What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[KitKatCara]

The plan is to have a new car by the end of next year. We are keeping this one alive because it's the only vehicle we have. If it comes down to it we may just have to junk it and rely on public transport, but I don't want to get to that point. We've already rebuilt the front end, so I'm not just writing it off just yet. We spent too much money on it to just give up at this point.

I have a really good mechanic that I can bring the car to if it breaks again, and he doesn't charge me anything to just look to see what the problem is. I also asked him if anything else on the car looked bad while he was in there the last time and he said that the back end looked like it needed work but it wasn't urgent. I don't know if we'll fix this or not.

We didn't really have a choice when we bought the car. I was driving a 96 Ford Ranger and pregnant, and it is illegal (in La at least) and not safe to put a carseat in a king cab. Jinx has his 91 Honda Accord, but that thing was driven until it died, then became zombie with all the parts we put into to make it work. We sold that car and my truck to put a 'down payment' on the cruiser. My 'friend' made us a deal that we could pay off the car while driving it because we didn't have the money at the time to outright buy it. She signed the title over to us while we paid what we could every month.

Believe me when I say if we had any other options, we wouldn't have this car. My truck was in great condition (I took care of it like a baby because it's the first car I bought that I could legally drive) and I would still have it if I could.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I was implying that I wouldn't think that someone would do anything too radical in public with their wife and kid right there. I'm also lilly white, so...

Alright, so it's clear you're just very naïve. People do crazy shit in front of their families.

Perhaps Forlorn is the only guy without "The Drunken Uncle" or "Crazy Sister".

Nope. My cousin's wife is a bit snobby because she was raised rich, but that's about it.

[oxymoron]

I still look out for sabre tooth tigers.

Same here. Whenever I go hiking at Mt. Baldy I bring my Remington w/ me. You know, just in case.

[CRTGAMER]

After researching more about my car, I found out that I can't flush the cooling system without special tools so I brought it to the mechanic this morning. He flushed the system and added the antifreeze water mixture for me and didn't charge me anything. He said I had enough trouble with the car and not to worry about it. This is the second time they've done some minor thing to my car and not charged me. I'm really glad that I found them, they've treated me awesomely.

Thanks for all the advice guys. That seems to be what the problem was, the lack of antifreeze. We'll see.

Sounds like you have a great Mechanic! Its actually good marketing for the free service to get you to come back for other maintenance, nothing wrong with that.

Flushing the cooling systems is no big deal, the only special tool needed is adding a simple heater hose adapter for your garden hose and removing the radiator cap. Just have to be careful not to get the pressure too high when you open the faucet. However, the mechanic may have a better system in the shop with pump and whatnot.

When you mentioned lack of Anti Freeze does that mean low on coolant level or just water and no Anti Freeze was in the radiator? If just lack of anti freeze, the flush was a good preventative move. As long as the insides have not rusted too badly, the car will be fine. If low on water, I would keep an eye on it daily for a while, remove the radiator cap only when the engine is cold.

[Luke]

stuff

You should create a "Car Talk" or "Car Help" Thread.

[Forlorn Drifter]

stuff

You should create a "Car Talk" or "Car Help" Thread.

That's actually a really good idea.

[oxymoron]

I had a list of over 15 Gamestops to call and see if they had SNK arcade classics CIB to have shipped closer to me. They had it CIB at the first store I called!

[Sano]

Newegg refused my RMA because there was "Apparent end-user damage to the CPU". Damage I did not cause... lame duck sauce. Hopefully AMD will honor the warranty with them.

[Luke]

I had a list of over 15 Gamestops to call and see if they had SNK arcade classics CIB to have shipped closer to me. They had it CIB at the first store I called!

You are doing great kid (kid isn't meant as an insult), and you are learning a lot in this process. Being able to connect with people is essential in creating a professional (aka money making) business acumen.



Smile: Jesus Cuellar made me a very, very happy man.

Looking forward to another night full of poker and boxing.

[KitKatCara]

When you mentioned lack of Anti Freeze does that mean low on coolant level or just water and no Anti Freeze was in the radiator? If just lack of anti freeze, the flush was a good preventative move. As long as the insides have not rusted too badly, the car will be fine. If low on water, I would keep an eye on it daily for a while, remove the radiator cap only when the engine is cold.

I just put water in it, never anti freeze. My parents never had 'nice' cars when I was growing up so my dad just used water, so that's what I did. My mechanic had a machine that did it and it was a really quick process. He said that the inside wasn't too bad because the water that came out of it was clear.

On a different note, I went to the open house and it was great. I got to see the embalming facilities first hand and everything (no bodies though, you have to sign papers to be able to work on cadavers first). I'm really looking forward to Restorative Art and Embalming. I met the instructors as well, and had a pretty lengthy chat with the Dean of Students. He was curious about my home town when I told him I wasn't from Texas, and was impressed with all the facts I was able to tell him.

I also found out that because of how the school divides it quarters, that I will end up getting more money from the Pell Grant and loans than I thought. This means that I don't have to pay anything until 6 months after I graduate, and I will have enough left over to take a chunk out of my loan and pay for any other school related expenses I may have. I was worried at first because I need a new computer but now I have more than enough.

They also gave me cookies. Anyone who gives me cookies is a winner in my book.