More car issues

As I blogged on Friday, I took Charlie, my Honda civic, to NTB to get his brakes worked on and his axle fixed. All was well at the end of the day on Friday. I turned in my rental car and Charlie was fine. I drove to and from work on Monday and everything was fine. Tuesday, as I was driving into my office complex I drove over a small stoned in part of the road. As I drove over I heard this weird noise, which scared me. I was right at my work so I just parked.

When I got into my work, I started getting nervous and wondering if something was wrong. I decided to go outside and drive it around the parking lot to see if anything was really wrong or if the noise had gone away. I drove around and it was fine when I was going straight, but when I hit the breaks I heard the noise. It was like a scraping noise, like something was going to fall off. I know nothing about cars so I got my office mate to take a ride around the parking lot with me to see if she heard the noise, which she did.

After that I decided to drive back down to NTB to have them figure out what was wrong. I was like I was just there on Friday and now something isn't right. I was annoyed that I had to take time out of my day to go back down there. They said they would look at it and call me at work to tell me what was wrong and what they were going to do. I said ok and then walked across to rent another rental car from Enterprise. I was annoyed I had to do this because that is another $50 I had to spend. In the end I found out that my backing or breaking plate (I'm not even sure which) had dislodged. They fixed it for no price.

On my lunch break I drove back down and picked up my car again. I tried to see if they would pay my rental car fee since it was their fault that I had to drop my car off again. I was kinda doubtful they would, but I wanted to try. I ended up talking to the manager who ended up a bit huffy. He was like we fixed it on Friday and now it's Tuesday, you didn't alert us to having any trouble right away. He also said that I didn't even ask to be driven to work. He said if I had asked someone one would have. They don't advertise that. I am not even sure they really do that. An how would I have gotten back to NTB to pick up my car? I could of gotten a ride from my office mate, but what if I couldn't have? He probably only wanted to get out of having to pay for my rental car. Either way, we both left kind of annoyed, and I will never be going back to NTB ever again. Good riddance. They were never that helpful/friendly in the first place.

Movies Netflixed

Jeff and I received two Netflix movies that we watched this weekend: Juno and National Treasure 2. Below is what I thought about them.

Juno
We have wanted to see Juno ever since it was in the theaters. However, we tend to catch movies on Netflix. I thought the movie was cute and had some characters that were likable. However, I don't think it lived up to all the hype people were attributing to it.

Also, I'm not sure about the message. No, she didn't try to get pregnant on purpose and I'm glad that her parents were supportive of helping her through it and making the right decisions. However, the movie didn't really show the parents getting furious at Juno for getting pregnant. My parents would have freaked out. They seemed to be a little shocked, but dealt with things calmly. Her boyfriend's mother didn't like her through out the whole movie, but did not seem to have any comment about her pregnancy. They mentioned briefly that her classmates were making fun of her, but barely showed what it would really be like. In the end it was good that the baby was adopted (although that story line was a little messed up too)but, they didn't show any repercussions from her going through labor and giving up her child.

Over, all a good movie, but some aspects are lacking.

National Treasure 2
I like these kinds of movies. I liked the first one - however, I can't remember much of it. I tend to forget what happened between the first and second movies. Anyways, I thought overall the movie was good. I liked the story. However, some parts were pretty unbelievable. I found myself saying, "Yea right, that wouldn't happen."

The pace also seemed to be a little off. The whole movie was basically oh my gosh how do we get through this obstacle, ok we got through it, wait a couple of minutes, and then oh look another obstacle, solve it, wait a few more minutes, and then another obstacle. I think there should have been a bit more down time between each thing they had to conquer. That's just me though. I suppose that's what this genre of movie is about.

Over all, if you can suspend disbelief it's a pretty good movie.

Firefox

Oh Firefox how I <3 thee. Ever since I started my new job (about a month ago) I have been using Internet Explorer version 6.0 - not the one with the tabs. By the end of the day I have a million little windows open at the bottom of my screen, which I'm sure slows my computer way down. It's also a pain to find stuff. Today I downloaded Firefox. It is great. I have my tabs at the top of the screen back and spell checker. Yea for Firefox ;)

Nerdy, but cool

This is a blog all about the statstical program SPSS. It has a forum and tips on how to do things. Very neat resource. I'm sure I'll come to use this site a lot.

The rabbit

I had to bring Charlie (my honda civic) to NTB on friday for new brakes and to get some part of his axle fixed. While he was being fixed I walked over to Enterprise and rented a VW Rabbit for the day. The rabbit is a cute car and just my size (I hate huge cars). I had no trouble driving it around and all was good.

However, I did have some issues when I got ready to turn it in at the end of the day. First of all, the gas tank is on the wrong side. I had the worst time trying to get the gas thingy on the right side to get gas. I had to turn around at least three times. Cars with gas tanks on the left side make things so much easier. I have now decided that it's a requirement in the next car I buy. Secondly, turning it on after I got gas was weird as well. I am pretty sure I turned it off correctly. However, when I got ready to leave the gas station it wouldn't go forward and I started going backward. Uh, what? It took me like five minutes of making sure it was in park and fiddling with the key to get it to go. By that time I was ready to get rid of it.

So in the end cute car, but I'm glad to have my Charlie back.

Give me bacon

For those who love meat and especially bacon this flavored dental floss is for you. I think it sounds totally disgusting, but to each their own.

William Shatner's My Little Pony

The cast of Boston Legal will be designing their own My Little Ponies to help a children's charity. I used to love my little ponies. I can only wonder what design he will put on his ponies butt.

Yummy sign

To celebrate their fresh salads McDonalds has created a sign that is made out of real lettuce. They even went as far as to make sure birds couldn't perch on it and eat the sign.

Cat furniture

I think cat furniture is great although a bit expensive. Milo loves his. However, this cat tree is a little ridiculous. I would be afraid that Milo would fall or get into many things he shouldn't.

PC

The guy who plays PC on the PC and Mac commercials you see on tv all the time is a mac user. Boo on him.

Wedding nerdity

While I suppose this wedding theme is a cute idea, it is very nerdy.

The new Hello Kitty?

I hear that Sanrio is coming out with two new characters called Cherinacherine. They are cute, but I don't know if I like them as much as Hello Kitty. We shall see.

USB fun

While some usb tools like a domo jump drive or a cute flower that is a fan are neat this usb greenhouse is weird.

6/6 Cool things on the web

These large sized lego blocks are so cool. You can make your own coffee table or whatever else you can imagine. Too bad they cost so much.

This laptop sleeve is totally adorable. I would think about it if I actually carried my laptop anywhere. So cute!

Happy National Doughnut Day

Today is National Doughnut Day! Go out to your local Krispy Kreme and get a free doughnut. Mmm chocolate glazed donuts with sprinkles.

The fun and dangers of a lunch break

I haven't had a lunch break in the longest time. For the last two years I worked at a company that didn't give me a lunch break. However, I didn't work enough hours to really really need one. Anyways. Today for my lunch break I went over to dsw (so close) and looked for new black sandals since my old ones are dying. I went to payless earlier in the week (also very close) and didn't find anything. However, today I did find some shoes and they are cute. They are black naturalizer slip on sandals. I will have to see if I can find a picture online. Yea for having enough time to buy shoes on a lunch break :)

Interesting things from the web

Today while web surfing I found some interesting things..

This wii remote is yummy and fun.

This might be a fun tool to get when we finally buy a grill. Though I'm not going to wear the mask.

I don't want to eat real haggis and I don't want to eat this either.

These cat scratchers are so cute looking. This one is my favorite.

This is a cool foodie site that I may end up following and reading. This couple makes many great recipies and takes pictures of each step.

This lamp is cute and a little scary.

Morning Star Farms

I have been trying to eat healthier these days. I've been trying to eat less fried greasy things and lower my risk for heart disease and diabetes. One brand I have found through trying to eat healthy is Morning Star Farms. Morning Star Farms makes veggie products like veggie burgers, "chicken" patties and other varieties. I never thought I would enjoy anything veggie like that, but they are actually really good. I enjoy the breakfast sausage, the ranch "chicken" patties and the corn dogs. All very good. Jeff will even eat them. They taste like the real thing and they have very low levels of fat and usually no cholesterol. So yea for that. Definitely go out and try some Morning Star Farms products if you are trying to eat healthy.

Shopping damage

Jeff and I went to Otakon this past weekend. It was my first convention ever and pretty fun. My two favorite parts of the convention were looking at all the cosplayers and their costumes and the shopping :D I ended up buying a fleece hat with cat ears from Genki Hats. I can't wait till it gets cooler so I can wear it. If I got another one I would probably buy the one with bunny ears. They are too cute. I wonder if I could make them myself. I am sure I could, but I'm not the best with sewing or measurements.

I have my eye on another website with cute things as well. I have wanted something sushi related to wear for a while. Today I found out that David and Goliath has a variety of sushi gear. I'm very tempted. I think the "wassap B" shirt is pretty funny.

Testing one, two three...

Yes, I'm still alive. *brushes the dust bunnies off my blog* I figured I would give this blog another shot.

What have I been up too? Well I finally indulged and bought myself an XM Radio. I bought the Samsung Helix which is a portable xm player that comes with a docking unit. I also ended up buying the head phones that make the signal stronger. They help a lot when I am not hooked up to the docking unit. I was going to get a Sirius radio, but XM's radio's just seemed to be built better and were much cheaper. So far I am enjoying being a satellite radio subscriber. I tend to listen to only a few channels, but I enjoy flipping through all of the other channels.

What else.. Jeff and I are in the process of buying a home. We close on friday which is pretty exciting. I am looking forward to having the extra space and to be able to attempt to put my own personal touches on it, or least learn how too :)