Dear Allstate: I Swear I'm a Good Driver...

2011 has been a rough year for my dear Handsome Rob.

Rewind to February, when I got into my first real crash. Such a headache (not to mention a bit of a heartache, too) to deal with that entire fiasco. (And driving that awful yellow Chevy Aveo for something like 5 weeks was ridiculous, to say the very least!)

Then there was the little hiccup that occurred towards the end of March when I was driving to the land of my inheritance to visit my family for the weekend. (I can't recall exactly what the problem was on that one; I was mostly just delighted that Handsome Rob wasn't gone for very long that time around.)

Then...sometime during the summer (perhaps?)...my car was kind of slow-moving, so my brother Goose did something to it, which kind of helped a little bit, but not entirely...

So I had to march myself (and Handsome Rob) to AutoZone so the fellows there could hook up my car to some computer thingy that told them exactly what was wrong with him. As it turns out, there was a little piece somewhere in the bowels of Handsome Rob that needed changing; AutoZone gave me the name and number to a local car shop run by twin brothers, and they were able to help me in no time flat (and they didn't charge me a ridiculous amount of money for it!).

And then there was the thing on August 25th. (I can remember the date because it's my brother Aaron's birthday.) I was driving home from work, and Handsome Rob was NOT accelerating like he ought to have been. I ended up taking Handsome Rob in to Jiffy Lube, as I had been a bit negligent in that aspect of car-upkeep over the course of the entire summer (woopsie!)...and by the time I drove away from there, Handsome Rob was not accelerating. At. All. Seriously, the fastest I could go was somewhere around 5 mph. GAH!

I called and texted anybody I could think of with access to a truck who might be able to help me out; my friend Todd came to my rescue, and he towed me to my car guys' shop.

Turns out, it was my catalytic converter that had clogged almost entirely on the inside. Apparently, Nissan was supposed to have done a recall on the catalytic converter but by the time they figured it out, they had sold too many 2003 Altimas, so the joke's on us.

Anyway, the catalytic converter wasn't an inexpensive piece of equipment, but my car guys Larry and Terry (for reals, I wouldn't make that up) helped me out once again, and for a very fair price.

Also, my friend Ryan lent me his extra car (a 2010 Nissan Altima) for the few days that Handsome Rob was in the shop.

Fast forward to September 23. I was pulling out of a parking spot over by Costa Vida, going roughly 5 miles per hour, when I heard a horrible crunching noise. That crunching noise, my friends, was Handsome Rob's rear bumper being ripped from his hind quarters.

I put my car into park and dealt with the joy of calling the police and filling out a report and all the garbage that goes with getting in an accident. (I'm understanding the entire process quite well these days.)

Because I was the one reversing, I'm the one who had to pay to fix both vehicles. (In my defense, there was a mondo truck beside me, blocking my view. Also? I'd be willing to bet that the other driver was on the phone, and going rather fast; she didn't slow down or honk or anything. And Handsome Rob's entire butt was ripped off, hanging on by maybe one entire inch. She couldn't have been going slowly, as I had just barely started pulling out and was going, at most, 5 mph. But whatever.)

Oh, and get this: the other vehicle? It was a 2011 Audi QTO. And the driver wasn't the owner; the car belonged to the local Audi dealership. HOLY CRAP, do I know how to pick 'em, or what?! (In case you forgot, in February, I collided with a 2011 BWM of some sort. I hate my life...)

My awesome friend Cameron found out about my sad situation and he offered to let me drive his extra car (a Ford Explorer) for the week that my car was in the shop.

CAN I PLEASE BE DONE WITH CAR ISSUES? I've had more than my fair share in the past 9 months...

Poor, bumless Handsome Rob...

Heart: broken!

 And just so you know: when my friends take care of me, I take care of them. 

The very night that Todd towed me to the shop, I made him a fresh peach pie. 

Within a few weeks of borrowing Ryan's car, I made dinner for him and his girlfriend (and now fiancee!) Rose.

When Cameron gets back from his travels to Korea, I'll be making him a stellar dinner as well.

(Do I have the best friends in the wide world, or what?!)

Anyway...can you see why I'm this close to buying a chauffeur for myself? I was talking to a friend and she said, "Why don't you just get a scooter or something?" I told her, "Because my car has protected me! Can you imagine the bodily damage I'd have sustained in those accidents if I were on a scooter?!"

I stand by my claim: "Dear Allstate: I swear I'm a good driver!"

But here's a question to the great void: anybody wanna be my chauffeur? Pretty please?

he's baaaaack...

Good news on Handsome Rob: It wasn't the head gasket! I'm still not sure what it was, but I've got him back and he seems to be doing alright. (I'm getting a copy of Handsome Rob's charts for future reference, though.)

Oh, and did I call it, or what? The Chrysler 300 was not available for me to rent for the weekend. Instead I drove a Chevy Impala--and although it was several very important steps up from that silly Aveo, it left me missing Handsome Rob.

So it's really a good thing the 300 wasn't available.

My ride for the weekend

I've got to say, I typically handle stress fairly well. It's not that I love it or look for it, and sometimes I freak out for a minute and have a good cry. But usually, I can take it all in stride: work-related stress, break-ups, grad school (which was self-inflicted), etc. But do you know what causes this Ginabean the greatest turmoil?

Car issues.

Car issues bring out the worst in me; I find myself fighting the grump that hovers about me when I have car issues. And I think it's because I don't know cars. At all. In fact, in talking cars with boys, they use words that I swear they're making up just to see exactly how gullible I am. For example: when Goose texted, "You may have blown a gasket," I thought, "Yeah, I'm stressed out, but I think that's a bit of an overstatement." He then went on to talk of a head gasket. Which is a real thing in cars, folks. (I want to say it's somehow connected to the...radiator? Somewhere near it?)

Anyway, my retention for all these car-talk words is something like 9 seconds. Unless I write it down. (Even then, my retention ain't great; I still have to refer to what's written before I start actually talking about it.)

But I digress.

I picked up Handsome Rob yesterday afternoon and requested that the guy show me the coolant reservoir (had to chant that phrase to myself all the way to Eaton where Handsome Rob was staying for the weekend); I had him show me so that I know what to check if my car has issues overheating again. (Coolant reservoir=Merrill's idea. Keeping an eye the temperature gauge for the rest of my life=Goose's idea.)

So now I can look under the hood and not be completely lost! (Just mostly lost, I suppose...)

So glad to have Handsome Rob back! Here's wishing him a long and healthy life from here on out!!!

welcome spring?

Looky what I woke up to this morning:


It makes me feel sad. Really, really sad. I hear that spring has actually sprung in most locations south of here. But I haven't given up hope!!!

If we stop talking of the weather, life is pretty terrific. I'll write about pleasanter topics very soon. Watch for it. :)

that's how it goes...

I've been in contact with the stellar folks working on Handsome Rob (HR), restoring him to his former glory, off and on throughout this whole ordeal. They (Eaton Collision and Repair) have been so kind to both of us (me and HR).

Last week I was talking to Jessica (the gal who always answers the phone when I call), who told me that HR would likely be ready to roll by Monday or Tuesday of this week. (O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!)

I called Eaton on Tuesday to inquire after HR's progress, and Jessica told me some truly beautiful words: Mr. Fix-It was just finishing up the alignment, and that all that needed to be done was to clean HR up a bit.

Jessica called back that afternoon to tell me that my airbag light was flashing when Mr. Fix-It took him for a final ride--and that a flashing airbag light maybe isn't such a good thing (I'm ad libbing here). Ergo, Fix-It had to run HR over to Nissan to see what that was all about. Jessica told me she'd call me the next day (Wednesday) to let me know what they found out.

Yesterday afternoon Jessica called, as promised. To sum up a long, sad story: the folks at Eaton need a part to solve this final problem. The dilemma? It's going to take a few days for that part to make its way to Southeast Idaho. (BOO!) It'll be a quick-fix once Eaton gets the part, and then they'll run HR up to Nissan again to have them do something with HR's computer? This sounds about right...?

I know it didn't seem like I summed it up, but I did; Jessica used a lot of words to describe the current situation with HR. Lemme try this again: I DON'T GET HANDSOME ROB BACK UNTIL MONDAY. Verily devastating news unto me, as I was fully expecting him this past Tuesday. And further devastating because that means I have to drive around this toy-car rental I've got goin' on if I want to go anywhere this weekend. And I do want to go places this weekend! (I may have 3-day weekends all the time, but I keep myself busy, my people.)

HUMBUG, huh? My heart is bleeding a little bit over the situation.

In pleasanter news: I worked out last night, as promised (three cheers for Zumba!), and it felt good.

Something else that felt good was buying myself a frozen yogurt promptly after finishing up with Zumba. And I discovered white chocolate fro-yo! Did you know that white chocolate fro-yo is more than a little amazing?! Especially when topped with fresh strawberries, sugar cone crumbs, and slivered almonds? Well, did you?

So really...how can one complain when there's something as wonderful was white chocolate frozen yogurt in this world?

Question: what's your favorite fro-yo flave?

crappy day...

Oh gee. Today's not been great; cancellations and no-shows. Up. The. Wazoo. Plus a couple of other things that very nearly made me cry.

Whatever though. Life goes on. And I actually had a full late-afternoon work schedule. This helped improve my outlook on life quite a bit.

So...just before my last client came in, I went to the restroom. (Let's just say my eyes were floating.)

Sorry...too much info? Well, prepare to get uncomfortable!

My cell phone fell out of my pocket. Into the toilet! UGH! How gross is that?! I scooped it out, pulled out the battery to dry, and scrubbed my hands in near-boiling water with buckets of soap.

A very important process!

Let the phone dry during the session. Put phone back together, and it wouldn't turn on. (This is actually a blessing in and of itself; who wants a phone once it's been in the toilet?!)

So. After work, I went to visit-teach a couple of sisters in my branch. It had to be a quick visit, because one of the gals had a date (woo-hoo!). Then I made my way to the nearest Verizon store.

Fortunately, I've been paying for insurance on my phone. SO GRATEFUL for insurance!

So yeah...I got to Verizon and queued in line for my turn.

Long story short: I have a new cell phone. But apparently when you get your phone wet enough that it can't turn back on, you lose EVERYTHING. Sounds. Pictures. Phone numbers.

Icing on the cake, people...

Not sure if I'm looking forward to tomorrow or not...

On a happier note:

Aaron had a birthday today!

Also, I am the owner of the new Collective Soul (Rabbit) CD.
I likes it.

Seriously...?

I started off the morning with car problems. Mostly resolved, but still...car issues cause me such stress!

Driving home, not exactly feeling thrilled with my car situation, I got pulled over. I was only going 20-25, so I couldn't figure it out. The officer told me I failed to stop at the stop sign over by the train tracks. -I always wondered why they even had that stop sign there...but I always stop anyway. Except for today, 'cause my mind's on other things. The cop asked me where I was going, where I had come from, blah, blah, blah. I gave him my license and registration, etc., trying to be calm. Surely he won't give me a ticket, right? He'll see my clean record and let me off with a warning, right?

WRONG.

Do you know how expensive that ticket is? Care to venture a guess?

I'll let you think about it.

Do you give up?

$75.00. For reals.

I hate today, and it's not even noon!

Now I'm going to eat some lunch and bust open the scriptures, because, let's face it, I need a pick-me-up...

And typically, feasting on food and the word of the Lord...well it just works.