Getting Momoko's Car Serviced

Momoko is off on vacation visiting her dad for the holidays. She left Little Kat and I in charge of getting her car serviced. She said we should take it to the dealership to ensure the warranty remains in effect. I scheduled a time with Little Kat to drop the car off.

We got to the dealership. You are supposed to pull into the service bays. There were cars parked in front of each bay. I parked on the side and walked in. A single service guy was there. He diagnosed the car and said we needed an oil change and tire rotation. Cost would be $200++.

Service guy said the car would be ready in an hour or so. He said he would call me. I asked him what should I do if I don't get that call within an hour. He gave me his direct line to call. After 2 hours, I did not receive a call. I tried calling the service guy a few times. He never picked up the phone.

The next day, Little Kat and I returned to the dealership. Momoko's car was out front. I paid the cashier. The service guy went running to find our car. After a while, he realized it was in the front. This dealership advertises that it washes your car with every service. On my receipt it said, "Car not washed".

Essentially this dealership is a service fail. Normally I don't take Momoko's car in for service. But if I ever do again, I will chose another dealership. Even better, I hope she can go to our local mechanic.

Nissan Versa Acquired

Little Kat and I called a couple Nissan dealers that had 2019 Nissan Versa sedans for sale. We targeted those that had the SV trim with Apple Car Play. The first few dealers seemed disorganized. They could not tell me the full costs to buy their car. They needed to get back to me.

Then we called a guy who I thought was named Rick. He knew the costs down to the penny. Initially, the sale price of his vehicle listed online was highest. But he had the best walk out pricing. Little Kat and I drove towards the Bay to visit the dealership. There I found out the sales guy's name was actually Ray.

Took the car out for a spin. It had a keyless start. Acceleration was weak. The seat seemed narrow to me. The Apple Car Play screen was smaller than our Chevy Spark's one. One the test drive return to the dealership, I took a wrong turn and got on the highway. Next exit was 5 miles away.

We decided to buy the car. Seemed strange that they did not ask for payment until just before we drove away. The sales guy thought it would take an hour to finalize the sale. Then he found that a mandatory recall service needed to be performed. A few hours later, Little Kat missed out on happy hour. But he drove home in our new Nissan Versa.

Bonus Drinks

This weekend, Momoko and I went to breakfast. I had a coupon ready to give us a big discount. Normally the coupon entitles you to drink coffee. We prefer soft drinks. So Momoko told them to substitute Coke for coffee. The usually add a $1 surcharge to each of us for the drink "upgrade". For some reason, they did not charge us extra this time.

At the drive through window, the girl tried to give us 2 large orange juices. I was excited, because I consider that a premium drink. Momoko refused them and told the girl we needed Coke. We got some medium sized Coke soft drinks. I would have preferred the delicious orange juice.

Today I was really hungry in the morning. Unfortunately I had a lunch time conference call. No problem. I took the call from a restaurant. I got there early to place my order. The soda machine was out of order. My meal is supposed to come with a fountain drink. So instead I was allowed to choose a bottled drink from the fridge. Aha. Now I get the premium drink I deserve. I opted for a Fanta grape drink.

Trash Bag Economics

We use 13 gallon trash bags with handles for tying them shut in our kitchen garbage can. These are easy to secure. However I found that putting those bags in our outdoor bins results in stinky trash cans. So I decided we should double bag our trash when setting the bags out in our trash cans.

I choose a 30 gallon bag for the outer wrapper. I like when I can tie the top of the bag stuff. Don't care much for the "cinch sack", where you pull a plastic string to shut the bag. These days I buy the bags from Amazon.

Previously I could buy 4 boxes at once and save money. Probably because I was buying in bulk. Shipping was free with Prime. The only problem is that bulk deal is no longer available. Next I tried multiple smaller boxes when they were cheap. That deal is gone too.

Today I had to use Amazon Prime Pantry. You pay a flat $5.99 fee to ship up to a certain amount of weight. I bought bigger boxes of my trash bags. There was a 5% off bonus if you purchase 5. I found for some reason Amazon waived the shipping fee also when I bought 5. It turned out to be cheaper to buy 5 than 4.

Dresser Handle Repair

I have a couple bookshelves in my study in the basement. One of them has a drawer at the bottom that is pretty big. I store a lot of items in there. Always opening and closing the drawer. One of the handles broke off. It was metal, but poorly made. For a long time I have been suffering with just one drawer handle.

Now I could have replaced that bookshelf. I have a ton of books on it. I need that drawer too. Seemed like just too much work. Then it hit me. I could just replace the handle. Of course Amazon had plenty of styles to choose from. I decided against the cheap ones that came with the bookshelf. Instead I got some circular ones that looked old.

The tricky part was that the bottom drawer did not want to come out of the bookshelf. I emptied the contents of the drawer. Then I felt around the back of the plate with the screws to figure out how to remove the old ones. Once that was done, the new ones were easy to install. Now we are back in business.

Branch Disposal

There were high winds during a recent storm. Lots of branches fell into our back yard. Took over an hour to collect them. There was a mix of small and large branches. Previously I had put them in metal trash cans so the county could take them away.

Recently I started putting the branches in tall 30 gallons paper bags that the county also hauls away. These bags cost $2 for a pack of 5. So it runs me 40 cents to send out a bag. Not a huge cost. But I had a lot of branches recently.

Another problem is that the county does not want branches that are too thick. What is a homeowner to do? Well I took a cue from my own dad. I decided to burn the branches. For my first run, I lit newspaper plus dry kindling in our fire pit. Then I put the large branches (logs) on top. Problem solved.

Now I am taking it to another level. When I collect sticks, I put them all in the fire pit to burn. The only think I will send to the county are fresh branches that I think would not burn well. The only thing I need to do now is dispose of the ashes after the wood is burned. There is not too much of it. I just throw that in the trash.