Gaming hasn't been a priority these past few weeks and
here's why....
The last month has been hell....
Let me give you the cliff notes version of my tale of
woe. It contains a cast of completely
unrelated characters that somehow managed to simultaneously screw up my
life.
I recently had to sell my 2008 Mustang GT. Not by choice but by need. This hasn't been a good year for me
financially and like so many others in this skewed reality we call an economy
something had to give. In my case it was
my Mustang.
I've already chronicled my disastrous results of trying to
get a "regular" IT job( I've been a private IT consultant for 15
years) so I won't rehash
it here. However, my latest efforts to
rejoin cubicleland bear mention since they were the catalyst for my latest
tribulations.
After 3 weeks, 6 interviews for not 1 but 2 different
positions at a security software firm, what should have been a sure thing ended
in a two line e-mail reading.
"Van did go with an internal candidate, but he
wanted me to make sure you knew it was a tough decision.
Thanks!"
Thanks indeed. I can guarantee Van's decision wasn't going
to be as tough as the one I would have to make.
They say never to put all your eggs in one
basket but I had only one egg and my basket had holes in it.
It was like trying to reach level 50 in
Borderlands 2 without any DLC or savegame hacks.
With no other opportunities it finally came
down to either clinging to hopes of regaining my lost success before I starved
or cutting my losses and liquidate some assets.
After a week of serious deliberation
and living on 2 year old Ramen noodles my Mustang was up for Sale.
When the buyer came and presented me with the
check it was bittersweet. I'd survive but I'd also taken a giant step backward
just to live another day. I told myself that at least I had enough
foresight to have an asset I could liquidate but it didn't make me feel
any better.
I couldn't even watch when they came for it a few days later. I sold it
through CarBuyco and it took them a few days to pick it up. Those two days were like looking at a ghost
in my driveway.
Of course I still needed a car for work (assuming I'd eventually have some) but I
knew with the money I had to spend it was not going to be anything near what I
had lost. So started the search for a
suitable (barely) replacement with a budget of no more than $6000. That would leave me enough money to live on for
awhile and take care of the inevitable repairs that come with a vehicle not so
well loved as what I'd given up.
Or so I thought. My search yielded disappointing results with
most candidates either too abused or too expensive for what was offered. I came close to buying one car (A 2001 Camaro) until I pulled the
dipstick on the transmission and found black, burnt fluid. That vehicle had over 100K miles, was 12
years old and started at 7K with tax and license fees. By the time I was ready to leave the
dealership the price had dropped $1000.
I no longer had interest but still get called every week about that
car. Last weekend the price had dropped
to $4991.
My search continued and I found a few other
less flawed examples but they too came up short either already being sold or
having a questionable background history.
By the way, CarFax is your friend.
I found at least 5 cars that had serious damage or questionable mileage
that was otherwise undisclosed.
It was like living a real life version of
Flatout 3. All the promise but nothing
ever delivered.
A week went by and my folks called to see how
I was doing. I told them about the
lackluster examples of pre-owned automobiles and they made a suggestion. They had 4 vehicles 2 of which are rarely if
ever driven. They offered up one that I
was very familiar with. My mother's 1995
Firebird Formula. I was hesitant to
accept the offer not wanting to deprive them of an asset of their own.
I knew
that the car was well maintained, had most of the problem areas already
addressed and would stand up to my relatively light usage but it was still a
well used high mileage car that was already 18 years old. Still, it was becoming obvious that I wasn't going
to do any better with the examples I was finding. It also didn't hurt that they were already
looking to get rid of it anyway.
They offered up the car with no strings
attached aside from having to pay for it to be transported from Colorado to
Arizona ( A cost of $1100.) Now survival is one thing but I wasn't
about to let my folks on a fixed income get nothing for an asset. I checked Edmunds and gave them what was
reported as the highest retail price for the car. It was less than I'd pay for the far less
pedigreed examples I'd been entertaining but a better price than they'd get for
it otherwise.
Happily my search ended. I set up the transportation for the car via
Reliable Auto Transporters and awaited its arrival. I knew there was the possibility of a 2 to 4
week delay from the carrier but a week later I got the call that the car was
going to be picked up and delivered a few days later.
While I waited I was forced to use another
car for transportation. Not that I had
anywhere much to go but the nearest supermarket is 2 miles away and that's a
long way to go with armloads of groceries.
In case you're wondering, yes I own 2 cars or at least I did before I
sold the Mustang. My other car is a 1974
El Camino. I've owned it for over 20
years and while it's more family member than car I can't rely on it. I knew I couldn't use it for daily commuting
for example; if for no other reason than the fuel costs would bankrupt me. It's also insured as a classic, recreational
vehicle so daily commuters are a no-no.
Let me add one wrinkle and a bit of
foreshadowing. I could never register
this car as anything but a classic in my state because it would never be able
to comply with the stringent emission standards demanded. Thus it's only meant for glorified parade
duty and occasional boulevard cruises.
You may be asking why I didn't sell it instead of the Mustang at this
point. The reason is, I didn't have time
to wait and wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the money out of it. The Mustang
was a guaranteed quick sale for a fair price, the El Camino wasn't. I may have been in survival mode but I'm not
stupid.
So at least I had a decent car coming and something
to drive in an emergency if need be. Or
so I thought.
Here's where the real fun starts...
Before I go on let's recap my adventure thus
far.
1. Sure thing falls through
2. Have to sell car or starve
3. Went car shopping found junk
4. Ended up buying car from parents
At 10AM on a Tuesday morning I got a phone
call from the folks. The car was picked
up and on its way. An hour later I got a
call from the truck driver informing me that he'd be at my door by 6:30PM the
next day.
"Wonderful!," I thought, that means
I'd have 2 days to take care of all the necessary evils of getting an out of
state car registered and insured and I'd be able to show it off to my friends
for the weekend!
It was not to be....
Wednesday morning I received another phone
call from the truck driver. He blew a
heater hose outside of Flagstaff and didn't know when he'd be underway. He was going to have to be towed into
Phoenix, 150 miles away and the schedule was blown to hell.
At this point I was ok with the delay. After all, bad things happen and it wasn't
the driver's fault that his rig broke down.
Having paid $1100 for transportation I assumed the Reliable Auto
Transport's dispatch would make arrangements.
All was well.
Except it wasn't...
Two days went by and I'd heard nothing from
Dispatch. Friday afternoon I received
another call from the unfortunate driver.
He was in Phoenix holed up in a motel and didn't know when his truck would
be ready. Apparently Reliable Auto
Transportation had yet to send another truck out to complete the
deliveries. Mine wasn't the only car on
his trailer and there were at least 5 other unhappy people not counting the
driver who was losing money every day his truck was out of commission.
In our conversation I let him know I didn't
blame him but was unhappy with the dispatch operation. My car was sitting in a trailer in a repair
yard 30 miles away for no other reason than somebody wasn't doing their job. The driver gave me the number to the local
dispatch office and I called them immediately after I hung up with him. Of course there was nobody at
the office but I left a long voicemail detailing exactly why I was happy with
the driver but unhappy with dispatch.
Well, at least I had the El Camino for the
weekend....
Except I didn't. I started having trouble with the car
backfiring through the carburetor. For
those of you who don't know what that is, it's a cantankerous lump of metal
whose only reason for being is to defy its primary purpose. That being, to get gasoline into the engine.
I spent most of Friday and Saturday trying to
connect the problem and only managing to asphyxiate myself from the noxious
fumes that resulted from my efforts.
This was bad...
Saturday, 5PM, I had one car and it wasn't
running. It's disassembled carburetor
lying bare on my workbench. I needed to
take action or I could potentially be without wheels for a week.
Reluctantly, I called for a rental car. I'd had good experience with Enterprise Rent
A Car in the past so I made a reservation.
Unfortunately, renting a car at 5PM on a Saturday means you have to go
to the airport to pick it up. I have at
least 6 car rental offices within 2 miles of my home but all of them were
closed.
No matter, I'd get a ride to the airport
somehow. I was supposed to meet a friend
later than evening and after making the reservation I called him up for a ride
to the airport. It was him or a $60 cab
ride. Luckily for me I have good taste
in friends and the only compensation for his trouble he'd accept is me buying
dinner. Done deal and we even got to try
a new restaurant on my side of town before we went for the car.
My friend dropped me off and confident my
troubles were over I went to the rental car counter, reservation in hand. All went well, I enjoyed pleasant
conversation with the agents as they finalized the paperwork.
Except they didn't finalize anything. They ran my credit card for the full rental
plus $100. Unfortunately a recent
payment hadn't posted from my bank so it was rejected. Undaunted, I suggested my debit card which
had more than enough to cover the cost.
I was told, " We can't run a debit card without a trip itinerary."
Really?
Remember, I had a confirmed reservation and a fully loaded Visa Debit
card ready to go and they were hanging me up on policy.
"Ok, can you just change the reservation
to one day?"
"No, we can't change a reservation"
"So basically you're saying I'm 28 miles
from home with no ride and nothing but my shoe leather..."
..shrug...
"Well, you can go upstairs and see if
they can do anything for you..."
So I did and after standing in line 10
minutes at the Enterprise counter I realized that all I was doing was wasting
time to hear the same BS I heard downstairs.
I walked out onto the concourse and did a quick game of eeny, meeny,
miny, moe. My finger stopped on Avis.
I walked up to the football jersey bedecked
agent and asked him, " Do you take debit cards?" Without so much as a breath, quoted policy or
anything about Itineraries he said, "No problem."
Needless to say, Avis in now my favorite car
rental company. After a few minutes I
was tossed the keys to a better car than Enterprise was offering for only 5
bucks a day more.
Time for another recap...
1. Sure thing falls through
2. Have to sell car or starve
3. Went car shopping found junk
4. Ended up buying car from parents
5. Delivery truck with new car breaks down
6. 2nd car breaks down, no ride till new car
shows up
7. Reserved rental car
8. Get ride to airport to get car
9. Denied rental car I reserved from Enterprise,
granted one from Avis
10.
Spend the rest of Saturday night trying to forget the last 3 days
After Saturday had passed I spent the next 2
days trying in vain to get the El Camino to run. No joy and I spent a lot of time at auto
parts stores.
Tuesday brought a phone call from Reliable
Auto Transport's dispatch department. My
car was going to show up within the hour.
Joy among joys!
Right on time the huge truck showed up and I
greeted a very pleasant husband and wife driving team. In short order the Firebird was in my
driveway.
As soon as they left I took the car out for a
shakedown run. Everything seemed to be
working and having driven it 10 miles I decided it was time to get it
registered. I went to my local AAA
office because I knew that was going to be easier than dealing with the
DMV.
Upon arriving at the AAA office, I dutifully
went to the counter to start the process.
Where I was told I couldn't title the car till it had passed
emissions. They wouldn't do a title
without registration. That meant I still
didn't own the car but had to drive it to the emissions testing station. That put me in a grey area that I was
uncomfortable with but considering what I'd already been through to this point
it wasn't that big of a deal. The title
clerk gave me a temporary registration sticker and off I went.
I went back home, collected the car and took
it to the emissions testing station. I
expected it to go well, it didn't.
In Arizona the emissions test for cars older than 1996 consists of running through a gauntlet on a dynamometer supposedly simulating a series of real world driving scenarios that take about 15 minutes to complete. The simulation is designed to stress emissions
control systems by operating the car in
situations that would rarely occur in real life.
I'm all for clean air but this whole process
is a racket. I mean how often would you
take your car to 70Mph, slam on the brakes to a complete stop then speed up to 70 MPH again in daily driving. I know the freeways are bad but they're not
THAT bad!
After about 12 minutes of this torture
testing my new ride decided to puke coolant all over the emissions testing
station. To my mind I felt it was
suitable commentary all things considered but the end result is that the car
failed on one reading.
I took the car home and checked the
radiator. It appeared that the coolant
had overflowed from the recovery tank and just needed more added. If only it were that simple...
I replaced the missing coolant, started
the car and upon checking the results of my handiwork discovered the radiator
had a leak that was spraying coolant all over the engine like a kid with s
super soaker.
Great, now I have 2 cars that don't run and
I'm already into my rental car for $250.
I called up the folks and couldn't resist the
jibe. I said, "Hey, thanks for the
lemon."
I expected to pay up to a grand to fix things on
a used car within the first 6 months of ownership. What I didn't expect was to have to fix it in
the first 6 minutes!
Truth be told, I hold my folks
blameless. The car had sat for 3 years
only gaining 100 miles since they moved to Colorado. They live in an area that rarely gets above
80 degrees and in the winter can go below zero.
For them, they would never have seen the problem, in fact where I refer
to that red oily water as coolant they call it anti-freeze.
In my mind, this was still a win-win
situation. It was just going to take a
bit longer to get my trophy.
It was like a boss battle in Borderlands 2
except you run out of ammo, he spawns 20 underlings and your special ability
hasn't recharged yet. You got everything
but the bullets....
Now add this to my little recap and consider
my state of mind at this point....
I called up Avis and extended my rental car
another day and lined up a ride back home from the drop-off point from a
friendly neighbor for the following Thursday.
I spent the next 12 hours fighting the
dubious engineering GM employed in the removal and installation of a radiator on
a 1995 Pontiac Firebird. There was much
cursing, numerous lacerations and even a bout of nausea involved but by
daybreak my task was done.
I had read a few car forums discussing the
process and most of them said it would only take a couple of hours for my car. Gentlemen, if it only took a couple of hours
you did it wrong. It took me 3 hours
just to bleed the air out of the cooling system!
I don't want to do this job again anytime
soon so I'd rather suffer the pain up front.
I finally went to bed and 4 hours later woke
up and proceeded to take the car on a test drive to make sure all was
well. Satisfied I went back to the
emissions testing station and it passed with flying colors. Amazing what a difference it makes to
actually keep the coolant in the radiator.
Happily I left the testing station and went
back to the AAA office where I was able to finalize my paperwork. I left with a new license plate, title and
registration. Finally the car was all
mine and all legal.
I'm still aware that I'm driving a car almost
2 decades old and I've spent the last few days cleaning it up and fixing minor
issues. I know, however, that it's been better cared
for throughout its life than the examples I was looking at before.
The El Camino is still down but I've ordered
the correct parts online after having no luck finding them locally. Hopefully I'll be back to 2 functional cars
in a week or so.
Somebody once said God didn't give you more
than you could handle. I was starting to
doubt that during the past month. What
came to light, however, was the kindness of people who had no stake aside from
the knowledge of their own kindness.
My faith in humanity was validated in the
selfless act of my folks to give me a cherished asset for no other reason than
I had the need. It was further validated
by the actions of my friends and neighbors to help me out however they could
and finally to the Avis car rental agent that saw my plight and got me a ride.
Balanced against that were: The actions of the security software company dangling a carrot while knowing full well there was no opportunity to be had The arrogance and callous
attitudes of Enterprise car rental, The questionable motives of the emissions
testing station and the careless disregard of Reliable Auto Transport
dispatchers.
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