(no subject)

Well, that was more of an adventure than I'd planned.

I took my car to Sears this afternoon to have the front brake pads replaced; I figured I'd be in and out in about an hour and a half, tops. Alas, no. The pads and a rotor and a caliper need to be replaced, and unsurprisingly they won't have that last part until tomorrow. Other than having this come out to be a couple hundred dollars more than I expected (thus wiping out the money I was planning to put towards a short vacation) it's not such a bad thing; C. and I left my car in the bay to hopefully have it taken care of first thing tomorrow and walked home from the mall, enjoying the rare combination of sunshine and low humidity. It's only a bit over two miles, not a bad walk at all, and I definitely could use the exercise I got.

There's a lot of expensive car repairs and maintenance in my future, I suspect. Next up: the alternator. Again. It really does need to be replaced soon, as the horrible noise it's making is driving me insane. At least I found my hammock and stand for the deck for cheap (thanks for the recommendation, winterbadger), so I can sprawl out there in the evening and think about the vacations my mechanics will be taking. ;) I probably shouldn't have splurged on it, but it was on sale for less than I could find a hammock and a stand for locally, plus I ended up getting 89 pounds of relaxation shipped cross-country via UPS for $1.87 thanks to catching the abovementioned sale; can't beat that!

I really should be more responsible with my money. I do have part of my check going straight into savings every payday (a recent development; if anyone wants to open an ING savings account, they'll put $25 in your account if I refer you), as well as automatic payments on my credit cards from every paycheck to try to pay those down, but I don't really have much of a cushion to fall back on. I'm getting too old to not have any real savings to speak of, especially when I make a decent salary and have generally a reasonable amount left over after rent and bills. I'm Instant Gratification Girl though, in addition to having an unfortunate tendency toward retail therapy, so I end up with not much saved and a ton of stuff cluttering up the place. Something to work on adjusting. Do I need a hammock? No, of course not. Will it make me happy and will I get a good amount of use out of it? I think so. I should try to ask myself these questions before every reasonably-large purchase and see what answers I come up with. If it turns out that I was wrong about the amount of use and enjoyment I get out of a purchase, I should sell it to someone who will enjoy it or donate it. Less clutter, plus the knowledge that someone else is happy.

(no subject)

Today's nugget of joy from Ralph Nader, courtesy of Dana Milbank at the Post:

Tempers are hot in the capital over Michael Moore's anti-Bush production, "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- and not just in the White House. Now one of the filmmaker's old friends on the far left is accusing Moore of being . . . fat?

On Thursday, Moore was the recipient of an open letter from independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who seems stung that his former friend and supporter has parted ways with him and gone to the Democrats. Miffed that he was not invited to the Washington premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11," Nader, whose 6-foot-4 frame is a lean 190 pounds, said Moore's former Naderite friends are "trim and take care of themselves. Girth they avoid. The more you let them see you, the less they will see of you."

The column goes on to mention how Ralph has advised Kerry to select Edwards as his running mate, seemingly because Edwards supports Americans' right to sue. And Kerry should listen to his advice because...?

Interestingly, the vote predictor at http://www.electoral-vote.com/ shows Bush carrying VA right now by only 2%, down from a solid 18% as of June 11. I'd like to see the actual polls this guy's using, but if it really is that close according to the last poll... It would be quite interesting to see VA go Democrat in this election.