Keep My Baby Runnin'

It wouldn't be a New Year if I didn't have some drama where my baby is concerned. I'm referring to my Tercel, naturally.

Three years ago, a mechanic tried to sound the death knell. Last year, I had a laugh when it passed inspection with no problems. This year, my car isn't passing inspection without a fight.

Tomorrow morning we're taking it to a mechanic who manufactures his own car pipes. There, we hope he will remedy the exhaust situation that requires an exhaust system replacement in order for the car to begin its trek toward passing inspection. After that, the catalytic converter sensor needs to be replaced. If the paperwork I got from our regular mechanic is correct, there's various wires and plugs that need to be replaced as well in order to achieve that happy little sticker that says my Tercel is roadworthy.

Price tag on all of this? We're told the exhaust work and sensor fix will start the bill at $500. Just the exhaust work alone was quoted at almost $900 at our usual garage. They gave us the referral because of the cost. The owner, Ray, also recommended that I consider replacing my car since it has over 189-thousand miles. Financially, this is not an option right now. The goal right now is to either obtain a much better paying job so we can take on a second car loan or to continue praying over my baby until the current car loan is paid off.

I may need to employ some sweet talking and play my version of happy music on the way to the garage tomorrow. I'm thinking my old copy of Viva Hate will make it remember its "youth" and feel sprightly again.

Smart Car

Jenny's husband's desire for a Smart car piqued my interest again in this delightful, little car.

It was a few years ago that I first heard about Smart Cars. In fact, now that I mull over this I think Jenny was the one that had posted a picture of a smart car resting on Wedgewood China tea cups that she took while in Toronto. Anyway, these cars are only recently available in the United States. I'm a bit disappointed that the 4-passenger model is being discontinued. At the same time, the ForTwo model is still tantalizing especially since we're getting closer to the point where we will need to replace my Tercel. It would be nice to have a fuel-efficient little car to scoot around town in. Shhh. Don't tell the Tercel I said that.

Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

My 1995 Toyota Tercel with over 188-thousand miles passed inspection today with no repairs needed.

I make amends now for whatever I said over two years ago.

I saw Dennis Webster of WJTN last month when I was at Friendly's for The Saturday Morning Breakfast Party and he remarked, "I remember when you first came to work for us. You had that little green car with the Rochester markings on it."

"I still have that car, Dennis," I said. "In fact, I drove it here today."

"My word! That car must be made of marble!" he exclaimed.

Over the weekend, I jokingly told a group of people that the reason why my car has lasted as long as it has is because I played almost nothing but Morrissey in it the first week I owned it.

"I figured after that, anything else I played would only make the car happy to be alive and plugging along. It seems to have worked so far," I dead-panned.

The 2006 End of the Year Meme

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

As with most years, I didn't have anything specific that I planned to do other than find a new job. I'd say I was more than successful at that!

Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, I had at least four friends who had babies this year.

Did anyone close to you die?

Thank God... no.

What countries did you visit?

I'm very disappointed in myself since I didn't even make it to Canada this year.

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

Painted walls in our house. It's something we've needed to do since we moved in!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Overcoming my fear of going on the radio live for the first time since 2001. I know, weird eh?

What was your biggest failure?

Being way to paranoid about everything and anything

What was the best thing you bought?

Our new-to-us car (2003 Toyota Corolla)

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Matt. For putting up with me.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

George W. Bush. Until he is out of office I think his name will remain on this list.

Where did most of your money go?

Fixing our garage so that the back corner didn't collapse.

What did you get really excited about?

Going to Indiana to see our friends.

What song will always remind you of 2006?

Justin Timberlake "Sexyback"

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder?

I'm trying to remember this time of year last year. I think I'm happier since I had to deal with the first Christmas/New Year's without my grandma last year.

Thinner or fatter?

I'm probably the same, but I did lose weight over the holidays!!

Richer or poorer?

A little richer salary wise

What do you wish you'd done more of?

Paid off more of my debt and read more

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Wasting energy getting paranoid about meaningless stuff

How will you be spending Christmas?

I spent it with all kinds of family, new and old.

Did you fall in love in 2006?

In a way... I made some new friends who I now love very much.

How many one-night stands?

None!

What was your favorite TV program?

I hardly watched tv this past year, but I did see WIVB's newscast almost every day

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

There's a couple people I developed some disliking toward even though I wouldn't say I hate them.

What was the best book you read?

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

What was your greatest musical discovery?

The Format. I knew of them back in 2003, but wasn't so impressed with their first album. Their new album completely blew me away.

What did you want and get?

The 10th Anniversary editions of Clerks and Mallrats (THANKS SEAN!!!!)

What did you want and not get?

The dvd for the movie Amelie, but since that's easily remedied I'll say that I wish we had impeached Bush.

What were your favorite films of this year?

Clerks II, An Inconvenient Truth, The Holiday.... I'm sure I saw more but I honestly can't remember what they are.

What did you do on your birthday?

I played in a concert with the Jamestown Community Orchestra, and then had dinner with my parents and in-laws at our house. The night before, we had 2o-some people over for a big party.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

It got a little sassier after August

What kept you sane?

My husband.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Jude Law despite his philandering ways

What political issue stirred you the most?

The total ineptness of George W. Bush. I'll always take issue with his sorry arse.

Who did you miss?

My grandma and my friends who live far away.

Who was the best new person you met?

Lynn. She's like a sister to me and generally has a clear head about stuff.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:

It's up to you to succeed. No one is going to do it for you, so you better get working at whatever you want to have happen.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"you, you think it's cool to be crazy
i say 'you want risks? take risks.'
there's no point in taking chances

and me, i wouldn't call it a sophomore slump
no i'd say i’m one step closer to bein' just where i want to be...

...it's no sense in complaining
if it doesn't change our minds
well take me by the hand let's compromise"

The Format - The Compromise

Behind the Wheel

Matt and I have embarked on another first as a married couple. We picked up our "new" car from West Herr Toyota a week ago.

Here's the new member of our family, our 2001 Toyota Corolla:

Matt is besides himself over this car and the awesome warranty that we got with it. I, on the other hand, was more concerned with establishing this car as "our" car. Part of this involves indoctrinating it into our lives. We travel a lot, so a road trip was in order. This was easy because we had to go to Buffalo to buy the car, so a NYS Thruway trip was built in.



The second part was making sure the car became accustomed to our music. I immediately switched on CFNY out of Toronto to give the Corolla its first taste of "modern rock" under our ownership. I then put my iPod on with a carefully chosen list of songs:

The Smiths - Sheila Take A Bow
Coldplay - Talk
The Smiths - Shoplifters Of the World
Morrissey - I Am Hated For Loving
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
The Cure - Mint Car
ABC - The Look of Love
Depeche Mode - A Question of Time
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Archers of Loaf - Harnessed in Slums
Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl
ABC - Be Near Me
The Cars - Let's Go
Incubus - Megalomaniac
Cake - The Distance
Cranes - Jewel
The Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Joseph Arthur - Redemption's Son
AC/DC - Shook Me All Night Long
Love Spit Love - Am I Wrong
The Smiths - Sweet and Tender Hooligan
MC Lars - Download This Song

This might seem over the top, but when I got my first car back in July 1997, I made sure the first thing I popped in the cassette desk was a copy of Morrissey's Viva Hate. After that, the first station I programmed was WBER. The first road trip came days after we got the car, when I drove it to the former-Finger Lakes Performing Art Center for the first Lilith Faire. That car is still in our family and has over 185,000 miles. Coincidence? I like to think not!

I Recant Desire for Four-Door

When I found out that Toyota is coming out with a new car to replace the Echo, I breathed a sigh of relief and rejoiced at the news of Yaris. I assume the cost will be in the $13k-$16k range. At least, that's what I'm hoping. I'm willing to forgo my dreams of owning a four-door if the gas mileage on this new baby compares with the Echo and Tercel. Of course, I can dream that they might offer it in a four-door model too. I'll wait to see what Consumer Reports says, of course.

10 Years of Driving Bliss

My beloved 1995 Toyota Tercel is on its last legs. On Sunday, my exhaust system came in two, but held together enough so I could get it to our mechanic yesterday so he could weld it back together. He commented to Matt, "The war between her car and rust is starting to tip in the favor of the rust," and then added, "She's not planning to have that car much longer, is she?"

I freaked out upon hearing the news, naturally, but we figure my car will last until the Fall at least. It's quite doubtful it could make it through another Western New York winter.

Homage to My Car
165,600 miles and counting
35 miles per gallon, consistently
Countless trips between Jamestown, Buffalo, Rochester, & Cleveland
A trip to Toronto, CA
A trip to Washington, D.C.
Countless hours of awesome music
Cohort in crime as I made spontaneous trips to various locations, even if it was just to Tim Hortons
Minimal repair excluding the water pump replacement, brakes, tires, thermostat, and some exhaust system issues over the past year
Endless memories of happy driving

A Week Until Turkey Day

It blows my mind that Thanksgiving is less than a week away when you calculate that by this time next week, my family will have consumed dinner and dessert. This year should be especially interesting since Matt's parents will be coming up to spend the holiday with my family. They're even staying overnight, which has potential disaster written all over it seeing as how my parent's house isn't exactly dust-free and Matt's mom has bad asthma. I guess that's what oxygen tanks are for. In the meantime, I have to figure out how I'm going to fit my stuff, my grandparent's stuff, and my grandparents in my little Toyota Tercel two-door car for the ride to Rochester!

The Wedding (Rated PG - Potential Girlyness)

I attended and was in my best friend, Heidi's, wedding this weekend. It was a blast! I was surprised at how much fun I actually had. I also wore myself out completely. The run down:

Thursday: Matt and I get into Cleveland just before 9pm and head over to Heidi & Kevin's house to help set up. We decide that since the afterparty/reception will involve alcohol that we will set up the bar. We realize that Heidi's parents have bought enough liquor to open a small bar (envision at least 5 bottles of gin, at least 15 bottles of various whiskeys, 6 bottles of rum, 4 bottles of vermouth, and lots of other stuff). We stay up late just hanging out and listening to the cd's I made for Saturday. I get lots of thumbs up from Heidi, her brother Scott, Lauren (Heidi's sister Gretchen's best friend), Heidi's mom, and others.

Friday: We arrive at the house again at 9am in order to go on various errands like picking up the flowers for the church, buying food for the party, and other misc. stuff. I get caught up on life with Heidi while Matt keeps Kevin sane. Beth S. (also a bridesmaid) shows up. Heidi goes on errands with her parents while Beth, me, Matt, Kevin, and Scott go to the mall to find Beth some shoes for the wedding. I get my first of many girly-girl points for the weekend by finding a pair of shoes that fit Beth and look cool. Beth gives kudos to my cd mix that Kevin stole to listen to before Saturday. Matt and I go back and crash for an hour before the wedding rehearsal. We arrive at the church at 6:30pm. The minister urged us to stick with a two-drink maximum, which led us all to say "What? 2 Drink Minimum??". We have pizza and wngs at the house. Anne and Sean show up as do my parents. We were all mostly good and crashed early.

Saturday: I stumble out of bed and pick up Sue L. so we can get our hair done. I miss the exit to go to the mall because I'm talking and haven't had enough caffiene. We get there 10 minutes late. The lady doing my hair pulls off a miracle and all of a sudden I have these awesome curls on top of my head in an up-do. My hair is piled so high that it almost touches the roof of my car when I get in. Luck and massive amounts of hairspray are the reasons for this. I almost don't recognize myself in the mirror (hopefully I get pictures soon). Sue, also full of curls, and I have the next girly-girl moment and rock out to Basement Jaxx's "Do Your Thing". We get to Heidi's house late and quickly change into our dresses. All the bridesmaids pile into my wee Toyota Tercel and we take off for the church (late, mind you). Gretchen has taken out all her piercings (including her lip ring which allows her to breath through the hole left behind and freak everyone out) and looks adorable but comments that she'll look like a refugee when we get back to the house after the wedding. That prompts everyone to spontaneously sing, "You don't have to live your life a refugee.. don't have to live like a refugee!" ala Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Heidi puts on her dress. We all spontaneously sing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story. We take pictures. Can you just feel the girly-girlness oozing now? The wedding commences. We all get misty eyed and sniffly. I almost don't recognize my friend, Joe, from college, but it's all good. My dad marvels over my hair. We put cans on the back of Kevin's jeep. More pictures. I go back to the hotel and change, collect Matt, and return to the house. We eat, drink, and be merry. I have to inform Joe about a mutual friend that committed suicide, "Oh My God.. Joe.. we tried to reach you.. really.. we did." I updated Meg on news. Anne tells us about how she tripped as she tried to get out of a waiter's way at Perkins, fell over, and ended up flashing a table full of big black men (she was wearing a thong). They commented, "Nice butt" or something like that. Sean misses out on that. I enjoy the scene since I'm getting to see people from high school, college, and other places all in one setting. A mini reunion if you will. Everyone slowly drifts away and I hang out by the fire with Kevin and Matt. We leave so I can crash.

Sunday: We get up and have breakfast with my folks at Bob Evans. They leave for Rochester and we go over to Heidi & Kevin's to help clean up. Everyone is bumming around with that look like they hadn't slept in days. OH wait. They haven't. We do some cleaning. Beth, Gretchen and her boyfriend take off. Lots of hugs. We bum and clean for a bit more and then take off. I sleep most of the way to Erie, PA and then take over the rest of the way back to Rochester. We collapse in bed. What a great time!

What A Weekend! So much to tellyoumumblemum..*snore*

I'm exhausted, but this weekend was worth it. The sleep depravation started to show through yesterday, but more on that in a bit.

Friday: The aforementioned weather got pretty bad. What normally is a 40-minute trip to Erie, PA took 2 hours. Matt kept muttering the whole time, "This is effing stupid," as I cautiously drove my little Toyota (with all-weather tires) down I-86. After grabbing a bite to eat in Erie, the weather cleared up, as did the roads. Smooth sailing from there out, but lots of motorists had "snowflake amnesia" and forgot how to drive, thus ending up in ditches or in collissions with other cars. We got into Cleveland a little after 9pm and had loads of fun at Heidi & Kevin's house with them and Heidi's friend, Sue. The first series of phrases induced by sleepiness started here during a game of Trivial Pursuit. Heidi had her head on the table while I asked her what large city was at the mouth of the Yangtze River. She kept asking me to repeat the question ie: "What river?.. What was the first part of the question.. etc". At one point I said, "What country isn't in China?" when trying to think of what cities weren't in China. We all went to bed soon after.

Saturday: After coffee, cinnamon rolls, and chatter, we took off for Columbus, OH. The drive was fine since the weather was much nicer. We found our motel no problem. Advice: never stay at the Econo Lodge in Columbus, OH unless you really need to. They shorted us on towels and the staff were no where to be found when we tried to remedy this problem. The staff was also barely coherant when it came to speaking English. The place was noisy and I just didn't sleep well there. That's life. But anyway! We met up with Kevin & Mickey around 6pm and got dinner at Chipotle's. We went straight to the airport to get Karen, whose flight was going to be in a little early. After chatting at various locales about where we were headed to, we ended up at Club 202. Much drinking, tweaking (I'll leave it up to your imagination), a little dancing, general hilarity, and some drama ensued. The gathering broke up sometime after 2 AM. Unbeknownst to us, riots had been going on for at least an hour in Columbus. Matt and I didn't find out until Sunday night on our way home.

Sunday: Everyone managed to pull themselves out of bed and go to Einstein Bros. for brunch. Incidentally, I have a problem with the fact that there's an Einstein Bros' in Potsdam, NY, but none in Jamestown. I could say the same thing about a lot of places though (like Target, Bruegger's Bagels, Lowes, SteinMart, Pier 1, Body Shop, Barnes & Nobles, etc). Brunch began my sleep-deprived moments of speech. I mistakenly referred to the "Tragedy of 7-11" instead of 9-11 and made up some sort of form of speech that only Mickey could understand. I really don't remember and the sad part is that I only had one drink on Saturday night. I blame lack of sleep. Good, good times though! I was super happy to see Karen, Kevin, Mickey, and everyone again, and aside from some bad weather/bad motel/alcohol induced drama, it was a lot of fun. Matt and I are going to have to find time/money to fly out to Seattle sometime so we can see Karen again.