Mastercard Oughta Send Me A Christmas Card...!

It's been a few days since I touched this thing, but I've been very preoccupied over the past half-week. I'll recap all the insanity one day at a time:

Monday

So I was gonna take my car to Antigonish Monday afternoon to get the winter tires put on, and the oil changed, in addition to selling some old university books for my brother Chris. So at about 11:45 AM, I went out to the car to begin loading the car with the winter tires that I had brought out of storage. I unlocked the passenger-side door, and then I pressed the auto-unlock/lock button to open the back seat doors. Nothing! Uh-oh... I thought, as I remembered that the clock in the radio had not shut off when I last used the car a week previous; sure enough, the clock was now off. I jumped into the driver's seat to confirm what I suspected; not only was the car battery dead, it was completely out of juice (not one sound, no attempt by the engine to turn over)!

So I walk back inside, and call my Dad, who I luckily catch at my grandfather's place. He comes back over 30 minutes later, and used his truck to boost my car's battery back to the land of the living. I immeadiately left for Antigonish, now behind schedule. I only managed to sell half my bro's books for $7.50, which was what I expected from those ripoff artists known as book wholesalers (if you're in college, do yourself a favour, sell them yourself and make much more money!). After this, I had lunch at the mall, and then on my way back to the car, I found a coup of a deal on a Tom Clancy novel (hardcover), which scratched my Dad off my Christmas list!

I got to the GM dealership in town, where I was to get my car serviced. I left it with the technicians, and left to go sit down in the waiting room, reading the paper to pass the time. About an hour later, the customer relations guy comes in to tell me that my battery is screwed, and that they would need to put in a new unit. Soon after, they tell me that my radio has officially gone FUBAR, as it simply will not turn off when the car is off. I give the "OK" to unplug the doomed audio unit, and another half-hour of laour gets added to the bill. Final tally? $240! Ouch. And I knew that if I didn't get a new radio in the car by the time I left for my trans-continental trip, the silence in the car would drive me terminally nuts!

Tuesday

Not much happened on this day. Made my appointment to get my radio replaced, had a delicious steak for dinner. Other than that, it was average and non-descript.

Wednesday

This morning I woke up to a slushy mess. Looks like I got my tires put on just in the nick of time! I got to the outskirts of Antigonish to a place called Pete's Auto Sound. It was a one-man outfit, but the guy knows how to treat a customer right. He was upfront about all the charges (Canadian Tire may have neglected to inform me about additional charges for mounting kits and other stuff), sold a wicked CD Player/Radio at a good price ($169 install included), and got my install done in record time! I was back on the road 20 minutes after he started to take my dash apart! Excellent place, I give it two thumbs up!

That's all for tonight; To the guys that are still in school that are reading this, good luck with exams, and don't try to cram your days with too much studying, the lack of balance will stress you out bad, and you don't need that going into a test! Again, good luck, and have an awesome holiday season!