the eagle can soar again

Today was a special day.

Because it was st. patrick's day?

nope.

Because it was saturday?

nope.

Because I had the most disgusting breakfast ever that almost made me hurl?

nope.

Because I sold the car that's been sitting in my backyard for over a year now?

yep.

It's been over a year since the eagle began its journey to the cinder blocks in the back of my house... and forturnately for the neighbors, it never did make it atop the cinder blocks...

But with spring just around the corner, the threat was there... and very real.

The car had to go!

I lined up a place where I could donate it about 2 months ago... until my neighbor (the one referred to as Irish) showed interest in it.

for REAL? Yes, for real!

With no hesitation, I readily accepted the $100 he was offering me... seeing as how $100 is far more than the nothing I was being faced with. I signed the title over to him and wrote up a receipt (oh, how i wish i had a picture of it... it was sooo ghettotastic)

However, I do have some pictures to share with you... they're all taken with my cell, which I have to say i'm pretty amazed at the quality. and I decided that it would be far more entertaining to write right on the picture than here underneath every one.

but officer, I swear, I was only going 79!

oh, if only that had been the case lol!

I sit here today to tell you the tale of what happened to me just the other day as I was on my way to a consult. I decided to cross from one main route to the other on this horrible road that is 35 the entire stretch, even though it's like a serious back road.

Just as I started out, a cop pulled out of the fire station and was behind me. Not because i had done anything wrong... yet.

I was going all of about 40 (in the 35 mind you) and the cop was tailing me. and i got nervous, because i have in fact had cops pass me in situations like that. this was my line of thinking (wrong as it may be) "maybe since he's TAIL-GATING me, he isn't concerned about the speed and has somewhere to go."

At this point, I eased up to 45, thinking very conciously, I will not go faster than this!

Well, dontcha know, his lights came on. I pulled over and instead of pulling up behind me, he pulled up next to me. he rolled down his window and said to me, "are you aware this is a 35 and not a 55."

I chose my words carefully so as not be come across as rude or anything and said yes, I'm sorry about that, i know i was going 45...

and with that, he says this, "well! i was on my way somewhere, but if you're going to argue with me like that, I'll just pull over and give you a ticket!" (feel free to insert an attitude in that tone of voice)

He came up to my window and asked for license/reg etc and I apologized saying that I was not trying to argue and I'm sorry that it came across disrespectful, that was not my intent.

He continued to speak with a raised voice at me and state that if i had just said ok, and chosen not to argue with him, he wouldn't even need to be standing here right now. But since I was looking for a fight, he was gonna make me pay the price (meaning the ticket)

He very rudely suggested that i "put my car in park" as I had forgotten to do so and was sitting there with just my foot on the brake...

It was about this point that I realized he was indeed about to write me a ticket. So I wanted to clarify what exactly he was writing it for. If he was claiming that I was going 55, I was not going to take that without a fight. So i asked sir, are you going to put 55 on the ticket? He stated YES.

I said, i'm sorry sir, I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative, but I have to disagree with that claim. I was going 45 at the most and I can't see how you could catch me going 55 since I just wasn't going that fast. (fyi, I'm pretty sure that 15 over in nys is a misdemeanor, so i woulda been in a wholelottatrouble for a 20 over ticket)

He said i was going 55 because he was going at least that to catch up to me. riiiiiiiight. and anyone who has any brains in their head knows that you have to go faster than the person in front of you to catch up. HELLO?!

Anyways, it was so odd. I could not for the life of me figure out why he was being so rude to me. I've personally found cops to be very formal and non-personal, but i felt very attacked. In fact, had i now known better, I would have probably gotten out of my car just so that I could stand up because he was making me feel so puny.

Finally, after a minute or two of exchange like this, where I am apologizing etc and him calling me argumentative and belligerent he decided not to give me a ticket but suggested that i DRIVE SAFE TODAY (in a very patronizing tone)

ugh. I wish i could look back on this post and say, "now amanda, really. you don't have to exagerrate in this way to get your point across"... but honestly, this is not an exagerration. He followed me for awhile before I finally turned into one of the school's to just get rid of him already having thought of a legit reason to go in there in case he wanted to follow me further.

I was thinking about this all day and wondering if maybe that cop never intended to give me a ticket to begin with. That the whole thing was a show to intimidate me? I wonder if cops use this kind of "warning tactic" to just scare people into driving safer without having to hassle with tickets and courts etc.

Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else?

last night...

oh how the wind blew... it blew and blew

and I sat on the couch, *not* enjoying the sound as I knew I would soon have to go out in it.

it rattled the windows, and broke the hinge on the door.

It blew through the cracks and sent a chill up my spine.

I knew though, I would have to go out eventually.

I had 15 miles to drive home, and 50 feet to run to my car.

it crossed my mind, more than a few times, the thought of a mountain lion attacking me on the way to the car...

after all, according to *unnamed person* there have been wild mountain lions let loose around here to control the deer population.

the wind and the lions were not my only enemy last night...

No.

Something far more real, and definitely unexpected.

I made it to my car. Safely. With no mountain lion attacks, scratches or bite marks.

The wild chihuahuas stayed put for the night (claimed to populate upstate NY by the same *unnamed person*)

I was all but 3 miles from home...

And there it was.

In the road...

It blew and whipped.

at first glance it was a shadow...

and then it was not.

the formless void took shape...

and then it became clear.

It was a large... black...

garbage bag!

and my car crashed squarely into it.

the bag exploded and trash flew everywhere.

the rest of the drive home, I heard the remnants rattling underneath.

And this morning, I exited my house to find a large piece of plastic emerging from below...

fused to the undercarriage (go ahead, laugh because i used that word, I did)

upon my discovery, I laid down to dislodge it, but the melted parts would remain intact.

I circled around back to see if any more had stowed away to find that the rear of the car was literally sprinkled with small shreds of garbage.

In short, last night, my enemy was not the obvious...

wind

mountain lion

wild chihuahua

No my friends.

it was a garbage bag.

a rogue waste receptacle.

I need to get to the car wash asap.

My car smells like burning plastic.

the Burb (autopost)

In my family, there are 4 of us. And we each own a car. In fact, I currently own 2... you can read about that sad saga with a happy ending (sort of) here.

I own a '95 green Eagle Vision (currently out of commission and potentially sold for a total of $500) and I drive an '08 black Honda Civic... it's more than beautiful... it's a work of art *sigh*

My brother owns a '97 white (with some rust) Chrysler Concorde. It's pretty much the same as my eagle... they are both amazing cars. Truly wonders of nature.

My parents conjoinly (is that even a word???) own a '99 red Toyota Camry, but it's mostly referred to as my mom's car.

Now for the part that this post is really about. My dad's car.

It used to be the family car... replacing the wood sided station wagon we affectionately referred to as the "beaver slug". However, it has been degraded to the position of "glorified and extremely expensive" tractor.

It's the 1991 two toned blue GMC Suburban.

It has tinted windows, which we thought were SO cool when we first got it in 1996. At only 5 years old, the truck was still in it's prime. It may have even been considered an "early" SUV.

When the beaver slugs "get up and go" "got up and left" the Suburban was right there to save the day. I remember feeling so cool when we would go places in that baby.

Even into high school, the "Burb" as we came to affectionately came to call it, it was still pretty cool. I drove it to school most days when I was a senior and while I quickly became aware of the fact that it was no longer "cool" I was still highly in tune with the fact that I got a TON of attention from it. People talked about that thing like it was the "cool kid in school." I didn't need to raise my hand for roll call, because if the truck was there, they knew I was.

Well, graduation came and went... and the Burb had a couple noteworthy mishaps. The first time my dad accidentally jackknifed our trailer (like a trailer for hauling wood/rocks/dirt etc) into the side of it. We got insurance money to fix it, but decided to use it for family vacation to Hawaii.

The second time, my brother was at the bank with it... you know those yellow posts that are near the gas pumps at gas stations? I know there has to be a word for them, but I have NO idea what it is. Basically he side swiped the truck against one of those... leaving the burb with a nice stripe of faintly yellow paint that matched it's blue two tone so well.

I can't remember how many different mishaps that car has been through over the years, but I would like to paint a verbal picture of the current state that the suburban is now in.

The latch on the doors in the back of the truck are completely rusted off... one can only hope that going over a bump will not set the panels flying open revealing the interior.

Because the interior carpet is reminiscent of a tartan quilt assembled from scraps of various carpet clippings and pieces of cardboard collected throughout the years.

Also from the inside, you can see the ground through the wheel wells.

It always smells of gasoline due to the fact that there are holes in the wheel wells pouring exhaust into the car. This coupled with the stains of petroleum products all over the inside of the vehicle, that have come from transporting various pieces of landscaping equipment and gasoline containers, gives the vehicle the pleasant aroma of a gas station from the 80's.

There is enough rust on the car that we often caution people to make sure they stay within a 20 foot radius of the truck unless their tetanus booster is up to date.

If you could plug every oraface in your body while in that vehicle would probably be the ideal situation. However, that is not efficient or even possible. I have come to the conclusion that driving the burb is a health hazard as I have actually contracted a sinus infection after driving the car for several days.

It was Christmas two years ago and the camry was in the shop for some repairs. Since we needed to travel to Maryland with two cars for the holiday the only two left were the eagle and the chrysler... the suburban was not even an option. Well, my parents ended up taking the eagle down 3 days prior to my brother's and my trek... and since the chrysler is his, I ended up with the burb.

Yes, that's right. Me and the burb. Alone for 3 whole days. I tried to do minimal driving for multiple reasons. There's obviously the embarrassing factor, which would seem to be enough reason for most people, but there is another reason (and in fact a third that I wasn't aware of at the time)

The second reason is the fact that the burb gets anywhere from 8-12 mpg depending on whether or not dad is doing "jack-rabbit starts" with it. You can just use your imagination with that one. When we first got it, it was getting 17 on the open road... however, it's been a few many years since it's been allowed to be on the open road.

The third reason is the fact that I acquired a sinus infection after my 3 days of alone time with the burb. One could speculate that I contracted said infection because of the weather or some other environmental cause. I completely agree. The "environment" surrounding the burb was EXACTLY what caused it. There you have it.

With that said, I would like to explain what happens when acceleration occurs. To say that stepping on the gas pedal makes you feel like you're under an air assault in a WWII film would be a gross understatement. It's practically necessary to put ear plugs in while driving yet somehow the car is still road legal. In fact, it would pass inspection at a moment's notice due to my dad's meticulous care for the engine and other such necessary parts of a running vehicle.

My dad loves that truck so much. I'm not sure what he would do without it... I'm sure that the burb finds comfort in knowing that with all its inadequacies and shortcomings, there is still one person in the world that loves it unconditionally... and I guess that's all that really matters.

and here it is

I have to say i'm a little disappointed with myself for not getting pictures of the car up sooner, however, there were extenuating circumstances. the first two days that I had the car it was raining and wet. Thursday i was driving to MD and then friday was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining all day long. So i took advantage and got some nice pics. Rob got some pics of me in the car, but unfortunately those pictures are on his camera and I can't get them right now. But here she is... i love her!





take notice of the cherry blossoms in the background. I'll follow up with that soon!

i call this post

Things I can do now that I have my own car.

I can go anywhere I want anytime I want without wondering where I'm going to get the ride from.

I can not worry about how much gas I used in someone else's car so that I can replace it.

I can not have to mooch rides off of people... oh how I hate doing that (it is cheaper though ;)

I don't have the gnawing feeling that my life is spinning out of control.

I can sleep at night!

I can bask in the awesomeness of it anytime I want.




Now, for the reasons why my car is awesome.

1) it's a civic
2) it's a civic
3) it's a 2 door
4) it has a moon roof
5) it has a/c
6) it has a moon roof
7) it's a civic
8) it's fast
9) it has a moon roof
10) and last but not least, it's a civic

I love my new car :)

it's finally over!

I have refrained from writing about the whole sad saga about my car for a few weeks as it has been extremely up in the air. But seeing as how today it's all going to be over and i am so excited i can hardly stand it, i decided to write about it.

About 4 weeks ago, my car died died. long story short, i bought another one within 3 days... and 10 days later it started exhibiting transmission problems and i consequently took it back and got my money back, minus mileage and inspection. I was just glad to have realized the problems with it within the 30 day warranty. I mean that's totally God, because how often do you realize within the first 2 weeks serious problems. it's usually like the day after the warranty runs up haha!

So I went back to trying to decide whether or not to get my old car fixed up... and after realizing it was going to cost $1000 no matter what way i looked at it, i started thinking about leasing.

I went to the Honda dealership last week and talked with a sales guy who laid it all out for me, and after assessing the reality of my situation I concluded that I am going to be spending a ton of money no matter what i do. *blah* Leasing is a little more costly in the long run, but it's affordable monthly for me... and you can't beat the service plan and warranty that comes along with it!

Soooooooo...

I went for it. I am going to pick it up today at 4:30 and i couldn't be more excited. hmmm... should i talk about what kind of car it is, or should i just wait... OH FORGET IT! I can't stand it!!! It's a 2008 Honda Civic EX coupe. Pretty much the SWEETEST CAR EVER!!! here's it's little picture that i pulled offline.


Guaranteed there will be real ones coming where i am hugging and kissing it! I will soon be posting a list of all the things that ROCK about having your own car.

more on the new car

Today, I have to head back into the shop to hopefully have the alignment on my car fixed. it was supposed to have been fixed last monday before i actually bought it... but when i drove it away from the lot, it was still pulling way to the right. Since then, i have found a list of other things wrong with the car... and it just kills me because I really do like the car, I just don't want to have to deal with all this garbage! The other things that are not right are:

> the brake light in the back window floats around back there because it is not attached
> the rear defroster does not work worth beans
> the cd player only played one out of the seven cds i tried in it the other day
> AND it only got 21 mpg last week

However, I just looked up the average for my car on fueleconomy.gov and it says that the average combined between city and highway is 21. Blah... but apparently my old car was only like 19 or 20... i always thought i got more out of it... maybe it just had a bigger tank. Anyways, this really bothers me!

my new car!

Today is third day i have had my new car. The first day, i was numb to it. I didn't really know what to think. Yesterday, I started liking it better, and today... it started to feel like an old friend :) I think that's because the layout of the car is so similar to the last nissan i had over 3 years ago. It's the same design, just 12 years newer... yay for new(er) cars!

Anyways, these are the pictures that i promised. I like how the one from the front makes it look so much cleaner... and if you notice, on the side view one "WASH ME" has been written on the side... Such is life in NY in the winter.

today is the day

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the actual car yet, but today is the day that I am going to buy a new car. And no it is not a "new" car.

It is a 2001 Nissan altima, and what is really awesome is that before i bought my current one, i had an older than dirt nissan sentra. i mean i literally got it from some friends who were taking it to the junk yard, and me being 17 and in need of a car jumped all over that. I think i spent about $400 getting it tuned up and in working condition, but that's about it. The car never gave me any noteworthy problems... except that when it was raining i had to watch out and make sure i didn't drive through big puddles. There was a large hole underneath the front passenger seat and driving through water would make it shoot up into the car soaking the internal computer board thingy and causing the car to die.

Anyways, I will put up a picture or two as soon as i can. But in the meantime, I am working on selling the Eagle. The car is in really good condition save the fact that the transmission needs to be replaced. The kelly blue book retail on it is $3300. So i have decided that I will do this one of two ways. I will sell the car for $1000 "as is" or bo, OR i will pay for the new transmission myself and sell it for $2500. I'm open to suggestions as far as this goes, as I have never actually sold a car before, but i thought it would be worth it to post this up here and see if i get any leads. Leave me a comment if you have any offers or suggestions. Thanks!

it's dead

my lovely car has finally bitten the dust. i am sad... in fact, so sad i almost started crying a truly mournful cry earlier. then i got over it. i'm still sad though... moreso about the fact that i have to buy a new one.