"Boo!"s And "Woo!"s

Yeah yeah, I've been a quiet, streaky blogger so far this year. Guilty as charged. I've been having a difficult time getting myself into a regular writing mindset for a while now, largely due to free-time issues (like, not having very much of it). That said, I am matching my 2008 output to date, so maybe it's a seasonal thing. Who knows, maybe I need to look into this Twitter thing.

Just kidding.

"BOO!"s

* Even though the exhaust system is brand new and the car had been running better than it had in a while over the last few weeks, I'd been having a bad feeling about how this year's E-check was gonna go, so I made sure to get it out of the way extra early for a change. That was probably one of my better ideas: not only did the Beretta fail, it completely BOMBED the test. From the near-hysterial reaction of the lady at the testing facility, it seems that my hydrocarbon exhaust level is about, uh, four times over the normal limit, suggesting that I am not far off from blowing unburned fuel right through my tailpipe. Even better, my CO levels are nearly twenty times where they should be. This is no longer a Chevy Beretta, people, I am now driving the fuckin' Deathmobile. I take a grain of comfort in knowing that my friend Andy will be so proud of my size 30 carbon footprint that he might give me a plaque or something.

Needless to say, the limit has finally been reached and the Deathmobile is now on its farewell NE Ohio tour, as I have about 4 months until the current tags expire. Said tags will not be renewed, nor will the Deathmobile be repaired again. Believe me you, I'm a bit incensed that I blew that last grand on it getting the power steering and exhaust systems fixed in December and January, but we (ultimately) live and learn. The question now becomes what do I do about transportation after the end of July? As of right now, I'm leaning strongly towards "new (used) car," and away from "take over Sarah's car and assume remaining payments."

Assuming I go with the former option, I'm going to need to step up the Amazon sales on my end a bit, if nothing else, while also increasing my currently-depleted level of savings over the three couple of months to reach a place where I am comfortable parting with a decent-sized down payment and setting up some attendant financing. More details and strategies as they emerge...

* Frustratingly, the obtaining of a permit for our new water heater has stalled completely. We have called the company that installed the goddamned thing twice in an attempt to get some idea of what to do or how to get a permit, and we have not been called back either time. Finally sick of waiting, I contacted the Willowick Health Department in an attempt to go straight to the top, only to be told that someone would be in contact with us. Of course, said someone has yet to call.

* My 2008 income taxes were e-filed earlier tonight. The results are about par for the course: I get a whopping 7 bucks from the state of Ohio (and that is only after declaring the substantial amount of dental work I had done last year), while the Feds soak me for 111. Grrr.

"WOO!"s

* Dad is back at home again and independently mobile, with a voice and demeanor that is slowly strengthening ... though I wonder if it will ever sound anything like it used to.

* Somehow, we followed up a miserable January at Record Den with the best February sales figure we've had since our re-opening in 1998. It looks like March is going to be close, maybe just a shade off target, which is still better than we thought we'd have any right to be considering the way everything in this country has allegedly gone to Hell. We are pleased and delighted with these results, but also wondering if maybe we are finally becoming the only game in town at long last.

* Our friend Dave Lynch was in town last weekend, and to herald his visit, Sarah and despite a water disaster with the worktub that soaked a part of the living room carpet a couple days previous, we managed to get the condo tidied up to an extent it hasn't been since last year. Now the onus is on for us to keep it that way.

* Opening day for the 2009 baseball season is exactly one week away.

* I still have not set up my new PC yet as I have bogged while backing up stuff on this old one. Still, this rates as a "Woo!" because this new baby is going to kick this old one's ass right off the planet. 4 gigs of memory. Need I say more?