I can never understand when I hear the comment that Cinco de Mayo is just another opportunity for people to drink, when I consider it a much better opportunity to eat.
The 4 tamales, 2 enchiladas, tostada, taco, and banana/cheesecake churro have left a slightly painful smile on my face. Luckily, they didn't put out a dish of chips and salsa, sitting at the bar as I was; otherwise, my feeble attempt to waddle home might not have been as mildly successful as it was.
Hope you all had a happy Cinco de Mayo as well.
The 4 tamales, 2 enchiladas, tostada, taco, and banana/cheesecake churro have left a slightly painful smile on my face. Luckily, they didn't put out a dish of chips and salsa, sitting at the bar as I was; otherwise, my feeble attempt to waddle home might not have been as mildly successful as it was.
Hope you all had a happy Cinco de Mayo as well.
My furnace stopped working yesterday. 
It's Frickin' Freezing in Here, Mr. Bigglesworth
It's Frickin' Freezing in Here, Mr. Bigglesworth
My car is totalled. 
I was driving to work, and approaching an intersection which had just turned green. Just as I was reaching the intersection, one of the cars stopped to pick someone up (at least that's what I'm told, I couldn't see it) and the other 3 or 4 cars had to stop, including the pickup in front of me, which stopped in the middle of the intersection. I didn't see this, and wasn't able to stop in time.
Air bags deployed (damn, that smell is horrible), I had to push the door open, the front end had been pushed back far enough so the fender was pushed into the door. The front end was pretty ripped up on the driver's side. headlight and grill destroyed. The interior was damaged too, some of the dashboard trim was thrown off with the airbag.
Aside from a scrape/burn on my arm from the airbag, I'm ok. The guy I hit was ok too, and his truck didn't seem to suffer any noticable damage (I miss when cars all had steel bumpers).
Now I gotta wait for the insurance to tell me what they're gonna give me for my car. I'm sure it won't be enough to compensate me what that car was worth to me. It ran well, although it had 120,000 miles on it. Plus, I'm mad that Ford has, this year, taken away both of the cars that I would want. The Grand Marquis I was thinking of buying is no longer available with the handling/performance package like I had on my Crown Victoria, and although the Crown Victoria is available with the package, it's only available to fleets, so I may not be able to buy it even though they make what I want.
On the bright side, I may have found a car already. Stopping by the local Mercury dealership to get a brochure, the salesman told me he had something on the lot I might like. It's a beautiful 2003 Mercury Marauder. (If you're not aware what that is, it's your grandmother's Grand Marquis, only made into a menacing machine)
I was driving to work, and approaching an intersection which had just turned green. Just as I was reaching the intersection, one of the cars stopped to pick someone up (at least that's what I'm told, I couldn't see it) and the other 3 or 4 cars had to stop, including the pickup in front of me, which stopped in the middle of the intersection. I didn't see this, and wasn't able to stop in time.
Air bags deployed (damn, that smell is horrible), I had to push the door open, the front end had been pushed back far enough so the fender was pushed into the door. The front end was pretty ripped up on the driver's side. headlight and grill destroyed. The interior was damaged too, some of the dashboard trim was thrown off with the airbag.
Aside from a scrape/burn on my arm from the airbag, I'm ok. The guy I hit was ok too, and his truck didn't seem to suffer any noticable damage (I miss when cars all had steel bumpers).
Now I gotta wait for the insurance to tell me what they're gonna give me for my car. I'm sure it won't be enough to compensate me what that car was worth to me. It ran well, although it had 120,000 miles on it. Plus, I'm mad that Ford has, this year, taken away both of the cars that I would want. The Grand Marquis I was thinking of buying is no longer available with the handling/performance package like I had on my Crown Victoria, and although the Crown Victoria is available with the package, it's only available to fleets, so I may not be able to buy it even though they make what I want.
On the bright side, I may have found a car already. Stopping by the local Mercury dealership to get a brochure, the salesman told me he had something on the lot I might like. It's a beautiful 2003 Mercury Marauder. (If you're not aware what that is, it's your grandmother's Grand Marquis, only made into a menacing machine)
I'll just have to decide if I want to buy a used car (I was so looking forward to finally buying my first new car in the spring, I don't know if I can afford what I had wanted to get just yet, though). It looks great, and it sounds awesome. I'll have to wait until the insurance company gets back to me.
The conundrum of Cosmo and the crazy cable contractors continues.
I'm still far from happy Cosmo (even just contented-Cosmo is a ways off), but at least I'm doing a lot better than I was in the morning. We shall see if that improves on Monday.
Update - Irate-Cosmo is now just Slightly-Peaved -Cosmo.
If you read my last entry, after that outrageous estimate, I called a few more electricians, one was going to schedule for early next week to come out for an estimate. Which meant I had to take off yet another day from work. About half an hour after I had called, they called me back to say that their guy was going to be done the job he was on early today, and could be at my place for an estimate between 2 and 4. He finally showed up just before 4 and he gave me an estimate of around $625 for all 3 rooms. Even he was shocked when I told him the estimate the other company had given me. It's still more than I had hoped to pay, but at least I can handle it. Plus, since it's the wiring for my internet in my home office, it should be (at least partially) deductable.
I'm so glad he was able to make it out today (I was actually going to head out right before they called) so I may only have to take off half a day late next week to get the work done.
If you read my last entry, after that outrageous estimate, I called a few more electricians, one was going to schedule for early next week to come out for an estimate. Which meant I had to take off yet another day from work. About half an hour after I had called, they called me back to say that their guy was going to be done the job he was on early today, and could be at my place for an estimate between 2 and 4. He finally showed up just before 4 and he gave me an estimate of around $625 for all 3 rooms. Even he was shocked when I told him the estimate the other company had given me. It's still more than I had hoped to pay, but at least I can handle it. Plus, since it's the wiring for my internet in my home office, it should be (at least partially) deductable.
I'm so glad he was able to make it out today (I was actually going to head out right before they called) so I may only have to take off half a day late next week to get the work done.
Cosmo is not happy right now.
I have owned this house for 10 years now. The housing association is doing renovations to the outsides of all the buildings (and charging an extra $114 per month extra assessment fee for 3 years to pay for it) and one of their new rules is that no cables can be run on the outside of the building. The cable running to my bedroom I found out, is run on the outside and needs to be run inside now. The spot in the wall is literally right over the incoming cable line, less than 10 feet away.
So I called Comcast to come to run the lines inside the house. I was told they'd be here at 8:00 AM Tuesday. I had to take off of work on Tuesday, and they showed up only 45 minutes later than I had been told. They basically looked at the house, and told me that they could not run the cables, which have to come in the basement and run up the one wall into the upstairs bedroom. I need an electrician to do that.
So I called an electrician to come to run the lines inside the house. I was told they'd be here between 8:00 AM and NOON. I had to take off of work again today, and they didn't show up at all. I called and they gave me an estimate over the phone. If they could have done that, then why did I take off work in the first place?? The estimate was for $3700. All of the TVs in my house don't add up to $3700. There is no way I'm paying nearly four grand just to watch TV in my bedroom. (ok, the estimate was for 3 rooms; but he told me that just wiring one room would only be a few hundred dollars less, so it wouldn't make sense just to do the one room anyway)
So now I have to take off again next week to have another electrician come out to give me another estimate.
Edit - Just got a call from the second electrician, their estimator is going to be done early today, and can come by here this afternoon. At least that's one less headache for me right now. I just hope that they can do the job withhin a budget I can afford.
I have owned this house for 10 years now. The housing association is doing renovations to the outsides of all the buildings (and charging an extra $114 per month extra assessment fee for 3 years to pay for it) and one of their new rules is that no cables can be run on the outside of the building. The cable running to my bedroom I found out, is run on the outside and needs to be run inside now. The spot in the wall is literally right over the incoming cable line, less than 10 feet away.
So I called Comcast to come to run the lines inside the house. I was told they'd be here at 8:00 AM Tuesday. I had to take off of work on Tuesday, and they showed up only 45 minutes later than I had been told. They basically looked at the house, and told me that they could not run the cables, which have to come in the basement and run up the one wall into the upstairs bedroom. I need an electrician to do that.
So I called an electrician to come to run the lines inside the house. I was told they'd be here between 8:00 AM and NOON. I had to take off of work again today, and they didn't show up at all. I called and they gave me an estimate over the phone. If they could have done that, then why did I take off work in the first place?? The estimate was for $3700. All of the TVs in my house don't add up to $3700. There is no way I'm paying nearly four grand just to watch TV in my bedroom. (ok, the estimate was for 3 rooms; but he told me that just wiring one room would only be a few hundred dollars less, so it wouldn't make sense just to do the one room anyway)
So now I have to take off again next week to have another electrician come out to give me another estimate.
Edit - Just got a call from the second electrician, their estimator is going to be done early today, and can come by here this afternoon. At least that's one less headache for me right now. I just hope that they can do the job withhin a budget I can afford.
I'm finally getting around again after nearly a week being laid out with severe sciatica. I think I got to watch nearly every DVD movie I have during that time (I'm so glad I've got that player in the bedroom; othewise, daytime tv probably would have driven me insane). It feels good to be able to walk around again.
