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Total cost of owning the 1999 ford explorer to date
Posted 14 years agoPurchased on 8/19/2011
Purchase price: 2,500$
Gas per month: $180 (540$ to date)
New Tires: 535$
Oil change/fluids: 55$
Mechanical issues to date: 450$ (May quickly raise well over 2.5k$ if the transmission ends up needing to be rebuilt) Vehicle is currently UN-drivable.
Total additional costs to date $1670, quickly approaching what was initially spent on the vehicle.
Original cause of issues - Not brought up at sale, not brought up at all till problems started. Front and rear tiers were different sizes, Horrid thing to do on a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
Anything I can do about it? According to the family lawyer, no, because it was a private sale did not come from a dealership and thus does not apply for the Colorado Lemon Law, I'm stuck with it and the former owner has no liability to repair it.
Thought on the matter:
First Thought: I could have bought that little Prius from the dealership for as much as I've spent on this POS so far.
Second Thought: Never buy from friends of the family, never buy from anyone but a dealership with a warranty, Especially if it falls under the "It looks nice, but it is sure as hell not what I'm looking for" category.
Purchase price: 2,500$
Gas per month: $180 (540$ to date)
New Tires: 535$
Oil change/fluids: 55$
Mechanical issues to date: 450$ (May quickly raise well over 2.5k$ if the transmission ends up needing to be rebuilt) Vehicle is currently UN-drivable.
Total additional costs to date $1670, quickly approaching what was initially spent on the vehicle.
Original cause of issues - Not brought up at sale, not brought up at all till problems started. Front and rear tiers were different sizes, Horrid thing to do on a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
Anything I can do about it? According to the family lawyer, no, because it was a private sale did not come from a dealership and thus does not apply for the Colorado Lemon Law, I'm stuck with it and the former owner has no liability to repair it.
Thought on the matter:
First Thought: I could have bought that little Prius from the dealership for as much as I've spent on this POS so far.
Second Thought: Never buy from friends of the family, never buy from anyone but a dealership with a warranty, Especially if it falls under the "It looks nice, but it is sure as hell not what I'm looking for" category.
Silent Halls
Posted 14 years agoA thought provoked by a friend.
Ever move between houses as a kid? Ever do it as an adult? There's something strange that happens to any home once it's been vacant for long enough. The Feeling of warmth, of people moving about between rooms starts to fade after just a few weeks. The scent and feeling of being lived in decays in the weeks to follow. In about a month it's a totally alien place.
The halls echo with every footstep, the rooms seem barren and stripped to the bone. It becomes hard to imagine what exactly it used to look like, used to feel like. There is just space, an empty cold series of rooms that just continue to feel lifeless to you.
Another month or so may pass, that feeling living in a void sticks to the surface but don't fret, little things will eventually start to warm up again. Unfamiliar shadows, little creeks and the strange ticks of a new place will become welcome friends. The feeling of, perhaps, a soul will work its way back into those foreign nooks and crannies, making the strange, vacant, unusual as normal as night and day. The time it takes to feel lived in again may feel like a lifetime of waiting but once it's there...
You're truly home.
Ever move between houses as a kid? Ever do it as an adult? There's something strange that happens to any home once it's been vacant for long enough. The Feeling of warmth, of people moving about between rooms starts to fade after just a few weeks. The scent and feeling of being lived in decays in the weeks to follow. In about a month it's a totally alien place.
The halls echo with every footstep, the rooms seem barren and stripped to the bone. It becomes hard to imagine what exactly it used to look like, used to feel like. There is just space, an empty cold series of rooms that just continue to feel lifeless to you.
Another month or so may pass, that feeling living in a void sticks to the surface but don't fret, little things will eventually start to warm up again. Unfamiliar shadows, little creeks and the strange ticks of a new place will become welcome friends. The feeling of, perhaps, a soul will work its way back into those foreign nooks and crannies, making the strange, vacant, unusual as normal as night and day. The time it takes to feel lived in again may feel like a lifetime of waiting but once it's there...
You're truly home.
Hard To beat Dreams.
Posted 15 years agoEver gotten into a food fight with vikings?
Ever gotten into a fist fight with a man a hundred pounds Bigger then you all around?
Ever beaned anyone over the head with a rack of lamb and then a bowl of mead?
No?
Good. My dream. Get your own :P
Quite simply put, it would appear that my dreams seem to have random spurts of "Absolutely awesome" and this one was good enough to linger far, far after I woke up.
I have no idea what triggered it but here's a summary. I showed up at some kind of great feast, men and women clad in thick fur lined leather outfits ate, drank and cheered to one gigantic man at the head of the long benches. From what I can remember of it from there, someone got drunk off their rocker, flung something and that's where it got interesting.
Food started flying, fists were landing everywhere. It was complete and utter chaos. The massive horned helmet of their leader still towered above everyone else as he held two others in a head lock, pinning them against his frame before I was either thrown at him or decided to drop kick myself into his chest. The result was amazing.
Every one went quiet for a second before breaking into whispers, the murmur growing until the mountain of a man got up. He was laughing at me and the audacity I had to knock him down. He plopped his horned helmet on my head and the celebration went back to eating, drinking and still occasionally throwing food at one another.
Then I woke up.
Some days I love my subconscious.
Ever gotten into a fist fight with a man a hundred pounds Bigger then you all around?
Ever beaned anyone over the head with a rack of lamb and then a bowl of mead?
No?
Good. My dream. Get your own :P
Quite simply put, it would appear that my dreams seem to have random spurts of "Absolutely awesome" and this one was good enough to linger far, far after I woke up.
I have no idea what triggered it but here's a summary. I showed up at some kind of great feast, men and women clad in thick fur lined leather outfits ate, drank and cheered to one gigantic man at the head of the long benches. From what I can remember of it from there, someone got drunk off their rocker, flung something and that's where it got interesting.
Food started flying, fists were landing everywhere. It was complete and utter chaos. The massive horned helmet of their leader still towered above everyone else as he held two others in a head lock, pinning them against his frame before I was either thrown at him or decided to drop kick myself into his chest. The result was amazing.
Every one went quiet for a second before breaking into whispers, the murmur growing until the mountain of a man got up. He was laughing at me and the audacity I had to knock him down. He plopped his horned helmet on my head and the celebration went back to eating, drinking and still occasionally throwing food at one another.
Then I woke up.
Some days I love my subconscious.
Teh Intarwerbs
Posted 15 years agoThis is a rant. You have been warned.
I would love for someone to reasonably explain to me online relationships and why they believe they are effective. I will admit, I am guilty to having a few in the past and making some people I still care for a great deal, but they generally deteriorate due to several circumstances. The whole idea of giving your heart and soul to someone you may never see, or when you do, they are nothing like you imagined both worries and confuses me any more.
I'll break it down here.
First, You really don't know the person, even after several years unless you can physically feel, touch and see them you're essentially talking to what your imagination wants them to be.
Second, Distance, they say love can conquer any obstacle. I believe someone is full of crap on this one. You can be as deeply emotionally attached to someone as is possible and just because of this one factor everything can go to shreds in a heartbeat, they find someone closer, you do yadda yadda yadda either way it falls apart even if it doesn't, that disconnect between two people, that inability to be there for one another is probably the cause of more emotional breakdowns then I'd like to admit.
Third, False impressions. You can be Chuck Norris Jesus Christ the Third online and when you come face to face with your significant other, if it ever comes that far, when you first meet, keeping expectations incredibly low is probably for the best. Images can be photo shopped, web cameras are not immune to filters, and the whole slew can be altered in some way or another. It really doesn't take much for someone to make themselves look good only to have that horribly backfire when you meet face to face.
Forth, Commitment. This one just drives me up the wall especially in an online relationship. You can't trust your partner, really, ever. It's their word versus yours and honestly, do you think someone that enjoys the fine art of type-fucking is going to give up a little thrill ride for just one person? Unless they're the pope this is pretty much guaranteed to cause issues at several points in time especially if you/they are at all overprotective... which is another problem.
Again, I admit I've involved myself in a few and that some of the people involved I still care for and might go so far as to take a bullet for if they were here, but unfortunately they are not.
Single, slightly depressed and now drained,
-Desert
I would love for someone to reasonably explain to me online relationships and why they believe they are effective. I will admit, I am guilty to having a few in the past and making some people I still care for a great deal, but they generally deteriorate due to several circumstances. The whole idea of giving your heart and soul to someone you may never see, or when you do, they are nothing like you imagined both worries and confuses me any more.
I'll break it down here.
First, You really don't know the person, even after several years unless you can physically feel, touch and see them you're essentially talking to what your imagination wants them to be.
Second, Distance, they say love can conquer any obstacle. I believe someone is full of crap on this one. You can be as deeply emotionally attached to someone as is possible and just because of this one factor everything can go to shreds in a heartbeat, they find someone closer, you do yadda yadda yadda either way it falls apart even if it doesn't, that disconnect between two people, that inability to be there for one another is probably the cause of more emotional breakdowns then I'd like to admit.
Third, False impressions. You can be Chuck Norris Jesus Christ the Third online and when you come face to face with your significant other, if it ever comes that far, when you first meet, keeping expectations incredibly low is probably for the best. Images can be photo shopped, web cameras are not immune to filters, and the whole slew can be altered in some way or another. It really doesn't take much for someone to make themselves look good only to have that horribly backfire when you meet face to face.
Forth, Commitment. This one just drives me up the wall especially in an online relationship. You can't trust your partner, really, ever. It's their word versus yours and honestly, do you think someone that enjoys the fine art of type-fucking is going to give up a little thrill ride for just one person? Unless they're the pope this is pretty much guaranteed to cause issues at several points in time especially if you/they are at all overprotective... which is another problem.
Again, I admit I've involved myself in a few and that some of the people involved I still care for and might go so far as to take a bullet for if they were here, but unfortunately they are not.
Single, slightly depressed and now drained,
-Desert
Commercials and Cellphones
Posted 16 years agoI'll admit, there are a lot of things I don't get but there have been some odd adds as of late on the t.v. most of them being those anti-drug commercials.
The newest one is "meth is bad" and while yes it is and it can very easily kill you, what gets me is that so many parents stuff their kids to the eyeballs with it's chemical twin. Methamphetamine Sulfate, same chemical family as Ritalin, Adderall and Speed.
I do not condone any of these medications and I save for the extraneous few cases where they are necessary, (IE, narcolepsy) I never will.
The way they show those under the influence of meth are interesting to say the least. Having known two recovering meth addicts to date, it's interesting to ask them what causes some of the more disturbing side effects. The rotting of the teeth, the skin conditions and the mental instability.
For the whole "meth mouth" bit, the drug itself causes a dry-mouth condition where you no longer salivate at regular levels. For the skin condition, simply it takes your normal hormone levels and crams them into a blender. Good times no?
When you get to the mental condition, when the legal form of it can cause dementia, paranoia, violent mood swings and a few more pages of other neurological conditions... it's not that hard to see how improper synthesis of the molecule could amplify an already horrid array of known problems.
Now that my rambling is done, I'll sum it up.
Bad drug, doesn't matter the form.
It can, and probably will kill you.
Even the legal form is horrid.
What I want to know is, why the blue blazes do people do this kind of crud for fun?
As for the cellphones... o_O I have not a damn clue.
The newest one is "meth is bad" and while yes it is and it can very easily kill you, what gets me is that so many parents stuff their kids to the eyeballs with it's chemical twin. Methamphetamine Sulfate, same chemical family as Ritalin, Adderall and Speed.
I do not condone any of these medications and I save for the extraneous few cases where they are necessary, (IE, narcolepsy) I never will.
The way they show those under the influence of meth are interesting to say the least. Having known two recovering meth addicts to date, it's interesting to ask them what causes some of the more disturbing side effects. The rotting of the teeth, the skin conditions and the mental instability.
For the whole "meth mouth" bit, the drug itself causes a dry-mouth condition where you no longer salivate at regular levels. For the skin condition, simply it takes your normal hormone levels and crams them into a blender. Good times no?
When you get to the mental condition, when the legal form of it can cause dementia, paranoia, violent mood swings and a few more pages of other neurological conditions... it's not that hard to see how improper synthesis of the molecule could amplify an already horrid array of known problems.
Now that my rambling is done, I'll sum it up.
Bad drug, doesn't matter the form.
It can, and probably will kill you.
Even the legal form is horrid.
What I want to know is, why the blue blazes do people do this kind of crud for fun?
As for the cellphones... o_O I have not a damn clue.
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