So I got the car back today. The total damage was 2300 something dollars. Eep. So I just spent 50% more on repairs, than my car is actually worth. Labor came out to 1500 dollars worth of that total.

I don't think I get paid enough considering how stressful my current job is. However, I don't think I can find a new job this year, considering how awful the economy is right now. Plus I don't have much actual IT-related work experience (only about 4 years now). I wish I hadn't wasted so much time figuring out what I wanted to do for a living. Bleargh.

Here's a list of computer IT wage listings from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/2007/may/oes151021.htm

My landlord STILL hasn't gotten back to me about renewing the lease. I'm really worrying now.

I couldn't sleep last night. I kept waking up at 4 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:00 a.m. I eventually got out of bed at 6:30 a.m., then drove over to the Toyota dealership.

I go into the dealership, and chat with the service advisor. I tell him I called yesterday about an appointment, and that I wanted to get the car's brakes checked out. He seems awfully friendly (far friendlier than any other car repair-related person I've ever spoken with). He asks for the key to the car, then runs outside to look at the car, and writes down some stuff on a sheet. Then he goes back inside, and tells me that I can borrow a car while they work on mine, as long as I refill the tank to make up for any gas I use. I'm like golly gee whiz this is convenient. He asks me if I've ever had any service work done on the car. I draw a blank; I don't even remember the last time I got an OIL change for the car (I think it was back in December). He then tells me I ought to get a timing belt change; it's apparently past due to the 2nd timing belt at 160,000 miles. Not really thinking any better of it, I go "sure why not". Then he asks if there's anything else wrong with the car. I casually mention the fact that the dash lights/radio/cigarette lighter aren't working. He then goes "anything else?" and I say no. Then he gives me a estimate for 1000 dollars. 500 something for the timing belt and "other critical service upgrades", 300 dollars for the brakes, and 120 to fix the electrical system. I'm like sheesh that's a lot of money, but seeing as I haven't done ANY service work on the car for the last four years, I figure that's fine. I then take the loaner car and drive to work.

I get a call around 11 a.m. from the service advisor. The service advisor said they did a check of the car, and he had some bad news. As the service advisor put, the brakes were "metal on metal". He quoted 270 dollars EACH to replace the front and back brakes. Then he says the radiator has a leak, and that's gonna be costly as well. He also states that "an air intake valve" was faulty and that it was costing me performance. With the timing belt replacement, he put the total cost of parts + labor to 2200 dollars. My jaw drops to the ground and I'm like uggggh. I mean I can pay for these repairs, but I just dropped a major chunk of change on a new computer a month ago. Plus the repairs cost 50% more than the blue book value of my car! Here's the kicker: he tells me there's an oil leak and that the tires need to be replaced as well, because they're down to 2 minutes 30 seconds. I'm floored at this point by how much this crappy car is gonna cost me. He sympathizes with the massive expense of all this, and tells me he'll just work on the "driving critical" stuff for now, and we can deal with the oil leak/new tires at another time. I'm like gee thanks. I tell him to go ahead with making the "driving critical" repairs and he says the car will be done tomorrow, but I can keep the loaner car for now.

I forgot to bring lunch, so I had to skip lunch again, but it didn't really matter since I lost my appetite after hearing about the ginormous automotive repair bill, plus I had to work on a shitload of client-related software problems. Both my manager and the engineering manager were having fits over how these software problems were gonna potentially delay the client go-live (and thus delay the company getting $$$), so they were breathing down my neck to get these problems solved YESTERDAY. Like I needed more stress.

To add to my stress, my apartment lease ends at the end of March, and my landlord still hasn't offered to renew my lease. I would expect he would have mentioned the lease when he came over to fix the bathtub back in January, but noooo. I'm not THRILLED about my apartment, but it's the cheapest place I can find in my area, that's not a total dump, and plus this way I don't have to try and move all my stuff. I know I wouldn't be able to lift my computer, or my TV I never watch, or my never-assembled exercise bike (long story) by myself.

I can't believe how much crap I've managed to accumulate in my apartment over the last 12 months. I probably have every handy doodad/essential gadget/distraction that a single male could possibly ever need/want, and then some. Of course, considering how many hours I spend playing WoW every day, I don't really ever make use of these items.

I haven't eaten much in the past couple of days. On Sunday I ate a California Pizza Kitchen Pizza for one. I picked up a salad and Healthy Chicken entree from Pasta Pomodoro, but when I got home I ended up only having time to eat the salad. I logged into the game to check if the Mysterious Egg on my paladin had hatched (it turned out I never got a new one from last week). Then I had to chat with a guild applicant, then I got invited to a VoA raid. After the VoA raid, there was only 10 minutes left in between the VoA raid and the OS25 raid, so I only had time to suck down the salad without really chewing it. I resignedly put the Healthy Chicken in the fridge to prevent it from spoiling while I was raiding. After the raid I didn't go to bed until 2 a.m. because I was too hyper after the raid.

I woke up this morning and finally got through the Toyota Dealership (I got busy signals the other times I called previously). Normally, making an appointment at a car dealership is a arduous ordeal. But surprisingly this was very quick. The guy at the dealership asked me my name, the make/model of the car, and why I wanted to take the car in for. They asked me when I wanted to take the car in. Strangely enough, they didn't tell me when I could take the car in, they just asked me when *I* wanted to take the car in. I said tomorrow at 8 a.m. They said "see you then!" and then said "Thanks!" and hung up. I figure I will have to get up early to drive the car over to there at 8 a.m. then walk the 2 miles from the car dealership to work. But it will be worthwhile walking the 2 miles to work, and walking the 2 miles back to the dealership, to get this brake problem sorted out. I'm just paranoid about car repairs, especially since I work so far away from home. If I can't get the car back by the end of the day I'm probably screwed since my apartment is 20 miles away from work. I guess we'll see, though.

I was so groggy this morning from lack of sleep. I took a frozen chicken quesadilla flatbread with me to eat, so I wouldn't have to stop by Safeway, which in turn would save me 20 minutes of time. Unfortunately, when I got to work, I put my flatbread (in a plain plastic bag) on my desk, and I forgot to transfer it to the my insulated bag. So when I checked my flatbread around noontime it was all soggy and smelly. I just ended up throwing away the flatbread, because I didn't want to risk getting salmonella. I hate wasting food like that, but I can't afford to be sick either. I don't really feel that hungry right now anyways. I guess I could go to Carl's Jr. to eat if I'm really hungry, but just thinking about Carl's Jr. right now is making me nauseous. :P

Anyways, I have a crapton of work to do today, between THREE major client projects on my plate, so I don't have time to eat anyways. But hopefully my appetite will feel better later.

I've got a bunch of crap to do this week at work. It's hard keeping it all straight sometimes. I'll get deep into working on a project, then I'll get an email from a PM saying "this issue is urgent help immediately!".

I'm worried right now about my car. The passenger side wheel in my car has been making a grinding noise for a while, particularly when I drive at low speeds. Sometimes I don't notice it at all, but some days I can totally hear the grinding noise and it freaks me out. I was wondering what would happen if my car broke down. I would be screwed, since I have to drive 20 miles each way to get to work, and I don't think there are any convenient bus routes from the area of Corte Madera where I live, to Novato. And I don't know anyone who lives near me that would drive me to work, and I can't work from home, because I STILL don't have a VPN account to connect into the work network.

I think I should go to bed early tonight so I can take my car into Midas tomorrow, that's located 3 blocks away from where I work. I would go to the Toyota dealership but that's kinda out of the way in San Rafael, and then I wouldn't be able to get to work. Taking a day off to get my car fixed is not an option right now, because of all the projects that keep getting dropped on me everyday. I might need an appointment but I should at least go inside so I can find out if they can do anything about the grinding noise.