I am moving to Aruba,

building a small hut on the beach, and hiding inside in the fetal position for the next 7 years! Luck be a Lady? Yeah, I currently got the one with PMS and a vendetta against men! If I came across a penny on the ground, not only would it be face down, but I would manage to trip over it and break my ankle... which would somehow result in something bad happening to my car.

Driving home Monday evening, all is well with the world -- until my battery died... on the freeway... the battery I bought on Wednesday... right, last Wednesday the 14th of December... 2005. I coasted off the freeway before the engine completely died, and pushed the car clear of the intersection for about 12 feet where we (my car and I) sat and waited two hours for a tow truck. A new alternator and $350 later, this morning I am back on the road. So to recap, since December 1st:

• Car broken into and vandalized (see previous blog entry for pictures).
• Got car back a week later, but the heater control doesn't work correctly, with the only working setting being the defroster. I make arrangements to return car to shop.
• The morning I take the car to the shop (4 days later), the battery dies as I wait at the stop light right in front of the body shop.
• Heater and defroster controls are fixed, and the battery is charged. I am handed a readout which I am assured says there is no extra "draw" on the electrical system, that the battery is holding a charge, and the alternator is doing its job.
• The next morning, I walk out to my car to go to work. The car won't start, as the battery is dead. I get the car jumped started and drive to Sears where after much consideration and testing, they determine I had a weak battery which was causing the previous "A-OK" readings to be inaccurate. I buy a new battery, and am assured everything is good to go.
• 5 days later, the car dies on the freeway, and the third mechanic in a little over two weeks tells me my alternator isn't working right, and replaces it.
  

The side effects of this all this are:

• 14 hours of missed work
• 2 different rental car fees (though one was mostly handled by insurance)
• A new alternator (it's death still surrounded by odd circumstances and timing -- see all the above)
• Out of pocket expenses high enough to negatively affect my holiday gift purchasing abilities.

Oh, by the way, I am also now suffering from an ear infection, which is currently causing about an 70% hearing loss in my right ear.

And I still don't have a girlfriend (I might as well get all the griping in at once).