Aaarghhh....

I stayed up way too late last night. I didn't go to bed until almost 5:30 a.m. It's all clair's fault too. I started reading his journal from the very first entry. I only made it until mid-November, which means I'm not done yet either... There are very few things that can retain my interest, but these journals appeal to my voyeuristic side.

So now, I'm sitting here, nursing a bottle of water and trying to rehydrate. You know, the one thing that sucks about some of my medical problems is that I get "hangovers" and I don't even drink alcohol. Did you know that when you're feeling all wiped out after one helluva night on the town, what you're really battling is simple dehydration? That's what causes those killer headaches and nausea.

Now imagine waking up that way more times than not, just because it's so damn hard to drink all the water you're supposed to each day. I read where clair was complaining about having to drink 3 liters a day? 3? 3? Clair, I have to drink 6 liters a day to maintain my health... now *that* is hell. And contrary to your statement, you will even out on the pee thing eventually, but you have to be religious about pushing your 3 liters every day. Oh, and for every ounce of caffeinated beverage you drink (soda, coffee, some teas), you've got to tack on another ounce of water as well. You see, the caffeine in most beverages requires more water to be metabolised than the amount of liquid in the beverage. ::sigh:: Sometimes I just hate the amount of inane trivia I carry around in my head.

I really should go get the oil changed in the car today. It's kind of nice. Our company got Dec. 25 & Dec. 26 as our Christmas holiday this year, so I don't have to go into work today (otherwise I damn sure wouldn't have stayed up all night, no matter how interesting the reading material). Which means I can hibernate in my apartment again today.

I should go out though. I thought my car was broken down last week... turns out it was only that tiny little hose to your overflow tank from the radiator had popped off. The only problem is, I'm still not quite sure if there was another problem that caused it to pop off. Makes me leary of venturing too far from home. I hate car trouble. So, the bottom line is that I went without a car most of last week... and didn't pick it up until it got warmer on Sunday. So I should take it for an oil change and have a mechanic look at it. But I'm feeling crappy, so who knows?

Well, I'm gonna wrap this one up and drink some more water.

I hate cars!

Bleh.

What an afternoon. First, I went to get my oil change. Then, while I was there, they pointed out to me that my front driver's side wheel only possessed two lug-nuts. Now.. this is the very same wheel that I had replaced in August. So, I called Firestone, only to find out that they didn't have any lugnuts my size in stock.

I went to the Ford dealership. The Ford dealership told me the reason that Firestone doesn't have any in stock is that they actually stripped out the threads (my Aspire actually has lug-bolts, not lug-nuts), and that I would have to have the entire rotor/hub assembly replaced (approximately $400 parts, $150 labor).

OK, now this means a trip to Firestone. This time, I just walked in and talked to the guy behind the counter, saying that I had just had a wheels replaced, and that I noticed that there were two lugnuts missing. When he went outside, he told me he didn't have any in stock, but that he would order some and get me all fixed up. Then I told him what the Ford dealership had said and showed him the estimate.

He disagreed with their repair strategy, and said that there were other, less expensive alternatives to try before just replacing the whole damn thing. However, he did tell me that if I drop the car off first thing in the a.m. tomorrow, he will get it fixed.. no matter what it takes, at no charge to me. They're even going to drop me off at work in the morning.

So, as long as things go well tomorrow, I have to give Firestone a big thumbs up.