Catching Up!

YIKES! Where to start? I had been meaning to blog last week, but never got around to it. Where to start…..


Bark & Play
There is a new doggie daycare that opened up that is basically less than 2 miles from our house. A week ago Wednesday (June 29), I stopped by because I thought it was the grand opening day, but they still had last minute construction. I got to meet the owner, Pam & her sister, Dani and talk to them. They were more than willing to match the price at Dog Day Afternoon. Which is great!

They asked me to bring Esa by on Friday (July 1) so I did and she had her “interview”. Saturday (July 2) we brought Esa and Zed by and Dan got to see the layout and hung out a bit. Saturday was their official grand opening, so they had an artist doing caricatures. At all of the visits, I was a little worried because it wasn’t busy at all. Of course, it was a holiday weekend. Hopefully, it’ll get busier. They did say they had like 8 dogs signed up.

Blog Move

So Yahoo is closing their blog portion this week. Yahoo 360 is where I first started to blog. For about the last month or so, I have been moving all my former blog entries (Facebook, Myspace and Yahoo360) to Blogger. What a chore! Anyway, it is interesting re-reading my entries. Some things I have forgotten, some things were sad to read again, some were funny – all a part of why I have a blog.

Stupid Myspace though – I’ve lost about 6 months of entries (October 2007 – April 2008). I can’t figure out how to contact them either – there is a FAQs section, but no direct e-mail to customer service.
4th of July
No big plans happened on the 4th. Dan was working so pups and I hung out at home. Z was all in an uproar with the fireworks, but I figured out if I cuddled with him, it calmed him down and he would growl a little, no barking. I still would rather have him aggressive towards the noise than afraid.

Work
We have been extended at work until December 31, 2011, but with a 30 day kickout. So once again, just month to month, but just making plans like we are here until the end of the year. It’s VERY frustrating and unmotivating, but better than no job at all!
Book Review and other
So I finally read “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey. I have had this book since it was announced as an Oprah Book Club selection. Since one of Oprah’s last interviews was with James Frey, I wanted to read the book and catch up on the old interviews before seeing the latest interview and the Behind The Scenes show.

Maybe I would have thought differently if I read it before knowing that some of it was fabricated, but just the flow of the story, felt like a story and not a memoir. A lot of it, I was thinking how did he remember this if he was detoxing and so sick? The dentist story line was definitely a red flag for me – a root canal with no Novocain? No matter what, it was a great story.

So after I finished the book, I first went online and read the interview where Oprah basically lashed out at him then I watched the 2 day interview and Behind the Scenes. Wow – what a story! I’m so glad it came full circle and everything is fine between them.
Car Problems – AGAIN!
So last Wednesday, the check engine light came on in the Jeep. WTF!!!!! I was hoping it was just a fluke and it would go off, but no. Thursday, we dropped it off and they finally called around 1pm to say that it was an internal transmission code. WONDERFUL! Anyway, it ended up being a short day at work for me since Dan needed the car to get to work. When I talked to the service rep, he said that a transmission flush might help, but don’t know. So, I said to do it. The next step if it comes on again – a new transmission (according to them)! WTF!!!! There’s only 70K on the jeep and it’s not like we don’t take care of it!

So, Plankton (our Nissan Sentra) was transportation for the trip this weekend to New York and who knows what will happen for our trip next weekend to Canada!

If the light does come back on, we decided we will go to AutoZone to see what the code is before taking it into a transmission specialist. We have lost faith in Virginia Tire and Auto.

We don’t like the manager and his attitude. When I mentioned we have spent $6000 with them on both cars this year, he said “I would hate to have those cars!” REALLY???!!!! How about “That’s why you are our favorite customers”. How does a clutch give out after 8 months? How do you not give a customer something extra for damaging their car? We really need to change mechanics – of course, it’s up to me to figure something out.

When I picked up the Jeep, the guy who helped me check out was wonderful. He explained the whole part that the code was saying was bad (the torque converter) and suggested to drive it around town to see if the light comes back on before taking it on a long drive.

So here’s to the light not coming on again……..