Is there really anything worse in the world than shopping for a car? I defy anyone to tell me something more stressful and time consuming than this activity. Yes, okay I have a pretty kick ass car. And I do love it SO much. However, there is not enough room in this car for both me and Scout. If my little roadster was a 4 door, it might be a little easier, but it's not. I'm not entirely sure they make 4 door convertibles. And the payments on this thing....Ridiculous! In my former life, paying for my car was a drop in the bucket. With my two part time jobs, while trying to start my own company life, I need to keep as much money in the bank as I possibly can. So, the goal, get a bigger car, with a smaller monthly payment. Seems like a lot to ask, right? Trust me, it is. And again, it's not like I drive a piece of crap car either, but it seems that everywhere I go, the trade-in value of this sucker keeps decreasing! I think if I walk into one more dealership and they quote me a price lower than what I've been getting from everywhere else, I might actually lay on the floor and throw a good old fashion temper tantrum. And just to make matters worse, I know NOTHING about cars. I know they have tires, I know they have an engine, and unlike my father, I do know where the windshield wiper fluid goes. Yeah, that's a story for another time. But I couldn't tell you what type of engine I want. I could care less the circumference of my tires, or rims. And I sure as hell don't understand gas mileage. So, I did what any person in my position would do, I went to the closest car expert that I could think of. Bless his little heart, he did all this research and rated cars for me and then told me what I could expect to pay and what my price range would be, and I kid you not, I had no idea what he was talking about. I'll admit, I'm a little vain when it comes to appearances, so I don't want an SUV that looks like a mini-van and trust me, these days, THAT is hard to come by. I don't want a Honda, no matter how hard you push me. And I need to fit in my back seat. I understand that I will not be sitting there at all times, but the people in which I drive around are usually my height or a little shorter, so I have standards. It's almost as if I need to put a measuring stick outside my car and say you must be this small to ride in the back seat. Standing on her hind legs, Scout wouldn't even meet this requirement, that's how small my back seat is now. Well, why not put her in the front, you might be asking yourself? Ah, I used to do that, until I went to doggie CPR class and they showed a video of a dog, in an accident, FLYING out of the window. In this same video they showed another dog sticking their head out of the window and getting nailed by debris off the road. Immediately I went out and bought a dog seat belt and strapped her into the back without rolling any windows down. Her favorite activity of riding in the car has now become her least favorite thing to do. So, now you understand my dilemma?!?!? No, I'm not buying a car for my dog, but I do need to be practical these days. Although I am moving to Texas by the spring and my convertible will be amazing there, currently we live in a climate where it has already snowed a few inches and my car was the ONLY one on the block that got stuck on the giant hill, one street away from my parents house. Not convenient at all. Without boring you with all the gory details of my adventures I will wrap it up in a simple little bow(Christmas reference and all):
Mercedes: The first car they wanted to show me wouldn't even start in the cold. Yeah, no, not even going to look at that car because it didn't start in the cold. Then proceeded to completely insult me and told me that my car wasn't worth anything because of what happened to the bumper. However, the one good thing that came out of it was that they gave me the name of some auto body shop that fixed my car for $60 under the table. THIS is why I love Italians.
Carmax: The "no haggle" approach was very appealing, however, the guy I set up my appointment with, didn't even bother to show up. Not to mention that this place was 30 minutes away and it was COLD out. So, the slap dick that helped me didn't quiet understand what I meant when I said I wanted to lower my payments each month. He was showing me around the lot and trying to get me to walk into every single car I saw. After our tour, we walked back into the dealership where he got my trade-in price, $4,000 lower than I wanted and tried to get me into another car at a price that I could buy a new car for. Clearly he wasn't understanding the mission. Walk out.
GMC: Here is where I actually almost lost it. This guy was trying to up sell me and kept making comments how I rolled in there with my BMW and I should be ready to buy. Kept asking me what Carmax quoted me and told me that they would match it. I kept telling him to give me a quote and we would go from there. Obviously I speak sales. He told me nothing about the cars I wanted to look at. Explained nothing of the differences in any of the models. Took me on a test drive and said nothing. I asked him why he didn't say a word and he said it was because people walk in and know what they want. The cars sell themselves. Here is what I wish this guy didn't do. I wish he hadn't had me drive an Acadia. I wish the only car I stepped foot in was the Terrain, because now I want the higher end car. Champagne wish on a very cheap ass beer budget. I guess he was right....
So, what to do, what to do? They are calling for a big snow storm over Christmas and I want to lower my payments ASAP. The issue is the other GMC dealership, that has the car I want, at the price I want, isn't open on Friday. Who the hell isn't open on Christmas Eve?!?!?!? Maybe Santa will let me borrow his sleigh for a few months. It's not like he needs it after Saturday. Not to mention that I haven't finished my Christmas shopping, I have crap to do all up until Christmas day so I really don't have time for this nonsense. Calgone....take me away!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
time waster
Could someone please explain to me the point of EVER having doctors appointments? I think I might die of shock the day that I actually get to see the doctor on time. Or maybe have them wait just as long for you as you did for them. But thank God I wasn't sitting in there dying of the swine flu again because then we might have a wee bit of an issue. So, this ear thing still hasn't gone away. For the past two months, or so, (I'm going to go ahead and emphasis the word so and use that as another months time) the blockage in my ear has slowly swollen to the point that I'm really just brushing up on my sign language, in case I have to pull it out. Last night, I went as far as to look up and old Sicilian remedy and warm olive oil over the stove, stick a cotton ball in it, and then stick that in your ear. It's supposed to cause "instant" relief. I'll go ahead and leave that to the real Italians, because this girl got nothing out of sticking olive oil in her ear, except and ear full of olive oil. So, as I came into job number one this morning, I figured it might be time to call the old doctor again. And not the nut job I went to see the last time, who gave me an inhaler for all my symptoms and told me that everything would go away in a matter of days, because here we are months later and it still sounds like the ocean in my right ear. So, at 10:30 we called a new doctor. They happened to have an opening at 12:15 that same day, so I took it. Since I was a new patient, I knew I had to get there early, but who knew there would be construction on a two lane road that caused me to arrive at the appointment only a few minutes ahead of schedule. Upon arrival, I was shooed into the back office to fill out paperwork. Here I was welcomed by three "lovely" women, who had about a million better things to do than wait on me. I was honestly told to sit down, RIGHT NEXT to one of them, while she talked to her co-worker about when the secret Santa gifts were passed out and why she hadn't gotten one yet. This is just me assuming, but if her personal life is any reflection of her professional life, I'm going to have a guess as to why her stocking is empty, I'm just saying. As the clock now ticked 12:25, I am ushered, correction, directed back into the waiting room with absolutely no explanation. I sit as I watch patient after patient approach the reception desk, asking how long it was going to take, considering they had been there since 11:45 am. Gulp! Thinking to myself, this is going to be a while, I get comfy in my chair and play some Angry Birds on my phone. Just as I'm passing the level to which I have been combating for a few days now, my name is called! Hooray! I mean, bully for you all, but this is what I'm talking about. It is here that I am actually escorted to the nurses station and left in a room...for the next...45 minutes. Like I said before, I'm glad I wasn't actually deathly ill because this would have been the worse timing to switch doctors, but what in the world was taking this lady so long?!?! I literally called in an hour before my appointment, which meant that at that time, if they were running behind, they might have wanted to give a little heads up, or maybe not schedule someone so that they could take that next hour to play catch-up. But there I sat. There were a few times I thought about collecting my things and walking out, but the damage had already been done. As the door to my gym says, half the battle was getting here. So, after a few games of Angry Birds, much studying of the anatomy of the insides of me, my incredibly social awkward doctor walks in. Only to tell me exactly what I knew was wrong. I'm telling you guys, if it weren't for the blood and guts, I could have totally been a doctor. Two minutes later, and $30 lighter, I'm out the door. I should have sat there and made that lady listen to how my day was going, or something. She had me wait for an hour for her, why not do the same? If I could find a job where I only work an hour a day and make over $100k I might just totally walk away from this dog day care idea. I'm just saying!!!!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Everything is coming up Roses
In my entire adult life, I have not been more excited about a sporting event. Sure, okay I went to the Olympics in Torino and the World Series when the Tigers were playing, and a few Super Bowls, but none of that means anything if it isn't personal! Over the weekend, due to the wins by both Oregon and Auburn, TCU was "forced" to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. It's the Granddaddy of all Bowl games and guess who is going?!?!?!? That's right! Yours truly! Tickets have been purchased, plane tickets were bought this morning, housing provided by brother bear Galanty and the excitement level has been amped up to 12. It was a GREAT ending to my weekend! Not only that, but Laura gets to come with me so I'm not in the stands with my face painted alone. How awkward that would have been! I could really only be the T or C or U with no one to follow. How sad, but now I have a partner in crime! I'm not entirely sure this blog entry gives my excitement justice either. If I had rafters where I was right now, I would be hanging from them, in the good way too. If someone wasn't working below me, I would not be able to walk anywhere, I would have to hop, skip and jump with excitement. My face will have a permagrin until Jan 2 when all of this is over. I think that paints a little better picture :o) I'm excited......
But let's recap the weekend, shall we? September 11 was a terrible tragedy, and in the DC area, life was completely changed from that day forward. I know most people view NYC as the headquarters of this crisis, which is where the worse devastation was, but their daily lives have not really changed security wise. Case in point, before September 11, most any one was allowed into the White House to view the Christmas spectacular that was the trees in all the rooms. Since then, you have to know someone pretty high up on a list to get in the doors. Luckily, I do, and I got to go. I don't think you really appreciate what you have around you until you're away from it for a long time. Without pictures, because my friend hasn't sent any to me yet, I'm going to have to paint a virtual picture for you. I'll try to contain my typing ADD for a little while to give this thing justice. First of all, it was cold. Considering that it's been way warmer than normal in this area, this sudden onset of cold was not something we were all prepared for. So only standing around in your jacket, without scarf of gloves was a bit of a buzz kill at the beginning. Because, once again, thanks to the lovely Selehay's who crashed the White House dinner, we now have to stand in three lines of security to make sure you're on the list. And when your finger tips are going numb, it's a bit much. But, once you walk through the last phase of pat downs, it makes it all worth it. You enter through the main doors into a wood panelled hallway of history. You are greeted with the sites, sounds and smells of Christmas. It was the first real time I felt that Christmas was just around the corner. There were rows of garland that lead us to the first group of rooms that held trees. If memory serves, it was the Library, First Ladies room and Music room. All rooms were so warm and inviting and each decorated with a different themed tree. Of course they were roped off so our view was from the doorway, but I was not expecting anything less. As you make your way down the hallway, to the giant staircase, you are blocked off from going further by a guard and partitions. Apparently, Obama himself was in house so the security measures were amped up a bit. I was hoping to "accidentally" run into him which would only make this experience that much more amazing. Considering we couldn't go any further, we make our way up the giant staircase. At the top, we are greeted by a very friendly lady standing at a table asking folks to fill out a Holiday wish card to our troops. I consider this an extremely important stop on the tour and fill out a card, immediately. A friend of mine is deployed this Holiday season, away from his wife and kids and I write a note as if he is the one going to receive it. As, we move on, we head down the main hallway which is lined with dried flower decorations against the windows and past White House Christmas tradition pictures along the wall. These date back so far and have so much history attached to them, it's so interesting to see what goes on behind closed doors. This hallway, leads us to the room containing the gingerbread house of the White House and a decoupage Bo. Also, hanging on the walls are framed pictures of ALL the White House Christmas cards ever sent! It was so interesting to see how even art work progresses throughout the years. How similar in taste some Presidents were. Here's a trivia question for you, who is the only president to have a picture of himself and his wife on their card? The winner gets a big prize from me! As we exit the Christmas card room, we are now heading into the main portion of our tour. Here we head through the main dining room, the red room, the blue room, the ball room, and the grand entrance. Each room is more breathtaking than the next. Each tree, in each room is more exquisitely decorated than the next. Each room you walk into makes you more and more appreciative of where you are. The history of everything that is around you. The detail that has gone into each and every room that you walk through is thought out and on purpose. The grander of it all, is so much to take in. And, then you think, wow, just hours earlier, the President of the United states was standing, RIGHT HERE giving a speech to the country. Or the very next day, the Kennedy Center honorees were sitting in the place where I just walked through! It's really hard to wrap your head around. Or at least it was for me. Although I was making fun of my friend for taking so many pictures, I do hope that he tags me in them on Facebook, so that I can show you just how amazing living here is. As you leave, you are exited by carolers who sing you into the rest of your night. As you walk out of the white house and head down 14th street and look back, it just makes you think of how lucky you have been to do what you just did. If you can, google White House Christmas pictures and see what comes up. And then think to yourself, wow, what a lucky girl she was :o)
But let's recap the weekend, shall we? September 11 was a terrible tragedy, and in the DC area, life was completely changed from that day forward. I know most people view NYC as the headquarters of this crisis, which is where the worse devastation was, but their daily lives have not really changed security wise. Case in point, before September 11, most any one was allowed into the White House to view the Christmas spectacular that was the trees in all the rooms. Since then, you have to know someone pretty high up on a list to get in the doors. Luckily, I do, and I got to go. I don't think you really appreciate what you have around you until you're away from it for a long time. Without pictures, because my friend hasn't sent any to me yet, I'm going to have to paint a virtual picture for you. I'll try to contain my typing ADD for a little while to give this thing justice. First of all, it was cold. Considering that it's been way warmer than normal in this area, this sudden onset of cold was not something we were all prepared for. So only standing around in your jacket, without scarf of gloves was a bit of a buzz kill at the beginning. Because, once again, thanks to the lovely Selehay's who crashed the White House dinner, we now have to stand in three lines of security to make sure you're on the list. And when your finger tips are going numb, it's a bit much. But, once you walk through the last phase of pat downs, it makes it all worth it. You enter through the main doors into a wood panelled hallway of history. You are greeted with the sites, sounds and smells of Christmas. It was the first real time I felt that Christmas was just around the corner. There were rows of garland that lead us to the first group of rooms that held trees. If memory serves, it was the Library, First Ladies room and Music room. All rooms were so warm and inviting and each decorated with a different themed tree. Of course they were roped off so our view was from the doorway, but I was not expecting anything less. As you make your way down the hallway, to the giant staircase, you are blocked off from going further by a guard and partitions. Apparently, Obama himself was in house so the security measures were amped up a bit. I was hoping to "accidentally" run into him which would only make this experience that much more amazing. Considering we couldn't go any further, we make our way up the giant staircase. At the top, we are greeted by a very friendly lady standing at a table asking folks to fill out a Holiday wish card to our troops. I consider this an extremely important stop on the tour and fill out a card, immediately. A friend of mine is deployed this Holiday season, away from his wife and kids and I write a note as if he is the one going to receive it. As, we move on, we head down the main hallway which is lined with dried flower decorations against the windows and past White House Christmas tradition pictures along the wall. These date back so far and have so much history attached to them, it's so interesting to see what goes on behind closed doors. This hallway, leads us to the room containing the gingerbread house of the White House and a decoupage Bo. Also, hanging on the walls are framed pictures of ALL the White House Christmas cards ever sent! It was so interesting to see how even art work progresses throughout the years. How similar in taste some Presidents were. Here's a trivia question for you, who is the only president to have a picture of himself and his wife on their card? The winner gets a big prize from me! As we exit the Christmas card room, we are now heading into the main portion of our tour. Here we head through the main dining room, the red room, the blue room, the ball room, and the grand entrance. Each room is more breathtaking than the next. Each tree, in each room is more exquisitely decorated than the next. Each room you walk into makes you more and more appreciative of where you are. The history of everything that is around you. The detail that has gone into each and every room that you walk through is thought out and on purpose. The grander of it all, is so much to take in. And, then you think, wow, just hours earlier, the President of the United states was standing, RIGHT HERE giving a speech to the country. Or the very next day, the Kennedy Center honorees were sitting in the place where I just walked through! It's really hard to wrap your head around. Or at least it was for me. Although I was making fun of my friend for taking so many pictures, I do hope that he tags me in them on Facebook, so that I can show you just how amazing living here is. As you leave, you are exited by carolers who sing you into the rest of your night. As you walk out of the white house and head down 14th street and look back, it just makes you think of how lucky you have been to do what you just did. If you can, google White House Christmas pictures and see what comes up. And then think to yourself, wow, what a lucky girl she was :o)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Insanity
I understand the the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But I'm not referring to that form of insanity. Apparently, once you've graduated from the P90X world, the next level of nuts is called Insanity. Last night, after Heather got home from work, I made her go change her clothes and hit the basement for 40 minutes of the most movement I've done in a while. Shaun T had us butt kicking, high kneeing, doing in and outs with only 3 30 second breaks. When I work out with Tony, I'm guaranteed a long time to grab some water, maybe towel off, yell at Scout to leave to room, but this guy defines the word intense. I had sweat on top of sweat. And it's not the kind of sweat where you start off right away and build. Oh no, this is all of a sudden you are hit with a truck and want to die and the only thing that might save your life is sweating, sweat. I'm going to regret saying this, but I'm glad I did it though. I wasn't really interested in heading over to the local Glen Burnie Golds, considering my Monday night trip was a bit of a let down. It's hard walking into a foreign gym where you have no idea where anything is and your routine involves equipment which they may or may not have. I will say this though. Out of complete shock the clientle at this gym was rather good looking. I was expecting WAY worse than what I saw and I'd totally holla at some of these boys.
A little moody boy update. This morning we woke up and everything was coming up roses! We were laughing and talking and smiling! Status report as of 10:30, right before nap time...All systems go. I have figured out that children are very manipulative though. At a very early age, they have this power of persuasion over their parents. You see, I've figured out that all parents want when their kids are little is for their kids to like them. So when someone else, not related to them, comes on the scene, they don't usually take a lot of their crap. Take for instance little man, who I dearly love and adore. When his mom is around, he's moody and crabby and gets away with almost anything. Starts to cry when he's not getting what he wants. So, as a good mom, she does whatever she can to make him happy. Now, when momma goes away to work, I know he's just trying to work the system, so when I need to go to the bathroom, I have to put him in his play area. He starts to whine and work himself up into a cry, but I REALLY have to go to the bathroom. As I'm gone for a little while, he stops. This, I have also found, works with the word no. I do not believe that anyone likes to hear the word no, but when it comes to children not one of them likes to hear it. So when you say, no, don't climb on the stairs because you aren't going to know how to get down, they really don't like that. Sure, I let him play up there yesterday, but today is a new day, with a new attitude and today is the day we aren't going to play on the stairs. It's all good though. He's a great kid and I've got to hand it to him. If I were in a mood and didn't know any other way to express myself, I would have been a million times worse than he was.
All in all, a pretty good day so far. I'm very excited to see my puppy when I go home tonight. I can't imagine what sort of mischief she's gotten herself into, but at this point, mommy doesn't mind :o)
Off to search for some more Rose Bowl potential tickets.
Until Tomorrow!
A little moody boy update. This morning we woke up and everything was coming up roses! We were laughing and talking and smiling! Status report as of 10:30, right before nap time...All systems go. I have figured out that children are very manipulative though. At a very early age, they have this power of persuasion over their parents. You see, I've figured out that all parents want when their kids are little is for their kids to like them. So when someone else, not related to them, comes on the scene, they don't usually take a lot of their crap. Take for instance little man, who I dearly love and adore. When his mom is around, he's moody and crabby and gets away with almost anything. Starts to cry when he's not getting what he wants. So, as a good mom, she does whatever she can to make him happy. Now, when momma goes away to work, I know he's just trying to work the system, so when I need to go to the bathroom, I have to put him in his play area. He starts to whine and work himself up into a cry, but I REALLY have to go to the bathroom. As I'm gone for a little while, he stops. This, I have also found, works with the word no. I do not believe that anyone likes to hear the word no, but when it comes to children not one of them likes to hear it. So when you say, no, don't climb on the stairs because you aren't going to know how to get down, they really don't like that. Sure, I let him play up there yesterday, but today is a new day, with a new attitude and today is the day we aren't going to play on the stairs. It's all good though. He's a great kid and I've got to hand it to him. If I were in a mood and didn't know any other way to express myself, I would have been a million times worse than he was.
All in all, a pretty good day so far. I'm very excited to see my puppy when I go home tonight. I can't imagine what sort of mischief she's gotten herself into, but at this point, mommy doesn't mind :o)
Off to search for some more Rose Bowl potential tickets.
Until Tomorrow!
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