of cars & cell phones
of cars...
Today turned into Basic Car Maintenance Day (TM).
I have a birthday in a few weeks. In the Great State of Ohio, as a birthday present, you get to renew your vehicle registration ($54.50).
As I fired up the engine to visit the BMV I thought "Man, I'm overdue for an oil change, better add that to my list". I'm almost never overdue for an oil change, so being at 5,000+ miles since my last one is very, very bad. (Did I mention I drive a vehicle with 114,000 miles on it currently)? Then, as I peered out the windshield, I had another thought, "How did all that salt get on my car!? Did they seriously salt the roads for the 2 centimeters of snow? Guess I'd better wash that off after the oil change."
So, sparing you the details of the FasLube with the weird water problems (they were arguing with the city inspector when I arrived), my car is again, to my standards, fully roadworthy (well, except for the giant smashed in front thanks to that old lady that ran a stop sign a few years ago...).
Next time I go outside I'm taking the ArmorAll and a rag, because the inside of the car is covered in gross dust and other mystery particles. The dust & mystery particles were just creeping up on me, until I washed the outside of the car, and now they are just right there, gloating at the nearly 1/4" thick hold they have on my entire dashboard and steering column.
and cell phones
My wireless carrier is Virgin Mobile. I feel weird admitting it - it conjurs up pictures of:
1)stupid high school kids paying $.18 per minute for cell phones, because their parents won't buy them one on their plan
2)ghettofabulous individuals who can't keep their cell phones on for more than a month
3)crafty criminals who use these magic prepaid cell phones to dodge the hardworking law enforcement officers trying to track them down (ok, maybe that just happens on Law & Order)
It started a few years ago, about 5 minutes before everyone, even your grandma, had a cell phone. STB and I were in Best Buy (as often is the case with our shopping habits). The Virgin Mobile display was right there in the door. I started wondering if maybe I should get one in case of car trouble or other emergency. I figured it would be one of those things I used now and then. I chose a little phone - which turned out to be indestructible. That thing was dropped on cement, in puddles, whatever, and it never died.
Within a year, STB had also purchased his own phone and was using Virgin Mobile, and we disconnected our land line entirely.
You're probably thinking we pay an insane amount of money for our phones. STB actually still does the prepaid minutes, and spends $20-$40 month. I am on a monthly plan, and spend $40-$50 a month.
With my promotion, I can expense my business phone calls on my cell phone. "Crap," I started thinking, "I'm going to have to change carriers."
I've looked into other carries in the past, because it's weird that we're grown adults using these hip "kids & criminals" cell phones. But I never found a service that would save us any money.
I started reluctantly looking again, for work. I had narrowed it down to Spring vs. Cingular, but I hear about how Sprint nickels and dimes every little detail. So I was thinking Cingular (and I've spared you a geek post about Apple's iPhone. I will just say it's freakin' PRETTY and I have to keep reminding myself I don't need one and don't want the contract. But that would be my #1 reason for switching- that pretty phone) or T-Mobile, because, hello sim cards! (You can SAVE all of the crap you downloaded to your phone and SWITCH to another phone and KEEP it! Whey are these the only two companies using them?).
But today I discovered, with a little help from Virgin Mobile's incredibly friendly and useful customer service, that I CAN get monthly transaction statements. I don't have to switch to a "real" phone company. And I can access it all right online. Did I mention I LOVE MY PHONE COMPANY?
If you're thinking I'm just posting this to pimp Virgin Mobile, well, I am. They have the absolute best (and consistently best) service of any company I do business with. And also to tell you - and me - it's okay to go through life without a contract. You just have to use the awesomest company.
Today turned into Basic Car Maintenance Day (TM).
I have a birthday in a few weeks. In the Great State of Ohio, as a birthday present, you get to renew your vehicle registration ($54.50).
As I fired up the engine to visit the BMV I thought "Man, I'm overdue for an oil change, better add that to my list". I'm almost never overdue for an oil change, so being at 5,000+ miles since my last one is very, very bad. (Did I mention I drive a vehicle with 114,000 miles on it currently)? Then, as I peered out the windshield, I had another thought, "How did all that salt get on my car!? Did they seriously salt the roads for the 2 centimeters of snow? Guess I'd better wash that off after the oil change."
So, sparing you the details of the FasLube with the weird water problems (they were arguing with the city inspector when I arrived), my car is again, to my standards, fully roadworthy (well, except for the giant smashed in front thanks to that old lady that ran a stop sign a few years ago...).
Next time I go outside I'm taking the ArmorAll and a rag, because the inside of the car is covered in gross dust and other mystery particles. The dust & mystery particles were just creeping up on me, until I washed the outside of the car, and now they are just right there, gloating at the nearly 1/4" thick hold they have on my entire dashboard and steering column.
and cell phones
My wireless carrier is Virgin Mobile. I feel weird admitting it - it conjurs up pictures of:
1)stupid high school kids paying $.18 per minute for cell phones, because their parents won't buy them one on their plan
2)ghettofabulous individuals who can't keep their cell phones on for more than a month
3)crafty criminals who use these magic prepaid cell phones to dodge the hardworking law enforcement officers trying to track them down (ok, maybe that just happens on Law & Order)
It started a few years ago, about 5 minutes before everyone, even your grandma, had a cell phone. STB and I were in Best Buy (as often is the case with our shopping habits). The Virgin Mobile display was right there in the door. I started wondering if maybe I should get one in case of car trouble or other emergency. I figured it would be one of those things I used now and then. I chose a little phone - which turned out to be indestructible. That thing was dropped on cement, in puddles, whatever, and it never died.
Within a year, STB had also purchased his own phone and was using Virgin Mobile, and we disconnected our land line entirely.
You're probably thinking we pay an insane amount of money for our phones. STB actually still does the prepaid minutes, and spends $20-$40 month. I am on a monthly plan, and spend $40-$50 a month.
With my promotion, I can expense my business phone calls on my cell phone. "Crap," I started thinking, "I'm going to have to change carriers."
I've looked into other carries in the past, because it's weird that we're grown adults using these hip "kids & criminals" cell phones. But I never found a service that would save us any money.
I started reluctantly looking again, for work. I had narrowed it down to Spring vs. Cingular, but I hear about how Sprint nickels and dimes every little detail. So I was thinking Cingular (and I've spared you a geek post about Apple's iPhone. I will just say it's freakin' PRETTY and I have to keep reminding myself I don't need one and don't want the contract. But that would be my #1 reason for switching- that pretty phone) or T-Mobile, because, hello sim cards! (You can SAVE all of the crap you downloaded to your phone and SWITCH to another phone and KEEP it! Whey are these the only two companies using them?).
But today I discovered, with a little help from Virgin Mobile's incredibly friendly and useful customer service, that I CAN get monthly transaction statements. I don't have to switch to a "real" phone company. And I can access it all right online. Did I mention I LOVE MY PHONE COMPANY?
If you're thinking I'm just posting this to pimp Virgin Mobile, well, I am. They have the absolute best (and consistently best) service of any company I do business with. And also to tell you - and me - it's okay to go through life without a contract. You just have to use the awesomest company.
Labels: cars, cell phone, maintenance, real life, vehicle, virgin mobile
posted by Silver Turtle at
12:40 PM
2 Comments:
At least Basic Car Maintenance Day (TM) is better than:
Basic Yard Scooping Day
Basic Kidney Cleaning Day
Basic Wheat Grass purifying Day
Basic Cat Box Scouring Day
(hmmm i'm noticing a common thread here, i have issues with deep cleaning mixed with a repulsive scatalogical obsession...must give this some more thought before I continue)
By
Helen, at 8:41 PM
Yes, you know it's time to clean out your can when you could package and sell your car's very own brand of "Grey Granola" collected in the shift boot and seat crevices.
By
Anonymous, at 6:43 PM
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