AAAnd We're off

7/24/06 Monday
I am doing much better this morning, running an 8 on the Bob scale. The first thing I did was run spyware on the computer. It found only cookies again. Because the Trojans are labeled as Java class with the description saying they sneak in through Java I uninstalled Java from the computer. I don’t have a clue what I am doing but figure that if they are hidden in Java I might get rid of them with the program. Then I went to Java and downloaded a fresh copy. We’ll see if that does anything.

I got moving good and early, fixing breakfast and hitting the shower as soon as Cherie left for work. Then I vacuumed the house. Just got back from taking Fred to the store. Forgot how much fun that is. Fred told me that Cathy took him to the store once as did Ritchie. When I put Fred’s groceries in the trunk I saw that someone had either driven like a madman or gone through everything cause the stuff I had long since stored neatly and tied down was all over the place. There was a deodorizer tied in the back and you could tell someone was smoking in the car. Kinda pissed me off. Don’t like anyone taking advantage of an old person anytime. Saw enough of that with my grandmother. She was cleaned out.

The bank on the corner of Byrne and Glendale, across the street from the barber, was robbed while Fred got his haircut. Gee it’s good to be back in the city. (Said with dripping sarcasm) It didn’t take long for three television trucks to get there and set up their towers.

It is after twelve now so I suppose I should fix something to eat. Already gaining back some of the fifteen pounds I lost in Texas. I didn’t have many slow downs there and it has been rough since we got back. Makes me wonder why. I had feared going would make things worse but the fact is it made things better. Coming back made things worse. Perhaps it is the pressure of having to get so much stuff together for our move down. Don’t know. I am going over to the bank and see Mary, the lady we have worked with the most. The bank had turned us down for a credit card, which we had expected. This will allow her to look at our credit check and run a copy off for us. We had tried repeatedly to get a credit check online with all three credit agencies with no luck at all. She had suggested doing it this way. Need to get it done because of the bankruptcy that was approved in January. That and the fact we will have lots of financial hurdles to leap for the farm.

2:54 – Just got back into the house. I had tried to copy today’s entry and Word froze up. Not a good sign. Ran Spysweeper and left to go see Mary at the bank. She had a line waiting so I decided to run over to Firestone and let them know what I thought. On the way I got stuck behind a street sweeper who would not pull over at any of the intersections it crossed to let me and the growing line of cars behind me pass. By the time I got to Firestone it was not good.

Just to get those of you who haven’t followed up to date, I had taken the truck we just bought to Firestone to get it checked up before we took it on the 4,000 mile trip to Texas. (There and back) I gave them a blank check so to speak when I said “Look for everything wrong you can find”. $660 dollars later I picked it up. Here’s the thing, the check engine light was on when I brought it in and when I picked it up it came back on just blocks away. I took it back and they had a guy plug their electronic computer whatchamacallit. I heard him say he would just turn the light off and they sent me on my way. A half mile down the road it came back on. OOKKK, I spun around and went back. They plugged the same device in and after some discussion between those who had been called over decided it “Might” be a catalytic converter. Their lack of confidence inspired my lack of confidence in them so I left to get a second opinion.

Nate has a friend (Nah, several friends) who plugged his diagnostic thing in to the truck. He had confidence that it was indeed my catalytic converter. I called Firestone and asked how much it would cost and got a price that ranged from $400 to $1000. Kind of sounded like a guess to me. I got several prices and finally got an aftermarket job done for $300.

Long story short, They had also overfilled the oil by a bunch and when I looked at the invoice I saw they charged $149.00 for the spark plug wires. But it said “Lifetime warranty”. Wow!! Charge me what three sets of wires cost and give me a warranty. I am impressed!!!... NOT.

I am steamed by the time I get there, amplified by the street sweeper (Who got a one finger wave as I drove by). After exchanging “How’d it go in Texas” pleasantries I unloaded. “How is it that after spending $660 dollars on a truck that had a check engine light on when I brought it and still had it after coming back twice you didn’t figure out what was wrong?”. He ran off a litany of excuses such as “The codes didn’t show up till later” that I didn’t accept. He tried again and it got to the point where I just looked at him and said “Bullshit”. (I’ve been known not to talk nice when I’m mad)

Then I let him know about the oil registering at twice the height on the dipstick and asked “Where’s the lifetime warranty?” “It’s on the receipt” was his reply. “Are the wires warranted by the manufacturer or by you?” I asked him. “Oh, Firestone guarantees them” he let me know with confidence. Now I am off “I wouldn’t have minded paying $660 if you’d have done the job right. What I got was half ass service”. One potential customer walked in and hearing me turned around and walked back out.

As he continued to tell me why they did a great job I decided it would be better to head out. “You know what? I’m tired of crap. I’m just going to write Firestone” I let him know as I headed out the door. That changed his tune right now. He called me back and asked what he could do to make it right. I probably could have gotten away with more but I am not a greedy person so I said “Knock a hundred off and that will help”. He agreed and had them pull the truck in to remedy the excess oil they had put in. They gave me another oil change for no charge and he credited my card with the $100 he said he would. Mollified I apologized for blowing up though I’m really not sorry and expressed my gratitude at their great sacrifice. I won’t go back. They screwed up Fred’s car resulting in a blown motor and another Firestone location had cheated Cherie on her brakes when we were just getting back together. Not real impressed.

As I typed this Microsoft Word froze up twice so I don’t thing my reloading Java had the desired affect. I suppose I will use the $100 credit to get this laptop cleaned when it shows up in our account.

Make that three times. Damn.

I went back to the bank and waited for Mary. She called the credit agency and ordered our credit report. While in the office I got a call from the rep for Aeromotor, the windmill people. He will be sending me a quote in the mail.

I am tired now so will post this if it doesn’t freeze up again and relax a bit, probably study farm stuff again. Cathy said there are some courses I can take via the internet. Probably a good idea.