Funny...

- posted by L. @ 9:07 PM

 
Whooooooooooooops...
So it's been nearly a month since I've posted and it appears that the reading material has come to a ho-hum, so I figure that those of you non-LJ users might want an update of sorts.
First things first, the Mazda 626 died. Well, not quite died. You see, the 626 was a '95, and for those of you who may be familiar with the '90s 626, you also may know that Mazda royally fucked up the transmission in the model years 1993-2000. So, on my way home from Milwaukee last month, my car started jerking around and shifting weird (but luckily I was on hwy 114 in menasha...loosely translated as not very far from home and no need to go faster than 40mph instead of 75 on the interstate). A quick trip to the car place yielded that they could not do anything with it, and it would need to go to a tranmission specialty shop. The meantime, I'm bumming rides to work with Andy and/or driving my car (very uncomfortably, i'll probably need to see a chiropractor when i get my health insurance, haha), but finally we took the car to a transmission specialty shop and they deemed the transmission to be shot. Only $1500-$1800 to replace the transmission. For a $2000 car, this is CLEARLY not worth it. So meanwhile, I'm looking at cars, mainly the Mazda 3 and the Focus. I've gotten suggestions for a Yaris (which looks like a souped-up FESTIVA) and Scion (tin box on wheels?)...but overall the Mazda seems to be the best bet. This isn't to say that I didn't go to like every Ford dealer in the general area including Ripon Ford to try and convince myself to buy the Focus, but when you have a metallic blue shoved down your throat at one, uh, prominent dealer in the Fox Valley area (no names listed, but those of you familiar with the FV area will probably know which dealer I'm referring to, those bastards are EVERYWHERE)....plus the Focus seemed to be geared more towards a family car. Not that I am bashing the Focus, I did enjoy the way it drove, however....
So in the end (on Friday), I broke down and bought the Mazda (it's all about customer loyalty, right?)....it's a 2006 Strato Blue. I am still waiting on the pictures (yesterday was a bit hectic), but when I take some, they will be shown on the photoblog, because let me tell you, this is one fucking SEXY car.
Anyway, so aside from the car, there hasn't been much excitement. Saturday morning I got up at 8:15 to go to Ripon, of all places (for the 2nd time in 3 days) for the grand opening of Vox, a up-and-coming coffeeshop downtown. Come to find out that the building inspector had actually blown off the coffeeshop owners two days in a row and therefore they were not allowed to open on Saturday as they had planned. Luckily, the owners are good friends with Joe and we went in anyway and had coffeeshop type drinks and a cookie. Let me just plug this place here, because it will be downright awesome. It's NOTHING like Seasons, and it's a great place to rival the Starbucks that is now on campus. Why was this not open when I was in college, though I probably would have spent every dime I made on Kiwi-Strawberry Frusias and Iced Chais...
And the job?? It's going well. I like it very much. There's a lot of opportunities there that would have never even been opportunities had I still been rotting away in my cubicle at the insurance company....I have some moments of feeling like I'm back at the Brass Bell, but music store retail will do that to you...:)
And I've decided that I want to learn Rhapsody in Blue...which just might possibly prove that I'm insane. I've got an ever-growing list of music I want to learn/own, including Brahms piano works (especially the Hungarian Dances!!!), Ravel's Pavane pour une infante defunte, Bach Suites, etc... I also need some more books to read. This is why I love post-college life, I can read books and learn music at my own pace - AND no textbooks involved. :)
But, that's pretty much it for new stuff. Yeah.
- posted by L. @ 2:21 PM