Yesterday I flip flopped back and forth on whether I wanted to go out with some friends. First I did, then I didn’t. Back and forth all day. I finally decided to go because it would probably be awhile before I had a fun night out again (a wedding next weekend). The evening started at this Irish Pub on the River bar on Del Ave in Philly. Unlike most places on Del Ave, this was one for over the hill frat boys and the girls that love them. It was fun cause the people I was with were nice. I did feel like this one bartender was giving me tude for some reason though. Thus is Del Avenue, everyplace has tude there. This place was supposed to be the start of the fun and debauchery. This place was basically the beginning and the end of the night. Drama, I don’t need no drama! The shit hit the fan, I can’t really say what happened cause it’s not my shit and I don’t want to air it. Needless to say J and I ended up back at my house trying to watch the movie “Hoodwinked” but gave up. Word of warning, stay away from this film, it’s terrible! We called it a night by midnight, we were both tired, the drama and all.

This morning I had to begin packing up to drive home to Virginia for the week. The sight of a suitcase sent Princess into utter panic, because I was leaving and she might not be coming. Nikko didn’t understand what was going on. He just kept racing down the steps to the glass back door to see what I was doing and why Princess (who doesn’t do steps inside the house) was in such a tizzy.

I had to rent a car to drive me and the doggies home because I still haven’t made that commitment to buy my own yet (indecision, the commitment). I put in for a compact car, thinking they’d give me the equivalent of a Camry or something. They gave me a PT Cruiser, fire engine red no less.. At first I was like “Oh what the hell is THIS!” I took it home and then examined it a bit closer. It’s small, deceptively small because once you fold the back seats down there is actually a lot of space in the thing. So I pack up the car and take off. This is when I notice the radio has an auxiliary input, damn, I could have hooked my IPod up to this sucker!

So as I’m driving, I begin thinking about what I liked and didn’t like. Liked the room in the car, liked the comfort, decided after all I loved the sporty feel and retroness of it (my mom had this old white Dodge when I was a kid, reminded me a lot of the inside of the car the way the dashboard was all retro- aside from the radio which was not retro). Liked the idea I could hook an ipod up to it (I know you shouldn’t base the like of a car on an Ipod lol).

Things I didn’t like so much, the windows were tinted a bit and when looking out the back window it looked like a thunderstorm of biblical proportions was behind me. I didn’t like the fact that the retroness included an old fashion clock (rather than digital). Yes I can read the clock hands, I just don’t like guesstimating the minutes if time is on the line. Looking over my shoulder to check for cars beside me the view was a little obstructed, but not as bad as in some other cars I’ve driven. I also wasn’t sure about the gas mileage per gallon, I think it didn’t do as good as my mom’s ten year old Camry, but I’m not sure. It seemed a bit noisy for a car that had only 7000 miles on it, but I’ve driven so few cars I can’t really tell. I couldn’t hear the engine over the radio, which wasn’t up loud cause the dogs were in the car.

As I was driving it home I noticed a good number of people on the road had them, not TONS, but a few. I have not noticed anyone ever driving them much in my area, but then again I don’t really look at what people are driving except for when I decide I like a car and might consider buying that kind when the time comes. Still, I thought it’s American made, poo-poo, all the American car makers are in financial trouble. Also, I felt this car probably cost an arm and a leg cause it was so sporty and spiffy.

Wrong on both accounts as it turns out! Chrysler-Buick is the one American car maker of the big three left that probably is not going to go under (Ford and GM are in trouble). Also despite the looks, it’s billed as an economy car (that people like to detail and supe up). It starts at 15,000! That’s a lot less than the Toyota’s and Honda’s I was looking at a few months ago. I did some googling on the car, it’s gotten good and bad reviews (the bad reviews were user reviews, hey you’ll always find someone who hates something they’ve bought). I’m going to check Consumer Reports on the car, but I liked it enough to consider it. I really really do need to buckle down and make that financial commitment to getting myself a car. I have driven a Honda CRV (the BF owns one), I do want to try a Toyota Rav4 (which was my #1 choice before today). My mom has a Camry, I know Toyota makes good cars.

Anyways, I’m home in Virginia. YES I did bring the webcams, but at the moment they aren’t working. I’ll have to fiddle with my brother’s router to get them set up. The dogs are loving having a backyard to run around, I love not having to walk them every two hours. Our neighbors have become more white trashier than when I was here last, so white trashy that my mom put up a big fence so she doesn’t have to look out the backyard into their yard. Pictures and details on the neighbors to follow later in the week.

Dustin