The internet has all sorts of ways to waste your time. This, of course, is one of them. Another effective one is to 
decide that you want to buy a new car. One can spend hours researching and looking over what the market has to offer. Craigslist is one pretty good place to look for bargains, as long as you don’t get too greedy. There are always unbelievable bargains listed in the auto-for-sale lists. A four year old Honda for $3000 – perhaps $8000 less than its worth, among other offerings. I’ve never bit on one of these ads, but I’m sure that those obviously false ads are dangerous. They might simply be spammers collecting valid e-mail addresses or perhaps even criminals fishing for folks dumb enough to wire them money before they get the car (Craigslist warns about that).
My son is about to go back to work. He was laid off for the winter His truck, a 95 Dakota that I bought 5 years ago while the kids were still in high school, is not really road-worthy any more. It’s sitting in the alley behind the house with one flat tire, a dying transmission, a missing side window and a body damage that includes broken turn signal lenses. Oh, the brakes don’t work and it needs to be inspected. It’s not something that we’re going to use any more.
My son’s 60 mile/day commute calls for a smaller economy car. He had about $1000 to spend. So, all we had to do was look for an inexpensive and economical car that runs really well for less than a grand.
No problem – should be a piece of cake, right?
After almost two days of searching, we were able to buy an old Nissan Sentra from a nice guy up in Jenkintown, Pa. We called him within minutes of his ad hitting Craigslist and drove there immediately. The previous owner had bought the car about a year earlier as something economical to drive while he was finishing working on his “dream car”. His new car was finally done, so he didn’t need the Sentra anymore. We drove it around the block, checked out the necessary stuff, had the title signatures notarized, handed over the asking price and left with the little white car. Drew drove home and reports that the little car runs fine. He’s already been working on transferring his sound system from his old truck to the little Nissan. Whew, no more ad watching… and Drew promises that he’ll repay the Bank of Dad when he gets his tax refund.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Monica’s first here in the US. Where to go?? Well, we ended up at Kelly’s Logan House, a Trolley Square fixture. This is a truly historic bar, and has a proper Irish pedigree. We arrived there a little before ten, and there was already a good-sized crowd. They had a heated tent set up outside the bar, but there wasn’t anyone in there yet.
After we were there a few minutes, I ran into a contractor from work. This guy has been working at the plant for over 20 years, and to save my life, I couldn’t remember his name. I hate it when that happens. Fortunately, the music was loud enough that proper introductions were almost impossible.
We hung out for a while and checked out all of the folks decked out in green.
The bar was completely crowded except for this room where some folks were dancing.
We had a great time, even though Monica noted at one point that we were perhaps the oldest people there.
Anyway, we had a great time, although we left well before closing. As we were leaving, we noticed that the
previously empty tent area was filling up.
Tomorrow, Bonnie is going to the groomer. She’s getting shaggy and it’s not that cold anymore. She’s a lot easier to take care of when she has short hair, but she isn’t as pretty.
Spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere tomorrow. Afher the long winter with its dreary naked trees and grey colors, Monica is anxious to see things start to turn green again. We’ve already noticed the trees budding with new leaves. Our new house has daffodils poking through the ground already. These signs of spring are that much cooler when you’re watching them with someone that’s never seen them before.
Tuesday, I removed the windows from our sailboat and took them to a glass shop to have them reconditioned. They were leaking just a little. The previous owner of our sailboat simply dealt with the problem by keeping buckets under the corner of the windows. I’m fixing the leak (I hope). When I get the windows back, I have to replace them in the hull, bedding them in place with a whole bunch of silicone sealant – enough to keep them from leaking. I’ve got a little painting that I would like to do before the boat hits the water, too.
Everything is on track for our new house – we should get it next month. There’s so much to do. I was there today, measuring square footage and window sizes so I can do the calculations necessary to make sure that we get the right size heater/AC system. I can’t do any work in there yet – it isn’t our house, but there is SO much that we need to do.
Has anyone been paying attention to the circus in Washington?
Our Congress has been falling all over themselves trying to confiscate the benefits of some AIG employees. They’ve passed a special law to punish these folks for making money – these bounses were part of their employment contracts. Didn’t the same Congress just pass a huge bill with BILLIONS of porky earmarks? They’re getting bent out of shape about a few million?? If these guys can use the tax code as a weapon against these guys, what’s to keep them from doing the same thing to anyone else? Has anyone been paying attention to what people like Schumer and Waxman have been saying? This is some scary stuff…
All for now,
Greg
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