…but keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for me. I’m hopefully closer to a good change than I’ve been so far (as long as my assumption that mentally handicapped people are easier to deal with than delinquents!). Oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Updates…
1. I found porn two nights in a row in the parking lot at work.
2. We’re moving in 20 days.
3. Even though it’s only November, a Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake can put any one in the Christmas spirit.
4. Good old HHS didn’t win the 4A State Football Championship, but at least they’re second.
5. Only one more week of working the 4-12 shift!
Scion xA
Well, time to buy another car… Now that Brooke has a job, we can afford to replace her 1995 Nissan Altima with something a tad bit more reliable, and something that gets better mileage. Well, up until tonight, she was dead set on getting a 2007 Toyota Yaris. The draw to these cars is that they are said to get at least 30 mpg in city driving conditions and approach 40 mpg on the highway. Obviously, it’s a very small car, but it’s relatively cheap and, being a Toyota, it is reliable and has high resale value.
We went to Lou Fusz Toyota tonight because they had a Yaris sedan that we could test-drive, with automatic transmission (neither of us know how to drive a manual…more on that shortly…). They didn’t have a hatchback (which is what Brooke wanted) and they probably wouldn’t have one for 4 – 8 weeks because they’re in such high demand. The sedans are easier to come by, so we figured that we’d better test-drive one while we could. Brooke liked it, overall, and it had all the features we wanted, but no amenities like power locks/windows.
I asked the salesman about the Scion xA (’cause they sell both), as far as value goes. Essentially, we found out that the base model Yaris, without manual transmission, is $12,500. The sedan we test-drove, with an automatic transmission, was more like $13,500. That’s just for the automatic, not including things like power windows and locks, and various other amenities (seats, shocks, etc.). However, if we looked at an xA, you get a four door car (rather than two), automatic transmission, power locks, windows, nicer interior, better stereo system, and anti-lock breaks…for about $600 more.
So, we test-drove an xA that they had and Brooke liked it more. Honestly, the car had a smoother ride to it, the seats were more comfortable, the display was a little better, and there’s more room, due to the four doors. That, and the mileage ratings are almost equivalent to a Yaris (slightly worse…but what’s 1 mpg?). Also, Scions are tending to get higher re-sale value than a comparable Toyota…if you look around online, you’ll see that frequently, you can buy a new xA for the price of a used xA…usually because people have done some “upgrades” to theirs, but still…
Long story short, we put a down-payment down and they’re going to get us an xA. It’ll take about four weeks to get here (maybe a little less) and we’ll have the opportunity to test-drive it and decide for sure, so we’re not obligated to buy it…but we 90% will… The one pictured above is similar to the one we’re getting, minus the wheels and “spoiler”…
Hopefully it comes sooner so I can drive my Elantra again… 😛
You Asked…
I finally started working on Wednesday of this week in Jefferson County at the Hillsboro Treatment Center. In short, once I’m settled into the groove, I’ll be given one of three “cottages” with 8-12 boys that I’ll work with. As a youth specialist, my job is to mostly keep the boys (who are referred to a “clients”) in line and in control of themselves and the group. So far, the group I’ve been observing is really good about self-regulating their behaviors and can keep themselves on-task and focused much better than I expected. Of course, I’ve been bombarded with all kinds of questions from how old I am to if I’d punch someone back if they punched me (which was a little tricky to answer!). I haven’t gone to the official training yet, but I’m going next month and hopefully I’ll be assigned a permanent group and shift by then and have some sort of routine worked out. There are three possible schedules – 8am to 4pm, 4pm to 12am, and 12am to 8am. I’ve been working the 8-4 shift this week and next, and the timing is ideal to get to see Andy, but it’s a more exhausting shift since the clients are awake and going the whole 8 hours. The others I think would be fine for a bit of a break, but would get pretty boring since the boys are sleeping for a majority of them.
So, since I’ve had some Facebook requests for how my job was going, I thought I’d just let everybody know this way, and we’re seeing Mom and Dad tomorrow anyway, so that’ll get the word around pretty quickly, too!
Grrr….
Well, another snag in the employment road…apparently the printouts of my transcripts were not good enough, but I wasn’t told this until this week, when I’m supposed to start working on Monday and they have to have my “official” transcripts before I can start…I’m beginning to think there’s something seriously wrong with me. Anyway, I’ll let you know if I ever really get to work.
Finally…
I have something to post about! So, first and most exciting, I just heard back from Hillsboro Treatment Center in Jefferson County and I’ll go fill out my paperwork next week and then I can start working! Even though it’s a little far away, I think it’ll be a nearly perfect job for me, so I’m really glad about finally getting this whole job thing worked out.
Second, and a little less exciting, is that I had an appointment with a cardiologist this morning to get checked out for Brugada Syndrome. It seems at this point that I don’t have it since my EKG looked completely normal, but the cardiologist did hear a definite heart murmur, so I’ll be going back in for more tests later this month, but the really nice doctor doesn’t seem to think that it should be anything to be too concerned about right now.
Hopefully, more exciting things will happen soon so I’ll have more to type about than the progress of my knitting projects and which episode of Gilmore Girls is on today!