Car Shopping and Other Neurosis

This morning I woke straight up at 3 am. Ok, the dogs had to go out too, but I had that "HOLY CRAP" car payment fear.

I have to buy a new car. The evil Jetta was totalled in an accident (can't talk about that yet), so I have to get a new car.

First it started out with, ok, I'll get a reliable used car so the payments aren't bad. I went to look at a 2002 Toyota RAV4. I want a RAV4, mainly because I've always wanted a jeep, but in Maryland it snows, and gets cold, and frankly the little plastic jeepy covers just don't maintain heat well enough for me. Plus there's always that roll over thing, where the little plastic jeepy cover does really nothing to keep you from flinging out.

Before the accident I had toyed with getting a Cooper Mini, which are adorable, but after the accident, I'd prefer something a bit more tank-like.

After doing the Consumer Reports research, e-pinions research, and generally looking around, the RAV4 is both reliable, affordable, and damn cute, plus it has 4 wheel drive, which in Maryland... it snows.

So I did a Carmax search and found the 2002 RAV4 and decided to give it a try. Went to the dealership, dragging my mom along and sat in it. It's... used. You could tell it was used. While the dealer went to copy my drivers license for a test drive, hubby noticed that one of the back seats wasn't locked in. He fiddled with it. The dealer fiddled with it. Finally, after about 15 minutes of fiddling, I felt that was definitely a sign that this RAV4 was destined to become Satan III, and ran away screaming.

It was at thought point that I went from "I'll buy a cheap used car that will get me to and from work", to "Hey! 2005 RAV4s aren't that expensive, the payments would only be $100 more than a used one!"

Found a cool blue one with cloth seats (I hate leather seats), with all the bells and whistles that I want. Stil within my pre-approved loan amount with the insurance settlement check. Now I'm looking at not only another car payment, but a larger one.

So, I woke up this morning thinking "should I buy a cheaper car?" We could use the extra money to pay off bills, and save money. HAHAHAHAAAA! Who am I fooling? We'd only spend that "extra" money on more toys and junk. At that point I realized that debt is what life is all about. We'll never be out of debt, it'll just keep piling on and on and on. I have a friend who sold their house for a zillion bucks, paid off their debt, moved to Florida and just got a home equity loan to fix up their new house the way they want. They went from debt, to debt free, to debt again. It never ends.

So, if we're going to be in debt, and continue to be the gerbils in the wheels working to pay off that debt... I might as well be in debt and drive around in a kick ass blue 2005 RAV4 with really cool cup holders that actually hold a Starbucks Venti cup.

Where's My Mother?

Since my dad died three years ago, my mom has been travelling by train out to Maryland to stay with us for Christmas. She loves the train, even though a plane would get her here in 2 hours, and if she wants to sit in a train for over 16 hours, then whatever.

The first year she arrived at Washington Union Station. We shlepped to a MARC train on Christmas Eve (it snowed that year), rode the MARC to Union and drug her back up to Maryland with us.

The second year she arrived at Baltimore Penn Station, so we shlepped up there and got her.

This year we said "why don't you just hop a train from Union Station and go to the Amtrak station at BWI which is 5 miles down the road from us", so that's what she did... well, sorta.

First of all, the weather sucked in the Midwest, so her train was 4 hours late arriving at her station. I kept watch on the internet for her progress, and determined that she wasn't going to get to BWI by 2:30pm, but would probably make it around 5:30pm.

At 5pm, we ventured off to get a festive Christmas Eve latte and Starbucks, then mosied over to the Amtrak station. It's a very small station, hard to miss anyone. We get there as her train rolls in. People get off, people get on, train leaves, no mother. I call our home answering machine, and there's a message from her saying she had arrived. At least that's what I think she said because even with her teeth in, she's still hard to understand. I think she says "I'm in Baltimore... BWI". Great, for some reason she's ended up at the airport, so off we go to the airport.

Ever try finding someone at an airport on Christmas Eve? Impossible. We call my sister back in Indiana and ask if she's called there, as we seem to have misplaced her. No call there. By this time I'm ranting about the fact that I've given her my cell phone number 800 zillion times, and yet she calls the house. We give up at the airport, and head back to the train station for one more look (what if she was in the bathroom when we were there), searched the bathroom, no mother.

As we head home, I check the home messages again, this time a message (slightly frantic) saying she was in Baltimore. Ok... there are only a zillion train stops in Baltimore, and mom has a tendency to call everything Baltimore. She could have been in Richmond, VA and call it Baltimore.

We go home, feed the dogs, wait for another call to pin down exactly WHERE in Baltimore she was. No call, nobody answers the station phone, nobody answers the payphone where she called from. By now I'm picturing her locked out of the train station being accosted by crack ho's. We change the answering machine to say call my sister, we're coming to get you, and off we go to Penn Station, on Christmas eve, at 7:30pm.

Drunk drivers all OVER the place, weaving around the major highways. What fun, ho, ho, ho. Of course, even with the nav system, we make a wrong turn, end up who knows where, and eventually reach Penn Station to find my mother, sitting like a lost waif eating a cookie. She proceeds to tell us about her trip... in the train station... um, hello, wanna get out of the train station?

Apparently when their train got to Union Station, they herded everyone onto another train without asking anyone where they were heading. She almost got sent to Boston (and hey, yes she's my mother, but I would have to leave her there), but some people raised a stink and they threw them out at Penn Station (merry christmas). She said she tried calling my cell phone... except she was about 5 digits off on the actual number. Who knows what phone was ringing, or where.

So, she's here. The dogs have sufficiently mauled her in welcome, and it's the start of a wonderful christmas time for us.

Our Night Out on Friday

On Friday, I was working at home (as usual) in my comfy sleepy pants and shirt when hubby IM'd me and asked if I wanted to go see "National Treasure" with some of his co-workers.

A.) I HATE Nicholas Cage
B.) Glowing reviews such as "a half-hour too long" and "utterly ridiculous" don't compel me to spend a handful of money and mortgage the house for popcorn to see a movie.
C.) I'm in my sleepy pants, this would require me to actually get dressed and go out.

I ask who is going, hoping that it was just some guys from work, to which I would tell him to go have a fun "guys night out" while I go blow money at Costco (if I managed to get enough strength to change out of said sleepy pants and go somewhere). He replies that it will be two co-workers and their wives (one wife I happen to know, and all she does is bitch about her ex-husband). On top of that, after the movie we're all going out to eat. Oh, crap. It all hinges on one co-worker arranging for a babysitter.

A.) This will require me to be nice to people and chat about the movie
B.) This will require me to listen to the one wife bitch about her ex-husband (who she's been divorced from for about 10 years)
C.) This will require me to listen to them talk about their kids, where all I have to offer is a detailed explanation about Nova's ass mass and how he took a healthy poop today.

I call on friends to cross fingers and sacrifice anything to the babysitting gods to strike all available babysitters dead where they stand... to no avail. It's a go. Friends tell me to come up with excuses: migraines, spleen attack, anything. I do point out to hubby when he gets home to pick me up that our 15 year old dog Nova hasn't eaten all day, and is very creaky. That's the truth, he was creaky and acting stiff, and he hadn't eaten all day (not for a lack of me trying).

A.) The theater we're going to is at a mall
B.) It's almost Thanksgiving

Parking took for freakin ever, and the walk to the theater was exhausting.

We get our tickets and get refreshments ($2.75 for a normal sized bag of M&Ms, bite me) which consisted of stale popcorn and a coke that turned out to be diet coke (ack).

The movie, as predicted, could not suck enough and it wasn't a half hour too long, it was two hours too long. I had brought my iPod along, but out of consideration, I didn't plug it in, but wished I had. Two hours of my life I'll never get back. I won't go into details, other than saying IT SUCKED!

We get out of the theater, and start making plans for dinner, and I turn to Gil and say "I'm a little worried about Nova", and that's all it took. We bowed out of dinner to go home and check on him, I waved some soup, we all watched tv in bed and life was good again... with my sleepy pants on.

Not So Instant Gratification

I wanted a nightstand. I actually already had one, but a large fan was sitting on it, which meant nothing else could sit on it, therefore I actually wanted a larger nightstand.

Having purchased one at Lowes Home Improvement a few years ago (which my hubby snagged somehow, leaving me with a small nightstand with a big fan on it), I figured I'd check to see if they still had them.... and they did, according to their Web site.

Lowes is great, because they have a way for you to purchase the item on-line, then go in and get it. This is great for me because I HATE driving all over the world looking for things. I see that the nightstand is available for in store pickup, so I buy it, and as instructed, I wait for the confirmation e-mail, which arrives, and then we decide to go run some errands then pick it up, because their Web site says to give them two hours to get it to the Customer Service department.

We run our errands, then head over to Lowes. I hand the printed receipt to the customer service woman, she taps some numbers in... makes a phone call, then informs me that Lowes no longer carries furniture in their stores, it would take two weeks for it to get to the store. Excuse me? She points to the small print on the printed receipt that says "special order".

We've had this problem before with Best Buy. When the new Unreal Tournament 2003 came out, we found a copy at Best Buy on-line. It said they had two of them "in store". We waited for the receipt to get sent and then took off for Best Buy, where we stood in line (a big line) and were told "oh, it's not actually IN the store, it's actually IN the warehouse and it'll take 3-5 days to get it IN the store".

A.) When did "in store" change its meaning from "sitting in the store", to "anywhere BUT in the store"?

B.) In this day where packages are sent overnight, why does it take something anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks to get somewhere? I can see if I was buying a hand whittled yeti tooth in the form of a rhino that had to be carried by a yak led by sherpas through the Andes mountains why it might take 2 weeks, but a nightstand that's mass produced and sitting in a local warehouse down the road?

C.) If customers came to a store and looked at an item, then wanted to buy it and were told "Oh, I'm sorry, we don't have that in the store, it'll take 2 weeks to get it here", there wouldn't be a lot of repeat business at that store, and yet merchants can't seem to grasp that this is exactly what they are saying to people who "purchase " items for in store pickup.

The only company that has mastered the art of "in store pickup" is Circuit City. You order it on-line and they even tell you if it's in stock, you drive over to the store, a conveyor belt spits out your purchases, the cashier scans the bar codes, bags it and you're out the door. PERFECT.

So, after telling Lowes to shove it, we drove around looking for a nightstand (which is the very thing I was trying to avoid), and came home empty handed. I then stole back my original nightstand, gave hubby the smaller one, and now have room to sit a cup of hot tea or a water bottle beside me at night even with the fan.

The only problem is... now hubby wants a bigger nightstand.

Normal Routine

Hubby has sufficiently recovered to go back to work tomorrow (whew, that 70% Short Term Disability payment really sucks... if we ever get it), and soon we'll be back into our normal routine:

Starbucks/Work/Puppy duty/work/home.

I can't wait.

Kaiser Rant
To continue my rant against Kaiser, last week (two weeks after hubby had been booted out of the hospital by Kaiser), a Kaiser representative called and informed him that he needed to see a doctor as soon as he was discharged. Hubby informed them he had been discharged two weeks ago, and they told him that they just found out.

Whatever, so he makes an appointment. We go to the appointment and are told we owe 10 bucks for a co-pay. The beauty of being covered under two insurance plans is that whatever one you aren't using will pick up the co-pay. Oh, but not Kaiser. The receptionist snootily informs us that "they don't deal with other insurance companies, you'll have to take that up with them". Fine.

Hubby gets called in, and his version of the visit goes something like this:

1.) he's handed a pile of forms to fill out
2.) doctor comes in and looks at the wound and says "wow, that's a big wound"
3.) doctor then asks him when he last had a complete physical, because it's important to make sure that he's healthy. Doctor gives him a form with phone numbers to call to schedule his physical.
4.) Hubby reminds doctor that Kaiser was suppose to supply us with medical supplies that have never arrived.
5.) Doctor tells him a nurse will bring some in, nurse comes in and hands him 2 tiny little packets of gauze.
6.) visit over.

Bank Rant

After our helpful Kaiser visit, we deposit some checks via the drive through ATM machine. 90% of all americans now own SUVs. 90% of all banks think that 90% of americans drive Cooper Minis. There's nothing like leaning halfway out of your truck window to jab at buttons and try to hit the slot to make a deposit. Of course, another check came in the mail when we got home from the bank, so I have to shlepp out AGAIN to the bank to deposit that one.

Just An Observation

We go all over the place and pay by credit card. It's very simple now, you swipe the card and sign the screen. Drugstores, Home Depot, Lowes, Office Depot... everywhere you sign the little electronic pad... but not at CompUSA. CompUSA makes you sign the receipt, even though it asks you to sign the electronic pad, they don't do that. Is it just me, or is there something strange about a computer store that doesn't trust electronic signatures?

Stop the Stupid People

At Arundel Mills Mall, if you go into the mall through Bed, Bath & Beyond, exit the store, turn right (heading toward Starbucks), you'll see a line of kiddie carts in the shape of race cars. Kid sits in cart, parents can put their purchases in a mesh bag in the back. The mesh bag says (in big, white print)

"DO NOT PUT CHILD IN BAG".

Do people really need to be told this?

Who is This Guy?

Every time there's an election, in the weeks prior, in the mornings, as I drive to work there's a guy standing by the side of the road with a campaign sign with his name on it, and he waves to people.

The name on the sign is Leopold (which always makes me think of the infamous Leopold/Loeb case... but I digress), and he seems like a nice guy, waving back when I wave at him.

I think he's either a very friendly guy looking for votes, or a very stupid guy for standing on the side of a busy road where people are killed on a daily basis by idiot drivers.

So this year I thought, fine, I'll vote for the guy, for whatever he's voting for, because at least he's consistent. I get my handy-dandy voter cheat sheet in the mail and I look to see what exactly he's running for... but he's not listed. Anywhere... for anything.

I want to stop when I see him and ask "what are you doing?", but if he's a loon....

Crazy people in Maryland.

Just Call Me Nurse

Monday

The visiting nurse came out. She shares our view about Kaiser (if you can't recall, our view is that they SUCK!). She also began to share our view of the rude surgeon that came in Saturday and discharged hubby, because she informed us that he must be insane to have told us not to pack the gaping icky wound. So she demonstrated, and my skills as a former vet tech came to good use, although I'd feel much better if hubby thrashed around and tried to bite me a few times while I was doing it.

Tuesday

Is a blur, I'm sure I have something to rant about, but frankly, sleeping in the guest room with two bed hog dogs is wearing me out. Hubby did feel well enough for a quick trip to Costco, where they have some awesome 250gb external fire wire drives for dirt cheap, so we bought one. They also had some scrubs in his size, so we bought two pair of those for him to wear around (sweats are too... sweaty).

I managed to get to be at a reasonable hour, and also managed to get a good portion of the bed after scooting the snarling Loki to one side. "AHHH", I thought, "finally a decent night's sleep". Then at 3:30 am the power went out for no good reason.

In our house, you know the power has gone out by the deafening sound of all the UPS devices beeping. Mad dash throughout the house to turn everything off. I thought fleetingly that my newly fixed XP would be fried (because that's just how luck goes), and after everything was powered down, I went back to bed... only to be awaken at 6:30 am by Meeshka, who was hungry.

Wednesday

Pretty good day actually, except for some dizzy spells that hubby had. I'm exhausted, trying to get some work done from home and FINALLY figured out a problem I had been having with something. The nursing duty hasn't been so bad, and tonight's soak went well. We went to Starbucks for decaf latte and met one of hubby's co-workers and gave him the horror story. He can sympathize, he's been through something similar. Got some tasty burritos at Baja Fresh and ate early.

The dogs must feel that he's making progress, as they've renewed their nightly riccochet throughout the house, minus the bed springboard. The bedroom is off limits until further notice, so they've modified their route to include the couch... but it's not the same.

Tomorrow the nurse comes back. Monday is his appointment with the surgeon. I hope my services are no longer needed shortly after that and I can go to work and nap.

The Shoe Drops

I knew the incredibly good week was too good to be true. Last week my hubby began experiencing some pain, and we both thought it was a boil. His doctor on Tuesday thought it was a boil, but as each day passed, he was in more and more pain until even Vicodin was doing nothing for him.

On Thursday I took him back to the doctor, who told him to go to the Emergency Room at our local hospital. She called ahead to let them know he was coming, and they took him right away, which was cool.

After the usual 300 questions, they took him to a bed, hooked him up with IV fluids and squirted pain meds in the IV. It did very little to give him comfort. A doctor came in and examined him and determined that it wasn't a boil, it was an abcess, and a surgeon would have to look at him.

Insurance Sucks

We're both covered under two different insurance companies. Hubby's is Kaiser, I have Aetna. I've never had a problem with Aetna. You get sick, you go to the doctor, they cover it. Kaiser, apparently, has a different type of plan. Kaiser has their own hospitals and doctors, which I find to be offensive and a HUGE conflict of interest. Kaiser threw a snit because hubby was not at one of their hospitals, but the ER doctor explained that he was in too much pain to move, so they hesitantly decided that he could stay there (how nice of them).

Go in for one thing, get another

We arrived at the ER around 1:30pm, and at 5:00pm hubby was wheeled up to a room, where a flock o' nurses surrounded him, asked him questions (which I mostly answered because he was in too much pain), and then the surgeon came to see him. Really nice guy! He was suppose to leave for the night, but when he heard what was going on, and how much pain hubby was in, he stayed to do the surgery. They wheeled him to surgery at 6pm, and I left to take care of the dogs because they had been locked up most of the day. When I returned at 8pm, hubby was back in his room and MUCH improved.

Friday

I go in to visit hubby, he's doing a LOT better! I leave to try to get some stuff done, but when I get back, hubby tells me that Kaiser called him in his room and told him that he's all better now, and they want to dishcarge him. Excuse me? He's hooked up to IV antibiotics, IV pain meds, IV everything, and has packing in a gaping hole where the abcess was, and they want to boot him out? I call Kaiser and yell at them. They claim ignorance. The surgeon was delayed until late and didn't see him until 8pm, but told him there was no way they were releasing him.

Saturday

Juggling dogs, hospital visits and some sleep, same thing happens, I go in the morning and the nurses say he's staying, I come back that afternoon and hubby has been told he's leaving. This time a pompous asshole surgeon comes in because hubby's surgeon is off that day, informs hubby that he's leaving, demonstrates (roughly) how I need to change the dressing, and gives us instructions to call his office and see the other surgeon on Monday. The nurses were pretty upset, hubby was upset because we're paying a butt load of money for two types of insurance and now they're booting him out.

We get all sorts of fun medical supplies to change the dressing, and prescriptions for antibiotics and pain killers. Hubby wanted a latte, so we stopped at Starbucks after the nurses took out his IV line and gave him a percocet. It's 4pm.

6:00 p.m.

Hubby is puking his guts out. We think it's the latte, but we're not sure.

7:30 p.m.

Time for a dressing change, hubby takes a percocet and eats some soup.

9:30 p.m.

Puke city once again. I'm thankful that for some reason my "join the party" puke reflex is on vacation. We decide that its the percocet and opt to hold off on that for a while to see if he can keep something down. Then we read the antibiotic instructions and find that those may make him urp too. Lovely.

A "day nurse" is suppose to visit once a day to look at the wound and stuff. That'll be fun. In the meantime, I'm there for bandage changes, fetching him stuff, and keeping the dogs from mauling him until he's maulable. Despite the puking, pain, and impending going to the bathroom for the first time event... he's in good spirits, and almost normal sense of humor-wise. I'm glad to have him back.

As far as work goes tomorrow... screw it, I'm staying home with him. He's my priority right now.

Very Strange Week

I'm having a very strange week.

As I last posted, my satanic Jetta's coolant light came one, so I had to drag it to the shop on Monday. I called later that afternoon and was informed that the coolant level was a bit low, no big deal, they put more in and told me to bring it back if it came on again, but they didn't see any leaks... no charge.

No charge?

Nothing is wrong with it?

It didn't cost me an internal organ to pay for it?

HP Quality team called me on Monday, and told me they were sending a technician to my house to replace my motherboard and hard drive... no charge.

No charge?

Granted I complained off and on for a year about it crashing every 5 minutes, and it was a week after my warrenty expired that they decided it was a hardware problem... no charge?

I've worked for the same company for 4 years (a major milestone for me, having usually "moved on" after 2 years tops), and have never won anything in their drawings for free goodies. On friday morning I checked my e-mail and found that I won a Baltimore Ravens football jersey (a $65.00 value), and it happened to be Jamal Lewis' jersey, which is funny to me.

Did I mention that a week or so ago the VA finally decided to give me back pay for a disability, and it was enough to buy an iPod with all the goodies?

Everyone at work wants me to go buy a lotto ticket for them.

I'm just sitting at home waiting for a gigantic shoe to drop on my head.

That's Debatable

I watched the debates last week. All this hoopla over who won is ridiculous though. It's not the Olympics, there weren't judges holding up score cards after each round (and if there were, I'm sure there would be some sort of addition controversial afterwards).

I don't like Kerry, especially with his new tan, it makes his freakishly large teeth even freakishly whiter. I think Edwards is either a used car salesman, or an evangelist, both make me oogie, therefore he's the anti-Christ to me.

I did squirm as Bush lapsed into moments of silence, and looked a bit confused. But at least he talks normal. I'd probably lapse into moments of silence too trying to decipher what the hell Kerry is babbling about.

I made a list of things that really kinda freaked me out, and yes, they all came from John Kerry. I'll save the really freaky thing for last.

1.) "Weapons of mass destruction are crossing the borders into Iraq every day." Good Lord! I guess he's right in one aspect, that whackos from far and wide are coming in to cause chaos and grief. I guess you could say that a car bomb that kills a bunch of innocent people does cause massive destruction... But if that is the case, then we had every right to go into Iraq and stay there... STOP THOSE WMD FROM CROSSING THE BORDER!!!

2.) "The solution for Iraq is do to better training, faster" Really? That'll solve all the problems right there. Seems ridiculously simple, and simple minded. No shit Sherlock? It wouldn't possibly be that these poor people, who for years were terrorized, beaten down, and stepped on need a little bit more than faster, better training? I mean, what with all those weapons of mass destruction flowing over the border every day.

3.) "If we do what I say, we can start to bring troops home in 6 months"... But he didn't go on to say when all troops would be home. I take it that if one guy comes home 6 months after he's elected, he could say that he kept his promise.

4.) After saying that we need to exhaust all diplomatic methods before sending our troops in, he says "We need to offer the African Union logistical support". For those not in the know, "logistical support" translates to "troops". This was just after he explained to the world how we don't have enough troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Get busy growing those troop trees!

5.) He reamed Bush for taking a stand and even though he's "wrong" never wavering, then went on to say that his ideas are RIGHT and he will never waiver. Huh?

And the top oogie feeling comment of the night:

6.) "I will hunt down and kill all terrorists, I will hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden". Ok, so much for the American way of "innocence before guilt". I'm sure he's not PERSONALLY going to hunt them down, which means (yep) more troops hunting down and killing. ALL terrorists? Checheyan terrorists? Palestine terrorists? Israeli terrorists? Organizations that use "terrorist" tactics (as reported by the "oh we're not liberal, we're middle of the road" media)? Isn't that the same behavior that the US frowned upon when the Israelis started taking out "terrorists"? Sure, there were reports and film of one of our smart bombs taking out a van that "reportedly" carried a whole load of terrorists, but how do we actually know they were terrorists, and perhaps not some family on their way to a picnic? But even in the freak out time right after the September 11th attack, President Bush said that we'll hunt them down and bring them to justice. That probably meant "hunt them down and kill them", but when you have a potential future president vowing to "hunt people down and kill them"... that's really scary.

Personally, if he does get into office and starts hunting down and killing "terrorists", I hope he starts with some of these "animal liberation" organizations, because they're just plain nuts.

I hate my Jetta

I have a 1996 VW Jetta, and I hate it. It knows that I hate it, and I don't care.

We bought it because we had to, our 4-runner's engine blew up and we didn't have another reliable car, so we bought it. Afterwards, we checked Consumer Reports and found that they advised NEVER buy a 1996 VW Jetta, it was a very bad year. Thanks.

The door trim falls off. That handy lump of rubber that runs along the door just oozes off, drags along the ground, makes people laugh as you drive. I've had it replaced at least three times (at 80 bucks per trim, per visit), until finally I just gave up. A myriad of electrical problems, things falling off it, expensive upkeep, and no matter what I do to it, it ungratefully falls apart a week later.

Not more than a month ago, I gave it brakes, brand new brakes. Before that, I fixed the oil leak it developed. Friday I go to start it and the coolant light is blinking. I should have known... we got some unexpected money, so it wants a piece of that action.

A few days ago, I put air in the tires. I really, REALLY hate putting air in tires. When I was a kid, I saw a news report about some guy that was putting air in a semi-truck tire, the tire exploded and took off the guy's head. EEEEP!

Ever since then, I contort my body into bizarre positions in order to reach the tire thing, but keep my head out of the way. Better yet, I'll just wait until the tire gets noticeable low before putting air in... like when it's completely flat. My other devious plan is to wait until hubby is in the car, then go get air because he'll do it for me.

So just when I start feeling somewhat better about tires not blowing up, I'm watching some tv show about a blind guy that works on race cars. Pretty cool stuff... until they announce that he lost his sight 6 years ago after a farm tractor tire blew up in his face.

Next time the tires are low, I'm just going to go get new tires... if the stupid Jetta will run.

Smack in the Face

Our 15 year old Siberian Husky, Nova, has been doing very well since his refusal to eat and discovery of liver failure. He has his more creaky days, but generally he's a cranky old dog going about his business as usual.

He seemed even more creakier the other day, plus we noticed that his butt was a bit irritated. Called and got him an appointment for his follow up bloodwork and to check out the butt problem. We were also going to see if he could take some new arthritis medicine to help his creaky bones.

Our usual vet saw him, we really like her because she's very diligent, attentive, and good. She gave him a thorough once over before the bloodwork, which included a prostate check, her reaction was immediate "CRAP!". He has a small fist-sized mass in his lower intestinal tract close to the anal glands. It wasn't there 4 months ago when she last checked, and we could tell she was very upset that she hadn't checked at each visit.

Turns out that even if it isn't cancer (we're waiting on the cytology to come back to see whether it is or isn't) the mass is in an inoperable spot. It will continue to grow until it blocks the rectum. Even if Nova were a young dog, it still would not be operable. If it is cancer, then chances are the cancer will spread to other organs, and the brain. His lymph nodes are very tender, so she suspects that has already happened, and it may be why he's been disoriented at times.

Best case scenario: it's not cancer, but eventually the mass will grow and block his rectum. Worst case scenario: it is cancer, it'll affect his entire body. Either scenario: we're talking months. Not "if", but "when".

We thought we were going to lose him a few months ago, but he recovered. We went into the vet thinking "we got this under control", only to find out that you really never "control" things.

Hubby is taking it very hard. I'm in "gotta be strong, think clearly" mode. I have to keep reminding the both of us that we can't dwell so hard on death that we miss what life we have with him. Our vet is crushed. She blames herself for the whole mess, but in fact, she's done a fantastic job, which is why we like her so much. She actually cares, and her patients' health affects her.

This really sucks, but it's a part of life... and death. Embrace life now.

Flung, Tossed, What's the Difference?

After having just read the Bernard Goldberg book "Bias", I'm a little hyper-sensitive about the news lately. What better example of "slant" can there be with the recent news story where a young man was fleeing police in a car with his girlfriend's baby inside.

I saw the video. Had I not, the stories written about what had happened would have made me angry and caused me to hate this man (who later died after ramming a police car).

Here are two examples of headlines:
"Baby Flung Out Of Car During High Speed Chase"
"Baby Tossed Out Of Car Window During High Speed Chase"

HOLY SHIT! Some guy FLUNG a baby out of a car during a high speed chase? "Flung" gives the reader the image that as this guy was whipping down the highway (at a high rate of speed) he FLUNG the baby (just the baby) out of the car. Subsequent descriptions written about what happen to the baby (in a car seat) after it was "flung" suggest that the car seat "tumbled" across the highway. Well, duh... if a baby in a car seat had been flung out of a speeding car, you would think it would skitter down the road. He must have done that to create a distraction for police so he could get away! He certainly deserved to die in the ensuing accident as he probably purposefully rammed the police car.

HOLY SHIT! Some guy tossed a baby out of a car window during a high speed chase? While this guy was whipping down the highway (at a high rate of speed) rolled down the window and flung the baby out the window. He must have done that to create a distraction for police so he could get away! He certainly deserved to die in the ensuing accident as he probably purposefully rammed the police car.

EXCEPT, I saw the video. Even before I read these stories, I happened to catch the video feed on CNN and from my perspective, I saw this:
Some guy was being chased by police. He slowed the car down to almost a complete stop. He opened his car door, and placed the baby seat on the road. The car was still moving slightly, so the babyseat bounced lightly a few times and tipped over, as the man pulled away. Police stopped and picked up the carseat and unharmed baby. Later the man died when he hit a police car (that part wasn't on the video, so who knows what really happened). When I saw the video, I thought "At least the guy had the common decency to get the child out of harms way". I felt his actions were that to save the child from harm, that his intention was not to harm the baby. The news people didn't say why he was being chased, but even if it were for murder, he had at least a SHRED of common decency in him.

So... upon seeing the video, not once did I think the baby was flung, and there's no mistaking that he opened up the car door, so how could it even be written as truth that he threw the baby out of car window... unless whoever wrote the story did absolutely NO ivestigating whatsoever, and didn't even watch the video, and perhaps wrote the story based on what someone told them. That's not reporting, that's pure fiction!

Regardless, doing a Google News search, the flung baby, and tossed out a window story were perpetuated by news service after news service throughout the United States (and probably other countries as well). People who were not able to watch the actual video were led to believe (mistakenly... maliciously?) that this guy flung a baby, or tossed it out a car window from a speeding car.

This is just one blatant example of how the news MEDIA manipulate their audiences. It gets them ratings. I can't count the times CNN alone played the video over and over, with their newscasters explaining to us what we were seeing... because we're too stupid to make our own decisions on what actually happened.

I've been very cynical of the "news" for a long time, but Mr. Goldberg has helped me understand more of the "spin", so I can be aware of other "untruths" that filter into reports to help me "make up my mind" on important issues.