Ball Advances on Monday
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio |
22F and partly cloudy tonight.
So it was a month ago, SAT JAN 04, that I took the car out for an oil change, but was turned away by two Jiffy Lubes because they were too busy.
A week later, SAT JAN 11, I didn't bother to try again... instead deciding to take PTO for Tuesday, January 21st, to get it done.
10 days later, TUE JAN 21, I finally got the oil change, but half an hour later, the engine light came on, along with the 4-Wheel Drive indicator!
5 days later, SAT JAN 25, I took the car to AutoZone to get the engine code read and they said it was the Mass Airflow Sensor, and sold me a can of MAF cleaner.
2 days later, TUE JAN 28, I pulled the car into Bay 1 of the PVHS Auto Shop, late at night, and cleaned the Mass Airflow Filter... also discovered that an air line had been sitting unconnected, under the hood, since the oil change.
6 days later... yesterday!.. MON FEB 3, driving home after my shift, I glanced down at the dashboard to see that, miraculously both the engine light, and the 4-Wheel Drive indicator had turned OFF!
I still have no idea why the 4-Wheel Drive indicator lit up at the same time as the engine light, back on the 21st!
But after cleaning the Mass Airflow Sensor, it took the system six days to recalibrate and turn off the engine light... which also for some reason turned off the 4-Wheel Drive light too!
I can't tell you how overjoyed I was to see that while driving home last night!
So today I put in for PTO, this coming Monday, the 10th.
And on Monday I'm gonna...
- Take the car in from emissions, and renew the registration.
- Stop at the GeoStaff Building & Grounds office and straighten out the employee portal situation, so that I can log on again!.. as well as pick up my W2.
- Stop by Fernando's office and tell him I'm interested in upgrading to a 1BR as soon as one comes available.
So, in one day, I'm finally gonna move the ball forward, after getting nowhwere with any of it for nearly two months!
The car will be legal, and running well... which insures that my job is not in jeopardy!
And I'll have access to my paycheck stubs from that job, and the freedom to change the direct deposit of those paychecks to 5/3rd bank at any time!
And those paycheck stubs will be included in the new application for the 1BR unit!.. showing that I make way more now, than I did back in May, when I applied for this studio apartment!
5/3rd is my contingency plan to ensure I can always pay that rent.
Because if things ever get so tight I can't make ends meet, I'll just duck out on the PNC loan, and give myself $780.00 more a month instantly!
It'll ruin my credit score, but... if i'm in a 1BR, here in the tower, who cares?
Because I'll be happy to live there for the next 10 years, if necessary!
I've also decided not to bother with bankruptcy, because it's expensive, and I probably won't qualify for it anyway.
Instead, if I do have to duck out on PNC, then I'll also just duck out on some of the credit cards... specifically AmEx!.. because they've been such assholes since they cut my limit last May!
But I'll just keep up with the cards that still have available credit, and keep them as emergency cushions.
And then, after five to seven years, my credit score will be nice and happy again!
But yeah... more or less I've, "fallen in love with living downtown."
What tipped the balance... bewtween Allerton, and a 1BR at AutumnWood... which would be the same price as this studio, but with an on site storage unit, and a tiny yard to landscape... is simply that I feel much safer here!
Dan, who remains the property manager at A-Wood, has always been judgemental of me, and he's a hyper conservative Christian... who is not above peeking at your garbage in the dumpster, or sending maintenance grunts into your flat while you're gone, to have a look around at how you live.
So, I wouldn't have any privacy there. He'd get wind of cards, candles, runes, and other witchcraft paraphenalia... and of mike stands, guitars, etc.
I'd always have to be looking over my shoulder, if I lived there.
Plus, AutumnWood is still very backward, in technological terms.
You still have to pay the rent with a paper check!
You have to phone in work orders.
And the laundry rooms, I'm sure, still only take coins, for their shitty machines!
Here in the tower downtown, the vibe is totally the opposite!
The residents are very diverse... lots of color, lots of different lifestyles... and they skew much younger.
Fernando's a cool manager... very laid back, and down to Earth.
Maintenance never comes into your unit, and nobody cares what you're doing in there.
The building itself is this brick & concrete bunker, and you live so high in the air that nobody could ever possibly spy on you through a window!
But they're also cutting edge, when it comes to modern tech!
Not only do I pay my rent online, but there is a service fee if you pay any other way than with a debit card!
In other words, they hate checks!.. and discourage you giving them your bank account number in any way!
The washers & Dryers operate via an app!.. that you load with money when you feel like it.
And They're good machines, an the room is super convenient to access.
And the commute between here and the high school is super easy!...
And I don't just feel safer on a, kind of, socio-political level.
I feel safer here, on the paranormal level... of everything from bad vibes and creepy mojo, to... the malevolent ghost of Dad, and his ghastly ilk!
So yeah!.. give me a 1BR here in the tower, like I used to have, and I'll be happy to call that my home for the next ten years!
I want to hang on to my view of the trains, but... it would also be super cool to wind up in the same unit I had, here, in 1999... which faced west.
1702!
The nostialgia factor would be SO worth it!
But any 02, or 08 unit would be great!
What I forgot, until now, is that the 02 & 08 units butt-up to the elevator shaft on one side... with the bedroom being the buffer on the other side, to the one wall-sharing neighbor.
That's why I remember it being so good for recording here... with nobody being able to hear me sing.
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