Blogrilla

Sure enough, three yards of mulch is LOT of mulch. The pile the dumptruck left behind is about four feet tall and about eight feet in diameter. Maybe ten. Anyway, its going to take a lot of trips to move it, I think. I’ve been assuming I could borrow my neighbor’s wheel barrow, but I wonder if I should have one of my own?

I so rarely need one. I think I’ll count on borrowing my neighbor’s.

I asked for brown mulch and what arrived what actually much more along the lines of “black”. I suspect that this particular load came from deep inside the giant mulch mountains I’ve seen at the nursery. Its probably already decomposed. Liz said that when the mulch first arrived it was steaming. That would fit with the decomposing theory.

Is that good or bad? Irrelevant?

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I was right. They were raping me. There was never any question was there? I did a quick search at Google and found a forum where some people were discussing my problem (http://www.automotiveforums.com/t172919.html).

SONOFABITCH!

I should have checked the web before I paid someone else $115 to do it!

SHIT!

To summarize the discussion it looks like this part that went bad really is a resistor. When the blower uses settings one through three (anything except full-blast) it uses the resistor to decrease the amount of electricity getting to the blower motor. This is called the Blower Motor Resistor (BMR) and it looks like a thick credit card. Its tucked behind a panel on the passenger side of the car inside the dash. Apparently you just have to remove ONE screw and then you can remove the assembly that has the BMR in it. Put the new one in the assembly and put everything back the way you found it.

DAMNIT!!!

The kicker? The resistor is only $5!!

From now on I’m going to research EVERY fix-it issue in my life on the web before making a single move.

DAMNIT!

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I think the dealership is raping me. I can’t be sure, of course, but I have several reasons to think so:

1. They’re a dealership 
2. They want to charge me a pile of money for a number of repairs!

I guess, its really just #1. I took it over there for a 45k mile check up. I wasn’t crazy about spending $270 on it, but I thought it would be prudent for them to look the car over. What was I thinking? That’s just what they wanted!! They want me to come in with a slightly worn car and they can find a million things to fix on it! I played right in to their hands, too.

Here are some of the things they want to do:

• $420     replace the front rotors and pads.
• $115     fix the blower by changing a resistor.
• $95       fix the rear defrost; resolder a connection
• $250     replace a steering belt and an AC belt
• $270     regular tune up

All of this came to over $1,100!! For once, I didn’t roll over and accept it. I argued and finagled and bitched and moaned. I started off talking about the resistor and got them to knock that down some. Then I focused on the brakes. I was pissed about the brakes. He could tell that my plan was to simply go to Midas around the corner anyway. So he knocked $100 off the price. Also, since the rear defrost has a service note from Chrysler on it he’s going to do that for free.

I had to be a pain in the ass about it, but I’m glad I didn’t just roll over and take it. And I told him I wanted it by 4pm!

(there might be some wiggle room on the 4pm business)

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Gracie used the potty today! On purpose and everything! We’re not trying to potty-train her or anything. None of our other kids have been interested in potties at this age. All our other kids were significantly older when they got the hang of it. I think they were over three years old!

Nonetheless, Grace insisted that she try out the potty so she stripped herself naked and hopped up there. Within a minute or so she had pee’ed in the potty!

How exciting! This shows that she understands that the pressure on her bladder means she has to pee! And she noticed it!

In spite of this news I think she’s still just playing with the idea though.

Still, how cool is that?

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I dropped the car off at Herb Chambers this morning. Their garage doesn’t open until 7:30am. So I came in to the office first and spent an hour working before someone else came in, allowing me to go to the dealership with a clear conscience. Its been about 25,000 miles since I bought the car and I figured I should have them take a look at it.

I normally go to a place down the street I trust for basic maintenance. I also frequently go to Jiffy Lube for routine oil changes. Finally, the tire place down the street from me, Montvale Tire, seems to believe highly in customer service and I use them for any of my tire needs. The tires a little more expensive there, but they’ve taken care of me a couple of times when I needed them to.

For instance, my wife had a blow-out at the Mobil station across the street. She had to leave the car there. Fortunately, Montvale Tire guys didn’t mind going across the street to change the tire that I purchased over the phone. The owner of the Mobile station was pretty irked because the car had been parked on top of one of his tanks and he was expecting a shipment that day.

But that’s neither here nor there.

My point is that I value the service I get from Montvale Tire so much that I’m willing to pay a couple of extra dollars for their tires than go to BJ’s.

And I continue to despise dealerships. I’m already regretting taking the car back to Herb Chambers. They’ve bene fine to me, but I always feel like they’re trying to suck me dry for every penny possible. And I hate the way that makes me feel.

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