The Rest of the Car Story...

Revisiting the car fiasco from Friday ... Anne came over to jump my car so I could go to work. My nice neighbor Howard came out and tried to help us, and after a few minutes of letting it charge, and Howard thinking that it may be an alternator problem since the jumping didn't seem to be doing much, it finally started up. After thanking them profusely, I drove it to the shop where I get my oil changed (I'd already had an oil change scheduled for Friday - go figure).

I parked my car and turned it off, then decided to see if it really was dead - so I tried to start it up again - key word being TRIED. Yup, it wouldn't start. The radio and lights still worked, but it wouldn't turn over. I told them inside exactly what was going on, and they said they'd take a look at it. Of course, if it was a dead battery, they'd have to put in a new battery before they could really do any other work on it. I bought a battery at Honda not too much over a year ago, so I knew that it was still under warranty - but I was out of luck because I was not AT the Honda dealership - nor did I have any way to get there since my car wouldn't start. After talking to my dad though, I decided to go back and make it work so I could take it to Honda so at least they could test it and do a better electrical test on it than the tire shop could do. Or so we thought.

My boss came and picked me up to go to work just as my dad and I decided that I should take it to Honda. So we went to Home Depot to buy some jumper cables (since I still have not bought any after all these years). Home Depot of course had the super heavy duty ones for $30 - well I knew that I could buy the entire car emergency kit at Costco for the same price, so we decided to hang out until Costco opened in 20 minutes (across the parking lot). Of course though, our Costco was sold out of the kits. Just my luck. Back to the car shop to get my car ... it started ... and I took it to Honda. Of course they were very happy to help me and make me feel comfortable leaving my car there.

And the dreaded phone call came ... "Yeah, you're going to need some work done on your car, dear." Oh really? Like what? Well ... the battery was fine. That's the good news - although at this point I'd much rather pay for a new battery than the rest of the stuff! You need a new starter. Your front brake pads need to be replaced, and the rotors turned. Oh and by the way, your catalytic converter is bad, as is the O2 censor, so when you take the car in to have the emissions tested, you would receive a big fat FAIL sticker on my car. Nice. Not to mention the fact that power steering fluid is leaking onto your alternator, so you need to fix that and have your fluids flushed. And while you're at it, you should probably get a new timing belt, since your car has 110,000 miles on it. Wow, when it rains it pours!! The nice man on the phone then gave me the prices for all of this "work" that had to be done ... of course he didn't add it all up for me, but I promptly did that and came up with a whopping $3,500!!!! I don't think so...

I told him I needed some time on this one. I called my dad, who was floored (and also angry). I am so sick of car people (men) trying to take advantage of an unsuspecting female who apparently knows nothing about cars. I am sorry but I know enough to know that I am not going to spend $3,500 repairing my car!! That is completely absurd. My boss and I called the guys that work on his cars ... and I told him what Honda had told me. His response: "Is he trying to scare you into a new car??" Sounds like it to me! Now did I really plan on having the dealer work on my car? No thank you. Especially when they threw that bill in front of me. Of course when I called to tell him I was coming to pick it up, he gave me the "well if you go to an after-market shop, they will give you a better deal but you will not have a Honda certified technician working on your car, and you won't have genuine parts." Ok, fine. "And I'll have to charge you for the diagnostics too, which I wouldn't if you left the car with us..." Oh that's sweet - you'll throw in the $94 diagnostic fee if I give you $3,500 ... great bargain! ha ha

Tom drove out to Manassas with me to drop my car off ... and there it stays for a few days. I talked to them today and yes, I do need a new starter (hence the starting problem - that is not rocket science), the front brakes do need to be replaced, and I should have a new timing belt put on - the last thing I need is to be driving and have my timing belt bust! However - he did tell me that the leak from my power steering was very slight and shouldn't be a problem. AND - if I don't have to have my emissions tested when I register my car next month, then I don't need the catalytic converter right now - its not going to inhibit my car, so that's good. I just checked, and luckily, I don't need it right now ... so that's good news :) Its still not going to be a pretty ticket charge when all is said and done, but at least I know that I am not going to get royally ripped off like the Honda dealership had in mind. Even still though - so much for the tax return that I worked so hard to get this year!

So right now I'm car-less. It is a weird feeling to not be able to get up and go whenever or wherever I want. I am used to my independence and I never really thought about how much of that you lose when you have to rely on other people for transportation! Tom came and picked me up for work this morning. I was meeting a couple friends for dinner after work, so I decided to walk there. It was 3.2 miles, a gorgeous day outside, so that shouldn't be a big deal. It was a little warmer than I thought when I started walking, but not bad. There were sidewalks most of the way. People do it all the time right? Well yes, but maybe not in Fairfax, Virginia! I wasn't exactly wearing walking clothes - much less socks and shoes. I am pretty sure I have blisters on both feet now, but that's ok. Since I didn't have a car to get to the gym this morning, I had to make up for it somehow!! Oh well - live and learn right? I just keep hoping that soon my luck is going to turn around ... bad things come in 3's right? First my passing out, then my back, now my car ... hmmmmm. I guess only time will tell!!

Road Trip.

I'm baaaaack. Jenny and I headed out on our weekend adventure to Cincinnati on Friday after we got off work, and after I took my car to the 3rd shop of the day (more on that story another time ... ) so we took Jenny's car for the weekend. Oh what fun it is to ride ... oh wait, wrong song ... but oh what fun it is to leave on a Friday night at 6pm. We hit traffic, but it wasn't terribly bad since we went a back way to avoid the Beltway (affectionately known as the 'parking lot of life').

We made good time other than the traffic we had at the beginning. We also learned that we would be totally ok without ever going to Cumberland, Maryland again. We stopped there for dinner. We went to Chick-Fil-A ... pretty safe, right? Well we went through the drive-through and when we got up to the window, the girl took our money, handed us our drinks, and then said "your sandwiches are not quite done yet - we have been really busy tonight, it will just be a few minutes." Ok, weird ... but whatever. We got our change, and then she handed us a bag - our fries or something (yes, really healthy, I know), and then said that the sandwiches still weren't done, "so if you could just pull forward, someone will bring them out to you in a few minutes." We looked at her confused for a minute and then just as we were going to pull forward, she handed us our sandwiches and didn't say another word. Bizarre. We left Cumberland just about as fast as we could ... and we drove all the way to Zanesville, Ohio, where we camped for the night - ok not really camped, but stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which we'd booked on Priceline for $40 before we left (isn't Priceline great?!?)

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to grab yogurt and bagels from the hotel breakfast and get on the road to make it to the Columbus temple for the 9am session. The Columbus temple is one of the small temples - one that shares the parking lot with the stake center. The session was completely full - even overflowing - since they brought in folding chairs for some men. It was one of the first sessions I have ever been to that there were actually more MEN than WOMEN. And probably more single men than in any session I have been to in the DC temple in a long time. Weird? I think so. The temple was great - and then we hit the road headed for our final destination - Cincinnati.

Sarah & Eric were nice enough to let us stay with them while we were there. I think Sarah is my longest friend that I still keep in touch with ... she and I met when I moved to St. Louis in 1989 and have kept in touch ever since. Well, we were slated to be at Sarah & Eric's house at about 1. I learned the hard way that GPS is only good if the battery is charged. Unfortunately, the charger that I have was left in my car, which was at the shop - not doing me any good when I am halfway across the country!! Oh, and so was the map that I swear by. Smart, Shanna, really smart. At least we had directions to Sarah's from the temple though, so we were fine. Or we thought we were. We drove and drove, and then hit Cincinnati - downtown Cincinnati. I didn't know exactly where Sarah's house was, but I knew that they did not actually live IN Cincinnati ... so I called her and found out that we had driven right by it. I guess I just didn't get the directions out soon enough. This is why I bought GPS - I am directionally challenged!! Anyway, our little detour cost us about an extra hour or so - but we did get to go to Kentucky en route :) So we hit 6 states on our trip ... Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Not too bad for a couple days.

We relaxed at Sarah & Eric's house when we got there and played with Abigail. She is adorable - walking around everywhere and screaming all the while. She was a little confused about these new visitors for a little while but then she warmed up to us and we had fun. Sarah made us a great dinner and then we headed off to Cincinnati (again) for the main reason for the trip ... Great American Ballpark.

For those of you that don't know, I have a personal goal to go to a game at every Major League Baseball Stadium. The game this weekend was #22 on my list. However, the problem is that teams keep building new stadiums, so some of those aren't actually active, existing stadiums anymore (like the old Atlanta Fulton County and St. Louis' Busch Stadium) - so I just have to keep going to all of these places! Jenny and I did make a list though on our way there (we had some time on our hands!) and this was a milesone for me ... Cincinnati was my #16 of the 30 active ballparks, officially putting me over the halfway mark :) Hooray!!!

Well - who would have guessed that a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies would be soooo crowded that it was practically sold out?!? Neither team is good - so the only thing we could come up with is that it was a gorgeous day (first in a LONG time) and people wanted to get out and see a good ballgame (and as Sarah & Eric said - there really isn't much else to do in Cincinatti)! So ... we waited in the ticket line only to find out that the cheapest seats available were $32!! Crazy. But, since we drove all that way, we couldn't say no. The seats weren't bad though - we were right down the foul line in right field. They were prime foul ball territory - unfortunately, none came our way (wimpy hitters)!

The game was fun though - and the stadium and field were beautiful. It makes me realize (or rather remember) just how ghetto the DC National's RFK Stadium is (can't wait for their new ballpark next year)! Cincinatti has lots of team pride - of all those people in the sold-out crowd, I did not ever see one Philadelphia shirt. Sarah and I did notice an interesting sign though ...

In the 8th inning, I finally realized that the Phillies' bullpen was just to our right (below our seats). I guess I never noticed before since their pitcher pitched a complete game, so there was no action going on down there. I went to take a couple pictures, and some teenage boys also came over - to heckle the pitchers and catchers who were warming up. After the game, they went back, and we stood there for awhile watching. One of the pitching coaches threw a ball up, and this punk kid tried to catch it, but ended up swatting it back down to the bullpen. The coach pointed to him and said "this is for her" and threw it right to Jenny! Lucky for her :) That was about as close to the action as we got last night - it was lots of fun!

After visiting for a little while longer with Sarah, Eric, & Abigail this morning (and letting Abigail use my perfume, ha ha!), we went to a 9am ward this morning (and remembered how interesting it is to visit other wards...) and then hit the road. We made it back, despite all of our stops, in about 9 hours. Not too bad considering how much we were drinking and had to stop for bathroom breaks! Jenny even agreed to let me take a trip down memory lane by going to Waffle House to eat. The memory: that is where my family went to eat on our way home from my baptism in Atlanta (on Halloween morning). I am still not sure how that materialized ... Waffle House?? Mom, Dad, anyone?? I guess my taste in food has matured since then. Let's just say that I'll be just fine if I never eat there again. Not that it was bad - it was just that, a waffle house. But, all in all, it was a great weekend. Lots of travelling, lots of funny stories, and I am exhausted - but its all worth it! Next up on the baseball docket: Florida. Stay tuned :)

Seriously? Seriously.

I should just expect random crazy things to happen to me, since that seems to be the story of my life lately. But for some reason, it never ceases to amaze me - or at least make me laugh about it!

I went to get my hair cut last night - everything was fine there. However, when I went out to my car to go home, it wouldn't start. Hmm. That's odd. I called Jenny and she was on her way to come jump my car and I'd be off. I walked around the parking lot and went to Baja to pick myself up some dinner, and then when I went back to my car, it started just fine. Ok...

At home, Jenny, Russ, and I were having a nice dinner ... and then out of nowhere, I started choking. On what? I'm not really sure. Seriously though - I could not stop coughing, and my gag reflex was kicking in and I thought I was going to throw up. Russ slapped me on the back a few times, but every time he thought he'd need to do more, I started getting what sounded like better. Tears streaming down my face, I could hardly breathe. The whole thing was quite humorous - well, when it was all said and done anyway! Not really sure what that was all about, but I survived (not that there was any doubt) - it was just really bizarre.

This morning: I got up and walked out to my car to go meet Michael at the gym at 6:30. Guess what? Yeah, my car won't start. Nice. "Hey Michael ... um ... my car won't start." Seriously, he is going to start thinking that I am making this all up!! Just one more excuse that I can't go to the gym and work out.

Thank goodness for visiting teachers. Anne is coming over to jump my car, after which I will be driving directly to the shop where I take it ... and hopefully they can tell me what is wrong with it. I bought a battery not too much over a year ago, so it hardly seems like that should be the problem. Then again - what do I know about cars?

I just hope everything is ok - since Jenny and I are driving to Cincinnati this weekend!! I kind of need my car for that ...

Apology and Refund from TurboTax

ha ha ha ... I just got this email from TurboTax ... I know I wasn't the only one with problems since it was all over the news, but I didn't realize it was that big of a deal! I can't complain though, since apparently I was able to file my taxes for free :)

Dear TurboTax Customer,

We want to let you know that Intuit will be refunding any TurboTax credit card charges that were charged to your credit or debit card between 3 p.m. PDT Tuesday, April 17 and 4 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 18.

We deeply regret the frustration and anxiety you may have experienced trying to e-file your return on April 17.

We worked closely with the IRS to allow taxpayers who were affected by the delay to file their returns until midnight tonight, Thursday, April 19, without penalty. Intuit will also pay any other penalties that customers incur as a result of the delay, although none are anticipated.

We will be contacting you early next week with additional details about this refund. We value your business and appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,
Bob Meighan
Vice President, TurboTax Customer Advocacy
Intuit, Inc.

One Day I'll Learn ... Maybe.

Its 11:52pm, on April 17 - and guess what I just did? Yeah, that's right, my taxes. Ok, I didn't just start them or anything, but I had to finish them up and e-file them tonight. Well of course I decided to go to the Nationals-Braves baseball game tonight because the Braves were only in town for 2 games ... I left after the 7th inning stretch since it was sooo cold and windy!! It was neat to see the Nationals all wearing various Virginia Tech hats as a tribute to those affected by the horrible tragedy at VA Tech yesterday. There's a cool video on espn.com showing it.

So I came home and opened up Turbo Tax and made a few adjustments, talked to a couple people online (thinking that I had plenty of time), and by 11:30 I was finished - ready to upload, file, and go to bed. Well when I pushed the 'send' button, an error message popped up that said something like "We're sorry, due to an unexpected amount of filing, we are unable to accept returns at this time. There is no need to contact Customer Service. Instead, please try to file at another time. The best time is between 4am and 4pm Pacific Standard Time. Thank you." Hmmm ... not exactly what you want to read when you have 1/2 hour left to file your taxes!!! 4am Pacific Standard Time is 1am here ... and that is April 18, one day too late.

What exactly DOES happen if you file your taxes late? How much are you penalized? Does a few hours or a day really make THAT big of a difference?

In the meantime, my tax return is printing - and not in the 'fast format' that I usually print things out in, for some odd reason, it didn't give me any options. Of course the ink in my printer starts to run out and the little message pops up that tells me the quality of my print-outs will diminish since the ink is almost gone ... great ...

At that point, I decided that I should probably fill out one of the 'File an Extension' forms and take it to the Post Office to have it postmarked by midnight. I know of one post office that stays open until midnight, but have no idea if I can even make it there in time. So I'll take a chance that the other one closer to my house is open late on Tax Day. Unfortunately - my entire tax return - Federal and State - have to print in their entirety before the Extention form I just completed would print. Will there be any ink left in my printer by the time it gets through all the other pages?

Hmm - I don't even have a 'normal' envelope ... so I pulled out a Hallmark Fresh Ink card envelope, with green squares and circles on it, and addressed it to the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta, Georgia. Gotta keep things interesting at the IRS every so often, right?

I kept trying to e-file ... once it actually looked like it was connecting, uploading information, and then another error message came up. I tried again. Sorry, no such luck. Again, nothing. Hmm, this is getting very frustrating. My returns finally finished printing out, as I now had a sweatshirt and shoes on with my pajamas, ready to run out the door and try to make it to the Post Office in time. The Extension form finally printed, I folded it up and secured it in the Hallmark envelope, and just as I finished doing it ... my e-filing went through. At 11:51. No kidding. Is this some kind of sick joke? Well, either way, I'm not complaining ... the IRS will really miss my colorful envelope though!!

My taxes are done - and the Braves won - not a bad day after all!

Cherry Blossom Parade

Its April in Washington DC and that means the Cherry Blossoms are out. Well, they were out. We've had some crazy weather lately so the cherry blossoms didn't stay out for quite as long as they usually do this year, but that didn't stop the Cherry Blossom Festival from happening downtown.

The Tidal River basin near the Jefferson Memorial is lined with cherry blossom trees, and in peak season, they bring to life the words to "Popcorn Popping." The sweet smell of the blossoms and the beautiful sight of hundreds of trees are one of my favorite things about spring in Washington DC.

I went with Mary, Camille, and Milu yesterday morning to watch the Cherry Blossom Parade. I've lived in DC for 5 years and I have never been to the parade, and it was a great way to spend my Saturday morning. There were, of course, tons of people downtown, but that's all part of the experience! Japan brought the cherry blossom tree to Washington DC, so the Japanese tradition is very much a part of the Festival and Parade. Of course a parade is a parade, with all kinds of crazy floats, clowns, marching bands from all across the country, the Cherry Blossom Princesses and Queen, and even an American Idol finalist from last year (Ace Young).

We had fun taking it all in - everything from the Care Bear and giant dog floats to the nasty chicken on a stick to the always-entertaining people-watching! We spent a little time at the Japanese street festival for a little while after the parade, and then had yummy sandwiches at Potbelly before heading home to avoid the rain. There's never a dull moment around here!

Google Rocks.

Take 60 seconds to do this, it will give you a good laugh for the day!

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. scroll down to step #23

And follow directions…

Google and Wikipedia ... what did we ever do without them?!?

Living near DC is pretty cool...

A client of ours came in this morning and told us that President Bush would be driving by a little later today, after a brunch meeting he had just down the street. When we heard the helicopter overhead and saw the policemen lining the streets (which were completely blocked off), we walked down to the corner to have the Sherriff ask us if he could help us. We told him we just wanted to watch, and he said "ok the best place to stand is under the Rite Aid entrance."

So we waited and watched as the motorcycles started zooming around the corner first one at a time, and then two by two. Then came the cars ... I have never seen the President's motorcade in person before, and it was quite the sight. According to Wikipedia (the source for everything), it consists of about 35 vehicles - everything from the 2 limos to an ambulance. I guess I didn't realize just how many people it takes to escort the President anywhere he goes.

Too bad I left my camera in my purse, back in my office. But it was still a pretty cool thing to watch right here in little old Fairfax, VA :)

Easter Sunday

Heidi and Justin blessed their darling little girl, Sydney Grace Bunker on Easter Sunday. I'm so glad I was able to attend the blessing. She's such a sweet girl! I just couldn't help staring at her all through church. She has a full head of gorgeous dark hair that she loves to run her fingers through. Its the cutest thing! Here's a picture of us after the blessing - unfortunately, warm Easter weather is far from what we had!! It was freezing - and very windy, as you can see in the picture.

Courtney & Kirk invited me over for a wonderful Easter dinner, so I headed over there after church. We had a great meal thanks to Courtney and some new recipes that she found to try (YUM).

Trey is such a happy little boy, always full of smiles and laughs. He was my little buddy for the night. It was lots of fun playing with him - especially since he spent half the night trying to figure out who in the world this stranger was making funny faces at him!

He's still much too young to try to walk, but I thought I'd see how he liked that ... he was too busy staring up and laughing at me to try to think about anything else though!

He sure does love his bouncy chair though - he went crazy as soon as I put him in it.

I stopped by Heidi & Justin's on my way home to visit with them for a little while longer. I just can't get enough of these babies! She has gotten so much bigger since last time I saw her too. She is so happy too - she has the cutest little smile and laugh! Isn't Sydney's hair adorable?!? I just love it - all of it!

I was very excited to celebrate Easter this year since I missed it last year. Ok that's not entirely true ... last year I was in Europe during Easter. What an incredible experience though. Sharyn, Liz, and I spent 3 days in Rome and then a week in Malta. It was incredible to be there during Holy Week and to witness all the celebrations that were held. Saturday night before Easter Mass, they hold (about) 3 hour processionals in all the major cities. We went to the right - men dressed in robes carry huge statues (it takes between one in Mosta, right outside the Mosta Dome - the picture to the 6-8 men to hoist these statues on their shoulders) depicting the last week of Christ's life through the streets of the city as music is played and narrative is read. It was a neat experience to see how the entire city united in their faith in Christ and celebrated his life, Atonement, death, and Resurrection. But, we were very happy to spend Easter morning with the local LDS branch in our traditional way. They had members from every continent except Antarctica! We spent Easter evening back in Rome - where we opened our Kinder Easter eggs in our hotel room.

The Easter Bunny actually paid a visit our house this year - and even left jelly beans on my piano keys like he did when I was growning up! How did he know?!? :)

Small Reasons To Smile :)

Florida won the NCAA Tourney for the 2nd straight year. Wah-hoo. But more importantly, Ohio State lost :) ha ha

But the best news of the day is that Baseball Season has officially begun!! My boys the Braves pulled off a win in the 10th inning, thanks to the 2nd homerun of the game by Edgar Renteria. I just hope they can keep that kind of playing up and have a good season this year. No more not getting to the playoffs like last year.

My hometown boys didn't fare so well ... both the Nationals and the Orioles lost. But that's ok, that's the beautiful things about baseball - there are still 161 more games to go :)