close call
Whew... I was worried today. Last night I was gonna head out to get some bananas and super glue and to drop off a roll of film, but the Olds wouldn't start. I had spent a few hours cleaning it Sunday, so I thought maybe the battery had run down while the doors were open and the lights were on. So upon return from a horrible, frustrating day at work today, I asked my dad what I should do. He has a handy battery charger that seemed to do the trick in half an hour or so. But the car still would not start. This was surprising since it has been running just fine. And horrifying because the car's reliability seemed to have dropped. We both tried starting it over and over, took a look under the hood (him checking stuff out, me wondering what I should act like I'm looking at). Eventually we gave up and my dad said we'd have to take it in to a service shop. He also asked when I was planning on buying a new car. I'm not ready to do so at this time, and I especially don't want to make a rushed decision. I sat in the car thinking for a while; my dad headed inside. A little later he came back out and checked out the fuse box under the stereo. He took fuses out one by one and looked at them... but they all seemed okay. He looked under the hood again. Eventually, he must've spotted another fuse and noticed it was broken. He replaced it with an unbroken fuse and told me to try it again... and the Laggin' Wagon rose once again. I was very glad. I still have no idea what the fuse does in particular, but I guess it's important and I'll know to check that next time. One of these days I gotta learn this stuff.

As for the seemingly perpetual car search, it's been fun looking around, comparing specs, options, and reviews... and I'm sure it's like most other "fun" purchases, in that the anticipation is better than the getting itself. BUT, I've realized something that I'm disappointed no one (especially me) pointed out earlier. Now is a stupid time to buy my own car. Why, you ask? Because I don't drive. Sure, I'll occasionally head over to "a friend's place" or maybe even to a store or restaurant of some kind. But I don't drive myself to work. I don't go out much. If I buy a car now, it will mostly just sit around and depreciate. So it seems clear to me now that as long as the grey menace still works fairly well, I might as well stick with it. I do, however, have plans to upgrade the stereo shortly, and heavily. That's the main thing anyway. >=D

the trouble with money
Okay, I know what you're thinking... maybe. "You stupid bastard, you better not be about to whine and complain about having a job and steady income". I'm not. It's just that at my job, and probably most others like it, they try to help you invest wisely. I went to a seminar on investing for retirement (and large purchases, i.e. house, car, kids) the other day. Aside from superfantastic surprise free Subway and Doritos, I learned about what I should be doing with my paychecks instead of spending them on tech gadgets and old funk CDs. So they talked about the 401(k), IRAs, dollar cost averaging, etc. It's exciting thinking about your money working for you and growing to frightening proportions because of a few keen stock purchases, but it's a pain in the 'a' to execute. I don't want to have to spend time worrying about my money and taxes and interest rates and market fluctuations. I work for it, I save it, end of story. But no, there are countless options and companies, and you don't want to screw up when your future is at stake. I just liked it when it was simple... I didn't have much, make much, or need much, and I didn't think about it at all... those were the days.

crazy technology @ Albertsons
So, finally getting my super glue (to fix the cupholder in the Olds--oh yeah, I'm fixing that old dog up real nice), I tried out the self-checkout at Albertsons today. It's pretty easy, you scan your own items and member card, and swipe your credit card. You scan your own items and put them in a bag. I've never had a klepto phase in my life, but... the whole time, I'm thinking, I might as well just walk out with this stuff. And you wouldn't believe how slow and ugly my bagger was. I feel bad for that guy, really. He's gonna die alone, sad but too true.