The sting is the thing.

[kfops]

Well, I took the day off of work today so that the alarm company could send a technician down to replace the battery.

While I was waiting I made a stew in the slow-cooker which'll be super-good for freezing and taking for lunch.  And it is a wise thing I did... saving money will seem to figure very prominently into my future.

The alarm technician showed up and swapped out the battery in... oh, 2 minutes.  It took longer to write the invoice; since it was a simple job he only charged me the cost of the battery, and said in the future I could just drop by and pick one up for $28 and change it myself.  He didn't have a spare key for the panel, but instead left it unlocked and used a screw to keep it shut.  Works fine for me.

Of course, this good luck with the alarm also meant that it needed to be contrasted somehow.

Enter: Jeff's Car.
Monday evening I took the car in to get an oil change.  This morning the garage called to let me know that they were done, but there were 4 items they were concerned about.

1. A cracked CV boot
2. Shattered rear coil springs (?)
3. Leaking water pump
4. Leaking oil pan (simple gasket replacement)

All these items by themselves are not very expensive... but unfortunately once you stick labour on them it becomes a lot more nasty.  A lot of $35 parts with $200 labour.  And of course, I had been planning to drive Amanda to the lake (150km) on Sunday so that she can spend her vacation week out there.

Either way, I know that I have to get this stuff fixed, but in my quest to hammer down my debt, this won't really make me very pleased.

Yup, a rough calculation indicates this will be about a year's worth of Bus Passes right there.  Damn our car culture!