1. Yay! I finally have MY car back! I only have about 3 weeks left on my warranty (and the car’s only a year old! I just happen to drive A LOT!), and my little message display stopped working, so it was in the shop to try and figure out what was going on. I had thought it was just a fuse, but the tech said it had power and had a ground, so they want to replace the entire unit. Yay, warranty! Knock yourselves out! 🙂 The only bad thing is that I was without my car for 2 days. I am grateful that my mom was willing to let me borrow her car (and that she had Wednesday and Thursday off!). However, driving her car made me so incredibly glad to get my own back. Not that her car is awful or anything. She has a 2007 Dodge Caliber. But, it does have some characteristics which I found irksome.

a. My mom and I are the same height and everything, but she likes to sit WAY too close to the steering wheel. Since, I understand the pain and anguish of having to readjust the seat, I left it the way she likes it. As a related issue, she likes the steering wheel low, so that’s almost in your lap, too. Problem being that the top part of the steering wheel is right in the line of sight for the speedometer. Now, I understand that Mom doesn’t use those digits at the top of the dial, but for her daughter, Mario Andretti, there was an issue.

b. It seems like this car has much less visibility than mine. Wider pillars, smaller back window. However, her side mirrors are amazingly well-adjusted.

c. Her transmission doesn’t sound the same switching gears. So, I don’t know that I’m going too fast until the little needle comes out of hiding from the steering wheel, like at 95 mph. 🙂 (Just kidding, Mom! I didn’t have your car going that fast!)

d. Mom and Dad were irritated by the shape of the headrests on the seats…so they removed them. Now, the seat only goes up to your shoulder, and there is no support for my head/neck were I to get into a crash. That is more than a little disturbing to me.

e. Her cup holders are further down by the floor than mine and not well protected. It is much easier to spill my coffee. And, because of their location, you almost have to look down to put the cup back in the holder — which, hello, distracted driving. I made sure to evaluate my options for Starbucks-compatibility before purchasing. Just saying.

f. Mom doesn’t care about “options” in a car. If she could buy one without power anything and with no radio, she would do it. It just happens that the better leases are on cars which have at least a few options. Resale value is higher. Go figure. 🙂 Because she does not care, the clock was still at the wrong time (never changed when daylight savings did). So, I fixed that. But then, turning on the radio, I found it all messed up. Obviously, my brother must have messed with it, since the fade and balance were adjusted so that I was certain I was going deaf in one ear, and the bass was cranked up way too much. Not that I don’t like bass. But, seriously, when it is making all the plasticy pieces in the back of the car rattle — not the vibrational sound I was going for.

Overall, it was good, reliable transportation, and I am very, very thankful that I was able to borrow her car to go to work.

2. On a related note, I noticed yesterday that her passenger windshield wiper had hanging rubber, and wasn’t wiping very well. And, because it is expected to snow tomorrow pretty good, I needed to make sure I returned the car fully functional, so Mom could go to work. So, I faced the prospect of having one car in the shop and trying to find a way to get parts for the other car. I stopped by an Auto Zone on the way to get Mom (to pick up my car). I bought a new wiper blade and the kind boy behind the counter installed it for me! Go AutoZoneBoy! Thank you! I prayed that he would have a blessed evening and day today, for his kindness. Because of him, I was able to return her car in perfect condition, with a full tank of gas (okay AZB didn’t do that, but still).

3. “A lot of taxpayers’ money is going into Church schools and I think we should tease out what is happening here,” said Sheerman. “It seems to me that faith education works all right as long as people are not that serious about their faith. But as soon as there is a more doctrinaire attitude, questions have to be asked.” — Courtesy of ZENIT

Oh, I getcha. Religion is fine as long as it’s not REAL. What they are saying is they don’t mind believers who…don’t really believe. What? I mean, if we aren’t to teach the faith, why not just have secular schools? Duh. Why are they surprised? It’s like saying, “Math classes are fine, as long as the students really aren’t learning anything. But as soon as they start actually teaching algebra and long division, questions have to be asked.” In summation, “Keep the dumb sheep dumb.” Thank you, Satan; I think I’ll pass.