In Memoriam

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Yesterday I lost a cherished family member.

But, don't worry. It wasn't a person.

It was the Buick.

For those of you who aren't aware, the Buick was an amazing car that I 

sort of inherited from my grandmother while I was in high school. 

It was huge, it was red (inside and out), and it was probably the 

most comfortable car I've ever been in. 

Seriously. I could have lived in it.

I started driving the Buick during my junior year of high school after a deer 

destroyed the front and right side of my van. It still had its PA 

license plates, which I thought was super cool.

We had quite a time together. . . Here are a few of the moment's I'll never forget.

We were together when I returned to driving after breaking my foot . . .

and when I slid it under the back bumper of a jeep that same afternoon

what a nice welcome back to driving experience.

We were together when the Buick was the only car in our arsenal 

that could get up the driveway during a snow event

especially snowmagaddon 

and snowpocalypse 

once the van left the driveway, it didn't come back up for a week.
the Buick was back up that afternoon.

We were together when the Buick hit the 100,000 mile mark

on 2/16/2012 two days after what would have been

Grandmommy's 96th birthday ♥

Happy 100,000 miles Buick.
I'll miss you terribly.

We were together when I was driving to Ocean City, NJ 

and basically broke down in Towson, MD

And we were (almost) together when I rented my first car

(thanks to the Towson incident)

my first rental car!

We were together when I bought my new car

(an almost direct result of the Towson incident)

We were together for one last time after I lost my wisdom teeth

(thanks to the squirrels that incapacitated my new car)

We had a great ride together . . . I 'll miss you!

Apocalypse Now.

I don't know if you've heard about it, but the middle atlantic area (i.e., Arlington/DC/where my parents live) was party to a killer wind/rain storm on Friday evening. 

I happened to be in downtown DC at the time and not only witnessed a funnel cloud of newspapers, dust, and popcorn (not a real tornado obviously, just an annoying wind thing) and a ridiculous frog squelcher of a rain storm, but I was standing in it. 

Soaked.

Great times.

Eventually it ended and on Saturday we all started picking up the pieces. We had tons of branches and leaves down in my complex and so many people didn't have power (and still don't have it) it's crazy. I'm pretty sure that we are in worse condition than last summer when the hurricane hit. That was basically a day long storm, Friday night's storm lasted two hours at most.

huge tree branches fell everywhere!

People were pretty much acting like the apocalypse was happening. Grocery stores (at least the ones with power) were cleared out and gas stations were (and some still are) completely depleted of their gas supplies...

Which made this super scary... 

Super scary. Never want to see that again!

 Yes. That is my car's distance to empty meter. I actually had about an eighth of a tank, but when I last got gas, I foolishly only put about a gallon in because I thought I could get it cheaper elsewhere.

Big Mistake!

After trying to get gas at two separate stations (which were completely out of gas) I ended up having to wait in line with all the people who were fearing the worst (no gas ever again) and the people who were silly like me, for about 20 minutes. Then, I paid about 20 cents more than I had paid earlier because the only gas left was super duper premium.

I think I've learned my lesson.

But at least I have power and internet, which is more than many, and my car didn't get damaged by falling branches or anything. Too bad my window fell out again, otherwise I would have come out completely unscathed.

Maybe next time.

What a Lot of Red

Traffic is no fun... Especially in the rain. At night. When you're hungry.

It's never good when you watch your GPS go from saying you'll reach your destination at 10:35 p.m. to saying you'll reach it at 4:45 a.m.

Driving Me Crazy.

I went home for a hot second this weekend. It's an easy trip... only about two and a half hours, and truthfully, I enjoy the drive.

There is one thing I don't enjoy, however, and that is driving 2 mph on a highway.

Tonight, thanks to an accident that blocked about 15 feet of the left lane and shoulder of 81, it took me an hour and 20 minutes to drive seven miles.

That's right, almost 1.5 hours to drive seven miles.

Lame.

Well That Was Scary.

About 30 seconds ago I witnessed my first tractor-trailer tire blowout. It was kind of terrifying. Good thing mom was driving...

IT'S FIXED!!!!

That's right folks! That there vehicle isn't an apparition, a figment of my imagination, or some other poor soul's car.

IT'S MINE!

And it's all better.... that is, until the next squirrel decides to chew on another hose.

Good thing we have one or two squirrel worthy guns in this house and my brother's about to come home from college. [insert evil cackling laugh here]

Lessons Learned

Well, losing my wisdom teeth didn't make me dumber after all!

In fact, I think it made me smarter... here are just a few of the things I've learned about myself and the outside world in the past week.

Health Related Pearls of Wisdom (Teeth)   HA!

1. I'm allergic to penicillin. While this discovery is a good one, I didn't figure out that the penicillin was what was making me super nauseous and dizzy until four days after I started taking it.
2. While anorexia is a disease that I'm not advocating in any way, shape, or form... not eating (read: not being able to keep anything down, liquid or solid) for four days, thanks to the aforementioned penicillin allergy, did have it's benefits... I lost 7 pounds. It was almost as good a weight loss regimen as when I had the stomach flu before Christmas.
3. I'm finally glad I never had braces. It was painful enough when my teeth were readjusting to the new space in my mouth and moving around on their own... I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it would be to have metal bands constantly adjusting where your teeth are positioned in your mouth.
4. I swear that the loss of my wisdom teeth wrecked havoc with my sinuses. My doctor said I was crazy, but I found that taking pseudoephedrine along with my Advil helped to keep the slow aching pain in my lower left jaw and the feeling that my chin was separating from the rest of my face at bay.
5. Tights filled with ice bags and reheat-able hot/cold packs are a godsend. I kept two bags of ice tied to my face all day Thursday in my super useful Incredibles tights (see embarrassing picture, above, taken by my mother). Then for the next 5 or 6 days I kept my hot pack clamped firmly to my lower jaw to melt away the aches and pains.

Car Related Pearls

1. Squirrels are not cute. They eat cars. I no longer have a problem with my brother's crazy desires to shoot and cook them.
2. When you are having car trouble and are taking your car to the shop, DO NOT FILL THE GAS TANK BEFORE YOU DROP IT OFF. I made that silly mistake only to find out that the problem with my car could only be solved by replacing the gas tank. Losing less than 2 gallons of gas would have been a whole lot less upsetting than 12.
3. Toyota's are awesome cars... except for the fact that most of their parts are made in Japan. Thanks to the recent environmental disasters in that country, Toyota car part manufacturing there is at a virtual standstill... not a huge deal unless you NEED A NEW GAS TANK. (The parts lady said that she couldn't even fathom when my tank would be in... Awesome.)
4. It's really depressing to continue paying off a loan on a car you can't drive.
5. Good thing I still have the Buick.

Just Kidding.

My car really was sick.

The remedy... a new gas tank.

Yay.

It's Not!

The gas cap was loose...

Why the car took 5 days to realize this and start blinking lights and stuff is beyond me.

Epic fail Melissa.

Epic fail car.

My Car...

... Is sick.

As I write this I'm sitting at the Toyota dealership waiting to hear the diagnosis on my car... My new car. The one I bought because my old one kept having issues.

The car my dad now drives and hasn't had any problems with.

The vehicle stability control light is flashing and the check engine light is on. Lame.

I hope it isn't broken!

The Day I Almost Did A Donut

                                        ... in my driveway!

Exactly a month ago we had a snowstorm here in the valley. It was the last appreciable amount of snow, we've had. I wish Chicago would give us some of it's snow.

Anyhow, thanks to the about 7ish inches of snow fall, my mom had to get out the tractor again to plow out our driveway so that we could all go to work, and that required me to move my car so that the tractor could get out of the garage. (The tractor gets a garage... my car does not. See how our priorities stand in this family? Geez.)

But, since the tractor was dead, I had to turn my car around and move it back to its spot in front of the garage so that we could jump the tractor.

In seven inches of snow.

My car's no Buick, but it did very well in the snow... except when it didn't.

Like the time I almost did a donut into a large tree. Great times.

Check it out.

 My car attempting to side swipe a tree

 My fun skid marks... I was trying to back up, not sideways.

 Getting closer!

Success! Barely.

Mumford and Sons

As soon as I got my new car (with a CD player!!!) I decided that I needed some sweet CDs.

I'd heard Mumford and Sons' song "Little Lion Man" on the radio before and I really loved it, but when I heard their second single, "The Cave," I was absolutely and completely sold. So, their CD 'Sigh No More,' became my first physical CD purchase in about seven years. It's awesome!

Listen to these songs and see if you don't fall in love with them too!

Sweet 16...

Sixteen-hundred that is...

This evening my car turned 1,600 miles. That means that in less than one month I've driven over 1,552 miles. wow. I think it's probably a really good thing that I bought a new car...

The Great Pumpkin

Last night as I was stopped at a red light I noticed the license plate of the orange Chevy HHR in front of me... in honor of Halloween tomorrow, I thought I'd share it with you. The picture's not too great... the camera on my phone is far below par and the light turned green by the time I managed to zoom enough and snap the picture, but you get the point.

Just in case you can't read it... it says GR8PUKN. 

Linus would be proud.

Meet... Storm!

Well agida and all, I bought a car. In the end I did decide to go with the Corolla because it was pretty, had a simple dashboard/entertainment thing, and the most comfortable seats.

I decided to name it Storm, but since I've never named my car before, this may be the only time I ever call it anything other than my car. I picked the name because the color of my car reminds me of the color the sky gets right before a huge rain storm/thunder storm comes through.

Five Reasons Buying A Car Gives Me Agida

I may or may not buy a new car this evening. Meaning, I'm going to, but I'm scared to death about it, mostly because buying a new car represents just about everything in the world that makes me nervous, uncomfortable, and scared, minus natural disasters. Here's just a glimpse of how dazed and confused my mind is right now...

1. Change - I hate change. I wish everything could stay the same forever. Unfortunately, it can't. That is one of the saddest truths about life.

2. Commitment - If I buy a car, I'm committing myself to it for at least the next ten years... probs more. What if I hate it? What if it's a lemon? What if I would have liked a different one better? My fear of commitment, combined with my fear of change, is probably why I will never get married.

3. Decisions - Anyone who knows me knows that I am the most indecisive person on the planet. I hate making decisions and am convinced that the choice I make is usually the wrong one.

4. Growing up - Most of you also know that thinking about the future (and being, gasp!, an ADULT) freaks me out more than most things, and this car basically represents my entrance into the adult world. I will have (and pay) my own insurance, I'll have monthly car payments, I'll have something super official in my name (read the car title), basically I'll be old.

4. Money - To me, there is almost nothing worse than spending a large amount of money all in one place on one thing. I'm never going to be able to buy a house... hello cardboard box.

On the bright side, the probable new car is very pretty! It's a 2010 Toyota Corolla, color Magnetic Grey Metallic.

A New Car... Maybe

I may or may not be in the market for a new vehicle... below (in no particular order) are the three cars I'm most seriously considering... they are all basically the same in size, gas milage, safety features, etc. Decisions decisions. Opinions anyone?

Toyota Corolla... this one gets amazing gas mileage

 Honda Fit... this one has ten cup holders and crazy storage options

Honda Civic... this one only has two cup holders, may be a disadvantage

What a Week.

Well. If ever there was a week that made me want to pour myself a (very) stiff drink, this past week would be it!

On Sunday (a week ago) mom, Mitchell, and I came home from Vermont after a very lovely two week vacation with lots of family.

My troubles started Monday morning when I tried to start the Buick. It didn't (start that is). So I got my mom to come jump it. I thought nothing of it and went to work. A couple hours later, however, when I was done work and I tried to start my car nothing happened. I tried to jump it. Nothing.

Finally, my brother got it started, took it to the shop, and was told it probs just needed a new battery. So we went to an auto parts store where the idiot old man told me and my brother that we had somehow managed to switch the polarity of the battery by jumping it with the positive clamp on the negative battery part and vice versa, and that we should try going somewhere else. Now, even I know that if you tried to do something as silly as that it will not switch the polarity, rather it would spark a ton and possibly blow up. Meanwhile, I tried to restart my car, and in the five minutes it had been off, the battery had died again. So, rather than try to jump it again, we got a second opinion and he gave me a new battery. The car started right up and all was fine.

On Tuesday morning I got in my car, turned it on (quite successfully), and started to drive to work. Then I noticed something. My breaks were barely working. Needless to say, I went straight to the shop this time, dropped off my car, and trekked through the very very hilly downtown region (in the hot and humid Virginia summer heat) to work. Yuck.

Well, this time I was kind of concerned because I was planning on driving to Ocean City, NJ the next morning and I was pretty sure that driving a car with little to no breaking ability would be rather inadvisable.

A little more than several hours later, I got a call from the mechanic telling me that my car needed a new master cylinder (to fix the break problem), two new tires (apparently mine weren't safe anymore), new break pads, and new rotors. Great. When I picked up my car that afternoon I was happy to find that my breaks offered resistance when I attempted to stop my car.

Ocean City, here I come!

Wednesday started out fine, but then, about 2 hours into my trip I noticed that it was a little warm in my car. I turned up the A/C and nothing happened. So I'm thinking, great, my A/C is on the fritz. But at least nothing catastrophic has happened... I can deal with a little humidity.

Then, just outside of Towson, MD, I noticed the heat sensor light up. It stayed on for about 2 minutes, turned off for about 45 seconds, and then came on again. I called mom and she said that my fluids were probably low and I should pull off at the next exit. The road I got off on happened to house a Merchants Tire and Auto, so I pulled in there, figuring that they'd be able to tell me what was going on with my car. They told me it will be about an hour and fifteen minutes before they can look at my car, so I went to the nearby Towson Town Center, a gargantuan four story mall to chill out.

I was a little frazzled by the whole affair and super bummed by this unexpected delay to my sunbathing plans, but I can chill in a random city with the best of them. When I got back to the shop, the Merchant's guy quite calmly told me that I would certainly not be driving to Jersey anytime soon in my car and that I was basically lucky that I (by which I mean my car and its engine) hadn't blown up yet. Then he (still quite calmly) told me that it would take a day and about $1,200 to fix the broken upper intake valve on my engine that was apparently leaking antifreeze all over... or something to that effect.

Well as you can imagine, a twelve hundred dollar car repair, and the fact that I was three hours from home, sort of frayed my usually cool, calm, and collected exterior, but to make an already way too long story short, my parents decided that the Merchants guys were silly and that I should take the Buick to a dealer because it would at the very least be cheaper. So I drove down the street and around the corner to Jerry's.

When I got there I noticed that some kind of liquid was pouring out of my car. Like literally pouring. Great. So, when the Jerry's guy came out, I told him what the Merchant's guys said and he said that they were full of crap. He looked under the Buick's hood and saw, basically right away, that the problem was a broken water pump, which would cost a heck of a lot less to fix than that gasket thingy. Perfect.

The only problem was that by this time it was about 5:45 and they closed up shop at 6, so I wasn't going to be going anywhere in the Buick that night. Fortunately, my genius papa suggested I rent a car to get me the final three hours I had to the beach. So I had Enterprise fix me up with a little economy rental and I was back on the road after, you know, a short little side trip. No big deal.

But the beach was amazing and totally worth it! I got to see KT and Jason and meet all of KT's family. At times I must admit I was a little overwhelmed by the Italianness of them all but I loved every minute of it! My car got fixed on Thursday, I picked it up on Saturday, and now, Sunday, so far so good... hopefully I didn't just jinx myself...

My little Hyundai Accent rental... it's so cute isn't it!

KT, Jason, and Me on the boardwalk at Ocean City

We are so lame.

Views From My Car Window

On my way to work today the sun was starting to set and it looked really pretty. So I stuck my camera out the window (camera strap firmly secured to my wrist thankyouverymuch) and just started snapping pictures. I think I got some very pretty shots!

Happy 100,000 Miles!

The Buick turned 100,000 miles old on Tuesday, missing Grandmommy's birthday by two days. That car (it was originally hers) reflects her personality to a tee. It's a beast and full of tenacity... it's the only car we own that never had issues going up the driveway when we had all that snow.