I Can Drive!

Went to the doc again today. He and the new guy were very happy with my progress. They did all sorts of bends and manipulations on my leg and gave the thumbs up.

I was given a different leg brace, one that mostly just keeps my knee protected. So now, I went from giant, bulky, nasty-brace, to new suave, space-age, knee brace.

I don't have to go back to the doctor until August 16th, which is one day before the year anniversary of this whole debacle.

I even got to see Dr. AwesomeBeard on the way out.

So great visit. (That is until I get what promises to be a several hundred dollar bill for this new knee brace)

And tonight, I drove for the first time since August. Sallie was beyond happy. She already has plans where I can drive her everywhere. I'm still not ready for the big time. Going to stick to back streets and short distances.

Broken Leg Club

I've been out in public a little more lately, and since it's been unseasonably warm, sporting my leg brace in shorts for all to see, and I've realized how many people screw up their leg.

First, I notice people in the same brace as me. I can tell if they are new to it, if they've had it on for a few months. I can honestly say, I've never noticed anything with this brace before. And its not just a few, I run into someone every other week.

Second, people see this as an invitation to talk to me. I'm approached all the time with people regaling their tales of jacking their leg up.

Earlier this week, walking home from the post office, an old lady stopped me to tell me about her arthritis and how the doctor wants to replace her knee. She finished with, "You take care of yourself and are active your whole life and it doesn't mean anything." Sort of grim, but I've learned, always accept wisdom from your elders. Then she gave me a "God bless you" and off she went.

A few weeks ago, Sallie and I went for a walk, and this bad ass, tattooed latino approaches us. I'm thinking, "crap, I can't run if we're about to get attacked." He looks at my knee, (I think he spots my weakness) and is like, "Oh dog, what'd you do to your knee?" We have a little conversation and I find out he broke his ankle and was in a brace for 6 months. I tell him I've been in mine for almost 7, and he says, "Hey man, good luck with that. Hope you get better soon."

It's this weird club where me, an old lady, and a young biker looking guy all can share our tales of woe. Something most the population will never experience. A small battle, that although we weren't standing next to each other during, we understand the pain and the memories.

Just Ask...

I don't know what's changed in me recently, but I've been going about problems in a much different way.

One of my big character faults is freaking out about an issue, specifically a financial one, before taking a step back and thinking about it.

I read an article yesterday (and of course I can't find it now) about how something like 40% of Americans are one financial trauma away from losing their "stability." Basically, people are so strapped for money right now that if someone's transmission in their car blew out today, they are in serious danger of losing their house.

That is sort of how my brain has always felt. I've been in a situation where I'm living paycheck to paycheck since I started working. Usually scrapping by so much, that when I do find myself with a little cash, I buy myself something, just to release some of the pressure. (That's not really the best way to save money, I know.)

As long as nothing bad happens, I'm fine. I'm paying down debts and making progress. But then, say hypothetically, someone were to break their leg, require multiple surgeries, while being out of work for several weeks. I panic. I get really angry and frustrated because its out of my hands and all the progress I made is now gone.

It doesn't necessarily have to even be at that level. If I buy something on eBay for $30 and the seller disappears, I flip out. I'm not really sure why I am this way, but I've been trying not to freak out and it's been working.

For example, I sold a hardback book on eBay for $3. EBay only allows you to charge up to $4 for shipping on media. (Books, DVDs, games) To ship this book First Class (which is what my eBay profile says I'll ship it as) was going to cost $12.50. Even parcel post was going to be $8. So as you could see, I was in a pickle. I would either get negative feedback and possibly a suspension on eBay or I could lose money on the deal.

Usually I would panic and go ahead and send it, cursing myself on the way home. This time, I took the package back, and just emailed the guy and asked if I could ship it media mail. He didn't quite understand me at first and thought I was ripping him off, but after I explained what that meant, he was fine with me shipping it at a slower pace.

Second example was TurboTax. We did our taxes yesterday and since Sallie has an independent contracting job, TurboTax automatically signed us up for their "Home and Business" version which is $80. But since Sallie made so little at that job last year, we didn't actually have to claim anything.

So we went through and I wasn't paying attention (because I had been working on taxes for the past two hours) and confirmed the $80 cost and sent our return.

I realized that we didn't need that version and would've been able to just use the $40 version of TurboTax. I started looking around on the site and found that it said, "No refunds for the online version."

Again, normally I would be pissed, throw some things, yell at the cats, and just take the loss. I was feeling calm about the situation though, and spent 45 minutes in a chat with support and ended up getting money refunded.

So I guess moral of this story is when confronted with a problem, take a deep breath, and just ask for a solution. You might not always get one, and when you don't, you have my full permission to be angry, but when you do get one, you really feel like you won.

Car Update

So, the car drama continues, but we've made some progress. I just want to point out here that we still feel like no one is a straight shooter. I understand mechanics have a trade most of us normal people don't know and they need to make money. However, as with any trade or service, there should be some amount of honesty expected by the consumer.

I do not feel like Sallie and I have gotten much honesty here.

So, to recap, the first place we brought it to for safety and emissions wanted us to pay this:

- Swaybar is busted - $110 - A legit fix
- Side view mirror has a crack - $80 or go to a glass place and get a new one cut
- Battery - $120 - This was laughable. I can get a battery for $70 and put it in within 10 minutes.
- Failed emissions because they couldn't hook the computer up to the OBD connection - $300 just to fix the connector. That's not to pass emissions, just to fix the connector so they could run emissions.

We took the car to Nick. He was unable to fix the sway bar because it was rusted, but the OBD connection, he fixed with a piece of tape. That's right, a piece of tape. It's not perfect and he has a little bit of work to do still, but he saved us $300.

We took the car to a second emissions place, they said we failed because the check engine light was on and it was a manufacturer's code. So we had to take the car to... duh DUH DUHHHHHHN.... the dealership.

Dealerships are notoriously the shadiest of all mechanics. Unless you have a full warranty, they will probably screw you.

They turn the check engine light off and tell us to drive around for a few days and see if it comes back on. They didn't know if anything was actually wrong with it, but they charged us $75 to get the light turned off.

We bought a sway bar kit when we thought Nick could fix it, and thank God, the mechanics used our part. They said it wouldn't be under warranty, but it saved us $60 on the part alone. (First place wanted to charge $75 for the part, we bought it for $12.99 at O'Reiley's Autoparts.)

They then said they couldn't pass us for safety inspection because, and I quote, "the ball joints on the suspension are starting to show signs of wear." So first off, the ball joints are starting to show signs of wear. They aren't showing wear, they aren't worn, they are starting to show signs of wear. This car is 12 years old, the entire car is starting to show signs of wear, but it still drives.

Second, the other place didn't notice this on our inspection.

Third, they want $524 to fix this and said it will take about 3 hours.

Sallie takes the car from the dealership and drives it to the place we got our original inspection. Passes without issue. They even overlook the side view mirror this time.

So, we have now saved about $964.

The unfortunate thing is, the Check Engine light came back on today. Which means we have to take it back to the dealership so they can start troubleshooting our emissions system. Yesterday, they said the might require them driving it around for 3-4 hours.

So Sallie might have to use more of her PTO and who knows what's wrong with this. Could be as simple as a worn out hose or something not being as tight, or it could be a crack somewhere in the system.

Best Saturday EVER

Yesterday truly was one of those days of marvel. The definition of what a weekend should be. We shed any responsibility for the day and just had fun.

Let me give you the run down starting with when I woke up.

8:00 a.m. - Got the coffee pot going, a nice Chilean blend, smooth, but rightfully filled with caffeine. The pot brewed and filled the house with its spiced luster while I brushed my teeth.

8:05 a.m. - I settled into the large comfy chair, opened up The Punisher #5, and sipped coffee while I read about Frank Castle killing a group of mobsters.

8:40 a.m. - Minor annoyance, I didn't bring enough comic books downstairs. I went to the office and grabbed a few Batman comics, and returned to the chair, where I soon had a cat in my lap, and one on either arm rest.

9:00 a.m. - Refill on my coffee. I realize that I'm living the definition of man-child right now. I put the comics down and move to video games. Against everything I've learned in my past, I put in Call of Duty, where every 12-14 year old that got an Xbox for Christmas screams racists slurs and calls me a cheater. I do however, have a very good session and end up winning 5/7 matches. Sallie wakes up at some point during this. She talks me into getting into the shower so we can go to the Schalfly Cabin Fever, a beer tasting festival.

11:33 a.m. - We leave the house and go to Schlafly. We're handed our sampling glasses, and start drinking the beer. We briefly fun into the guy who invented the Schlafly Wheat IPA. I thank him for his contribution of great beer to the world and he humbly nods and thanks me for the recognition.

Basically, Cabin Fever is a four hour long festival with 32 beers (you get to drink 18, 2 oz samples) where you wander around, make friends with strangers, have great beer, and stand by barrel fires.

At some point we're handed pretzles on necklaces. This is pretty much the greatest idea ever.

Sallie and I end up drinking the Pumpkin Ale, Southern hemisphere IPA, Pilsner, Coffee Stout (X2), Scotch Ale (X2), Smoked Porter, Singel, Quadrupel, American Pale Ale, Christmas Ale, Grand Crew, Black IPA, Blackberry Mead, Biere de Garde, American IPA, Irish Extra Stout, Barley Wine, Strawberry Cocoa Porter, and Chocolate Milk Stout.

If you bothered to count that, it's more than 18 beers. People stopped marking our punch cards after 7-8 beers. To sober up, Sallie and I ate dinner at Schlafly

We then headed downtown for the Blues game where our boys in Blue took out the Buffalo Sabers in a 4-2 win.

I sleep like a baby last night. The only fear I had as I went to bed was that I would not be able to re-create the greatness of Saturday.

Car Trouble, Know What I'm saying?

I rarely hear people talk about cars in a positive light. Even my brother, a gear head, is always cursing his latest pet project as it drops him further and further into debt.

Sure, we can get around more easily. The car allows us to travel to different cities, see all the sites, not have to sit next to disgusting strangers on a bus. The suburbs are even designed around the idea that you will have a car to get from point A to B. There's no way you could walk around in the burbs and do most of your errands.

I'd kill to just have a nice subway/light rail system that could get me to anywhere. Unfortunately, the closest Metrolink stop is 4 miles from my house, and even then, it doesn't go far enough to St. Charles for it to matter most the time. That was my favorite part of Britain, there was always a public transportation answer to anywhere we needed to go.

Then there's the dreaded plate renewal. The time where everyone curses at their cars the most. It's a time where the godless find God and pray that their car is going to pass. It requires you to see mechanics (who I don't trust) and go to the DMV. (Who no one likes)

Sallie and I are going through that right now.

So we thought we'd be proactive and take the car to a place two weeks ago that could do both the inspection and emissions. We left it with them for a good hour and a half and when we returned, they had a laundry list of things they wanted us to fix. I stared at the grease covered man that refused to make eye contact with me as he read down the list.

- Swaybar is busted - $110 - A legit fix
- Side view mirror has a crack - $80 or go to a glass place and get a new one cut
- Battery - $120 - This was laughable. I can get a battery for $70 and put it in within 10 minutes.
- Failed emissions because they couldn't hook the computer up to the OBD connection - $300 just to fix the connector. That's not to pass emissions, just to fix the connector so they could run emissions.

I don't like Dane Cook, but he was pretty spot on here.


We felt like we were getting screwed.

So, I called Nick. He said he probably can fix the sway bar and OBD connection, and if we got a mirror cut, he could fix that.

So we waited a week for when Nick was off next, went and bought a sway bar from O'Reillys, and drove out to St. Chuck. Nick couldn't fix the sway bar because it was rusted, but he did save us $300 when he found out that the OBD connection was fine, just needed to be reseated.

Went to an emissions place in St. Chuck and they were able to get a reading this time, but they failed us because the check engine light is on and its a manufacturer's code, so they can't do anything to fix it.

So we're already out about $75, haven't actually gotten anything accomplished or fixed and now we have to go to the dealership to get this code read.

Sallie is taking another day off work to do this. We've decided at this point, we've wasted too much time. We're going to pay whatever ransom they hold our car at, get it fixed, and get new tags.

Usually, I think people are too dumb to take care of themselves, but this is one of the few times where I think there needs to be much less government. In this situation, a quick safety inspection and updated insurance should get your plates renewed. Emissions, personal property tax receipts, this running around to no less than 3 different places is ridiculous. The brief time I lived in Columbia, where you don't need emissions test, was fantastic. Everything was taken care of in two places, and we were done.

Resolutions - 1 week later

Things got really busy immediately after my resolutions blog from 10 days ago, so the start of completing things wasn't looking so great.

Sallie and I did manage to go out to a new place in St. Louis that was on our list, the Scottish Arms. They obviously are a Scottish pub and restaurant.

We didn't get to the restaurant until about 8:45, which worked out because the people we were meeting there had been waiting 45 minutes for a seat and the table we needed ended up clearing about 10 minutes later.

Of course we were ravenous by the time we got to sit down and eat, but hunger aside, I'm pretty sure the food was fantastic. I ended up having the Berkshire Pork Burger, which is strange, cause I really don't like pork very much, and I can't remember ever ordering pork at a restaurant before. I washed that down with a Scottish beer I'd never had before, the Belhaven Wee Heavy. I tasted much like a Newcastle to me, maybe a little sweeter. Wasn't bad, just nothing to write home about.

Other than the 55 minute wait for a table, and the 30 minute wait for our check, I enjoyed the place enough to give it a second chance at a less busy time.

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Since insurance kicked me outta therapy, Sallie and I ended up joining a gym.

We went after I got off work one day around 8:30 pm, and there were probably 200 people working out. It was a sweaty, crowded nightmare.

So we planned on going in the morning on Wednesday (which didn't happen because we were so tired) and went this morning early. (Had to go this morning, Sallie had an appointment with her Greek, male, incredibly handsome, personal trainer. I had to just watch as he stretched her out, and massaged her muscles... well back to the story) Got a great workout in, I'm feeling rightfully sore.

The best news is I stepped on a scale (which is usually against my beliefs) and I weigh like 10-15 lbs less than I thought I would after so much inactivity and heavy holiday food. So Huzzah!

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On the house project front, I've been stripping paint from this bathroom window all week. We found that at least 4 generations of people didn't do this window right. Layer after layer of cheap all purpose paint, stretched by moisture.

I can't even imagine the chemical cocktail of deadly poisons that are probably in my lungs from these paints. If all goes well though, we will at least have the bathroom completely painted by the end of our 4 day weekend.