squeeeeeeaaaaakk!

That's what we've been hearing from the brakes on our truck for the past, oh, 6,000 miles or so.

We've had it checked by the dealership at least four times (maybe five or six?), and they can't find anything wrong with them. Until today, we've been told "maybe they're dirty, maybe it's brake dust". Today, they even called to their headquarters in Tennessee to see if any other customers have reported this sort of issue (the front pads have 40%-50% left on them, rotors are in excellent condition, no obvious signs of trouble with the calipers or any other parts of the brake system). The advisor came back and said the nearest they can guess is that if we have a tendency to brake slowly for the most part, it could be causing the brakes to glaze which could be causing the squealing.

Other than that, there is nothing wrong with them that they could find.. They're not wearing unevenly or anything... For all intents and purposes, they're fine.

So our only choices are to live with the squealing, or to replace the brakes (which the guys at the dealership were hesitant to recommend since there is so much pad left... and considering how much money they stand to make if we replace them, I guess that says something about their integrity... either that or they're just dishing out the reverse psychology).

We've decided to replace them, at the cost of $200 plus tax (apparently the brake pads themselves for this truck cost $109... eesh!). And I'm holding that service director to that quote.. It's funny how costs can vary from dealership to dealership, even between dealers who sell the same cars (in this case, Saturns). At the dealership I took it today, on the opposite side of town from our house, the service advisor started quoting upwards of $260+, and he wasn't even finished calculating the costs when I said no way. The place by our house quoted $200 plus tax, so next Tuesday I'll be back there getting the brakes replaced.

I just hope replacing the pads, which will include having the rotors turned, will get rid of the squealing.

one step forward, two steps back…

I wish the cold that Josh has would make up its mind whether it's going to attack me or not... I think I may have given it to him, as last Wednesday I felt ill, I felt it in my head and sort of in my chest, but it didn't develop into anything, it just kind of went away later that evening...

Josh has been sick for a few days now, and I've been downing the Vitamin C as a preventative measure.

Today, now that I'm at work and after I spent all morning at home feeling perfectly fine, I have a splitting headache, the kind of headache that is usually a prelude to a cold, as well as that general ill feeling I had last Wednesday.

Dammit.

Lookin’ forward to my weekend…

And that's a bold-faced lie.

Housecleaning does not bring me warm-fuzzy feelings, and housecleaning is what I'll probably be doing most of my weekend. Couple that with this week being my "non-hormome Pill" week after having taken two packs in a row (I skipped the non-hormone pills between packs, starting the new pack where I would ordinarily have taken the "green" ones, so I could tell ol' Aunt Flo to bite it so my wedding & honeymoon would be red-free), I'm probably going to be one cranky bitch.

Watch out, honey! ;o)

kerrrr-BOOMCRACK!!!

There's nothing quite like being awoken at 5 am by a thunder clap that sounds like someone stood over your bed with a huge potato boiling pot and smacked it with a large metal spoon. Yeah, the thunder had a very distinct hollow sound. It was rather odd.

After turning off our computers, I went to the restroom to give my bladder some relief, only to be greeted by a gigantic spider. Ok, so it wasn't exactly gigantic, but with a leg span the size of a quarter, it was definitely big. *shudder*

I do believe I literally squeaked "Eep! when I saw that thing sitting on the wall. Ick.

I hate spiders, but I hate squishing bugs even more (the gross factor of bug guts is just too much for me I guess)... so how do I get rid of spiders? Well, if they're big like that fellow was, I take a big plastic cup, trap it against the wall, then slide a sturdy envelope over the top to keep the bug in, and then dump it into the toilet. Cover with a piece of toilet paper, then flush.

This guy didn't land on or in the water, but at the side, so I flushed quickly and added some toilet paper (I guess my thinking is if it gets tangled in the toilet paper it will be less likely able to find a way to crawl out of the toilet?).

Ok, so maybe flushing them could be considered torture, but as I said, I can't stand to squish bugs (unless they're tiny--with less bug guts). And basically, unless those things have a death wish, they should be hiding where I can't see them. If I see one and can catch it, into the toilet it goes, period.

Anyway, no, we didn't stay up after the way-too-loud-thunderclap woke us, we both went back to sleep. I still had at least 3 hours before I had to be awake, so there was no way I was going to stay up if I didn't have to. Nope, I like my sleep, thanks.

Well, time to get ready for my first 12 hour work day in two weeks. Bleh.

speaking of my car…

When we left for our trip to Florida, we left Josh's car at home (since it still had all the "just married" crap all over the windows) and used my car to drive over to his grandmother's house (she lives relatively close to the airport), and then drove to the airport with Josh's uncle, as he would drive my car back to the grandmother's house, where it would stay until we returned.

While we were waiting in line for the security check at the airport, we got a call from his uncle. My first thought was that my car had broken down. No, he was just calling to ask if my car was eating oil? He stopped to put gas in and checked the oil level, and there was absolutely ZERO oil on the dipstick. Well, my car was 6,000 miles past it's scheduled oil change, so maybe that was why it was out of oil? Yes, I'm a big slacker with my car's scheduled maintenances. It's a wonder it's still running as well as it does with nearly 140,000 miles on its engine. Hehe.

Anyway, Josh's uncle took it to Pep Boys to have it's oil replaced. I guess they decided (they being Josh's uncle and his uncle's girlfriend) that my car was in desperate need of a cleaning, too.

I hardly recongnized my car when we picked it up after getting back from Florida. They'd taken all of the miscellaneous trash that was strewn about, both in the car and in the trunk, and put it in two paper bags (obvious trash was thrown out, items of uncertainty were put into the bags). It was completely vacuumed (including the trunk), and all the plastic bits inside were wiped clean and that armorall stuff was wiped all over to give it the "new car" look. Even my tires were armor-all'd.

I was completely blown away. Considering we're thinking of trading in my car sometime this year for a new car, now that Josh has been given a job back at my place of employment, I just may have to work at keeping my car as clean as it is now so that when it comes time to sell it, I won't have much to do except maybe a quick vacuum and another wipedown with the armorall...

It’s rumble time…

Apparently, it's pouring rain outside. Well, at least where I work. I can hear the thunder, and even the rain hitting the roof.

I guess that takes care of the kitty footprints that were all over my car. Heh.

Me footsie…

Based on the crude drawings, but probably better than I could do, nonetheless, on this webpage, the part of my foot that is bothered (still hurts now and then when walking), is the Peroneus Brevis Tendon, which looks like it connects the 5th Metatarsal bone of my right foot, to.... a leg muscle I guess. (scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the above page to see the sketch of the tendons).

It's funny how something so seemingly small and minor can cause so much friggin pain.

And with that, I'm off to get ready for bed. Our bodies are still on Eastern time, so it's like, 12:30a for us. I think the latest we stayed up was until 1:00am one night, otherwise we were in bed by midnight... so 12:30 is pushing it. *yawn*

g'nite.

the world is spinning, round and round…

Ick. I think the flight home brought my vertigo back.

It's not quite the same as I've experienced it in the past. In the past, my vertigo episodes have made me nauseous (and had me running to the toilet at least once)... Now, I just feel unsteady. When we went to Albertson's to get some "Atkin's friendly" snacks (since we were not so "Atkin's friendly" on our trip), we stopped at the front of the store to fill out the form for their "Preferred customer card". (oh joy, they've finally jumped on the bandwagon and now require a "card" to get special discounts). I bent over to start filling in the form and nearly fell over when a wave of dizziness hit. I promptly handed the clipboard to Josh so he could fill it out for me and stood clutching the grocery cart to keep myself steady...

Oh goody.

Maybe I just need to eat or something. I've still got one more day off before I go back to work, so hopefully it'll be gone before Thursday. If it's simply a vertigo attack, it'll be gone in a day or two. Until then, I'll probably be using the walls to keep myself upright. Joy.

aw yeah…

Home again.

It's good to be home. Florida was nice, but I think we were starting to get a little homesick toward the end of our stay.

It certainly felt like home when we stepped off of the plane in Phoenix. It's what, 90 degrees today?

My blog was rather barren for the last week, as the posting was done from Josh's all week. We're about to head out again shortly to go pick up a package at FedEx that was supposed to be delivered today but they wouldn't leave on our doorstep (some dumb crap about not having any signatures on file, which is BS.. we've had many packages delivered by FedEx and I've signed for them several times).

But, I will probably post some more details later tonight about our trip.

And for any curious people, who may have read in Josh's blog that I injured my foot in the first two days of our trip, it's nothing serious. It's just a touch of tendonitis. I'm not even sure what the name of that tendon is at the moment.. It pretty much only hurts after a lot of walking, and the insoles the foot doc sold me seem to be helping a bit. When I have more time I'll look up which tendon it is that is buggin on me.

Look Elsewhere

Go to Josh's Journal for updates today. I may post something tomorrow.

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