Why I Will Never Buy...

...A Jeep Liberty.

I really don't like this vehicle at all. Good thing it's a rental! I have a few basic issues that may have been corrected on later models, if there are any. I'm not sure what year the rental is. It is a Trail Rated Limited Edition, automatic transmission, and is quite fancy.

So here are my reasons, in no particular order.

• No handle above the driver's door - big issue for a short person. Need that to help haul myself up into the driver's seat.

• No step to assist short people get into the driver's seat. (I haven't checked the other doors.

• This thing is a tank; a giant lumbering ox.

• Rocks way too much in the wind. Feels top heavy.

• Did I mention this thing is a tank? Very hard to negotiate parking lots and parking spaces. Don't try to park between two other vehicles. Even if they are parked perfectly in their spots. It just is not going to happen. (Backing out is an issue too!)

• To reach the gas pedal with more than my toes, I have to sit way too close to the steering wheel. To get most of my foot on the pedal without feeling like I'm stretching and about to slide off the seat, I have to sit even closer. If that air bag ever deploys it will most likely kill me. To be fair, this is an issue I have with most vehicles as I am short. However, this one seems worse than most others I have driven. Even our company van.

• Silver knobs/plates on top of shift mechanisms are stupid. They reflect sunlight that no visors can block, usually straight into the driver's eyes (or corner thereof). Again, not just an issue with this vehicle, and probably not a problem for taller drivers.

And my number one reason I'll never buy this vehicle?

• Where the dash and middle console meet, it slopes down at an angle toward the gas pedal. Making it wider at its base. In order to use the gas pedal, I have to angle my foot to the right. Leaving my leg - and knee - feeling twisted the entire time I am driving. It sucks. Perhaps a taller person would not have this problem; I don't know. All I know is my knee hurts.

Twenty Three Years Isn't a Bad Record

This past Saturday I had my first auto accident. No one was hurt; although my car did suffer some damage.

I was driving to a rock climbing comp about 4 hours away, with my little and her mom in the car. For once, we actually left on time, with 5 hours until the comp started. A Spring snow storm had come through the night before, but the roads were great. Until we got about 1.5 hours from here, and got onto the interstate.

The roads didn't look bad; just like there was snow on them. I was going the speed limit when I decided to move into the left lane because it was clear and the right lane had snow. As soon as we changed lanes, I felt the car start to slide. I turned the wheel a bit to the right to keep us in our lane and from going into the median and then oncoming traffic. Not sure if that was a mistake as we went into a spin. At least I knew enough not to slam on the brakes, and just went with the spin. Because by that point I couldn't do much. At least we didn't roll! The whole thing was surreal.

Book-a-holic Haze

I managed to read 2 books last weekend, even with a trip to B. tossed in. Good thing it was a long weekend!

Went to B w/Little Sis because car needed 80k mile service. I like to have the big service jobs done at the dealership, just in case. Costs a pretty penny, but oh well. They dropped Shanni and I off at the mall, which just so happens to have a Barn.es & N.o.ble attached. Oh, what hardship. We did some clothes shopping, and I didn't get cranky!!! Imagine that. A little tired, but no noticeable impatience. Shanni did well with her money, checking all the sales before settling on what she wanted. She got a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that look too good on her. Sigh. When did she grow up?

We "had" to spend several hours at the bookstore until the car was ready. Oh, the horror. Shanni was laughing at the stack of books I sat down with to give a "test read". But only 2 into the pile I was fascinated by the book I ended up buying:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

The premise is what had me looking at it in the first place. It's about a woman named Libby Day, who survived a brutal attack on her family that left her mother and two sisters dead. She was 7 at the time, and became the star witness that sent her then 15 year old brother to jail for the murders.

Twenty-five years later, unable to really function in society and needing money, she's agreed to help a group that believes her brother is innocent. But they have to pay her for everything she does. A bit of a twisted concept. Most survivor stories are about truth and justice. This one is about survival.

The book is told from Libby's point of view in the present day, but has flashbacks of the twenty-four hours leading up to the murders. Those flashbacks are told from various family members' points of view. Mostly Libby, her mother, and her brother.

It's a pretty grim and unremitting look at a life of poverty. Both when she was young and now. Depression, anger, community biases, prejudices, all those things. "Dark Places" doesn't just refer to where she goes mentally when remembering what happened. Or the dark place her brother was in to have supposedly committed the murders.

The style of writing was captivating. It made me want to know.  It was very hard for me not to flip to the end and see who the murderer was. Maddening. That's not something I usually have problems with! But at some points I had to mentally "sit" on my hands to avoid flipping to the last few pages. The pacing of the book was great, I just wanted to know. [g]

The book is bleak, disturbing at times, but mostly just plain enthralling. Extremely well written. Lots of imagery (At one point Libby describes herself: "Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.")
 
One little development toward the end was too much too much, if that makes any sense. But I don't want to give anything away. The end, while fitting with the overall story, left me wanting a little more. Probably because I'm used to happy-ever-after endings, and with this kind of story there really isn't one. Can't be one.

The final truth was as startling as it was horrifying. But a strong ending to a riveting book. I'd definitely recommend it. I have the author's first book on reserve at the library. I'd buy it, but have already blown through my book budget and don't want to wait to read it.

Trying to Be Cheerful

What's that old saying? It never rains but it pours? Well, KT got in a car wreck last night on the way home from work. She's okay; very shaken but unhurt. And very, very lucky. No other vehicle involved. She says she saw something out of the corner of her eye, swerved to avoid it, then overcorrected and rolled the car. She was on cruise control at the time, so I think she didn't brake. She was driving north, the car ended up on the hood facing south. Scary. Thank goodness she was wearing her seatbelt as there were NO air bags in the car.

But her car is totaled. And they only had liability on it. (For Pete's Sake!! On a teen driver? Her dad was not thinking when he got her coverage!) At least no one was hurt, she's okay, and she has a job & few other expenses. So she might be able to get a car and make payments.

So. Focusing on the positive: I've been reading some interesting books. The first I saw in the bookstore, and got from the library after quite a wait:

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (hardback, 2009 release)

It was actually pretty good, for a first novel. It's set in modern day with flasbacks to the Salem Witch Trials time period. There were times the heavy wording got to me (very scholarly in parts, but then, the main characters were grad students working on theses, so...) and some aspects of the plot were too lightly/quickly developed for me while others were overdone, but overall a decent read. I do wish there had been more of the book spent on the flashbacks/historical chapters. But that's me. I like that time period. Anyway. I'll keep an eye out for future books by Katherine Howe.

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

I just got this at the library on Saturday after seeing it at Costco. (A good source; I browse Costco's book section, enter interesting titles into the notepad feature of my phone, and get them from the library.)

So far it's good. The story is set in the Missourri Ozarks during the Civil War. Admittedly an area of Civil War history I haven't read about. Warning: There are NO quotation marks used to indicate speech. Which is difficult for this grammar freak to deal with. So each time I pick up the book it takes me a bit to get past that and let the story take center stage. But I'm still pausing every little bit going "Wait, did she/he say that or think that?" [Almost makes me giggle, because I have a tendency to wonder that about myself. One of my little idiosyncracies from being single and having a pet!!!] But the book is interesting so far. And I am able to get past the no-quotations thing. I'll post more when I finish the book.

Grease Monkeys

Weekly Goal: 1x Bootcamp, 1x Qigong, 1x Mow Lawn

Apologies in advance if I sound cranky...I'm very tired; slept poorly. Not inclined to parse my words for mood. [g] Dreamt last night I was on the phone with Shanni and she was sick; started with a cold and got worse. I was irritable because she wouldn't tell me the symptoms and I was feeling sick in my dream. Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something? Like if I don't get off my butt and exercise and eat better I'm going to get sick? Saturday was an uneventful day for the most part. I motivated my sorry self out of the house around noon to go get Shanni. We'd planned to work in my yard, putting in the new flower bed borders and starting on the back "deck". Except it pretty much boiled down to a quick run to the cell phone store (she locked her SIM card therefore blocking all but 911 calls) and then to the store to buy a bulb for the car headlight. We had to get someone to help us as the number bulb I needed wasn't on the shelf...the guy told me to bring my car around and they could change the bulb for me. For $5.00 (plus cost of light bulb). I guess I'm cheap, because I didn't want to pay someone to do something I can d0 - and have - myself. Shanni was quite dubious. Once at my house I looked up the instructions quickly online (to make sure I didn't unplug some necessary wires). I had a little trouble getting the cap off. I didn't want to use force (been there, done that, broken a few things!) so first tried finessing it off. Went with force. ;) To make a long story shorter, we changed the bulb. I had a bit of trouble lining the bulb up with all the grooves. Hard to line things up blindly. But finally got it in. At one point during the process Shanni went "Don't you have any guy neighbors we can call?" Pfffffttttt. I also heard "Ooooo...you're dirty!" (Funny coming from a girl who just a few years ago was happily catching frogs in the irrigation ditch by her house.) I said what I usually say, "I'm washable." She was pretty proud when we finished - and the light worked. [g] I also made a point to show her how to check the oil and washer fluid, and where the anti-freeze (coolant) goes. And the battery. I guess I'm going to have to show her how to change a tire one of these days. The rest of the afternoon she kept calling us "Grease Monkeys." So I didn't exercise last week. Went to the chiropractor for my hip Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. By the evening after the second adjustment I felt great! Wednesday was a final adjustment and also to review the x-rays of my hips. Turns out I have very early signs of arthritis in my right hip. Surprise. Not. It's always bothered me, and I figured eventually I'd have arthritis there. Just not at 35. [g] The doc said I can keep on exercising and walking/hiking is okay. I'm just not to take up running. In one of those "did I say that out loud" moments, I went "Please. I just took up walking. Running's not even an option!" He looked a little startled, but laughed. So. Now I really need to lose that extra 20 pounds. Just more motivation! I was afraid he was going to tell me to stop exercising all together. But from what he told me, and from some research I did at the library, I'm okay to continue. Just need to wear really, really good shoes. He told me where I can get some good orthotics (not custom made) for about $50. I think I'll try those before going the orthopedist route again. So. Onward and upward. And it's nice to know I'm not hallucinating the aches in my hip, or the pain when I sleep on my right side. [g] And yesterday I managed to motivate into the garden. One flower bed out front now has a new border - two years after removing the old one. ;) It's that generic plastic border you bury except for the edge, but it works for me. Got 50 feet of it for $5.00. Gotta love procrastinating until the end of the season. Hah. The veggie garden is not making much progress...tomato plant is all played out. Carrots are finally coming up and I thinned them out. Green onions aren't getting taller and browning on top. Lettuce is struggling. But it's getting much cooler. I actually wore jeans out to dinner Saturday night. The Chives and Basil are hanging in there. At least the lime trees are looking wonderful! Not much else to report, except that Shanni keeps getting herself grounded. So far she's lost going out one afternoon, her cell phone for 2 days (oh, the inhumanity! lol) and now our outing to Ga.tes of the Mo.untains Saturday with BBBS. Heh. Poor kid. NOT! I keep telling her about the time my mom dragged me home from a friends birthday slumber party because I hadn't finished my chores. I was 16 at the time...

When White is Bad, & Other Silent Dangers

Sitrep: Zero, much to my embarrassment

I never thought of "white" as a "bad" color. I still don't, but around here, it being April, many people hate white. At least, when it's falling out of the sky. This arctic front that came through last weekend has been dumping a lot of snow. We definitely need the moisture. The snow pack is back to normal levels this year, for the first time in something like a decade. (Or so I hear.) Unfortunately, the 10 inches received by GF and approximately 6-8 inches received in H/EH, isn't sticking around long. In town, that is. I'm assuming that's not the case higher up in the mountains. Since I came up to GF yesterday morning for work, it has pretty much been constantly snowing. A solid 4 hours yesterday and about an hours worth since I came downstairs this morning. Worst of it is it's the kind of snow that looks like rain, and melts on the ground. Best thing of it is the top half of my car is red again, not brown like the bottom half. ;)

Our faculty for this seminar is National and from out of state. One of them called me on Monday asking what to pack for MT in April, especially this week. Ummm, shorts and a parka? It's really that unpredictable. A few days before this front we were pushing 80*F. Yes, indeed, we were! Now we're back at highs in the 30's. Ahhh, such is life in the "far, far West". ;) I wouldn't change it for anything.

The best part of being on the road at these things is the food. We get to eat at the nicest restaurants, and I eat soooo much better than usual. "Better" meaning steak. Yes, this is me talking. I eat steak now. Oh, the things living in MT has done to me! (Actually, that started in Paraguay...MT just reinforced it!) But last night I was feeling "responsible" and thought since I'd eaten a burger & fries for lunch, I'd have the soup & salad bar for dinner. I skipped the lovely cream of tomato soup. whimper. Not that it did me any good. Something I selected took my mini-headache (the kind you get when you're dealing with 80 people at a conference complaining about the room being "too cold" and "too hot") and turned it into a migraine. Alas, guess who forgot to pack her migraine medication???? Yes, that would be me. I haven't had any in so long (not real migraines, just sinus headaches) I didn't even think to toss that little packet in my bag. It was not the funnest night. At least the pain got bad enough to make me throw up (get that poison out of my system!). Funny how once I throw up the pain eases. Finally got to sleep around 2 or 3 am. I've got a local pharmacy filling my prescription just in case. These true migraines usually stick around a few days.

I'm feeling better now, and plan to hit the fitness room in the hotel this evening. I should be feeling right as rain by that time. :) I'm just wondering what happened last night at dinner. I was pretty careful with what I selected. I think the 1000 Island dressing had more garlic in it than normal. It tasted different than what I'm used to...That's happened before, usually with store bought stuff, though. And usually not with such a harsh result. Maybe combined with the peanut butter cookie I had in the afternoon. I'll be skipping those today!!!!

I managed to get my car to the dealership today for the 60k mile maintenance. Funny how I picked the one large town in MT that not only doesn't have a Barnes & Noble, it also doesn't have a dealership for my car! They love me here today. They're letting me use 2 coupons at the same time because I'll be spending enough...Maintenance (a big one) plus All wheel alignment (desperately needed, to be sure!) plus Brake Inspection (also needed!) = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. So the brake inspection is free, and I get 10% off the alignment. That's about $35.00. Hey, every little bit helps! Although I'm sure this will take care of the stimulus rebate I'm getting. [g] But that's okay. This needed to be done!

Alden is Scary, and Thank You VW Bozeman.

Yup. Alden is scary per my little sister Shanni. And this is only the Abs Essentials DVD. [g] She and her older sister KT went with me to Bozeman Monday when I took my car in for repairs. We had to return Tuesday because the part wasn't in stock.

So Monday night the girls stayed at my house. "Slumber Party" they squealed. Yeah, right. I crawled into bed at 9:30 pm. Driving takes it out of me. As well as 5 hours at the mall with 2 teenage girls.

Tuesday morning I got up and was determined to keep going with REVing. It was an Abs day, so it wasn't too hard to make myself do it. But I moved on to Abs Essentials workout #2, because that's where I was and I'm not letting myself go backwards! Shanni spotted me, and was very disappointed that when I pulsed up toward her hands it didn't make the same clicking noise as on the DVD (Alden spotting for Sarah). I had to point out it was his wedding ring hitting the Rev. So she used her finger nail to make the noise. LOL. But she goes "he's scary". I'm like, "What? No he's not!" Her 16 year old sister (still curled up on the couch under a blanket) rolled her eyes and said "No he's not. It's motivational."

Then I said, "He's a Navy SEAL you know." Shani then shot back at me "That makes him scarier." [g]

But when I was done, she wanted to try. So I let her do the original essentials workout with no weights. She did it. Some of it was a bit of a struggle, but she did the whole 15 minutes. Said she could feel her abs. She swears today she doesn't feel a thing. I'm not sure if she's telling the truth or not...

Anyway. Our second day in Bozeman was just as fun as the first. VW went ahead and covered the repair to the catalytic converter under warranty since it expired 2 days before I called in. And probably because I was there in May for the 50k mile checkup which was a pretty extensive one.

While they worked on the car, we spent the day at the mall - again. Their service dept didn't even ask the second day. Just picked up the phone and called their "shuttle" driver and said "We've got some ladies that want to go to the mall." [g]

I "made" the girls spend the first several hours at Barnes & Noble. Monday was their first ever trip to a bookstore like Barnes & Noble. They loved it! It was funny. They kept running up to me to get my cell phone so they could type in book names into the "notepad" feature using the full keyboard. Right now there are 3 book lists going. Me, KT and Shanni. ;)

We also did the "girl" thing. Both days. sigh. Spent more time than I care to admit in Claire's. The cosmetic jewelry store. Eventually I ended up outside on one of the benches, staring longingly down the concourse to B&N. [g]

The girls were great. Only one time did I have to get on them for squabbling. I got a few amused looks from other women in the mall when I said (apparently louder than I was planning to) "Hey! You've both spent the last 2 days in the Mall! NEITHER ONE OF YOU gets to cop an attitude!!!!"

Did you know the 80's were coming back in style? Seriously. KT is so into this; fingerless gloves, fishnet, etc. One of the stores was, like, a total flashback. When we finally left the store, Shanni goes "I didn't like that music." KT responds, "oh, I love retro." To which I yelped "Hey! No calling music I grew up on as RETRO!" Which made both of them start laughing.

The drive was actually fun. On a whim, I put in the unabridged audio book of To Kill a Mockingbird. I figured it was safer than finding music all of us would like, and age appropriate for both girls. Except I forgot the mouth Scout has in this book. But both girls absolutely loved it. The were both really getting into it and laughing. Even Shanni, who was the one I really wasn't sure would enjoy it since she's 11, almost 12. They ended up borrowing my paperback copy to finish the story, since we only got halfway through the book on CD (and that's with total car time of 4 hours).

Anyway. We had a good time, the car is fixed, I'm back on track with BodyRev, and my little sister is now impressed even more with my workout. Even if Alden is "scary." ;)

Timing, as the saying goes, is everything..

A few months back, I started hearing this kind of rattling noise from my car when I'd start it. Or while accelerating or braking. But no one else ever heard it. I figured I was just being paranoid as I have a tendency to do sometimes, and since even I didn't hear it consistently, brushed it off.

Around that time (end of April/beginning of May) I had to go out of town for work to a city where there's actually a VW dealer. So since it was time for my car to be serviced, I made an appointment and took it in. The AC wasn't working well either, so I had them fix that. (Just needed to be recharged). But see, I didn't mention the rattling thing to them.

So. They serviced the car, fixed up the AC and sent me on my way. No mention of any rattle, etc.

By June I started to hear that rattling noise again. Then more often. The second week of July, I had a couple of people tell me they could hear it and I should get it checked out. But by then the convention prep was in full swing and no way was I going to have any time to get the car in to the dealer.

FYI, my car is a 2000 VW Jetta with just over 55,000 miles.

So. I called early this week and scheduled an appointment. The soonest they can get me in is this coming Monday. So I've taken the day off of work and will be going in.

A friend that "knows cars" came by this week to see if he could pinpoint the problem. He said it sounded like the exhaust system, possibly the catalytic converter, which wouldn't be covered under my power train warranty. So I went to the local mechanic he recommended. Who says my catalytic converter needs to be replaced. [I probably shouldn't drive my car so much off-road. lol.] He'll fix it for me, parts & labor, for $340.00. Which I can do, without too much struggle. Irks, but oh well.

Just to be sure it wasn't covered under warranty, I called the VW dealer. The service department guy says there's an emissions warranty that includes the catalytic converter: 8 years or 80,000 miles. I'm good on the miles part. But can you guess when the 8 years was up?????

JULY 29, 2007!!!!!

The technician couldn't believe it...he said to bring it in, and if that's what the problem is he'll call VW and see about getting it covered under the warranty.

So I called VW myself, and they confirmed that it was up on 7/29. Crazy unbelievable. lol. He started the process, but of course wouldn't guarantee that they would cover it under warranty. Sigh. There's a chance, though, but slim. But I definitely have to get it diagnosed by a VW service department. So I'm off to Bozeman on Monday. Definite bright side - they have a Barnes & Noble AND a Borders. :)

Anyway. I'm not freaked or upset. It's just ironically funny. Next time I'm just gonna go with my instincts...I drive my car every day. I know if it sounds off or not...

And also for timing - sometime next month the state is sending out $400 property tax rebates to all property owners. Whoo-hoo. So even if I don't get it covered under warranty, I'm getting money back that'll cover the cost....

Timing, as the saying goes, is everything. ;)

And speaking of timing. These people are leaving just in the nick of time, don't you think?