, and then I filled him when we got back, just to check for really really (not what the computer says) what his MPG is. 

I was amazed!  This time the trip was almost exactly 300 miles because of some side trips I took, plus I did the whole trip with the top down, and he took 10.2 gallons on return.  Holy Whatever!  That's like 30 mpg!  (Fred gets about 20-23, depending, believe it or not, on how much crosswind we have.)

That's pretty durn good, considering how hot-blooded Hal is.  And his not wearing his hat had to have screwed with his wind resistance. 

Man, I do love manual (standard) shift.
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3384 A Little Relaxation

Monday, October 31, 2011

However you choose to keep score in the game of life (possessions, sexual conquests, etc.) it will impress only others who keep score the same way.

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The tire place called. Hal's hips, legs, and knees are ok (slight dent in the rim, but it'll hold), and he's got another new paw. I'll pick him up tomorrow.

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So far I've had 20 trick-or-treaters. I'm handing out small packs of Twizzlers (the least sugary candy I could find) and bottles of bubble stuff. I bought the Twizzlers this afternoon only because I was afraid the bubbles wouldn't arrive in time, but UPS came through and they did. The kids seem to like the bubbles, especially the older kids, which surprises me.

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The Hairless Hunk called yesterday. The old house upriver has several branches down, and none hit the house. An old previously damaged black locust at the end of the driveway broke in half. He'll clean it all up.

There's no power, therefore no heat, and there might not be for a week or more, but I'm not worried because it won't be cold enough long enough to freeze pipes. The back of the house has a lot of glass, and it faces west, and the sun isn't that low yet, so it really does warm the house.

Next trip up I'll winterize the place. That means I'll have to carry water to wash and flush, but I can do that.

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This video is not safe for work. Remember the Thigh-Masters? This, the Tug-Toner, is sort of along the same lines. It's funny:

[http://youtu.be/R2ewsEKVJVA]
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3383 Hallowe'en

Monday, October 31, 2011

He who controls the agenda controls the outcome.

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Here's a cute Hallowe'en card:

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/bws8Shell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3125133/graphic1

Here's some goblins in space, from NASA (they're really there!):

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111031.html

And here's a scary story:
Yesterday I went to a Meetup lunch in Princeton. There were three others there. It was good. Nice folks.

On the way home in Hal, I took the exit off route 440 for route 9 south, and on the exit ramp (around the curve so it wasn't visible), I hit a pothole. There was a loud bang, the car jumped, and then it started shaking. The dashboard told me the passenger side front tire was "low".

As soon as I could, I stopped and got out to look, and this is what I found:
Low? An understatement.

Joy. That's the fifth potholed tire in eight months, at $400+ per tire and $200+ per alignment.

They're "run flat" tires, and it wasn't riding on the rim yet, so I drove to a discount tire place about 10 miles down the road, close to home, and left Hal parked in their lot, and called Daughter to pick me up. I drove Fred over there today, arranged for a new tire for Hal (that's one of the tires I replaced just a few months ago, and it may be under warranty) and asked them to check the suspension, rim, axle, and whatever else.

And if that's ok, I still have to call the BMW dealership and schedule another alignment.

I can't afford this! Not right now, anyway!

I'm beginning to think I can't afford New Jersey. (Becs, resist the impulse!)

(Which reminds me - when did no-name ordinary grated romano cheese go to $18 a pound?)

---------------------------------

I went online to find out how to report potholes. Surprise! This pothole has already been reported, 12 months ago! Sounds like a valid lawsuit to me....
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3357 Been a while....

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Intelligence does not automatically convey knowledge.

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It's not like I've been especially busy, although I have managed to get a few things done. I now have a NJ driver's license, TV and internet cable, a house phone, got Hal's paws aligned, and have arranged for gutter cleaning and screening, and a few other things. I've got the pulleys, hooks, and cargo net for the attic, but since the hurricane, rope has been hard to find, so that's not finished yet.

One at a time:

NJ Driver's license

I'd been dreading going to the DMV, because I'd heard NJ DMVs are understaffed, have long lines and inefficient procedures, and everything takes a full day to accomplish. I went in one morning to find out what I'd need to get the license changed and the cars registered. There were no lines, and the people were very helpful. In and out with a list of "gets" and "to dos" in 15 minutes. Back the next day with the required documents for the driver's license.

And yes, there were some inefficiencies. Because I already have a valid NY license and no violations, I didn't have to take any tests. But I still had to fill out the forms and pay for a "temporary permit". When they took my picture, the woman asked if it was ok, "but this one is just for the temporary permit", so I said "yeah, it's ok, although I don't think of myself as having jowls". THEN she entered the data from the forms for the permanent license. I was under the impression I'd get a temp that day, and the permanent would be mailed, but then at the end she handed me the permanent, with the "temp" photo on it. Duh?

So I paid for a temp, AND for a perm, and she entered the data twice, once for the temp and then again for the perm, and I never got the temp. Uh, why not just skip the temp part entirely, and why make me pay for something you never had any intention of giving me?

I can't register the cars until I switch the insurance. I called my NY agent, and it was really simple. She said the insurance is even cheaper in NJ.

Daughter and I talked about Suzy Suzuki. Daughter has an 11-year-old Honda 2-door, and with the Nugget getting bigger, it's getting harder to get her in and out, so I'm going to give 4-door Suzy to Daughter.

Now I'm just waiting for the new insurance cards, and I can register Fred and Hal.

TV cable, WIFI cable internet, house phone

That all came as a FIOS package, for just about as much as I am currently paying for broadband internet alone. I had thought I could drop the broadband, but unfortunately there's no other way to get to the internet from the old house, so I'll have to keep it a bit longer.

The cable TV is annoying because there's just so much to choose from. I guess I'll find out what I like at some point, but in the meantime it's so overwhelming I find I don't watch at all. Which, actually, may be worth the cost.

I haven't handed out the house phone number at all, but the damn phone rings every half hour - people trying to sell me things (yeah, I got on the nat'l do-not-call list, but it'll take a while for that to take effect) and calls for the folks who used to have this number. Apparently they were deadbeats. Most of those calls are from collection companies. I recorded a message saying that "I do not answer this phone. I've had this number only since 9/2, so I'm probably not the person you're looking for, and I do not buy anything on the phone. I do check messages, so if you are certain you want to talk to me anyway, leave a message."

Nobody leaves messages, but the phone continues to ring about every half hour. There doesn't seem to be a way to turn the ringer off.

The internet connection is fantastic! I can actually watch YouTube videos right off, without waiting for them to load.

Hal's alignment

After the latest new tire application, the tire dealership told me that Hal needed alignment, but they preferred that BMW do it. It didn't seem too bad - no shimmy or pull, just a little less nimbleness in handling - and I don't drive him that much, so I didn't get around to it until this past week. The nearest BMW shop is a over a half-hour away down roads packed with shore traffic, so I waited until school started to take him in. The procedure took a half day and cost over $200, and now he's pulling to the right.

Crap.

Gutter cleaning and screening

Damn Gum tree balls. The gutters were so packed last winter that they filled with ice, and dumped ice and water down the driveway. Dangerous. In the past few rain storms, they've spilled water out about four feet before the downspouts. Annoying.

I was afraid it would cost a small fortune to get some kind of leaf and ball proof covers, but turns out it'll be less than $600 for both sides of the house roof and the porch roof. That's about half what I expected, given that two cleanings a year would come to $300/yr.

Installation is next Friday.

Attic pulleys

Attic access here is a drop-down ladder/stairs hatch in the upstairs hall. Those ladders are steep and because of the hinges they feel rickety, and I'm never comfortable on ladders anyway. So in every house I've lived in, I've installed pulleys so I don't have to carry anything up and down the ladder. One pulley in a rafter at the top and one that raises and lowers at the bottom halves the weight, too. At the bottom I use a fishnet arrangement to hold the stuff going up.

I have all the materials to do it except for the rope. I need 50 feet of clothesline-like rope, and it just doesn't exist anywhere right now. Every place sold out when the hurricane was coming. So I wait for restocking.

Family

The company SIL Hercules works for is, um, an Irish firm famous for crystal. They were bought out a while ago by a British company famous for china, especially featuring, um, a particular shade of blue. Anyway, they're consolidating and trimming, and Hercules' department is getting drastic cuts - except for Hercules. Last spring he and Daughter were invited to Ireland for a week. He thought it was to install a software system, but in actuality it was for the honchos to get a look at him, and after that trip he was offered a fantastic opportunity within the company. He recently spent a few weeks in Pa. in training, and is leaving today for five weeks in Ireland.

The two of them are pretty upset. The Nugget is about ready to get her belly off the floor and start crawling. He's afraid she'll change a lot before he gets back. Daughter bursts into tears at the drop of a "bon voyage". They're both so tense they argue about little things, like which GPS he should take. They've got a Skype-like computer arrangement, and a video camera, so it shouldn't be so very bad. After all, it's not like he's headed for Afghanistan or something.

I may be the one upset later. They don't know for sure where he'll be working after the building he's in now is closed. I just bought this freakin' house after Daughter assured me they wouldn't be moving for a very long time, if ever. I'll be very annoyed if they move away, leaving me here.

Sigh.
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3296 Nugget Report

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.
-- L. Long --

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Yup. The kid definitely was not switched in the hospital. True to her mother's genes, she picks a long holiday weekend to get sick. She's got thrush. With her mother it was ear infections.

So her mother and I spent a portion of this afternoon trying to find gentian violet, the old tried-and-true topical cure. NO drug or herbal stores around here seem to carry it, although they all are willing to order it, "...will be here Tuesday". Tuesday will be too late.

All the drug stores were going to close early, so at 4:45 Daughter was on the phone to the doctor's covering service to get a prescription called in so we could pick it up today.

After all that, after we got home, I suddenly realized that on my last trip upriver I had cleaned out the medicine cabinets at the old house, and I'll bet I have at least two unopened bottles of gentian violet in the "to be unpacked" boxes upstairs. Jay'd had thrush when his immune system had crashed, and the prescription made him violently ill, to where he was throwing up. He had so many medicines on so many different schedules, and I was worried that with all the vomiting I wasn't sure he was keeping down his more important meds, so I used gentian violet on his thrush and it worked with no side effects.

So Daughter will try the prescription, and if the Nugget has any trouble with it, we'll try the GV.

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Photos. Forgive a first-time Gramma. Nugget has the most beautiful wide open-mouth smile, but it's near impossible to catch with a camera because she WANTS the camera. This is close as I could get to a smile. A small flirtation. (06/27/11)

Tears coming because I won't give her the camera.


Full belly; nap time. (06/30/11)


This was today, 07/02/11. Nugget was asleep in the bouncy chair. Daughter and I stepped outside (for three seconds! I swear!) to measure Hal's back seat, and we didn't belt Nugget in. Hey, she's only a hair over two months old. She's not going to climb out of the chair, right? Right. The following is what we found when we came back in (still sound asleep). Please don't call child protective services on us.

We were afraid we'd wake her if we tried to move her, so Gramma insisted on protection.

Hal has lost some of his sex appeal. It's a little hard to carry off "prowling platinum cougar" with a green plaid baby seat in the rumble.

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Major developmental step - day before yesterday, while she was visiting with me, she discovered her feet. She was sitting sideways on my thigh and looked down and saw them moving. She spent, honest to God, a good half hour watching her feet. She practiced making them move. She'd stare at the right foot, and wiggle it, curl and uncurl the toes. Then she'd turn and stare at the left foot, and wiggle it. It was pretty amazing.

I was worried about her being all bent over like that right after eating, that she'd spit up or get a belly ache or something, but when I tried to straighten her up she fought me, waving her arms and fussing and throwing her head forward and down. She's very strong.

When I took her back across the street, I told Daughter about it, but Nugget wasn't interested in feet any more. She wanted booby.

Later I went over to visit, and the instant I put her on my lap she threw herself forward and worked on foot control again. Daughter laughed that Nugget seems to think Gramma brings feet.

She doesn't have control of her arms and hands yet, except when reaching for her face and mouth. She's very accurate at getting fingers into her mouth. Otherwise her arms kind of just wave around. I doubt there had been anything else she wanted to grab, requiring hand-eye coordination. The feet seem to have provided incentive. She'd been trying to reach for them since she discovered them. Yesterday she caught one, and looked very surprised. She's better at catching feet today.

And I think she's figured out they're hers, not Gramma's.

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Looking at the pictures of Nugget in the bouncy chair. We had left her on her back. So I think that may have been her first rolling over, too. Given the cradling shape of the chair, that couldn't have been easy. I wonder how she did it. You're not supposed to put infants to sleep on their bellies any more (SIDS). I wonder how you prevent belly sleeping once they learn how to roll over?
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3275 Four tires in four months

Saturday, June 4, 2011

“Religious freedom means not only freedom to practice your religion,
but also freedom from being forced to practice someone else's.”
-- Charles Manning, letter in the Mensa Bulletin --

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I save the quotes you see in green at the top of most posts because they make me think in some way. The above quote kicked off thoughts on our system of laws. Like, if I am forced to obey a law which is based on someone else's religion, then am I being forced to practice that religion? (Practice as opposed to belief.)

A simple example might be "Blue Laws", where businesses must close on Sunday. Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. If I must close my business (or am prohibited from selling certain wares) on Sunday, as opposed to Saturday, or whenever I chose, then I am being forced to observe the Christian Sabbath, regardless of whether I am Christian or not.

We have many laws based on religion as opposed to common law or agreed-upon morality.

This is not freedom of, nor freedom from. You see it as freedom only if it's your religion.

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Steven King has said that his favorite stories involve ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

I agree. Me too.

I joined a movie Meetup group yesterday, and one of the organizer's questions was "What movie genres do you like best?" I found that difficult to answer, because I don't think in terms of genres. But it got me thinking about types of movies. It seems like many of the "big" movies coming out these days (those that don't involve gross-outs, anyway) revolve around extraordinary people in ordinary situations.

That doesn't interest me, because I feel no connection, and I'm not after escapism. I guess that's why I prefer the lower budget independent movies.

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I spent a significant amount of time in the tire place waiting room yesterday. I had ordered two tires, but when they went to put them on, they found a bubble in a third tire, so that had to come from the warehouse. That makes four tires in four months.

On the left, the upper diagram shows an ordinary flat tire. The lower diagram is of a "run-flat" tire, like what's on Hal.

"A" is a reinforced sidewall that supports the weight of the car when the air pressure is too low to support it. The darker gray around the outside is a softer rubber. It needs to be softer for traction.

What happens, what makes the run-flat tire fragile, is that if you hit any sudden bump - a pothole, a curb, a sharp ridge in the road - because of the difference in the "give" between the two layers, the layers may (probably will) separate. That's called "side wall shear". If air gets into that space, you'll get a visible bubble on the sidewall of the tire. You can drive on it, but it will eventually go flat, and the possibility of a sudden blowout exists. Although a mechanic might not worry about it on his own car, he's not going to tell you it's safe, because if it's not, if it suddenly, unexpectedly, fully separates, it could cause a serious accident.

So. I drove Hal a lot in NY, May 2010 thru December 2011, with no problem with the tires. I brought him down to NJ, and in the past five months on NJ roads I have replaced all four tires! All due to bubbles. The damn things had about 3,000 miles on them - still had the little feathers of rubber that stick out on new tires.

After the first one, which I know was due to a deep pothole, and finding out what Hal's tires cost when bought through BMW, I have been very careful. I've avoided certain roads, and I've watched the road ahead so I can take evasive action if I see a hole or bump coming up. Hal's very very good at those quick evasive moves. He's got sports car react time. I am positive I have hit no significant potholes since that bad one. And I am 100% sure I have never hit a curb.

Surprise - a quick move, a jerk to one side as you'd do to avoid a suddenly visible pothole, can also cause side wall shear. So can taking a tight turn too fast.

You're kidding me.

I've got a sporty little sexpot, who can dance sideways, and take turns like a quarter horse, that I have to drive as if it's an old bent man with a cane?

What's the point?

I already have less enjoyment driving Hal, knowing that hitting a bump, or NOT hitting a bump, can easily cost me a small fortune. And NJ roads are mostly ridges, holes, lumps, and bumps. I've never seen such bad roads in my life, not even on the back roads of upstate NY, or in the woods and mountains of central PA.
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3262 I am overwhelmed.

Monday, May 23, 2011

People who are easily annoyed are more annoying than the people who annoy them.

--------------------------------------------------

I am feeling very beaten down.

I spent much of Saturday on my knees with pruning shears cutting down the thicket of Japanese knotweed taking over the back yard. There was nothing there but grass when the snow melted. Now it's already four feet tall. It's next to impossible to get rid of. The websites say stuff like getting a hypodermic needle and injecting weed killer into the stems - for years! And then maybe it'll die.

Saturday night, I had a lot of blood in my urine again. Apparently any kind of physical activity causes a problem. Sunday morning the first urine was dark brownish, but it quickly went to the usual pale yellow. This morning it was brownish again, and then alternated most of today between pale yellow, and the color of pink iced tea. I'm hoping it's the useless misplaced stent tearing up my bladder, not something more nasty going on.

The urologist has had my contrast x-rays and CT scan since Monday of last week, and hadn't even LOOKED at them as of Friday! I was so angry that over the weekend I researched another urologist. I figured if the current one didn't have something to say by mid-afternoon today, I was going to make an appointment with the only other in-network urologist within 15 miles who has a local hospital affiliation.

Well, I guess he looked at them this morning, because his office called just after lunch and asked if I could come in tomorrow morning. So now I'm a little worried. First there's no rush, then there's a rush?

And, the urinary urgency is getting worse. Like, oh gee, maybe my bladder is irritated. By a useless stent. Which is in the wrong place. Thank you.

In Saturday's mail I got a letter from the IRS. They think I owe more, want their money immediately, and are assessing a penalty.

In today's mail, I got a letter from the state of NY. Apparently The Angel didn't file my business sales tax return for 2010. (I've made no sales and have filed zero-dollar returns for years now.) They want their money immediately and are assessing a penalty.

Yesterday I figured it was about time to force the builder to fix the crappy stuff, like the bedroom windows that won't open. NJ has a new-construction warranty that builders have to honor. It's one year on everything, two years on structural defects, and three years on dangerous stuff. It's supposed to start from the closing date. So I dug the booklet out of the file to find out what the process is. Surprise. The starting date on the warranty is 6/30/10, which means it expires for the non-structural stuff next month! Um...I didn't close on the house until 10/13/10. I'm getting screwed out of four months of the warranty?

Uh uh. Hell no.

I fired off an email to my attorney this morning. He said to write a certified letter to the builder reminding him that he has to change the date, and listing what I want fixed. And copy my attorney on it.

Sigh.

Then I remembered that Hal needs a state inspection by the end of the month. I haven't changed registration on the three vehicles yet because two are here and one is still at the old house, and that makes things very complicated. (Also the titles are still at the old house.) I made an appointment for Friday morning with the nearest BMW dealership in NY, one hour 35 minutes up the road.

I need to pick up copies of my records and films from the White Plains hospital. I need to actually go there, because there are some things I want that I don't know what the technical words for them might be, and back and forth by phone or mail (no email) would be a pain.

And then this evening, just a half hour ago, I discovered that Fred the van has a flat tire. I know how to change a tire, but -- funniest thing -- because of the dropped floor, when a tire goes flat on Fred, you can't get a regular jack under him to lift him. I guess I'll have to call AAA tomorrow afternoon.

There's just too much pecking at me.

On top of all this, the old house is abandoned up there, probably overrun by mice digging nests in all my upholstered antiques and mattresses and closet contents, I'm losing my possible buyer, and I'M SITTING HERE ON A STOOL WITH NO REAL FURNITURE!!!
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3171 Unraveling the budget and the knitting in one fell swoop

Thursday, February 24, 20011

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

-------------------------------------------

Fred the minivan has been leaking a bright pink fluid for some time now, which has made me reluctant to drive him the 2.5 hours up to the old house. I consulted the book, and it said it could be either power steering or transmission fluid. It leaks only for a few days after I'd driven him, and then it stops, and it was bright pink, not a dirty pink, so I suspected it was the power steering - on the theory that transmission fluid would be a bit more "used" looking.

I had been waiting for a warmish day with no wind so I could check the levels of both, and then it occurred to me that even if I did find one low, what then? I could add more fluid, but what if it let loose all of a sudden on the thruway? I decided to have it professionally diagnosed.

I spent a few hours knitting this morning in the Chrysler dealership waiting room. It was the transmission seals.

Net - between Hal's pothole bubbled tire and Fred's seals, I've spent about $1,500 on car repairs this past month. Taxes are due on the old house, the gas bill on the new house is murder, and premiums on three insurance policies will come due within the next month. Yeah, I've got savings, I'm not going to starve, but, let's face it, I'm the one who washes zip-lock bags and reuses them. I BUDGET!

I guess I *can* wait to find out why Suzie Suzuki is belching smoke.

--------------------------------

I wanted to knit a baby blanket. I bought a kit from Herrschners, which included the yarn and a pattern book, and on the last trip to the old house I picked up my needles. I wanted to make the blanket, "Little Blessings", on the cover of the pattern book.

The pattern is screwed up!

It says at the end of row 16, you should have 159 stitches. But after doing row 17 and ripping it out twice, I mapped the pattern for row 17, and it requires 160 stitches. I added another stitch, and row 17 worked. Then when I got to row 19, the repeating lacy pattern didn't match up to row 17. On row 17, the pattern repeats every 6 stitches. On row 19, the pattern repeats every 7 stitches! Something's very wrong. I ripped out three rows and tried to add a stitch to the pattern on row 17, or subtract a stitch on row 19, and then realized that since I don't really know which is the "correct" guess at the error, there was a 50-50 chance I'd run into worse problems further up, when the design changed.

I ripped the whole thing out and started over with a free fan and shell ripple pattern from the internet.

The Herrschners pattern book is three years old. You can't convince me that no one has complained about that pattern. In decades past, when there was an error in a pattern book (and it's not uncommon), there has always been a correction letter tucked in the book.

I am very disappointed in you, Herrschners.
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3257 Things I found out today

Friday, February 11, 2011

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."
-- Arthur Schopenhauer --

-----------------------------------------------------

The only things my warranty/service contract on Hal doesn't cover is windshield wipers and tires. Today I found out what a BMW tire for Hal costs. $407. That's for ONE tire. Plus more for labor.

Driving back from the old house on Monday night I hit a deep New Jersey pothole. You can't see the fool things at night. Wednesday, Hal started complaining that his passenger side tire was low. Thursday I took him to the BMW dealership. Today they told me the bad news. The tire had developed an irreparable "blister", whatever that is. I needed a new tire.

$407 dollars worth of tire.

--------------------------------

Remember the mouse that had taken up residence in Hal? I asked the service guys to check and see what other damage the mouse may have done, and to please explain how he got in in the first place. The bits of chewed up paper in the trunk, the passenger cabin, and the glove compartment! meant he'd had access to the entire car.

They found that he'd chewed through the microfilter, which gave him access to the ventilation system. I needed a new filter.

I wonder if my insurance would consider a mouse a vandal?

--------------------------------

You know all those dead birds turning up all over the country? Turns out the USDA, and others licensed by the USDA, are killing them. They kill millions of birds every year, and have been doing so since the early '60s, to protect grain put out for cattle feed.

Search "dead birds USDA", and you'll get lots of hits, most of which contradict each other. Like, the USDA says they are responsible for only one killoff in the mid-west, but in another article they also take credit for a mass kill near my old house. And they have no idea how many kills are from those licensed folks, or from farmers just doing it themselves. Nobody's counting those dead birds.

The attitudes of the farmers and of the USDA are rather cavalier. Farmers: "They're just birds." USDA: "They're starlings. European starlings are a pest, and they're not native, they're invasive."

Um, they're also killing red-winged blackbirds by the millions, too, and they are definitely native. Whether the birds are native or not has nothing to do with it. They're poisoning any birds that feed in flocks, which are often varieties of blackbirds (red-wings, crackles, cowbirds, starlings).

How has this been going on for 50+ years, but we knew nothing of it? Can't farmers do something else to protect the grain they put out for dairy cows, like, oh, cats or dogs? Or covered feeding? Do those birds really have no other value? They do eat bugs, too, you know. How many carnivores have been starved out by these killoffs?

Next time you get bitten by a mosquito, or lose your tomatoes to Japanese beetles or your kitten to a hawk, blame the USDA.

General info: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0120/Bye-Bye-Blackbird-USDA-acknowledges-a-hand-in-one-mass-bird-death

The kill near my old house: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/02/10/news/doc4d54707f4a02d656011346.txt?viewmode=fullstory

-------------------------------

On his 74th birthday, a man got a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction.

After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man. The medicine man slowly, methodically, produced a potion, handed it to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned, 'This is powerful medicine. It must be respected. You take only teaspoonful, and then say '1-2-3.' When you do that, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life, and you can perform as long as you want."

The old man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?"

"Your partner must say '1-2-3-4,'" he responded, "but when she does, the medicine will not work again until next full moon."

The old man was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom. When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!"

Immediately, he was the manliest of men.

His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes, and then she asked, "What was the 1-2-3 for?"

And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition, because we could end up with a dangling participle.
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3233 Life on hold

Monday, January 17, 2011

"I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations,
nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine."
-- Fritz Perls --

------------------------------------------------

Not much happening. Daughter drove me to the old house yesterday, where we dug the van out of the snow and I drove him south. So now both Fred the van and Hal the convertible are at the new house.

Hal has a mouse, who moved in while he was parked at the old house in November. The first clue was the chewed up roll of paper towels in the trunk, and the chewed hat. The second clue was the motion-detector alarms going off when no one was anywhere near Hal. I thought eventually the mouse would move out, but last week somebody chewed into a bag of peanuts on the front seat, and two nights ago I found a hole chewed in a bag of garbage in the garage. I give up. I'm going to have to evict him before he chews something important.

I bought some traps today, baited one (no mouse can resist peanut butter), and was taking it out to the garage. Just inside the garage, near the door to the house, is a tall plastic kitchen waste bin that I use to put out recycle stuff, and as I walked past it, I saw a motion.

The mouse is in the bin. The sides are too high and slick for him to get out.

He's the cutest little thing - bright eyes, tiny pink paws, short round body, no neck. I wish I had a cage. I'd try to keep him. But since he's caught, I'll give him a little water and walnuts tonight to feed him up a bit, and dump him outside tomorrow. Far from the house, far from Hal!

----------------------------------------

Peeved again. This was written by a professional journalist: "... declined invites from the organization ...."

Sheesh, people! At least be consistent. "... declined invitations from the organization ...." or "... declined invites from the organize ...."

Now is it apparent why I hate "invite" as a noun?
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3065 Recall

Thursday, August 26, 2010

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point
than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."
-- George Bernard Shaw --

-----------------------------------------------------

Well, Hal, who edged out other cars in the running partially on the basis of superior engineering and reliability - Hal, who in the first four weeks revealed a pinched speaker wire in his door and a not-yet-fixed bug in his computer which randomly turns the "service engine now" light on, - Hal, who was rear ended in his sixth week, because another driver was too impressed with him - Hal, yeah, that Hal - has received his first recall.

It seems that for the past three years of Hal's model, the insulation near the seat belt thingy that grabs it in an accident (I forget what it's called) might catch fire if the thingy grabs in an accident. So I am to ignore the "service engine now" light, and, um, don't have an accident until I can take him in for repair.

Thirty years ago, my psychiatrist said I had feelings of omnipotence - that everything that went wrong was my fault. Well, notice that the stock market was heading back up UNTIL I decided to sell a load of stock to buy a house. Notice that the housing market was beginning to recover UNTIL I decided to put this house on the market. Notice that BMW used to have a good reputation UNTIL I bought one.

Maybe I had those feelings for a reason.

On the good side, Captain Vantastic called today. The minivan, Fred, is all checked out and ready to go. I am impressed. He'd been sitting in the driveway, dead to the world, for almost three years. He needed his brake lines replaced, one tire stem replaced, his A/C recharged, and an oil change and lube, and Vic says he's in great health now. His timing is more than perfect. The Captain checked out his electric door and wheelchair ramp, and they work fine. The only thing that doesn't work is that he doesn't kneel anymore, but that's ok, I never used the kneel (he'd kneel on the side with the ramp so that the ramp slope was lower) anyway. I never trusted it.

So, I'm ready to start moving! And I was prepared to spend more than $1,000 to get Fred back on the road, but it's coming out to just about $600. Incredible. Also, two people have already called wanting to buy him. He's a very handsome fellow, in great demand.

--------------------------------

I've noticed that there are a lot of people these days who don't allow street shoes in their house. A lot of younger people seem to think that's only proper, the way it always has been.

I sorta thought it was sorta stupid. And awkward. And inconvenient for guests.

Well, I've found out why. I may have to ban shoes in my new house, or at least black rubber soles and spike heels.

Way back when, when I was a young'un, hardwood floors were hardwood. Hard wood. Hard. Wood. Solid, with some thickness. You could sand a quarter inch off to refinish them if necessary. Look at the 150-year-old houses with original floors. (This house is carpeted and tiled, no hardwood, but all my previous houses had real hardwood.)

The new house has parquet. I wasn't too happy with that because I was thinking of the squares. I don't like the squares. There's nothing wrong with them, Daughter has them, but it's just a personal dislike. Possibly because that's what our house had when I was in high school, and square parquet carries bad memories. Whatever. But it turns out the parquet in my new house is the long boards, so I'm ok with that.

I've been reading up on how to care for them, and, ta rah, high narrow heels can dent them. Dent? And they're not easy to refinish or sand out scratches, marks, or dents. It's cheaper and easier to replace the flooring.

So ok, now I understand the no shoes rule. Most new houses probably have parquet these days. But I still don't like the idea of making people take their shoes off. Do I have to provide slippers?

But, but, but, oh dear, does this mean I can't wear my stripper spikes in my bedroom? Bummer.

--------------------------------

Today I went to the county fair - a very short trip just to get the freakin' french fries. That's the only thing I would regret if I didn't go. I'll write a bit on that later.
.

3000 My lemonade has no sugar.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The little boat floated gently across the still pond
exactly like a bowling ball doesn't.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I got a call from BMW today.

The "Service engine soon" message is coming from a bug in the computer code. I am not surprised. In my long history with The Company, I was famous for being able to break any code. They could test and test six ways from Sunday, hand it to me, and within minutes I'd hit bugs. The last release of the operating system I worked on had upwards of 25 testers testing full time, and yet I wrote more than half of the trouble reports on that release, and I wasn't even testing it. I was just using it.

Computers hate me.

It seems that plugging in the key without actually starting the engine within a certain period of time, in combination with a few other factors, causes the "Service" light to go on. At least that's what they're telling me. So, BMW is rewriting the code. It won't be available for a while. In the meantime, they have turned the light off, and if it goes on again, I can continue to drive as long as the car "is driving ok".

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me. The light has meaning, right? Other things going wrong can cause it to go on, right? If it has no meaning as long as the car "is driving ok", then why have the stupid light? Since if the car isn't "driving ok", the average owner will take it in anyway.

From now on, I guess I'll just call it the "do nothing" light.

The other thing that bothers me is that I *didn't* plug the key in and leave it on without turning the motor on within a reasonable time. I am absolutely sure of that because 1) so many things go on when you plug in that I worry about running down the battery, and 2) it went on Saturday morning, when I KNOW I started it quickly.

The second annoying thing is that even though the intake woman witnessed the trunk not opening, and witnessed the alarm go off when I pushed the button properly, she says that the mechanics couldn't make it fail, therefore found nothing wrong. And, oh, by the way, I don't have to use the button in the cabin, there's a latch under the medallion on the back of the trunk and I can just use that.

Um, yeah, ok, if it won't open from the remote button, I can use the latch, but that's a work-around! I'm not supposed to have to do that! A work-around is not a fix!

As to the random alarms (actually it's more like an ear-piercing siren), again they could find no problem. She assured me that it was impossible for the alarm to go off when the car is unlocked because blah blah blah. I am absolutely certain, 100% certain, no question in my mind whatsoever, that the car was unlocked that day it freaked at the deli.

So much for impossible.

I am very frustrated.

[Much later edit - the alarms were going off because there was a mouse living in the car, who tripped the motion detectors. Really, a mouse.]
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2960 Car!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Democracy, n.: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic... negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
-- U.S.Army Training Manual No. 2000-25 (1928-1932), since withdrawn. --

-----------------------------------------------------------

My car is in! The salesman called today. It will be two days or so before I can pick it up. I guess they need to "do stuff" to it first.

Monday is filled up with the NJ attorney and an evening dinner. Tuesday I have to take Jasper to the vet (maybe I can change that appointment, since it's not like he's sick or anything).

The dealership is about 40 minutes south, and I need to figure out how to get there without a car. Piper would happily take me, but he'd been in Florida for the past two weeks taking care of his elderly mother while his sister was on vacation, so I know he's buried in work right now, so I don't want to ask him. I checked the county bus routes. They seem to be geared toward getting people to jobs and home again - the latest of two daily buses downriver leaves the village at 7:56 am (! Ack !) and I'd have to change buses in Poughkeepsie. A taxi would cost a zillion dollars. Almost all my friends have jobs, and most of them live way the heck down there, so it's a strain for them.

Gee, sorry. Don't you wish you had my problems?

------------------------------

It snowed last night in the Catskills. Sigh.
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2911 The car has been ordered.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"Actions lie louder than words."
-- Carolyn Wells --

--------------------------------------------------

I've ordered my car.

I went to the dealership yesterday. I wanted a 2010 model, I'd like to have it in mid-April and I asked what's the procedure for getting the colors and options I want. The salesman said it would be a bit difficult to get exactly what I want in a 2010, because March is the last production month for the 2010, the last 2010 custom orders were placed in February, as of April they're building the 2011s, so they'd have to find my 2010 on a lot somewhere, and they may or may not be able to find exactly what I want.

I want exactly what I want.

So I'm getting a 2011. Arrival before mid-May.

Which is not exactly what I want, but at least that's more acceptable than the wrong colors or wrong options.

(Gee, remember when the model years started in January of that year? I was surprised when the next year's cars started showing up in November.)

Then we started talking price. Unfortunately, he didn't have the MSRP or invoice numbers for the 2011 models yet. (Neither did Edmonds.com.)

Terms:
MSRP - what the manufacturer thinks the car should sell for, but only naifs actually pay.
Invoice - what the dealer pays the manufacturer for the car. The difference between what you pay and invoice is the dealer's profit.
TMV - "True Market Value", what Edmonds calls the average price actually paid for the car in your zip code. Usually significantly below MSRP, a little above invoice.

So then we started talking price. I told him I'd gotten the TMV from Edmonds, and expected to pay that much for the 2010, and in that general ballpark for the 2011. He freaked. He started talking about 7% profit "built in", and was running numbers rapidly, very confusingly. I wasn't sure what that 7% was on, derived from, it didn't make any sense. It especially didn't make sense because 7% of the invoice price, added to the invoice price, was WAY over the MSRP.

Finally I said, "Look, it doesn't much matter, because we're using the wrong numbers for this car anyway. We really ought to just agree on how much I will pay over invoice. Period. Simple." The Edmonds numbers showed X dollars over invoice as the average, so I said, "I'll pay Y dollars over invoice, assuming you can show me the invoice". He didn't like that at all. It was too close to TMV. His face got red. He continued trying for closer to MSRP.

At that point, a woman who had made an appointment to pick up a car arrived (I'd hadn't called before coming in), and he went off to help her. When he came back, he said, "Ok. Y dollars over invoice." I guess he realized he couldn't write a contract without the actual numbers. I said I wanted it in writing, so after a visit to the financial office, he came back and said the contract could be written that way. It would actually say "Y dollars over invoice" as the total price for the car (plus tax, and registration).

And a few minutes later, that's what came out of the financial office, and I signed it, and made a $500 security payment.

There may be another small battle when I see the invoice numbers. I expect to see the wholesale price of the car and my chosen options, and a destination charge, and nothing else. No prep charges, no advertising charges, no other padding. Edmonds says some dealers try to pad with stuff like that, and you don't have to pay it.

I'm a little disappointed that I won't get it before May, but April is buggy and rainy anyway, so ok.

-------------------------------------

Suzy has some booboos on her front bumper (I think someone must have backed into her in a parking space) and the gas cap door hinge is broken. Her bumper is plastic or rubber or something, and it's cracked and broken. If I want to sell her (haven't decided yet) I'll need to get that fixed. So I stopped by at a body shop and got an estimate. It came out to $1,090. I paid $9000 for her four years ago, when she was already three years old with 32,000 miles on her, and her blue book value now is only $3,400.

It doesn't seem worth fixing her.

She has 81,000 miles now, and other than her broken nose she's in terrific health, inside and out.

Maybe I'll just keep her. Maybe a duct tape girdle inside the bumper will make her feel better.
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