Month: November 2015

I took Anderson into the MINI dealer yesterday to have some recall work done (the passenger seat air bag sensor that's been wonky for the last six years). While the recall repair didn't cost me a dime, I got the car back with a multi-page list of recommended repairs. Thankfully, none of them were critical, and all the major mechanical systems were in good shape. But still, the total (should I win the lottery and decide to have the work done) for all the recommended repairs came to a whopping $3400. Even if I were working, this would still have given me pause.

Curiosity drove me over to the Edmunds Blue Book site to see what the car was actually worth at this point, and I came away severely disillusioned; it came in at $164 less than the cost of repairs.

Before I left the dealer, I asked the Service Manager about two cosmetic items that didn't appear on the estimate: the passenger headlight lens and the driver's side seat cover.  The passenger headlight lens has gotten severely oxidized over the last two years. I tried buffing it out myself with one of those $25 kits a little over a year ago, but the results were…disappointing. But yes, the dealer had some voodoo magic capable of bringing it back to like new for a meager $40-60. The other item was the rapidly disintegrating edge of the driver's side seat cover. Because of the way I get into and out of the vehicle, this has been an issue with every car I've owned; the difference being the damage is much more extensive this time because of the mileage I've racked up on Anderson. I paid a premium for leather seats in the last couple cars I've owned, erroneously believing that the leather would handle the abuse a bit better. (Hint: it doesn't.)

The Service Manager suggested getting the seat cover done through a local upholstery shop, since because of the age of the car MINI probably wouldn't have any more in stock and would have to custom fabricate one anyway, making it hella expensive (well over $1000 just for the cover itself, not including installation).

I'm not averse to getting a new MINI as an alternative to shelling out that chunk of change (plus an additional $1600 down the line for a new clutch in about 20K miles) once I'm gainfully employed again—but I've enjoyed not having car payments these past couple years, and frankly it's not going to be easy to say goodbye to lil' Anderson in any case. We've had some grand adventures, and I've can honestly say I've never bonded with a car the way I have with this one.

So yeah.

All this has done is contribute to what I can only describe as a sense of melancholy that has overtaken me of late. Between this, my recent aborted employment adventure that I had so hoped would be "the one," some ongoing problems Ben is having with one of his students, the general level of stupidity screeching from a certain portion of the population, and the fact I'm pretty much sleeping like crap every. single.night, I'm feeling drained.

I think Ben and I are both also feeling a little disappointed that our return to Phoenix hasn't been full of sparkle unicorns shooting rainbows out their asses as we'd hoped. When I start feeling that way however, I have to remind myself that it usually takes a year or so for me to get into the groove of a new place after a move. While Phoenix isn't "new" to me per se, relocation is still considered a major life change and stress producer.

At least it's finally cooled down and we can turn off the air conditioning for the year.

How's that for a non-sequiteur?