part 3 of the holiday blog: what i got for christmas.

this is more of a memory device for me, so skip if necessary.

from dad: a harpsicle, in vanilla. would've preferred cherry or grape or blueberry, but you know what they say about gift horses. also from dad, an organic cotton blanket in a lovely warm brown and ghiradelli chocolate.

from mom: shaped saddle pad and saddle case from dover saddlery, riding socks, metal picture frame, christmas tree ornaments (karl and i got our first tree this year, and of course have basically no ornaments for it), a silver pendant with a red stone on a silver chain, a silver sun-shaped bookmark, a black zip hooded fleece, red fuzzy slippers, a booklet holder thingy for my state quarters so i can get them out of the ziploc they're currently in, cash, and stamps.

from sis: red chenille scarf that she crocheted, belgian chocolate (bought in the belgian equivalent of a 7-11 rather than a gourmet chocolate shop, but it's still belgian chocolate and isn't even in the same league as most american stuff), and sparkley silver earrings to wear on new year's eve. not that i'm going anywhere (see previous entry).

from karl: piggy's adventure--a homemade book that he wrote, complete with a story about piggy saving the world from a giant red pepper falling from space, illustrated with photographs. reading it, i laughed so hard i cried. that is what he'd been working on for hours and hours at a time in secret!, a book about philadelphia murals, a necklace with a silver letter pendant indicating my first initial, a guinea pig 2004 calendar, victoria's secret goodies, massage oil, shea butter lip balm from l'occitane (the best lip balm EVER), wine bottle stoppers (to stop me moaning about the ones i got last year (or was it 2 years ago) from jan, that were crystal and lovely, and that i promptly lost (i think they accidentally got thrown out with the christmas trash)),

from karl's parents: harrod's no. 12 blend loose tea, a tea-for-one pot and cup set, and a powder and bronzer set.

from ingrid: a square glass jar filled with biscotti and topped with loose tea.

from jan: a pottery "pancake batter pourer" filled with homemade cookies etc. it's an ingenious device, really--it's the size of a big soup bowl or perhaps a small serving bowl, and has a handle on one side and a spout (the indention kind rather than the separate attachment kind) on the other. it looks rather like a really gigantic tea cup with a spout.

from erica: a devil-shaped metal christmas tree ornament complete with nipples (okay, a google search for an illustration is going entirely the wrong way) and mexican bingo.

all in all, it was a lovely christmas, despite the car trouble.

the in-laws are staying another 6 days

29 December 2003 - 12:01 pm

part two of the holiday blog: the in-laws.

let me start by saying that i don't really have in-laws, since i'm not married. but that's an easier way to refer to my boyfriend's family, so we'll just go with it, yeah?

anyway, i love his parents. they are fabulous people, a history teacher and a "maths" teacher, who laugh a lot and drink a lot and are kind and friendly and liberal and accepting and smart and interesting. but when they are here, there's never anything to do (except shop--britain being much pricier for consumer goods than the u.s.) since they've done all the touristy things. so we do a lot of shopping (which for me wears thin very soon) and a lot of sitting around watching the cats at karl's brother's house. this visit has been great from my point of view because i saw them for a couple of days when they first got here, then i came back the day before they were leaving, so got to see them for one more day.

except. except that karl's brother made the suggestion that they stay a few more days. see, they are teachers and school doesn't start again til 5 jan. they were ambivilent--on the one hand, they were planning on spending new year's with family in london and could look forward to a few days at home to mark papers and relax before school started again. on the other hand, they didn't have anything they really needed to get back for and it would be nice to spend a few more days with their sons who live across the ocean. we thought the decision had been made for them when the airline said the earliest they could change their tickets to was 7 jan. oh well, nice thought, but they'd have to go back as scheduled. except. that karl's brother called up some other airline and bought them one way tickets back to england on 3 jan. for $757 each. the man has too much money. so at that point, they've got like a day to decided whether to keep the tickets and stay 6 more days or get a refund and go back as planned. but of course, now that he's spent $1500 on tickets, it's not like they can easily say, no, we don't want to spend 6 more days with our sons and take your very generous ticket offer. they're obligated now. so even though karl thinks they might have been leaning towards going home as planned and having a relaxing week there, they are now staying. and karl's brother has carefully maintained control over everybody's lives and by his generosity made it nearly impossible for anyone to call him on it. grrr. so much for new year's plans (not that i had any)--guess i'm spending it with the in-laws.

distribute this!

29 December 2003 - 10:05 am

gotta warn you, this update might be in bloggy chapters cuz it's been so damn long.

i think i'll do the car first, since that's what's kicking me in the ass the most. soooo, did i write about the distributer? i forget and can't be bothered to look back a couple of entries to find out. so i'll recap: a couple of weeks ago, my car crapped out on me on the way to the barn. it started bucking a bit at highway speeds. i slowed down a bit (80 to 70) and it stopped...for a while. then it started doing it at 70 so i slowed down to 65, then to 60, then 55, then 50, then i had to get off the highway. once i got down to 20 mph, i stalled. after a rest of only a few seconds, the car would be okay for a while longer. anyhoo, i limped back to my mechanic in this fashion, occasionally stalling out, and left it for him to figure out. turns out the distributer was done for. so he puts a new one in, and gives the car a tune-up that was desperately needed, and an oil change that was due, and turns me loose with it, $814 poorer.

so 5 days later, i'm on my way down to northern virginia (we folks from no.va. have to specify, lest you think we are from virginia-no-modifier and wonder where our gun racks are) and the car starts behaving in a bad way that bears a family resemblance (though is not identical) to the bad way it was behaving before. and it gives up the ghost on 95-south just south (thank GOD i made it through) of the fort mchenry tunnel. yip-fuckin-ee. called aaa, called the parents, called the boyfriend. tow truck shows up and tows me all the way to honda man, my dad's mechanic in fairfax. 60 miles and $180 later, mom and dad pick me up at honda man's shop and drive me home.

honda man is the guy my dad has been going to for 15 years or more, and is a supremely liked and trusted member of our service family. his first words? "who's been working on this car?" he confirms that the distributer crapped out again, and lectures everyone involved on letting my philly mechanic put a remanufactured distributer in rather than putting in a new honda one. he says that reman parts in general and reman distributers in particular are notorious for high failure rates. lecture given, he asks for a couple of days so he and his boys can "invent something."

couple days later, the 23rd, in fact, honda man calls to say the car is ready. he's taken the distributer that was in the car and subbed out a faulty igniter and rotor and put in parts they "had lying around". he is a hondas-only mechanic, after all. so another $350 later, dad and i are certain that honda man has worked a christmas miracle, and my car is good to hit 200,000 miles (it's at 184,000 now).

of course, we are wrong. on the drive back to philly, the car starts to have trouble about baltimore. (what IS it with that city?) i've got my fingers crossed that it'll hold out the 90 miles to philly, but it's not looking good. the car gets steadily worse as i make my way north, into the rural no-mans-land of northeast maryland. finally, just after i've crossed the millard e. tydings memorial bridge over the susquehanna river (thank you, lady luck, for getting me over the bridge) and paid the toll, the car is really feeling bad, so i call it quits. pull off to the side and call aaa, the parents, and the boyfriend again. 90 minutes later i'm getting a tow north. drop off the car at the mechanics, and prepare to talk to him on monday (today, for those of you following along on your calendars).

so this morning i went to talk to my mechanic, wayne. he says the distributer is guaranteed, so he can get the money back off that. and apparently they cover towing fees, up to a certain amount (we'll see what that amount is). and of course he can give me back the igniter and rotor that honda man put in, so dad can get the money back for that. the question is, will i be able to get a new, honda distributer (not another reman) without paying any more money? that is what i want. updates to come on what i get.