Thursday, March 16, 2006

Locked out!

In the "My dad acts like a krack-head sometimes" department...

Yesterday I picked up The Boy from daycare in the stroller. We went to walk through the woods at the Academy of Arts and Sciences when he started shrieking "THAT way! I don't want to walk through the woods!" So, I said "OK." The "woods" are a shortcut, but it isn't that big of a deal.

So we walked through a very pretty snow-squall, Eric in his stroller with the "rain topper" on. Me with gloves-but-no-hat-because-I'm-in-denial-that-it-got-cold-again. We get to our house and I pull out my keychain, but there is no house-keys on it. It's just a clicker for my Honda and a black and silver car key.

I remember connecting my house-key chain to my car keys. I split them up recently to loan my dad my car. He has his own key, but he forgot it last time he borrowed it. So, I separated the keys. But when I got my car key back, I put all the keys back together. The keychain was there, but there was no keys on it.

This was a Gaslight moment.

Of course it happened on a night when Rich was driving home from CT and I forgot my cell phone. So, I went two doors down to my neighbor's house and called my mom. She had my car (see below.. Because Rich had hers) and there is a copy of my housekey on my that keychain. So, she popped in her car and drove down to Somerville from Lexington where she works to rescue me.

So, Eric ended up having a good time playing with my neighbor's boys (2 & 3). Then my mom turned up and let us into my house and I fed her dinner.

My phone was ringing as we were walking in the door. It was my dad. When I told him about my disappearing keys he was like "OH.. I thought those were my keys and I took them last night." But it was my keychain! He was aparently confused. We were all swapping keys around on Tuesday night so Rich would have the keys to my parent's Subaru, and so my mom would have keys to my car and somehow he got them mixed up.

So, he dropped whatever he was doing and came over with my keys. The whole thing left me disoriented and a little annoyed. But it turned out OK. I got to visit with my neighbor, who we're always trying to get together with. But when I think about the keys not being there, it makes me a little dizzy.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

More Chevy Blues and Some General Rambles

So, after we spent an obscene amount of cash replacing the rotors for the 2nd time in 50k miles, the car still isn't running correctly. Rich smelled a burning smell after he drove it, as if the emergency brake wasn't releasing correctly. He had a business trip to CT today, so he ended up taking my mom's car, and she took mine. My Honda is a stick, and he's not too comfortable with that, so it just seemed easier all around to do a big switcharoo.

I seldom use my car during the weekdays, so my dad usually commandeers it for his meetings around the Boston area.

I'm having trouble retaining consciousness at work. I have developed the Mystery-Earache-From-Hell -- which the doctor tells me is not from an ear infection. But it's making me nuts. It started as this weird whooshing sound in my ear, that occasionally sounds like squeaking. So, it ranges from Marching Army of Darkness to Squeaky Little Mouse. Plus I have so much acid-reflux from the pregnancy I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping at night.

Three more weeks and I'll hopefully have a daughter and I'll feel a lot better physically. New babies make you tired, but it's a lot more fun than late pregnancy.

I'm thinking of changing my husband's name to Saint Richard. He's not really good with the footrubs through times like this, but he takes excellent care of Eric and our house. Basically he does everything while I lie around on the weekends and complain. Then he makes me get up and go for a walk, which I end up enjoying. He's just the best.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Bye Bye Chevy!

My family has owned Chevy trucks since the 1950's. When I met my husband in 1998 he was driving a 1986 Chevy Blazer that had no major systems failures in its history until the transmission went in early 1999. The car had over 200,000 miles on it by then.

We bought a brand new Blazer in 1999. (the car has 56k miles on it). Since we bought it, he's had to:
  • replace the front rotors twice
  • replace the rear rotors
  • The Ball joints failed, and the front wheels nearly fell off, so those had to be replaced
  • replace the battery twice
  • replace all brake pads and shoes at least twice
  • replace the altinator

I think there may be more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Plus he takes GREAT care of this car. He gets the oil changed ever 3k miles. He takes it in for all it's scheduled maintenance check-ups. Most of these repairs were covered by an after-market warantee. (except the rotors, brakes and batteries) However, that doesn't cover our time or our panic at being stranded by the side of the road with a baby until somebody with a tow-truck can be bothered to show up. So, this summer, when the warantee goes, the car goes. We had planned to keep it for 10 years. But it's not safe. It's just not going to happen. When did Chevy trucks become so completely unreliable?

I might add that I've never had to replace a thing on my 1998 Honda Accord. It only has 10k less miles than the Chevy. So, we may end up with a Honda Minivan. We are succumbing to the lure of the minivan... Once there are 2 kids in the picture, the minivans whisper your name as you sleep. There is no resisting the lure of the third row seating...

Monday, March 13, 2006

I want my chair!

Here's a letter I fired off to Boston Baby today.


Dear Boston Baby,

I ordered new foam cushions for my Dutailier Glider on December 16, 2005. I was told that the wait time would be between 12-14 weeks. I called several times over the past couple of months to check to make sure the order was on track to be on time for March 10 at the latest. Each time I called, I was told that it was.

However March 10, has come and gone and now I am told that it will not be in for another two weeks and there is no way to expedite it.

I am very upset about this. If I had been told that the wait time was 14-16 weeks to begin with, I would have found a different vendor. The replacement pillows are very expensive and I expect better service for such a costly item. I am having a baby any day now, and I really don't want to wait two more weeks to be able to use my chair. (The original cushions were covered in broken glass during a fire at my home last year and had to be discarded.) Plus, given the fact that I was promised my order on March 10, I have no confidence that you will not continue to push this process out indefinitely. I find the complete lack of accountability on your part very disconcerting. I paid a deposit in good faith, and now I have to wait until your vendor feels like sending a truck down to Boston. If it doesn't make it on the next truck, will it be two weeks beyond that?

This product is supposed to be shipping from Canada, not Mars. Surely there is some way to get your vendors to make good on their commitments?

Sincerely,

Margaret