let it be known
Tonight I decided that my car is basically the Honda equivalent of the Millennium Falcon. Things they have in common:
- Looks like a piece of junk
- Is not a piece of junk
- Quick and agile, especially when evading asteroids, TIE fighters, and/or people making left turns in heavy traffic
- Excellent fuel economy (when have you seen anyone putting fuel into the Falcon? my car's not that good but it does get like 38 mpg around town)
- Excellent transport for all sorts of people, be they Jedi, Wookiee, or Goat
- Will give all she's got, and then give some more
.
I did get my car repaired on Monday, at a garage I found courtesy Google and Yelp. They had the best reviews of any auto service place on the west side, and I appreciated how the owner treated me like a client, someone worth respecting, not a girl who's ironically clueless about her late-model Civic. (I get that sometimes.) I also appreciated how he took me under my car -- while it was up on the riser things -- and pointed out the work it needed. This was probably illegal for him to do, according to insurance companies, and I did have a small moment of thinking, Oh my God my car is suspended directly above me please don't fall, but when he pointed out that my rear tires also needed replacing, it meant I could see it. I'd just been looking at them thinking, Oh gee they don't look so good... They were nearly bald, actually. Front tires were much better, for some reason.
All three sections of my exhaust pipe (I didn't know there were sections, but there's a front pipe, a middle one, and the rear one which connects to the muffler) were in rough shape. The front and rear ones were cracked, and the middle was nearly so. The muffler was rusted clean through, I could see a long narrow break along the side of it. And the back tires were oddly shaped and bald on the insides. So I said, Okay go ahead replace it all. I'm glad I'd recently paid off my credit card. Whew.
I am also glad that the Canadian dollar is so damn low -- it just dipped below .70 on the US dollar -- because that meant that my $889 bill in Canadian dollars (insert internal scream here) actually came up as about $630 on my US credit card.
That's still a lot of money. I know I needed at least the muffler and tail pipe replaced, it was rusted through, and it would not have passed inspection. I am not 100% certain about the tires, but on the other hand, they were clearly smooth in places they shouldn't be smooth... *sighs* I'm glad I paid off my credit card. I can carry the balance for a bit, pay it down, and I do have enough. It just means that I don't, probably, have enough for other interesting things I was hoping to do this spring.
I can afford to get these (necessary) repairs. I cannot afford a new car. I just have to hope this not-a-piece-of-junk loyal steed of mine holds together for another couple of years.
- Looks like a piece of junk
- Is not a piece of junk
- Quick and agile, especially when evading asteroids, TIE fighters, and/or people making left turns in heavy traffic
- Excellent fuel economy (when have you seen anyone putting fuel into the Falcon? my car's not that good but it does get like 38 mpg around town)
- Excellent transport for all sorts of people, be they Jedi, Wookiee, or Goat
- Will give all she's got, and then give some more
.
I did get my car repaired on Monday, at a garage I found courtesy Google and Yelp. They had the best reviews of any auto service place on the west side, and I appreciated how the owner treated me like a client, someone worth respecting, not a girl who's ironically clueless about her late-model Civic. (I get that sometimes.) I also appreciated how he took me under my car -- while it was up on the riser things -- and pointed out the work it needed. This was probably illegal for him to do, according to insurance companies, and I did have a small moment of thinking, Oh my God my car is suspended directly above me please don't fall, but when he pointed out that my rear tires also needed replacing, it meant I could see it. I'd just been looking at them thinking, Oh gee they don't look so good... They were nearly bald, actually. Front tires were much better, for some reason.
All three sections of my exhaust pipe (I didn't know there were sections, but there's a front pipe, a middle one, and the rear one which connects to the muffler) were in rough shape. The front and rear ones were cracked, and the middle was nearly so. The muffler was rusted clean through, I could see a long narrow break along the side of it. And the back tires were oddly shaped and bald on the insides. So I said, Okay go ahead replace it all. I'm glad I'd recently paid off my credit card. Whew.
I am also glad that the Canadian dollar is so damn low -- it just dipped below .70 on the US dollar -- because that meant that my $889 bill in Canadian dollars (insert internal scream here) actually came up as about $630 on my US credit card.
That's still a lot of money. I know I needed at least the muffler and tail pipe replaced, it was rusted through, and it would not have passed inspection. I am not 100% certain about the tires, but on the other hand, they were clearly smooth in places they shouldn't be smooth... *sighs* I'm glad I paid off my credit card. I can carry the balance for a bit, pay it down, and I do have enough. It just means that I don't, probably, have enough for other interesting things I was hoping to do this spring.
I can afford to get these (necessary) repairs. I cannot afford a new car. I just have to hope this not-a-piece-of-junk loyal steed of mine holds together for another couple of years.