June 09, 2006 :: Bad Karma

OK, a lot of automotive-related things have transpired since the last post. I'll try to catch you up, in chronological order:

The brakes on the Prelude went out. In no small coincidence, it happened on a night I went to 1223. I hate 1223 with a passion that exceeds how much any man should hate a mere bar, but for some reason I never have fun there, and bad things always happen to me afterwards. I know, I know, you're asking, why did I go then? Well, I let my brother's friends talk me into it, after we had hit Kelis' listening party at another place. Part of me always holds out hope that 1223 can be redeemed, the way a gambler who's down way too much at the craps table will keep gambling because he hopes to play his way back to even, or at least a moderately respectable loss instead of mortgaging his house and kids' college funds. And 1223 has about as much chance of breaking even in the "fun index" as that gambler has of breaking even on the craps table. Anyway... the master cylinder went out. I guess it had a slow leak. I debated whether or not I should even spend the money to get it repaired, but I figured I have to be able to drive to work and to the dealer to get a new car, so I did. The repair shop's customer service rep felt bad for me, I think, so she cut me a slight discount, and gave me the tow and the rental car for free. The bill set me back $475.

A couple days later, I get the car back. Now, it already has an existing issue with the idle air flow controller, which is another $500 repair, but so far it hadn't been an issue that kept me from driving the car. The only symptom was that when the car was warming up, the fast idle would oscillate up and down instead of remaining steady. No biggie. But then, in the interest of trying to find a cheap fix, I replaced the air filter, thinking a better air supply might help alleviate the problem. Nope, it made it worse, and by the time I figured that out, the old air filter was at the bottom of a trash can that was miles away. So now the car drives all twitchy and jerky, but it still drives. So now I'm pissed off. And the air filter set me back $18.

So in my annoyed rage, I decided I was going to buy a new car that day. I already knew what I wanted (which was none of the previously discussed cars), and I had been checking online inventories, so I found one that had exactly what I wanted at a CarMax up in White Marsh. I recruited a friend to drive me up there, got my car , and got back to DC in time to pick up my mom from the airport in my new car. Here's a picture:

The downpayment on that (although unnecessary, I decided to do one anyway) set me back $1500.

So now I have my new ride, and I'm happy. But I only have one parking spot assigned to my townhouse/condo. So I park the Prelude on the street and park the new car in my spot. Two days later, I'm awakened by loud banging on my door. I usually don't answer when I am not expecting anyone, but for some reason I got up this time. It was my neighbor, letting me know that my car had been broken into, as was his wife's Camry. They smashed in the passenger side window, and made off with a grand total of about $7, consisting of: my lucky $2 bill, a small ashtray-sized dish with change, and a velour Captain Morgan Private Stock with faux gold ropes and about 27 cents worth of pennies inside it. Damn kids. They didn't even steal my Old School classics CD, that was actually worth something! The new glass set me back $165.

If you're keeping track at home, that's $2158 in cash expenditures and $7 in cash losses, all within about a week. On the good side, my sister's boyfriend wants to buy my banged up Prelude. I offered him a deal at $2000, and telling him it needs $500 of work. I figure that's a good discount off a blue book value for a Prelude with an unbent frame of $8000. He has until this weekend to come up with the money, or else it's going on Craigslist.

posted by Rainmayun at 9:50 AM -