I got a Flickr account!

(Well, more like I used my Yahoo! account to sign up for a Flickr account.)

Currently there's only one photo in it, but there will be more. Oh yes, there will be more.

I think I'm going to start a support group called "eBay Addicts Anonymous (EAA)."

I've bought a whole slew of stuff that I could probably do without over the last month or so, with the only reason being, "But I'm saving so much money than if I bought it new!"

For example: Sketchers bike shoes. Don't necessarily need (although they will be extremely handy when I use them for biking to work), but wanted. Boogaloo boots for Cody - great price, and they're very durable and will last a long time. (Hey, he needs them.) New/used fly sheet for him to wear while I'm washing/repairing his old one.

The list goes on. Hopefully I'll be able to curb my habit and also sell some of the stuff that I don't use/need.

Either way, it's hard not to justify buying items that are at a great price used, or will end up costing you less than if you got in your car and bought it new. [flips tabs on web browser.] Oooh - an LL Bean backpack! Must… resist!

I finally have a desk in my room, so I was able to set up Calvin (my Dell desktop… yes, I name my computers) and finally have my music collection back!

(Random fast fact about Kendall: she still does not own an iPod.)
-> I'm cheap, what do you expect?

Anyway, my car is now back to its perky self, thank goodness. Although I could have gone without the sizable repair bill, I'm glad it works now.

Today I went up to Herndon to pick up a bed frame/headboard/footboard (which, turns out, didn't fit in my car, so that was a wasted trip), and decided to do the ol' "go on the airport access road and turn around there so you don't have to pay the stupid toll" route. Bad, bad, BAD idea. About a quarter of a mile before my turnaround exit, traffic comes to a complete standstill. No "creeping along at 15 miles per hour, it sucks to own a manual right now" traffic. This was, "put your car in park and shut it off, because we're not going ANYWHERE."

After about 10 minutes of this, people started getting out of their cars to see what the hell was going on. I look over to my right and start seeing motorcycles coming off one of the exit ramps to the airport… Some guy shouts out that he heard that there's this 1000 motorcycle "9/11 remembrance" brigade going through, so they closed off the road temporarily to let these guys do their loop around the access road sans traffic. At this point, it was like a nonstop stream of Harleys, Hondas, and what have you off the exit ramp to my right, and back onto the access road to my left.

Okayy… I'm sorry, but were there any signs indicating that the flow of traffic would come to a dead halt for 20 minutes so a bunch of hog riders could go by? Nope. Nothing to indicate that, "Hey, we're going to basically create a huge traffic jam, possibly causing multiple rear-ender accidents by making everyone stop in the middle of the highway." What.the.heck. Honestly, that's great that they're commerating the anniversary of 9/11, but do you have to close down the only direct road to Dulles Airport without at least warning people or giving them an alternate route? I can't even imagine how many people probably missed their flights because of this. Good intentions - stupid logic - overall a bad idea.

Enough of my boring life. Off to bed.

Recap of last post: me, being stupid, bouncing car over lip into parking deck, thinking I cracked my muffler or some other exhaust part, etc., etc.

I dropped my car off at Monro in Fairfax (the only place that actually let me book an appointment online and had a 15% off coupon) this morning with instructions to replace the muffler. I got a call about an hour ago from them, saying that my muffler wasn't cracked after all (in fact, it only had a dent), but my rear catalytic converter needs to be replaced. What?!

Apparently when I clobbered the underside of my car last week, I actually hit the muffler hard enough to put the rear cc out of alignment. It's so rusted that the gaskets that hold it in place aren't forming a seal anymore, which is what's causing the noise - not the muffler. The cc is rusted and the metal holding it on is so thin, it can't be rewelded and the whole shebang needs to be replaced. All this to the tune of… (drum roll, please) $700!

Damn. That's about 1/3 the cost of my car itself. Monro guy tells me that I'll have to wait several days for them to order a new Subaru rear catalytic converter, and at that point they can fix it. So I thank the Monro guy, tell him I'll pick up my still-broken car this evening, and will think about it.

I proceeded to pull up Cartalk's Mechan-X files and locate a Subaru guy down in Annandale, who comes highly recommended. It would make my day if this place has either a Subaru or aftermarket cc (or will even try to reweld it, depending on how my luck goes) to replace and *hopefully* I'll have my car back to normal soon. So I make yet another appointment to drop my car off tomorrow morning, and then I'll hop on the Fairfax Connector bus back to the orange line and get to work via more public transportation.

It's times like these (and especially with the high gas prices) that I'm thankful I'm such a biking nut and prefer to pedal than drive. I wonder if I could bike to work from the car repair place?

If you're driving around with your car packed to the gills à la Beverly Hillbillies, then be aware of where exactly you're driving… because if you're like me and are more more focused on trying to keep the pile of crap in the passenger's seat from falling into your lap while driving, then you should probably be more concerned with the fact that the car is now much lower in the back than it was before.

In short: I wasn't paying attention to the fact that we have a lip on the entrance to the upper parking deck at work, and literally bounced over it while pulling in on Thursday with my life's possessions in the back of my car. As a result, I cracked the muffler or some exhaust pipe, and now my poor little car sounds like it has led a life of 3 packs a day and now has emphysema. Sweeeet.

And so, since the exhaust system is not 100% intact, my car's ability to go at speeds in excess of 55 mph have diminished greatly. So if you see a green Subaru Impreza putting along I-66 going 55 or less (especially if there's a tiny uphill - then I'll be struggling along at 45), that's me. And don't laugh.