Well, it was bound to happen:
The girl got her final notice at the Temp job.
It was well paying, but I can't help but think we didn't mini-max it more. Then again, I'm so used to going with the basics on everything I think we just kind of forgot the hardcore discipline for a bit. It's not a bad thing considering I've been spending the past 2 years straight working 80 hours a week and living off of the barest of elements to keep things together during the recession. Then again, with this bullshit boycott of Arizona over a law nobody got to vote for, it's actually worse than the recession. Point of example is with us trying to buy a used car:
Most cars in Arizona don't have rust (it's a myth around here... rust that is. It just doesn't happen in a place that only rains 6 inches a year). But we do have heat failure: Points where a car's basic components fail due to the extreme heat. Sure, the air temperature is only 112 degrees, but on the road surface it can be as hot as 200 degrees from 12 inches off the surface, and that's not ON the surface of the road! After the first few 100+ degree days, you see a TON of shredded tires on the road from blowouts because the rubber could not handle the 100 degree increase in operating temperature from the friction. Engines also suffer when the Head Gasket, the seal that separates the engine block from the valve head assembly and allows coolant to pass between the two within the engine block, fails. It's because the heat is so extreme that the copper and polymer blend gasket will heat up at a different rate than the Iron or Aluminum engine block. This causes the metal to fatigue and crack, sending coolant to mix with the oil in the cylinders of the engine. This causes the engine to overheat, and the block to crack and pistons to be damaged.
THIS is the plague that infects cheap cars in Arizona, and contrary to what the rednecks may lie about in their ads on Craigslist: It is permanent damage to an engine and is not a "simple" fix. Often times you have to take apart half the motor to repair it, and many times you must pull out the ENTIRE engine! And, even if you do that you stand a 50 percent chance that the engine block is cracked from the high heat anyways! And this is the ONLY kind of car you find on Craigslist for under a grand....
...Well, I take that back. You also find a TON of cars with no title, which means they cannot be registered with the state and are worthless. This is because most are either stolen cars, or products of people who got auto title loans (or other such liens against the title of their car) and have decided to skip out on the loan and to get rid of the car, claiming it was stolen or some such. Not only is this a felony, this is also VERY common in Arizona as well.
The third problem is that with the current immigration fight, most Mexicans in Arizona are refusing to either buy or sell from Anglo owned businesses. This means entire TEAMS of amature car salesmen are buying up every cheap used car and then flipping them for twice to three times what they're worth and only selling them to non-anglo people. They do this because they know many migrants are so terrified of being deported that they will only buy from other Mexicans and not from established car lots. This also means that the used car market has become so hyperinflated, a geo metro that I wouldn't of paid 400 for a year ago now is considered a "Bargain" at 1000!
It's enough to drive you mad... although I did find THREE possible deals, but being without a car in this city means your stranded which means I was only able to check out ONE of the deals. And, I didn't have cash or Delores with me, which means the guy who pulled up just after I told the guy I could have the cash by 11 tomorrow got the car for 500 instead of me
Normally I would just say screw it and rebuild my wrecked car, but at nearly 200,000 miles on an American made engine, I really don't think it is healthy enough after suffering a hard collision to be functioning. I'm still looking for another Cavalier that may need work since I have a nearly complete wrecked Cavalier sedan sitting in my mother-in-law's drive (with a title lien on it...) that I can scavenge for parts, but even those are getting hard to find.
Then there's finding a car with A/C. It's considered a must in a state this hot, but in a car under 1000 bucks? Forget it. But I must find one with A/C, and an Automatic (which tend to cost more) that is also able to pass emissions, have a legal title and drive. Even my old car didn't meet all of those criteria (no A/C). But then again, I know I put up with alot more with alot less than most people should. I want her to have the best car I can possibly get... but I worry if I can even find it. The trick I suppose is to be patient and not to buy the first thing that *might* work. To stick with the deal and to not be afraid to walk away if the seller is a dick, that is the trick. Such as today: There was a great possibility with a Geo Metro Wagon that was an automatic, had A/C and a clear title. The downside is that it was pretty nasty under the hood and had skipped a link on the timing belt, causing it to run VERY rough but in sequence letting me know it wasn't just a fuel issue. Knowing how much a nightmare timing issues are, I had to walk away ASAP before I totally lost it to the guy for making me drive all that way knowing there was a problem and pretty much lying to me about the "1000 BUCKS OF WORK" he did on the car. He didn't do shit. I only put 400 bucks of work into my old 600 buck Cavalier and I made it look like a car that was only a few years old! Then again, I make stuff look like things they're not supposed to look like for a living... a weak ass living, but a living none the less
And, the college has not got back to me about the possible full time job opening in the mail department, so until I hear otherwise, I'm going to have to go BACK to driving a taxicab because there is no other work in Phoenix. The Boycott of the state has forced nearly every show we had at the theater to cancel and no other theater can afford to keep open, much less hire anyone. It's been a rough month. I just worry about Delores. They temp job has been a pain for her, and they really don't know their asshole from a hole in the ground. But they also said she had another month, but ended up tempting her to switch to another department just so they could keep their numbers up. This caused her to probably get termed ahead of schedule
Fucking dicks. Nothing worse than Capitalistic government contractors (I'm not a fan of the contractor system anyways... this doesn't help). She's still got Target, and hopefully they can give her some cross training and more hours. If she can do that perhaps that will lighten the load I have to do at the cab company (if they approve me) and we'll be in good shape. But we're still without a car and at BEST may have one car.
The girl got her final notice at the Temp job.
It was well paying, but I can't help but think we didn't mini-max it more. Then again, I'm so used to going with the basics on everything I think we just kind of forgot the hardcore discipline for a bit. It's not a bad thing considering I've been spending the past 2 years straight working 80 hours a week and living off of the barest of elements to keep things together during the recession. Then again, with this bullshit boycott of Arizona over a law nobody got to vote for, it's actually worse than the recession. Point of example is with us trying to buy a used car:
Most cars in Arizona don't have rust (it's a myth around here... rust that is. It just doesn't happen in a place that only rains 6 inches a year). But we do have heat failure: Points where a car's basic components fail due to the extreme heat. Sure, the air temperature is only 112 degrees, but on the road surface it can be as hot as 200 degrees from 12 inches off the surface, and that's not ON the surface of the road! After the first few 100+ degree days, you see a TON of shredded tires on the road from blowouts because the rubber could not handle the 100 degree increase in operating temperature from the friction. Engines also suffer when the Head Gasket, the seal that separates the engine block from the valve head assembly and allows coolant to pass between the two within the engine block, fails. It's because the heat is so extreme that the copper and polymer blend gasket will heat up at a different rate than the Iron or Aluminum engine block. This causes the metal to fatigue and crack, sending coolant to mix with the oil in the cylinders of the engine. This causes the engine to overheat, and the block to crack and pistons to be damaged.
THIS is the plague that infects cheap cars in Arizona, and contrary to what the rednecks may lie about in their ads on Craigslist: It is permanent damage to an engine and is not a "simple" fix. Often times you have to take apart half the motor to repair it, and many times you must pull out the ENTIRE engine! And, even if you do that you stand a 50 percent chance that the engine block is cracked from the high heat anyways! And this is the ONLY kind of car you find on Craigslist for under a grand....
...Well, I take that back. You also find a TON of cars with no title, which means they cannot be registered with the state and are worthless. This is because most are either stolen cars, or products of people who got auto title loans (or other such liens against the title of their car) and have decided to skip out on the loan and to get rid of the car, claiming it was stolen or some such. Not only is this a felony, this is also VERY common in Arizona as well.
The third problem is that with the current immigration fight, most Mexicans in Arizona are refusing to either buy or sell from Anglo owned businesses. This means entire TEAMS of amature car salesmen are buying up every cheap used car and then flipping them for twice to three times what they're worth and only selling them to non-anglo people. They do this because they know many migrants are so terrified of being deported that they will only buy from other Mexicans and not from established car lots. This also means that the used car market has become so hyperinflated, a geo metro that I wouldn't of paid 400 for a year ago now is considered a "Bargain" at 1000!
It's enough to drive you mad... although I did find THREE possible deals, but being without a car in this city means your stranded which means I was only able to check out ONE of the deals. And, I didn't have cash or Delores with me, which means the guy who pulled up just after I told the guy I could have the cash by 11 tomorrow got the car for 500 instead of me
Normally I would just say screw it and rebuild my wrecked car, but at nearly 200,000 miles on an American made engine, I really don't think it is healthy enough after suffering a hard collision to be functioning. I'm still looking for another Cavalier that may need work since I have a nearly complete wrecked Cavalier sedan sitting in my mother-in-law's drive (with a title lien on it...) that I can scavenge for parts, but even those are getting hard to find.
Then there's finding a car with A/C. It's considered a must in a state this hot, but in a car under 1000 bucks? Forget it. But I must find one with A/C, and an Automatic (which tend to cost more) that is also able to pass emissions, have a legal title and drive. Even my old car didn't meet all of those criteria (no A/C). But then again, I know I put up with alot more with alot less than most people should. I want her to have the best car I can possibly get... but I worry if I can even find it. The trick I suppose is to be patient and not to buy the first thing that *might* work. To stick with the deal and to not be afraid to walk away if the seller is a dick, that is the trick. Such as today: There was a great possibility with a Geo Metro Wagon that was an automatic, had A/C and a clear title. The downside is that it was pretty nasty under the hood and had skipped a link on the timing belt, causing it to run VERY rough but in sequence letting me know it wasn't just a fuel issue. Knowing how much a nightmare timing issues are, I had to walk away ASAP before I totally lost it to the guy for making me drive all that way knowing there was a problem and pretty much lying to me about the "1000 BUCKS OF WORK" he did on the car. He didn't do shit. I only put 400 bucks of work into my old 600 buck Cavalier and I made it look like a car that was only a few years old! Then again, I make stuff look like things they're not supposed to look like for a living... a weak ass living, but a living none the less
And, the college has not got back to me about the possible full time job opening in the mail department, so until I hear otherwise, I'm going to have to go BACK to driving a taxicab because there is no other work in Phoenix. The Boycott of the state has forced nearly every show we had at the theater to cancel and no other theater can afford to keep open, much less hire anyone. It's been a rough month. I just worry about Delores. They temp job has been a pain for her, and they really don't know their asshole from a hole in the ground. But they also said she had another month, but ended up tempting her to switch to another department just so they could keep their numbers up. This caused her to probably get termed ahead of schedule
Fucking dicks. Nothing worse than Capitalistic government contractors (I'm not a fan of the contractor system anyways... this doesn't help). She's still got Target, and hopefully they can give her some cross training and more hours. If she can do that perhaps that will lighten the load I have to do at the cab company (if they approve me) and we'll be in good shape. But we're still without a car and at BEST may have one car.