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Journal (The Ember Update)

Thursday, February 17

We're moving to the Happy Cabin!

Wear What You Dare Bowling

It's events like these that make me feel like an adult … in a good way. Dorian and Amethyst invited us out to Frederick to duckpin bowl with their (initially possibly naked) friends. The nakedness didn't end up happening, but it was a blast none-the-less. View the travelogue (with more details) or click on a photo below to see more:

Thursday, Feburary 10

My computer is still on the fritz.

Pirates' Feast

Kevin, John M. and I attended this year's Pirates' Feast together. Here are a few pics to lead you to my travelogue and slide show:

Friday Dance

Had an especially great time at Ginohn's First Friday party. Dorian called me late in the afternoon to say he and friend Cathy were bringing their drums and would I belly dance? I was both interested in—and terrified by—the idea. I've pretty much not done ANY belly dance that wasn't choreographed to set music, so the thought of improvising was scary, especially at a party. But I stepped up to the plate, for how many opportunities have I had to dance in public? (Answer: One other.)

Dorian and Cathy played a series of rhythms for the first round of dancing. I did my best, which was doing a step, then stopping and thinking, then doing another step. I felt pretty lame and people were watching! After some time we took a break, and later they played again and I danced more. My movements and transitions flowed better, I felt better, and other folks joined in to make music. I even got encouraging comments afterwards. I know I have a long way to go, but I had a wonderful time and hope to dance there again.

And now Kevin and I are going to another party this weekend, and Dorian's bringing his drum again…

Friday, February 04

Snow

A few pics of snow in the countryside around the cabin:

1. Snow crystals on a twig
2. A mailbox and school bus stop
3. As we approached the bus stop a large brownish-reddish owl flew out in a wide circle, waiting for us to leave. Kev watched it through binoculars. Sorry, no actual owl photo.

4. Ice on the Shenandoah
5. Kevin throws snowballs at this tree
6. Snow on a high-up shelf mushroom

And here's snow falling yesterday in Wunderland's back yard -->

Bad Computer!

My Macintosh has died. It's only just now turning 3 years old, a QuickSilver G4.

It stopped working Sunday night, January 23rd, after Kevin "helped" me by turning it off with the power button. I guess I'd never shown him how to select "Shut Down" from the Apple menu. Now pressing the power button shouldn't have killed my computer, but according to the extended diagnostics test I've run, I need to replace the main logic board (error "post/16/4096") to the tune of around $700 … or at least that's what a technician quoted over the phone, if repairs go smoothly. Resetting the PRAM and pushing the little button on the logic board haven't helped.

Do I get it fixed? Do I buy a new computer? What I want is the mobility of a Power Book, but they're so expensive. My next step may be to remove the hard drive and stick it in my mom's Mac for the time being, assuming it works.

So I haven't checked my home email in 2 1/2 weeks. Yes, I could use Mail2Web, but as of this moment I have 1639 unread messages, most of them spam, and I ain't wading through them all. Please email me at work (marlene at my employer's domain).

Bad Car!

While I'm in angst mode, might as well rant about my car too.

Don't buy a VW Beetle. Yes, they're very cute, but if you haven't heard, VWs—especially Beetles—have a terrible repair record that seems to be persisting to present models too (according to Consumer Reports). People look at my car all the time … especially children. I get comments and folks saying, "I love your car!" and I've started telling the adults not to purchase one. The kids who shout out at me, like the one the other day who rolled down her window and said, "That's gonna be my car someday!" … well, by the time she's old enough to drive hopefully VW will have gotten Beetles right.

So what repairs have I needed?

Most recently I had my headlight replaced. When they went in to replace it they found that the latch was broken (possibly by a previous mechanic in CA) which would cost $500+ to replace. They charged me $40 above the normal fee to have them find a workaround, so the bulb was replaced but the latch not fixed.

Previously … my battery died the day before Burning Man. I decided not to fix it (didn't have time), got back two weeks later, had the battery replaced, turned on my car and the radio said, "SAFE." SAFE happens as an anti-theft mechanism. So I looked up and entered the unlock code exactly as the instructions said, but it still said SAFE. The dealer put in the code, it still said SAFE. Then I'm told, "The code has been tried too many times and you have to get your radio replaced" (they quoted $260). I asked how many tries we get. They said TWO! It's not like I'm standing there with the cables dangling from a stolen radio asking it be activated, I'm the frickin OWNER of the radio—provable—but no, my perfectly good, functioning radio needs to be replaced. Right now I'm using a portable (but I just broke the antenna, boo hoo).

And then there are the nearly dozen times I've had to take my car in because of the check engine light. Pretty much every time it's been triggered by an emissions problem. Thankfully those repairs have been covered by the extended warranty I bought (normally I don't do that kind of thing). I mentioned this issue to a friend of Kevin's who works in a VW parts department and he said, "Yeah, that's common among other VW models too … there's no permanent fix." My extended warranty expires in 2 years.

Then there's the time my driver's door electrical circuits were faulty, so when I'd lock the car using the remote it would beep but that door wouldn't actually lock. Or I'd unlock it, get in, not close the door right away, and a minute later the alarm would go off because it didn't recognize that I'd opened the door.

Not to mention the passenger window switch, which stopped working one day. Got that fixed.

And the front passenger's side airbag, which deactivated because of a faulty cable under the seat, and would cost $650 to replace. I didn't get that fixed.

Or the poorly-designed side mirror adjuster which sticks out instead of being flush with the door, so it's easily broken off by a wayward knee or bag (three times in my case, once was actually this week, but luckily this time the stem didn't break and I could stick it back on).

I know someone who bought the same year, make, model, color, everything as mine and it broke down the first time three days after being driven off the lot. For the following two years there wasn't a month that went by when it wasn't in the shop. He got rid of it after two years (possibly under VA's lemon law, but I'm not sure).

In December I seriously considered selling my car because I'd finally had the last straw, only I realized that it would be paid off this month (YAY!) and even with repairs it probably would never cost me on a yearly basis what a new car would. So I'm keeping it.

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