Please watch go watch this video and get to know the neighborhood where I almost bought a condo
You must watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T1RMuoQ
I don't ask for much el-Jay, but trust me this is worth it.
Never buy a used car or any car from CarMax unless you don't have job or you do have an infinite amount of time to deal with people who are dumber than bricks.
I took my car for a 3rd party diagnostic and the mechanic told me it was overall in good shape except for some glaring oversights.
The ORIGINAL motherfucking factory air filter is still in the car. And I know because it has NISSAN CORPORATION 2007 printed on the side. He told me to take a picture of it to show the dealers later.
This simple thing really upset me. How lazy could you be to change the oil but-- oh wait! Not take the simple step of replacing a fucking air filter. This is when I committed in my mind to Raising Hell, over one of the worst and exhausting reasons one should raise hell: principle.
The serpentine belt was cracked.
There is a coolant leak.
Brakes need to be flushed.
And oh yes, the 30K service? NEVER WAS DONE.
How do you sell someone a car marginally over 30K miles, claim it was totally serviced and then CLEARLY not fucking service the car?
Overall, it wasn't a bad checkup. He said the main concern is the coolant leak but in my mind I was already heated over a cheap air filter. The mechanic (I didn't take it to my regular guy) actually told me that I'd be stupid to return the car for these reasons but guess what motherfuckers, that is EXACTLY what I'm prepared to do.
So I rolled back into CarMax my 5th trip in 1 week and was taken to the guy who closed my deal (who was different from the guy who initially sold me the car and saved me from the motherfucking idiot who tried to sell me a Dodge Avenger). I told him the problem, probably utilizing wild hand gestures then he brought over his manager and then ANOTHER manager came over. They copied the mechanic's report and told me the service department would call me Monday with a time to bring in the car to make the repairs.
"I don't think you understand me," I started. "I don't want the repairs done that YOUR service department THINKS need to be done. I want the repairs done that this diagnostic test said needs to be done. And then when I'm done I'm taking it BACK to a mechanic and if he finds anything else wrong with this car, I'm taking it back and I want my money back."
They gave me some speech about how CarMax being dedicated to quality and blah blah blah. They agreed with me. I left.
I decided I'm going to quit worrying about this until Monday or until I'm given a reason to worry. This process has been one huge exhausting pain in the neck and I swear, the next time I buy a car it's going to be brand new and not from some Best-Buy-color-scheme-
"Hey do you guys sell projectors?"
Clerk: "No... but I can sell you a cell phone"
Me: "That is THE MOST unhelpful response ever."
Clerk: So you do or do not want a cell phone?"
My temperature is holding strong at 101.5, I thought the fever broke last night after peaking at 102.5 but no such luck. I am so bored I want to cry. I can't focus on reading so I'm left to suffer through marathons of The Real Housewives or E! Celebrity Couples or MADE.
This sucks. I use The Holidays I Don't Celebrate to catch up on work and relax and this is definitely not relaxing.
Oh snap, Clean House is on... salvation? On the Style Network?
I was leaving Subway today and saw the cutest little girl in history. She reminded me of me as a kid, dancing around the mostly empty restaurant singing songs no one but she knew the words to and her hair in a pigtails.
I smiled to her and said, "You are just so cute. How old are you?"
Her, dancing in circles, "I'm 4!"
ME: Wow! You're such a big girl.
She stopped in her tracks, looked at me and squealed, "HEY! You wanna come to my birthday party!! It's at Chucky Cheese!"
Her mother looked totally unaffected. Much like my mother when I was dancing around in empty Subway's when I was 4. Like, ho hum, another day in the neighborhood.
"I'm sorry sweetie! I have to work!"
The little girl isn't even like what's work? What is that shit about and is it as fun as Chucky Cheese?
She paused from dancing for a moment then replied, "Well you should still come!! IT'S CHUCKY CHEESE!"
Little girl, you are right. My birthday isn't until April but hell, I might even have my party at Chucky Cheese. Or a bar. (Probably at a bar).
I was scheming a way to sneak away for a vacation (when am I not?) and was plugging in dates to Costa Rica on Jet Blue and when I went to select a dreamy flight I got this:
free of charge for each customer flying to/from Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Mexico, and St. Maarten.
Effective June 1, 2008 the first bag is free of charge and the second bag is allowed for a fee of $20.
Please note, boxes are not accepted. Excess, overweight, and/or oversized bags will be accepted on
a load-availability basis for a fee.
Bah I say to this, BAH!
I am cured of my Ohio nostalgia . Cured. FUCKING DONE.
I caught an earlier flight in today. I thought I could use the extra time to say hello to my old colleagues, get lunch with a friend and visit my college advisor. This meant I had to be up at 4 AM to make a 6 AM flight that connected in Cincinnati. I got to Baltimore late and by the time I got settled in I realized that there was no point in going to sleep so awake I stayed.This makes roughly 2 nights in a row with no to little sleep. My big sister was supposed to take me to the airport but since she relieved me at the hospital I arranged for a car to take me to the airport. First, I was going to take a regular cab. Then I read all the horrible reviews for Baltimore cabs.
Then I came across a listing called EnviroRide. Basically a cab service of hybrid cars. The price was right so I set the reservation, got the confirmation email and relaxed with that task taken care of.
NOT.
FUCKING NOT.
And you know what? I'm going to make this post public in hopes that this comes up in the fucking fucked up company search engine results.
So yeah, where was I? Oh yes, so motherfucking EnviroRide in Baltimore was set to pick me up at 4 AM.
Something seemed a little off. Perhaps this was too good to be true? Perhaps this wouldn't go as smoothly as they claimed.
I was right.
I called at 4:05 AM. Clearly, so fucking clearly waking up a sleeping dispatcher, and asked where my ride was. He groggily replied that he would try to reach the driver and call me back immediately.
He doesn't.
I call him back. 4:11.
The dispatcher says, "I'm not going to lie to you Sabrina, the driver overslept. He's supposed to call you!" Then paraphased because my white hot rage makes my memory fuzzy 'He lives 10 minutes away. I promise you.' And we argue about whether this man ACTUALLY lives 10 minutes away or is only saying that because he has clearly dropped the ball.' Much like when a teenager tells his/her's parents that they're "only" 10 minutes away when they blew their curfew.
4:22 Driver finally calls
I demand to know exactly how far away he is and the idiot responds "I am exactly 10 to 15 minutes away." I say, it isn't exactly when you give a range. Then he says, "I will be there in exactly 15 minutes."
4:55 (28 minutes later) The driver finally arrives. Nearly a full HOUR after the original reservation.
Between 4:22 and 4:55 I called the dispatcher back to yell about how messed up this is. How I held up my end of the reservation and how unprofessional this all is and if I miss this flight I WILL be reimbursed by his company. The man literally begs me not to tell his manager, said that he's writing up an incident report and asks me if I want to cost people their jobs.
I also tried calling other cab companies, content to take whichever comes first and got quickly reminded that Baltimore is not a hot metropolis that demands 24 hr cabs roaming the streets.
When I finally get in the car there is a box of takeout food next to me and he drove about 80MPH and got me to the airport in lightening speed. I made my flight only by sprinting like FloJo to the departure gate and checking in online. Thanks a lot EnviroRide. This middle finger is for you.
I am not a snobby asshole. My father drove a cab and ran a car service, among other things. He never, for instance, left other people's trash in the car. And I am the nicest as nice can be to cab drivers but this shit bordered on fucking insanity. "Oh yes, we'll pick you up here at this time..... PSYCH!"
Oh, but at least I got this letter of apology
Good morning Sabrina!
We wanted to take the time to apologize to you for missing your reservation time. We want you to know that you will not be charged for the ride and we would like to offer you an additional airport run for free. We value you as our customer and want to continue to do business with you. The next time you need an airport ride please let us know your name and we will give you that ride free of charge.
Thank you for choosing EnviroRide and we look forward to serving you again soon!!
EnviroRide
To which I say, HELL NO I will not be using your jacked service again.
EDITED TO ADD: In DC cab drivers have to display their license out in the open. Apparently this isn't the case in Baltimore or EnviroRide isn't about sharing that informing with it's passengers as I looked and couldn't find a license number with which is write a pointed angry complaint to. Oh well, guess this blog will have to suffice.
When I land in Columbus, I pick up my rental car and the clerk tells me she can give me a deal on an SUV.
"Free upgrade?" I ask.
"No, but we have a lot of SUVs," she replies.
Um. How does that even make sense? I'll give you a deal.... by giving you full price? Does not make sense at all.
Anyway, I am thanking GOD that I spoke with my father right before going to pick up my rental. I was planning on skipping the insurance, sure that my coverage under Geico would apply and my father demanded that I not skimp. "Get the insurance!" he bellowed.
Cool, fine, whatever.
Cool, fine, whatever indeed. Here I sit, in Columbus EATING MY WORDS.
I went about my schedule as planned. Visited my old job, had lunch with my friend and parked behind this building on campus at a meter to go visit my old advisor.
I return about an hour later and there is a HUGE white scratch along the side of my cherry red non-discounted rental SUV.
Thank you God for giving me a pushy father who demans I overinsure myself. THANK YOU GOD.
Other stuff that happened:
- Got pulled over about 10 minutes after leaving the airport (I said, "I'm lost!" Cop replied, "Yeah, I could tell") No ticket.
- I had to hit up Target immediately for a hat and mittens because it is FREEZING up in here.
- My bank account is acting screwy because the rental company put a crazy debit freeze which is making me paranoid.
- The intern at my old job asked me if I knew where Lagos is. Um, little girl, are you kidding me?
So yeah, Ohio, hi it's me. Sabrina. I know I've only been back about 5 hours but fuck this place. Really. I have a sinking suspicion that this trip is just doomed.
Please don't let it be so. I NEED HAPPY TIMES DAMMIT.
I miss absolutely nothing about my old job. Not the villians, the stress, the money, the drama. None of it.
But sometimes I catch myself aching for my old commute. Talk about not realizing what you're missing 'til it's gone.
I cherished being able to zone out and read in the mornings and after work riding the Metro or getting driven to the office. I didn't really notice it as my mobile meditation until it stopped and started to become tense and antsy. Also my purse, where I would usually hold 2 or 3 books at a time got downsized to a smaller size and my friends started asking me why haven't I been mentioning what I've been reading like I sometimes do. I'm usually like, "This book is AMAZING!" and would pull it out of my big ass purse at that moment, shove it in their hands and make them flip through the pages. If I were feeling generous I'd just give it to them, but we are in a recession so that as stopped too.
The biggest sign of my halted reading practice is my nightstand. I have this massive backlog of books on it that I have been itching to get through for months. I have a picture but I can't find my camera cord so I'll post it later. Rolling over in the morning and looking at my nightstand is like being on a diet staring into the window of a doughnuts shop (for geeks). Sometimes in the mornings I'm able to steal a few minutes here and there and if I'm feeling ambitious I sneak away to a coffee shop on the rare nights I'm not working late but it's gotten crazy bad.
So this Thanksgiving, besides the hugging my family and kissing babies I will be locked away catching up on my reading and this simply makes me ecstatic.
If there has been anything I learned lately it is that I am utterly drained and exhausted and need to take care of myself better and this is my first step toward doing so. I have very little responsibility on Thanksgiving in my family-- I'm not cooking anything, I have never liked turkey and I don't care about sports. I have my blanket pulled out and I'm ready to curl up and fall into myself again.
Happy Thanksgiving folks!
I'm just saying.
It kinda sucks hard.
Created a new administrator profile and moved everything over to that. Meltdown avoided. Peace reigns again.
THANK S V!
I tied to power up my laptop today and got this error message from my friend, dear ole' Windows:
Windows Cannot Find the Local Profile and Is Logging You On with a Temporary Profile
And now it's acting like we've never met before! Like I haven't nursed a broken heart or two over this keyboard. Like I haven't hauled this baby around the world and back again.
All of my nice, organized, vital folders (that I naturally haven't backed up in awhile) are gone. Soooooo much shit I was working on gone.
So what I'm trying to say is---- HELP!
Anyway, on my commute I picked up some crappy commuter newspaper and was numb, flipping through their chicken-noodle-newspaper and came across an advertisement that actually made me laugh out loud, I ripped out the page and tucked it into my notebook.
We hate weddings.
Let us plan yours (free)
Have you had it with the all-consuming, insanity-inducing Wedding Industrial Complex? Are you looking for a wedding that celebrates your love rather than a 3, 000 beaded gown or embroidered cocktail napkins that match the groomsmen's vests that match specially made jelly beans handed out in silk bags as wedding favors? Local publication is looking for an engaged couple brave enough, secure enough, in love enough to let their wedding be a statement, a rebellion aimed directly at Wedding Obsessed America. We'll plan a cheap, unique, stunningly unorthodox affair to remember. Preference will be given to events that can be staged in Spring/Summer 2008, but we're open to all requests.
UGH.
- Location:Video Editing HELL.
- Mood:
frustrated
Needed it a lot.
But here's where you lose my understanding, where I want to banish you into the barren desert of the Sahara, where I want to snatch off your fannie pack and stomp on it until you cry. Allow me to break down the following:
- You let people riding on the subway OFF and THEN you can enter.
Do not try to trample me as I am getting off the train. If you do, I officially take no qualms in running you the fuck over. The train will not depart as long as there is a steady stream of people entering and leaving, it will not leave you. And even if it does-- THERE IS ANOTHER ONE RIGHT BEHIND IT. And guess what?! There's a SCREEN telling you when the next train is coming too, so it's not like you'll be stranded wondering when it will arrive. Be patient and do not storm the doors as soon as they open because people need to get off the fucking train and not try to squeeze through a gaggle of tourists who are just SO happy they were able to jump on so fast!
- Do not stand right in front of the top or bottom of an escalator.
This naturally brings me to:
- Stand right, Walk left
- Segways are for morons
- You are a SUPREME asshole.
- Just WALK.
- I can't believe you're paying MONEY to look that retarded and yell at a girl
- When you could have just WALKED.
- I hope your tour guide gets lost and you end up in Southeast and someone robs you.
- That would MAKE MY LIFE.
- I'd spin around in a circle and smile with glee.
- Asshole.
So this is my Guide to DC Tourism. And I shall call it, Don't Be an Asshole.
Enjoy your stay!
My mother went to an actual, non-retarded oral surgeon and he is almost positive that her dentist broke her jaw AND she has a serious infection. She has to take a week off of work at least. Being my mother's daughter, I am cringing at this prospect.
Unbelievable.
Un-FUCKING-believable.
How can a dentist break your jaw? Where on Earth did you get trained?
I'm so pissed, I'm shaking.
OH! And to add to the situation, the dentist that worked on her mouth?
He got fired!
Has the world gone mad?
Is there some sort of dental report card I can access before I submit my mouth to the abuse of a dental hack?
Oh, and my little sister is giving me the silent treatment for not taking off to babysit. Manipulative, much?
OH, and my Shit Ass Ho Motherfucker sister-in-law flaked on helping out two days in a row.
OHH, and my best friend is also in caretaker hell.
Fuck responsibility, I want to move to Mexico.
And I know how surfing on the Internet for medical information will almost always convince you of the worst, but I found this website:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Dis
And the animation demo actually made me feel a whole lot better.
I'm off to the hospital now.
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
smileybrin- smileybrin
Syndicate
