Boycott Jiffy Lube!!!

In my last blog, I mentioned that I had gone to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. I have been going to Jiffy Lube since I started driving and have never had a problem. As it turns out, my good luck has ended.

After getting my oil changed that Sunday, I started feeling that my car seemed sort of sluggish for a couple of days afterward, but I didn't really think anything of it. That Friday, I drove to my parent's house after work and as I was climbing a hill near their house, I was unable to accelerate at the rate that I was used to and I noticed that smoke was coming out of my tailpipe. To my knowledge, that hadn't happened before I noticed it right then. My heart started racing, so I pulled to the side of the road and called my mom. I asked her to come out to meet me and follow me back to her house because I wasn't sure what was wrong with my car. None of my dashboard lights were coming on, so I was a little confused as to what was happening. As we were pulling back out onto the busy road (with a speed limit of 45), I couldn't get my car to accelerate faster than about 30mph. It scared the heck out of me.

I called the Scion dealership when I got to my parent's house and they suggested that I have my car towed there so that I wouldn't cause any more damage. To make a long story short, Jiffy Lube didn't just overfill my oil, they put in TWICE THE AMOUNT that should have been in there, causing my spark plugs to be fouled out. They changed my spark plugs and did a throughout inspection to make sure no more damage was done. I am so grateful that there wasn't any more damage or more serious damage, but I am really soured now about Jiffy Lube. (The one good thing about that night was a funny ride with my tow truck driver.)

I have now contacted Jiffy Lube's headquarters and have filed a complaint. I am also faxing over a copy of my invoice from the dealership so that they can reimburse me the $164.42 that it cost me to repair my car. As it turns out, the dealership offers oil changes at just about the same price as Jiffy Lube, so I will be taking my business to them from now on.

I'm actually a bit sad that I won't be doing business with them anymore, as they are close to my house and have always been pretty quick to get me out of there. But, it means more to me knowing that my car is in good hands, though.

Lesson learned.

My Weekend and Some Random Thoughts

I don't know about the rest of you, but daylight savings sure threw me off today. Instead of gaining 1 extra hour today, I feel like we gained about six. In some ways, I'm grateful for the longer day, but I'm getting to the point now where I'm ready for the day to end.

I'm also ready for the cold weather to finally hit us this winter. It has been pretty warm these last few days and according to the forecast, it's supposed to be like this until the end of the week. Don't get me wrong, I like pleasant weather. I'm just ready for it to feel like winter.

My Uncle Chuck's funeral service was held yesterday at a church that he had attended for the last 8 years. It turned out really nice and there ended up being more people there than I anticipated. There were more than 20 people there...I think I counted around 24, which included my family, Jon's parents, my parent's tenant and quite a few people from the church. My mom, aunt, and Lance were among about 9 people who got up and spoke about him. Even though he didn't have many great relationships with people in my family, I'm glad that he found some friendships with people from his church and that he found a way to keep himself busy. I knew he was at the church a lot, but I didn't realize just how involved he was there. I'm glad that he was able to keep himself busy in that way.

Some other random thoughts about my weekend:

I went to Jiffy Lube for just an oil change today and I ended up spending $100. How does that happen???

Lance and I went to the Indian buffet. Three words: butter chicken rocks!!!!!!

Petco gives you FREE STUFF when you adopt an animal. Adopt, people...adopt! =)

One tall beer makes for a happy husband.

Don't pet cats on the butt for too long....they don't like it.

Is it Friday yet????

Okay....that's all for now. The Amazing Race is on tonight. If you haven't seen it, please watch it. It's fantastic! I sit there and dream of going to all the places they get to go. One day, right? =)

Goodnight my friends!

Ready For The Weekend

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I sure am ready for the weekend. I'm not totally sure why...nothing happened this week that makes me need a break. I think I just need one. With the weather getting a bit colder, it is getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning and be motivated to go to work. The thought of turning off the alarm clock and sinking back into my warm bed is becoming more appealing. I'm really looking forward to the holidays and to putting my Christmas tree up this year. I'm really ready for winter.

Everything has been going pretty well with our new kitty. Oliver is adjusting quite nicely to the house and to us. I can't say the same about how he's adjusting to the dog just yet, but with time, it will happen. We have been keeping them apart at all times, although they have been able to smell one another through the door and whatnot. Willy is very curious, although not aggressive, with him, but Oliver sees the dog and hides. I can't say I blame him. We took Oliver to the vet yesterday for a check up and the vet just LOVED him! He wasn't concerned at all with where he was. Actually, he was more concerned with cleaning himself on the seat and the counter than he was with checking the place out. He really is a very sweet, loving boy. Ollie is such a mellow cat and just seems to be happy to be in the company of people who love him. I'm so glad we were able to give him a good home.

My Uncle Chuck's service is going to be held this Saturday morning. My mom and aunt scheduled it to happen at the church in Concord that he was attending. Lance and I will be going along with a few family members and some members of the church. My mom and my aunt will be scattering his ashes in Tomales Bay sometime in the near future. My mom told me that for the last few years, my uncle had been saying that he wanted to go to the beach. So, they thought that putting him out in the ocean would be something that he would have wanted.

Halloween proved to be pretty quiet this year. Last year, we had a handful of trick-or-treaters that came to our door. This year, we had one. One little girl came with her mom. That was it. I was feeling a bit sad for Lance. He was really in the spirit of the holiday this year and really was the one who got out the decorations and urged us to go buy some candy for the kids. I really wish that it would have panned out better for him, especially with all the effort he put into it. I guess we'll just try again next year.

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Introducing....Oliver!

Lance and I picked up our new kitty today. I have to say....I wasn't all that thrilled about bringing a cat into our home again so soon, but he is a ball of fun! I miss Tyson and I loved her a lot, but this guy has a personality that is all his own. He seemed very comfortable and at ease with his new living arrangement, which makes me feel really good. Immediately after he was let out of his carrier, he ate a bunch of food, drank a bunch of water, rubbed himself against everything, commanded a belly rub from Lance and found the windowsill, where he made his presence known to Argos. He is such a sweet boy. I'm so glad we brought him home! We're going to try introductions with Willy this coming weekend when Ollie has had time to heal.

Here are a few pics from his first day. Enjoy!

A very long time? Not so much...

I swore up and down since Tyson passed away that we wouldn't get another cat for a very long time. As it turns out, I'm a sucker.

Lance and I headed to animal services today to get a replacement tag for Argos. Lance asked me if we could look at the cats, and I told him that I had no problem with that but that we were NOT going to be bringing a cat home today. Well, we didn't actually bring a cat home today, but we will bring him home on Monday after he gets fixed. We adopted a cat. I can't believe what a sucker I am.

The thing is, if this particular cat wasn't there, there is no way we would have adopted one today. We just happened to really click with this big guy and really wanted to bring him home. He's a domestic shorthair cat that is white, gray and cream colored with pretty blue eyes (which are a little cross-eyed) and he's 5 years old. Lance held him 3 times today and he is such a lovebug. He was purring quite a bit and just loved being held. Very chill. An older, mature, chill cat....that's exactly that kind of cat that I wanted. He's a big guy, too, weighing over 11 pounds. Compared to Tyson, this guy is huge. Now, I have to give him a name. Since Lance has named every animal we've had (except for 2 of the rats), I get the honor of naming the new kitty.

We're pretty excited to bring him home on Monday. I'll have some better pictures to post after we get him home, but here's the one that was on his door at the animal shelter.

Goodbye, Little Tyson

For the last few days, Lance and I have come home from work to find that our cat, Tyson, had not quite made it to the litterbox and had left us some puddles in the hallway. This really hadn't been a problem until last Friday. She had some other issues, like standing in the hallway and meowing for no reason and she had recently started losing her balance when she would shake. We knew from our last vet visit a couple of years ago that her kidneys were starting to fail her, so it wasn't a huge surprise when we found the puddles.

Unfortunately, today we had to face the decision that no pet owner looks forward to. While at the vet today, we made the extremely hard decision to put her down. The little one had a pretty fantastic life, living 18+ years (the last 7 years, she lived with us. Before that, she lived at Lance's parent's house). The vet offered us some options, which were mainly a bunch of tests to pinpoint her exact problems. Because of her age and the fact that none of these tests would lead to anything that would "cure" her, we made the decision to let her go. We also didn't realize how much pain she was in. It was only after the vet pointed out some problems with her back and hind legs that we realized that we would be doing her a favor by not letting her suffer anymore.

Tyson was a really great little girl. She was such a chatty cat and would greet us when we'd come home. She loved giving Willy a run for his money and would oftentimes, especially in the last year or so, walk right up to him to sniff him or sit by him. They ended up being real buddies. I only had cats when I was young and both of them were hit by cars and didn't live very long. Tyson was so sweet and friendly. If we ever decide to get a cat again (which, trust me, won't be for a very long time), I hope to get one that was as loving and sweet as our little girl was.

Our sweet little kitty

Tyson in one of her favorite hangout spots

Willy and Tyson just hanging out

The Office

I'll be posting a longer blog soon, but for now, I just wanted to urge you all to see what has become my new favorite show on T.V.

If you haven't already checked out The Office, please do. I can't say enough about how much I love this show. We started getting the discs on NetFlix a few weeks ago and we're totally hooked. I think I may even border on obsessive, as I was pretty upset that our new disc didn't arrive today. I don't know what I'm going to do once I'm done watching this new disc, since this will be the last disc before the current season. The new season has started, but since we're behind in episodes, we can't start watching the new season and I have to wait until it comes out on DVD. Ahhhhh!!!!! I may just go crazy.

Anyway, if you haven't checked it out, please find time to do so. You won't be disappointed.

It....is.....awesome.