Title

No, I didn't run out of ideas for the name of my posts. I'm talking about the title for my recently-defunct dung pile of a car. Back in June, I was in a wreck. Long story short, they totaled my car, sent some money to the bank and I had to pay off the rest of the loan if I wanted to keep the car. So I got a personal loan to cover the rest of the car loan. I expected to receive the title in the mail soon thereafter. It was a big hunk of doo-doo, but it ran and I needed a car.

Months passed and I didn't get the title. I kept on meaning to call the bank about it, but you know how those things go. Believe it or not, this is the abridged version.

Now I have to have the title in order to sell the poop pile to the junk yard. I finally called the bank. "Who paid off the loan?" I did. "I see here that we got a payment from Progressive." Yes, but I paid off the rest of it with a personal loan, so it belongs to me. "Oh, well it looks like we sent the title to your insurance company. I'm sorry, but you'll have to call them."

Gah. So I called Progressive and, three transfers later, I was connected to someone who had a vague idea of what to do. "You're going to have to talk to the claims adjuster, Tyson, who took care of the claim in June. I'll call his number and see if he's there." Of course, he wasn't. The customer service rep left a message. However, my cell (only) phone was out of juice and I wasn't able to get some power until late that evening. I wasn't really looking forward to talking to Tyson, because he told me that there was no way that I was going to be able to keep my car in the first place. Wrong!

During my cell phone's short period of death, a different adjuster (thank goodness!) had left a message asking me to call back between 8am and 5pm. Why is it always during work that I have to call these people?

When I finally talked to the guy about my title, things started going downhill even more. "I received a message that you had a question about your claim #---------------- (stupidly long number) on June 21, 2007. You wanted to know something about your car's title?" Yes. I want it. "You kept possession of the vehicle?" Yes. Your company totaled my car. A payment for the car was sent to my bank and I paid off the rest of the loan so I could keep the car. "If we recieved a title, then your claims rep should have sent it to you." Yeah. I don't have it. "Well, I don't see in your file that we received a title. Are you sure your bank sent it to us?" That's what they told me. "Would you mind waiting for a minute while I go get the physical file?" No problem.
(Five minutes later.) "I see from your file that the title was sent to our Houston office. They should have sent it here, but it's not anywhere in the file. I'm going to have to do some research here. I'll call Houston and try to figure out what happened."

Great. Now I'm probably going to have to go through the state agency that keeps track of these things. And of course they're only open between 9am and 4pm.

RIP - Daewoo Lanos

The good news - No more Daewoo posts. The rest of it is bad news.

One the way to work yesterday, my car stalled as I was pulling into a gas station parking lot. The check oil light had gone on the night before, so I was planning on getting it changed during my conference period. When I tried to turn the car back on, it started, but made a terrible knocking noise and soon stalled again. A kind gentleman helped me check out my oil. I had enough oil, and it looked okay. He suggested it might be the oil pump. No such luck. Another guy came over and helped push my car the rest of the way into the parking spot. I had to call a co-worker to ask for a ride and left my car at the gas station.

I tried calling around to find a local garage that would look at the problem, but apparently no one services Daewoos but one dealership on the other side of town. I wasn't willing to risk driving it, so I had to get it towed.

This morning I got the call. The engine is shot - only $5k for a new engine or $3k for a used one. The car is actually worth $0. Zip. Nada. Even with a working engine. I owe less than a thousand dollars on the car, but I can't handle another car's monthly payment at least until that loan is gone (June 1). I might have to wait until I've paid off my back taxes too. (Long story.) I'm not exactly sure when that will be, but probably after June 1 as well.

So I'm officially carless. It's not that I'm all that upset that the Daewoo's dead. I'm just very frustrated at my financial situation. Not only do I have to keep paying for something I don't have, I owe the dealership for towing and diagnostic fees. I should be able to sell it to the junk yard for about $50 and they'll tow it away for me.

Sarah has graciously offered to carpool until I can afford to buy a car. I'm very thankful for her assistance, but I just can't help but feel defeated.

President Hinckley

Everything I feel about President Hinckley has been said, so I will just say amen. President Hinckley was in the first presidency for all but one month of my life. I've always felt like he could be my grandfather. I love him and will miss him very much. I am happy that he is with his wife again. I look forward to the day when I can tell him how much he changed my life for the better.

They Walk Among Us ...

Sarah received an email forward a few days ago titled "They Walk Among Us" about those with a slower processor than the rest of us. I've got a couple stories of my own to put out there.

#1
We were in the Sam's checkout line waiting on a gentleman to pay for various items in various ways. At one point, he hands the cashier a wad of cash.
He then asks, "How much was that again?".
"$278.14, sir."
"How much did I give you?"
"$300."
"So, How much do I owe you?"

#2
Picture it. Subway. An hour before closing. An early-twenties woman rolls a mop bucket into the dining room. She begins to use the mop-wringer. Unfortunately, it is sitting on the outside of the bucket instead of inside. Water sprinkles onto the floor. She presses a bit harder, in confusion, and the whole bucket tips, making a nice puddle on the floor.

#3
Working as a Customer Service Representative for a wireless phone company was definitely a terrible job. Customers constantly screaming at you, bosses upset because your call times are too high, not being able to fix half of the problems you encounter, boring lulls on incoming calls. During one of those lulls, a bunch of us gathered as close as our headset tethers would allow. That night I met a woman who was so overwhelmed with living/working in such a huge city .... Lubbock. She came from a town of about 300 people. Once she learned that I was majoring in Computer Science, it was all over.
"So, you know about computers, huh?" she asked in her slow southern drawl.
"Yes." I could feel this one coming.
"So ... the internet ... is that just in Texas or do they have it in other places?"

There you go. Feel free to share your stupid-people stories ... or just add them to your blog!

Help Meeeeeeeee!

Ok ... so you can't help me with my laundry, cleaning my room, grading my papers, reformatting my computer, doing the dishes, or writing a whole unit on CSS this weekend ... BUT there is something that you (collectively) can do.

I need a picture. Of myself. A good one. All the pictures I have are of other people. I also have a scarily large amount of pictures of my cats. Bad sign. So if you've got one, please feel free to email it to me. Everyone who reads my blog should know my email addy (I think).

On a side note. I am officially cursed. Once again, a glass item has slipped out of my fingers and smashed into little bits on the kitchen floor. This time, I even cut myself cleaning up. Nothing huge, but a bit painful. Meh.

M&M Madness

Alright. Everyone is doing this "Make yourself as an M&M". Fine.

But mine is a two-parter.

You have to be prepared for this.

First is what you see every day:


It's "the mask" if you will.

Yet ... you must unmask eventually.

To reveal ....
...
...

THE TRUE ME!! Bwahahahahahah!!!!

Hellboy Returns!

I'm a real fan of the powerful yet tortured hero with a big heart. Thus, my penchant for Batman movies, Firefly, X-Men, Trigun (anime), Rurouni Kenshin (anime), Lord of the Rings, and so forth.

After suffering through previews for crap like Ironman and The Ruins, up pops a preview for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I seriously did a little dance in my seat. It took me a second to calm myself. I loved the first Hellboy movie and I have loved the character since I found out about it.

Once again, Guillermo del Toro will direct and Ron Perlman stars as Hellboy. It looks like all of the other characters are portrayed as the same actors as well. They've put out a lot of animated movies since the first live-action movie, so I guess the studios finally were up to doing another one. There's a pretty steady cult following.

Guillermo del Toro turned down directing jobs for Halo, I Am Legend, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to direct Hellboy II. Wow.

I. am. excited. :D

Tiburon the Great

Like the new look? My sister-in-law Tiburon designed it. She put up with my incredible pickiness and several drafts. Kudos to her! Tib's gotta start charging people for this.

There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten. ~Jules Champfleury

No words ever expressed Blondie with more accuracy. Except perhaps "I love yarn!".

Blondie is around a year old, according to current estimations. Kittens "officially" become (adult) cats at 1 year, but I think Blondie will be a kitten for much, much longer.

Every time I go to a Petsmart, I pay a visit to the adoption center just to say hi to the kitties. I adopted Baxter, my best furry friend, from a Petsmart in Lubbock nearly 6 years ago.

I wasn't planning on adopting a kitten, but when I saw a teenie blonde kitten in the first cage, I was in love. She was going home with me. Since I am so very creative, I named her Blondie on the spot.

Blondie is a very interesting cat. She loves to chew and/or eat things like hair elastics, yarn, speaker wire, power cords, or any other cord known to man. She loves to play fetch with small foam balls. When I wake up every morning, Blondie is lying next to or on me - sometimes on my face. She purrs like mad for no apparent reason. Blondie often sleeps in the most contorted positions. She loves to explore the shower right after it's been vacated, but she hates getting a bath. When left unchecked, her claws become deadly weapons. When Blondie smells you, she puts her nose on you so you feel a little wet spot sniffing around. She comes bounding when called, which most cats don't do. If she finds that she's unable to get somewhere she wants to, she'll give a plaintive meow as if someone will come running to her rescue. Her fur is about the same color as my hair. If there's a paper bag around, Blondie is in it, no matter what the size. When she's sleeping, you can't help feeling peaceful.

I'm really glad I have her around.

Scheduling ...

***Warning: I'm depressed. Read on at your own peril.***

My visiting teacher is really cool. I enjoy the conversations we have when we actually get together. She's good about getting in touch with me early in the month, too. She emailed me recently ... and when I didn't reply (I forgot), she called me and left a nice message.

When I began to reply to her message, I realized I have a problem. I’m pulling an all-nighter to get some grading done that I’ve been procrastinating on, so I’m pretty much going to be out of commission for the weekend. The end of the semester kills the next week. Next weekend gets taken over by preparations for the new semester and more last-minute grading. Sarah is pretty darn self-sufficient, but she's still healing from her surgery and needs help sometimes.

But my problem isn't my schedule, it's that I feel like I'm always saying no to invitations. Part of it is work ... being a teacher can really eat up your life. I'm either working my tooshie off, procrastinating working my tooshie off, or sitting on my tooshie trying to recover. The other part is fear.

I've always had a hard time, but it's so much worse in a singles ward. In a singles ward, the bottom-line mission is to get everyone married off. I would like nothing better than to find my eternal companion, get sealed in the temple, and try for kids. Part of that idea scares the pants off of me, though. What if I had been sealed to Chris? What if I pick another bad apple (or I screw up again)? Not to mention the fact that I'm an overweight 26 year-old divorceé‚ with bipolar disorder and bad ovaries. That's a lot to scare 'em away.

I know that my fears are exaggerated and irrational in some ways, but that doesn't make them go away.

Early morning / late night thoughts. Just ignore them, right?

New Year's Resolutions

I don't have any. For me, they just make me feel depressed when I don't keep them. At this point in my life, I live from paycheck to paycheck, a month at a time. Right now, I'm just trying to cope with what's been put in front of me. Sure, I have goals and wishes ...

So to those of you who have made resolutions ... Congratulations! Best of luck to you. Maybe I'll join the ranks again in a few years.

Procrastination: A Way of Life

For many of us, procrastination is just part of who we are. I am well known for late nights, over-nighters, and faking sick when necessary. I've been much more responsible lately, I think. However, I put grading off until the last minute possible.

I hate grading. It's a major reason why I hated teaching math. There are stacks of papers for you to grade. I had to have Chris help me grade. And boy, did he complain about it. I'd get a lecture for not grading them earlier, while still remembering the complaining about how much time I spent working. Well, somebody had to work.

Ahem. I digress. (Apologies.) Change of subject!

I'm working on crocheting a cute little project for my nephew who will be born on April 6th. It's the most complicated project I've done so far in terms of color changes. I've done lots of complicated stitches, but not much color work. I'm working on the easy, big, boring parts first. I love to crochet, but it's so much more fun when it's for someone you love.

School starts again tomorrow. I am currently procrastinating (surprise, surprise) planning for the last bit of the semester before exams. I thought I might pull another all-nighter, but I'm flat out of ideas. In my experience, that means - just go to bed. I'll try to drag my sorry butt outta bed early in the morning to pull some things together.

So. G'nite.

Can't is a four-letter word

Quote from a car ad billboard ... go figure.

Anywho. I guess I'm not a very good blogger. I've never been very good at keeping in touch with people. I never wrote letters, I don't really call people, and I don't email. Hrm. I guess I shouldn't be upset that not many people do those things for me.

Problem is ... I don't really feel like blogging unless I'm depressed. The other problem is that when I'm depressed I make a depressing or whiny post. Woe is me! My life sucks! I think I'll go eat worms!

My fam keeps on telling me to blog because they're the only ones who read it because it's a private blog because I don't really want a creepy stalker because they'd have to be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy creepy to stalk me. **shiver**

I feel so inadequate about my blog. It's not interesting or pretty or anything .... SEE?! There I go with the whining.

Dangit.