Go West Young Man

I had scheduled a trip to visit Papa Kat again in the new year. Little Kat took a half day at work to take me to the train station. I packed a backpack and tiny carry on. It did not hold much clothing.

At the airport, I asked the info desk whether I could enter the security to a different terminal than my plane. She said yes. Once through, I visited another info desk. Got a map of all the food offered in that terminal.  I thought I would eat some Chinese. Then I figured that was a sit down place. Instead, I got a chili dog and potato salad.

The flight was less than half full. I had the last three rows to myself. Attendants were plenty and not busy. I got two servings of cranberry juice. It was dark when we landed. Felt like the put on the heavy air brakes. The seat beat kept me in my seat.

Papa Kat's house has mice. He captured one on the third night here. I put it in the trash bag and carried it out to the big toter in the carport. Have not gone to my favorite tex-mex restaurant here yet.

Lost Wallet

I drove my new KIA Soul vehicle to H-Mart. Momoko was looking for tuna Gimbap. She did find it in stock. However each serving was $5. At Costco, it is 10 servings for $18. Momoko loaded up a bunch of Gimbap. Through either luck or her H-Mart rewards card, the price per serving was lowered to $4.

We did not need to go to a second larger H-Mart, as we found what we needed. Instead, I proceeded to SONIC for slushes. Momoko got a lemonade one, which came with a surcharge. The line was slow. Then we walked into Arbys. They had no specials. The sandwiches were too expensive. Instead we picked up lunch at Qdoba.

When I got home to eat, I found that my wallet was missing. It was not in the house. It was not in the car. It was lost. I called up all my credit card companies to cancel my cards. I was worried about my ATM card. Now I have nothing to pay electronically with. I made an appointment at the DMV to get a replacement license.

The KIA Soul

I had been seeing some nice KIA Soul cars on the road. Figured it would be a car as fun as my 2006 Scion xB. Started looking around at them. Knew I wanted keyless remote, power windows, and Apple CarPlay. I thought I needed to move up the Soul S trim to get CarPlay. Nope. It comes standard in the base LX trim.

I found two new Black 2025 KIA Soul LX cars online. One was at the local KIA dealer in my city. It was more expensive, due to a smaller dealer discount, and an extra tech package. Then there was another one at a KIA dealer an hour away from me.

Today Momoko and I visited the KIA dealer an hour away. Luckily there were no tolls roads. The guy I talked to on the phone was the manager. He handed me off to a salesman. We test drove the car around the block. Then I asked to see if the out the door price to buy it matched what the manager previously estimated. It did.

I entered an online application to run my credit through a credit score agency. Then I went to the finance dude and wrote them a check. There was a $750 rebate from KIA. And another $2000 dealer discount. Only thing I did not qualify for was a $500 military rebate. I feel like the walk out was maybe $2k more than what I can sell my 2024 GMC Terrain for.

I drove my Soul home with temp tags. Could not get in touch with my insurance agent. They took the day off. Tomorrow I asked Little Kat to help me sell my GMC Terrain at CarMAX.

Streak Craving

Momoko was craving a steak. She wanted to go eat at the Outback Steakhouse. We both were finally on vacation. But still had some trouble scheduling a visit. Finally we went to the local restaurant. There were a number of specials we decided to take advantage of.

I got unlimited soup and salad for $10. Of course, I got the baked potato soap. Momoko got a steak, baked potato, and coke for $15. The real deal was the $10 take home meals. I got a steak with fettuccine Alfredo. Momoko got Alice Springs Chicken with a sweet potato.

Lunch was so good, we did it again. Momoko again got a steak, side and coke for $15. And I repeated soup and salad for $10. This time I had a garden salad with ranch. We both opted for the $10 take home with steak plus fettuccine Alfredo

Up and Running with Amerisun

I ordered a new lawn mower through Amazon. They said it would be delivered immediately. It came one day late today. Some guys drove up in a large Enterprise rental truck. I was amazed that one dude carried the box to my front door. I came out with a dolly and rolled it into the house.

Initial setup was pretty easy. Remove mulch plug. Straighten and secure handles. Tie wires to the handle. Some tasks had to be done outside. Such as filling the gas. Wouldn't you know it? My gas can was empty. I filled up my car and gas can at the gas station. It was slow going waiting for the oil to drain into the mower.

The gas tank seemed small. The mulch bag was a generous size with a good sized opening for pouring out contents. I was glad to be back collecting leaves with a lawn mower. I avoided areas with snow or that were too wet/muddy. I collected two bags worth in the front and back yard. I am back in business.

Lawn Mower Conclusion

After over a month of waiting, I finally heard from the lawn mower repair shop. They said the blade hit something, causing a chain reaction of broken parts in the mower. Cost to fix would be over $200. Warranty would not cover it.

This lawn mower had a lot of other problems. Clippings bag falling apart at the seams. Handle grip coming off. My conclusion is the PowerSmart lawn mower family is junk. The repair guy kept trying to charge me $30 for diagnosis. I told him to keep the mower. He said he would waive the fee.

I still am going back to Amazon to order my next mower. Going to try a manufacturer named Amerisun. They are even cheaper than PowerSmart. I suspect my new one will have more horsepower. I am hoping it is not a dud like my last one.

Lawn Mower Failure

I was using my lawn mower to pick up leaves on the hill behind my house. The self propulsion gave out. I had to manually push the mower. Then the rear left wheel stopped freely spinning. I asked my brother if I could use his mower. It is a small battery powered one. His mower started. But after a line or two, it petered out.

I called my lawn mower manufacturer. Had to prove I was the owner to register it and get warranty services. I called back and they said they would send an email with details on how to contact an authorized repair shop. They never sent the email. I got to call them again.

The only good news is that, while the rear left wheel will not rotate backwards, it seems to have come free to move forwards. It might still be a little sticky. But I can push the mower around and collect leaves. I hope they can repair the propulsion. There are too many hills on my property for a manual push mower. My machine is less than 1 year old.