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Finally, the mistake that was a 1994 Chevrolet Lumina is no longer in front of my house. It is nothing but a ghost in my memory, and my driveway! Oooo, look at the pretty Photoshop magic. (Actually, I did that with GIMP, if you’ll allow me to digress, but of the four of you who actually read this bullshit I type, only one or two of you might know what GIMP is.)
Anyway, I got the rolling shitbox from a customer back in May, who said “pay me when you can.” The transmission was slipping badly, but I figured a good transmission mechanic could tighten some belts and flush the fluids, and it would be drivable again. Boy, was I wrong. I took it to two locations in town, who said it would be easier and cheaper to replace than to rebuild. They wanted $2200 to $2400. Holy fucking shysters, Batman! That’s more than the car’s worth, which is $1900 according to Kelley Blue Book. I called AAMCO, [double A (honk honk) M-C-O], and they were cheaper, but still wanted $2000 to replace it, which included towing from Oak Harbor to Everett.
So, the broke-dick Lumina sat in my driveway for 3 months — right in front of the broke-dick LTD — until Tuesday when the previous owner asked for it back. I was more than happy to sign that bitch over. By Thursday, he had come and picked it up.
I went to two web sites online — junkmycar.com and junk-yard.com — that promised to remove junk cars for free in order to get the LTD out of the driveway. While I’m sure they’re nice people doing nice things, I’m too far away from a towing company for them to come and get the car. Shit. I can’t even give it away!
On a slightly different topic, I recently read somewhere that gas prices have doubled since President George W. Bush took office. I couldn’t believe that, so I had to look it up. Off to the Department of Energy‘s web site I went. Sure enough, they have! Check this shit out. When Bill Clinton took office in January 1993, the west coast average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.209. By January 2001, that same gallon of gasoline was $1.511. That’s an increase of only 30.2¢ a gallon in eight democratic, raging-economy years. But, in the five and a half years that President Numb-nuts has been in office, regular unleaded gas has risen $1.527 to an ass-raping $3.038 per gallon (as of August 14, 2006).
Do the math! That’s more that double the price since January 2001, boys and girls. Small tears of pain trickle down my cheek every time I fill up. I have spent over $220.00 in gas for my truck in less than three months. That’s almost a goddamned truck payment! Of course, the skyrocketing cost of fuel helps everyone but us poor fucking consumers. Shipping costs are higher. Grocery prices are higher. Prices are much higher everywhere thanks to the increased cost of gasoline, and this doesn’t help the budget. Beautiful.
And with that, I’ll end this blog entry. I have a few other things to talk about, but I’ll save ‘em for tomorrow or early next week. Sunday is our company Summer Party (read: picnic). I’m sure I’ll have something to say about that, maybe even a picture or two. I’m going to try to update this blog a little more often. Don’t hold your breath, though. I enjoy writing, but it takes away from planting my fat ass in front of the TV, and I can’t have that.
