26.11.08

counterpoint

I think on my gcal I'm going to change all the Fridays where it says "PAYDAY" so that it says "CAR REPAIR DAY."

Not-so-bright side:
  • It is something challenging to pay off debt when every time you get paid all of the extra non-bills money has to go to your friendly neighborhood mechanic.
  • There's no other point here except that with every repair I get more worried in general about this car, which really isn't new or pertinent today, but I know when you start outline format you're not supposed only to have one item. :) Mrs. Dodd and Mr. Vicario from BHS would be proud.
Bright side:
  • Hal decided to have a sick starter before My Garage closed.
  • The MG folks very obligingly came to see me at Jittery Joe's to help me start Hal so I could get him to the garage rather than having to do a tow from somewhere which would have taken ages longer.
  • Apparently I am one of very few people needing repairs today so MG could go ahead and work on Hal and get done before their early holiday closing time of 2pm this afternoon.
  • Allison hasn't deposited my December rent check yet (that I sent her super early 2 weeks ago so - miracle) so I can pay the car repair from checking instead of credit card, which is always smarter, even tho either one will be reimbursed this Friday when we actually get paid.
  • (This one is kind of bright side combined with rationalization but whatever.) I still have some orals to listen to as well as online grades to finish and have my laptop with me and MG has wifi so good chance to corner myself with work and nothing else to distract me (besides Facebook and Blogger that is).
  • MG has their stereo set to 70's-80's rock, which is very fun as I wait for long student audios to download (only 2 more to do - someone smarter would have gone to the office this morning for this so that the downloads could happen faster but of course if I had done that I wouldn't have been very close to MG for them to come help me so I guess that's another mini bright side item).
Obviously there's more bright side items, yet the expenditure itself is considerably weighty compared to the other things. And the enhanced continuous worry factor of my little auto. Every 9-12 months there is a stint of repairs, tho, so hopefully after this there will be another dry spell. As long as it's no more often than that it's still far cheaper than car payments, and except for the AC issue when it's hot, I could continue this way fairly OK for years.

More rationalization.

And yes, my garage really is called "My Garage," which could offer limitless Who's-on-first-y possibilities, but when you're talking about your garage you're usually not in that great a mood so waxing Abbott-&-Costello isn't exactly a common tendency.

2 commentaires:

Jessica a dit…

At least your last name isn't Yu. that would add a whole other mess to the "my garage" thing.

Who's going to my garage? Yu!

Anyway... Sorry about Hal. Poor kid.

Applecart T. a dit…

hal is old and amazingly still going. old things need parts. heck, our "new" 2005 rav 4 (every time i write or say that name, i cringe and feel like a surfer or ninja turtle) has been with us 11 months and totally has alignment issues and can not be trusted because some random maintenance light (not check engine) comes on that supposedly has something to do with "needing" an oil change, which it doesn't. of course, it looks normal under that hood, and who has the $500 for the property tax much less an open-ended "find out what's wrong" ticket? : )

holidays+cars=bleh.

at least you were not trying to get out of town. grading stress is enough. i'm supposed to be working, but for the past three days, i've squandered and now feel depressed about it. helps that it's snowing and gloomy and that we have to go to a wedding reception at 7 (ie: get dressed up and use shoes that are not warm enough and then go and be social and bright around someofwhom people are bound to ask me uncomfortable questions about my job / magazine)

word verification=good name for a viking cat:

thlarr