Hello, Monday, My Old Fiend

 My car is in the shop. Again.  Although, at least, this time, it was voluntary.  There's been a very annoying squeak going on with it for some time now, and today it changed significantly.  My whole family was very uneasy with the new sound. Personally? I could have let it keep squeaking until it stopped, permanently, but that's not very responsible, (apparently.)  I really, REALLY wanted to wait until Thursday to take it in, because there's no school on Friday for St. Paul and, if the repair was major and they needed to keep working on it for more than a day, that would make things easier all around.  

But... well, life won't always wait for the most convenient times, will it?

Just listening to my litany of symptoms, the mechanic figured that the problem had something to do with the water pump.  That can be expensive, but we've never replaced anything terribly major on this car before.  Maybe the starter coil, once?

I mean, really, if you don't count INCONVENIENCE, this car really hasn't been that bad of an investment.  It is at the shop A LOT, but we often leave with very reasonably priced bills.  So, I can complain, but not too much.  It's still much, much better to keep repairing the car than to go to the supreme hassle of buying a new-to-us one.  

We'll probably never buy a new, new car.  That's just not on the list of things I value.  I want my car to be safe, but I'd rather be mildly inconvenienced from time to time, than to take on the massive expense of monthly car payments.  Honestly, I want my occasional latte WAY more than I want a brand-new car.  Because 'brand-new' is no more a guarantee than anything else, not really.  There are plenty of people who drive a new car off the lot right into a car accident or some other repair expense ON TOP of their monthly bills. So, no thank you.  I'd rather limp along with Steve (our car's name).  He's a good car, for the most part, even if he's starting to jettison rusty bits on the road as I'm driving.  (Shhhh, we don't talk about that.)

But, so that's how my Monday started.  I should probably be grouchier than I am, given that I also ran out of minutes on my cell phone AND had to hoof it to the bus/train in order to get home.  And, yet?  I dunno, it was a pleasant walk this morning.  The sun was shining. The weather is nippy, but not insanely cold (and I was dressed for it).  I wandered up to the Caribou Coffee on Snelling and bought myself a giant mocha, which I got a dollar off of, because I'm a Caribou Perks Member.  I only had to wait three minutes before a bus came lumbering along and it was, surprisingly, not crowded, given that it was just the beginning of rush hour.  I always carry my Go! card, so I didn't have to scrounge up change.  The bus driver was super-friendly and didn't mind my not knowing where to 'beep' the card, and even asked as I was leaving if I knew where to go to catch the train.  So, that was sweet and restored my faith in humanity in a small, but real way.  The train, of course, always makes me feel like I live in a big city, and so I enjoyed that brief ride.  The cats were happy to see me when I got home and immediately settled in to snooze on my lap.

The only continued annoyance is that, for some reason, even though I have the receipt in my in-box, the Tracefone people have yet to credit me my new minutes.  Which... yeah, that's frustrating, because Dave's could call at any minute.  But, when I tried to get them to help me via my landline, I couldn't even get a person... the automated response told me that they were processing a transaction for me and that I should wait fifteen minutes.

Which I guess is fair enough, but I swear it's already been fifteen minutes.

Even so, first world problems, you know?  I'm just not in the mood to get to cranky about any of it, not with the sun being all shiny and my house being warm and friendly.  

We'll see how long it lasts and how much other crap Monday decides to throw at me.  :-)

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EDITED TO ADD: Car repair bill?  50 bucks.  I kid you not.

Monday, I take back everything I've ever said about you.  You're inconvenient, but you don't suck.  (Not entirely, anyway.)