Sunday, September 21, 2008

Random Thoughts

I haven't posted for a wee bit so I thought I would today. Mostly I just want to add a few thoughts I've had lately. #1: The farmers market. I love the farmers market. A couple reasons why I like it is because of all the fresh fruit, veggies, and baked goods you find. But another reason is to people watch. The farmer's market has such a dichotomy of people. For example, I saw a woman and her two daughters who I am convinced are polygamists. They were wearing pioneer dresses and all. Unless there was a pioneer parade going down the street somewhere and they got lost, which I doubt then they were polygamists. Another couple people I saw were hippies through and through. Now I love the hippies. They just crack me up. Why? I'm not quite sure. But these three guys were trying to convince this poor girl that she was wasting the worlds water by taking regular showers and that she needed to do what they did and bath in the river. Right...I'm sorry but you can think you are clean by scrubbing yourself with a rock but I can smell you all the way on the other side of the sidewalk. I'll stick to soap and a warm shower thanks. Now the last person I saw was my absolute favorite! It was this guy standing in front of the band that was playing totally jamming. Now that is not necessarily odd but let me tell you what he was wearing. A loin cloth...yup..that was it. No pants, no shirt, no shoes...no service! He was this pasty white, pot bellied man. Needless to say when he walked by me I scooted over quickly...you never know what a man in a loin cloth might do. Thought #2 car shopping and my liability to disclose defects...yes I'm law-nerding out right now...that's what my consumer law professor calls it. I got a new car because my poor little subaru passed on to the great beyond. I ended up getting a 2004 Jeep Liberty. I know an SUV, stupid thing to get with gas prices and all. But here's the thing this area is mountainy and snowy so people get SUV's and only new cars. So that was all I could afford. Also I kind of wanted a car that would last me past school for a while. So I let the car dealership drive my subaru to figure out what I could get for a trade in. While the manager was taking it out I told the sales manager about my transmission problem and he said..."ummm...I'm not going to tell them that." I was figuring I disclosed the problem and the next person they sell it to will have a claim against the dealer and not me. :) But that got me thinking that if you go shopping for a car request a carfax and test drive the car up hills and everything. I am not a fan of car dealers. Thought #3 grasshoppers...again. Now I mentioned in an earlier post about grasshoppers and how I hate them. Well the other day I was out for my run and I ran past this huge grasshopper that has partially smashed but still alive. I felt bad for him but I kept running, but I couldn't stop thinking about him and how I needed to put him out of his misery. So on my way back I decided to stomp on him completely and help him out. So I found him and realized that I couldn't do it. I couldn't stomp on the beady eyed gross thing. I wasted 20 minutes trying to figure out how to kill this poor grasshopper...I even tromped around in a wheat field looking for a stick...which I couldn't find. So my solution was to take a running start, close my eyes and step on him pretending I didn't see him. But I heard and felt the crunch. *shudder* it was gross. So my thought on that is that no matter how much I hate the gross little things I decided that I still feel bad when little creatures get hurt. So I'm not as heartless as I thought. Thought #4 This sign:
Now I found this sign in Elk River, Idaho...which is about an hour East of me. Honestly when you see this sign what do you think? Me...I'm not so sure, I mean are they serious are they being sarcastic? What? But it helped me decide that I will not be tromping through those woods anytime soon only to get mistaken for an elk and shot at. Yes Elk and I look incredibly similiar in the dusk light. You'd be surprised at how many times I have to chase deer away from me. Ahem anyway, moving on. Last and final thought #5: Mustaches. This guy asked me to dance with him at a dance on Friday. This guy is all cowboy and he made me dance to a country song...gag... He has a mustache! Let me see if I can find a similarish type picture of him.
Ha! Yeah right if he looked like Orlando Bloom I'd get over the mustache problem. No no here we go.
So here are my thoughts on mustaches. This guy first off is really nice and everything but I seriously thought he was 40. He looks 40 with the stach! So I sly asked questions at church on Sunday to find out his age because I was really curious. He's around 30. The little rat on your upper lip makes you look forty. It needs to go. Unless you are a motorcycle police office in the days of 47 parade you don't need a mustache. I told my friend she should start dating him and then make him lose a bet and make him shave it off. Oh and one last thing to add to that. Don't ask me to dance to a "two step" country song please. Do I look like the type of girl that knows how to dance to any country? No I don't. Ok that's enough random thoughts for one post. I'm going to go do my homework. Word!

Friday, September 12, 2008

So close, yet...

Well I was so close to being a car owner...meaning I almost had my car paid off. I had it budgeted and everything to be paid off by February. Well...no dice. I'm having car troubles. So I got it looked at and they told me that my car could be fixed; First, by buying two new tires, with a Subaru and an AWD car you have to buy all four tires even if its only one that is shot. So on our way home from Florida I had some axle issues and my dad thought it was the tires so we bought two tires in Chattanooga. I told him we needed to get all four. He didn't believe me. So on to the second thing I'd have to buy, a new transmission. Yup...a new transmission. The repair shop told me the problem was because we didn't have the same tread on all four tires. They say that it keeps the car in AWD all the time which is harmful I guess. But my dad thinks its the driving across country twice hauling a Uhaul. Which I'd have to agree. So they told me that it would cost $3500-$4000. I only owe $3000 on my car. So I decided that it would be better to just get a new car. However, the cheapest half way decent car that will last me through law school and a few years after is $9000. But can I just say that I HATE car shopping. I always feel like I'm being taken for a ride. Here's a great example. I went to a car dealership that had a 2002 Honda Civic for $12,000. So they tell me that they would take my car and reduce the car to $10,950. So then they add all the "taxes, fees, travel expenses, and location fees," and suddenly the car is now $14,000! How the heck does it jump $4,000 in fees? So I left and I was mad! So the next place I went had a 2004 Jeep Liberty for $11,280. So they would take my car for $3500 making the price $8345 or something and with fees it would end up being $8910. Hello! That is not $4,000. Stupid dealership. I'm thinking about the Liberty but then there is a 2003 Ford Escape for $9988. That's without the trade in of my car. So I'm hoping I can pull Escape down. Because I'm a Consumer Report nerd and they said that both cars are decent but the Escape is a little better. So we'll see. Anyway, that was my great day. Stupid car shopping. I had just registered my car in Idaho and everything on Tuesday. Dang it. But that's how things always happen. One good thing though my issue with FAMU has been solved. FAMU was trying to tell me that they could keep 75% of my tuition which would be $11,000. I had only gone to class for 6 bloody days there is no way that they could keep that much money. So I threatened and kept bugging them and finally they sent me an email today that said I'd get a 100% refund on my tuition! Wahoo! I was really worried on how to get $11,000 more dollars. So that was a great thing to hear! Wahoo again! I'll be going back to car shopping again tomorrow after my class. Boo for class on a saturday. Oh well! Well I'm going to go play around and then go to bed so I can hit the farmers market before class. Ok I'm out.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Grasshoppers v. Lizards

So that sounds like a Japanese cartoon. Killer grasshoppers against monster lizards. But no, no that's not what I'm going to blog about. This is about the little gross beady eyed little bugs. When I was Orlando my runs would involve watching lizards run across the pavement. Well here my runs involve jumps and dodges of horrid little grasshoppers. So I'm trying to decide what one I'd rather have, the lizards or the grasshoppers. I decided that I'd rather have the lizards. I hate grasshoppers! I think it goes back to when I lived in Price as a kid. I hate them. A bug's Life is full of it as well. There is no way that grasshoppers are smart enough to force ants to collect food for them. If the stupid grasshopper thinks that its way of escaping is by jumping INTO the person that is their enemy then they need a new attack plan. Whenever I'd see smashed lizards on the pavement I'd feel bad for them. But when I see a smashed one here I laugh! Horrid little bugs. Well I got a new roomie tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. She seems like a nice girl. I expect her to be engaged by the end of the year so no worries. :) Well anyway, I'm off to watch Newsradio.