The 99,999 Post

The Celica hit a milestone today and broke 99,999 miles right when I was pulling into my apartment after work. Eight years and a hundred thousand miles after rolling off the factory floor- and counting!

The Nextel Cup Post

Odd things happen at the office from time to time, and today was a pretty good example. While working away at the computer Victor comes back to the department and places the Nextel Cup Trophy on the table. Turns out NASCAR had the sucker made for a photo opportunity at Universal Studios’ NASCAR restaurant. While not the real deal, this official custom replica version of the cup weighed a fair bit and cost the restaurant $2500 or so to get the thing made (or so I heard- the original is made by Tiffany and is worth over 9 bajillion dollars) which makes it much better than any trophy I’ll ever earn racing the Celica anywhere. The thing looks EXACTLY like the real deal. Taking advantage of the fact that it was back in the department we headed outside for some Rickey Bobby poses. Dave snapped these shots of me acting like an ass by the Celica. Remember if you ‘aint first, you’re last.

The Ghetto-mobile Post

When I went to go get gas on Friday at the 7-11 across the street, I pulled up at the pump and pressed the release button to open the gas hatch to the side of the Celica. Not only did it open but it fell right off. The hinges have given way and the sad little panel was left dangling form the gas cover by a small plastic tether. I ended up having to borrow some scissors from the clerk and cut it off, then duct-taping the panel back in place after filling up. I’m taking it to the garage tomorrow to find out exactly how much its going to set me back. I love my car, but it kills me to see it in such a state of disrepair. I care about my stuff and I like to keep things in good condition, but the Celica seems determined to hate me. This gets added to the list of other ailments the car has including: Squeaking ceiling panels, dysfunctional cigarette lighter/charger, peeling window tinting, bent and mangled under panels, chipped paint on hood, clear-coat peeling on spoiler, and my personal favorite: stolen side skirts. So really the duct tape fits the look rather nicely when I think about it.

The My Car Still Hates Me Post

So after the car issues I had had yesterday, and getting our battery handiwork approved by the guys at Jiffy Lube I headed off to the car dealership to get a new key. During all the hubbub with the car alarm system the key-ring portion of the key has snapped off, so that I can’t fit it on my lanyard anymore. Nothing major- but very annoying considering all the car-crap I was dealing with at the time. Plus I don’t want to get it lost or locked in the car. I show up at the garage to find that it’s not open on Sunday. Defeated I head down to the comic shop on the Trail to sort out my subscriptions, determined to be at least quasi-productive now that I had wheels that worked. I get there and the place wasn’t open yet either. DAMN YOU SUNDAY!

Ticked off I retreat to the Celica to head home and the damn thing wouldn’t start again. I called up the guys at Jiffy Lube who remembered me from earlier and told them my issue. They asked me where I was and offered to send a guy out to jump me. Now this is where my stupidity comes in; I thought the plaza was on the corner of OBT and Michigan, when in fact it was OBT and Holden. So they head off to the wrong plaza, can’t find me and head back to the shop. After waiting in the rain for an hour I call back to find out they had come back to the shop. I asked them to try again, and while giving them the address the guy who ran the comic book store (which had opened by this point and provided much needed air conditioning) overhead me and correct my incorrect street names. Thank god for eavesdroppers eh? Anyway the guys come by and pop the hood, clean off some of the connectors and the car starts up fine. Turns out that in cleaning the connectors they had loosened one of them slightly so that some of the scummy acid flakes from the old battery where in the way of the juice. Those guys where really helpful and more than willing to go out of their way to help me out, which was very cool. The manager there thought I was Guy Ritche because my name is Guy and I have a British accent. He took some convincing that I didn’t actually know Madonna but was still nice to me despite not being famous. He called me Mr. Ritche from then on out still. After they got me rolling again I headed straight down to Pep Boys to get new connectors installed, which was a relatively inexpensive operation. Somehow though it took them 3 hours to do it though, which wasn’t very pleasant a wait. Least everything is on the up and up now, and I shouldn’t have any more problems. Right Celica? Right!?!?

The My Car Hates Me Post

Yesterday I try and start my car to no avail. Instead of a throaty engine grumbling to life, I get a lovely ticking sound when the key is turned in the ignition. Looks like the battery is a goner- so I call up Sarah, Jen and Neil (whom I was going to go meet up with if my car wasn’t dead) to let them know I was going to have to pass on the movie (we where going to see Get Smart at Downtown Disney). They kindly offered to come and pick me up and see the movie closer to me, which was very appreciated. Even further appreciated was that after the movie Jen to us to WalMart got a new battery, which Neil then installed for me. Problem solved! Well no. Turns out my aftermarket security system likes to reset itself every time the battery is disconnected and blare obnoxiously as soon as a new one is installed. Not being able to find the security-manual I was forced to leave the battery partially installed while I try to tack down the instructions on how to bypass the alarm. By this point it was getting dark and the guys had to go. I resolved to call AAA in the morning because the manual was nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, in a last ditch effort to re-re-search the car for the book, I found it stuck to the inside picked of another booklet (Florida heat isn’t to kind to things kept in my glove compartment apparently). Not wanting to disturb my neighbors any more late at night, I opted to make it tomorrows issue. So first thing today I run down, hook up the battery and commence the wailing of my alarm, while I follow the steps to reset the security system. After a few attempts I figure it out and shut the damn thing up. Wanting to make sure the battery is in properly I drive down to Jiffy Lube and have them take a look at our handy work. They offer to scrub the battery connects to get rid of some of the nasty acid buildup from the old battery and tighten up the connectors. They where pretty helpful and friendly guys. After my oil change I head off to get some errands done. Little did I know my car troubles where not yet over. TO BE CONTINUED…

The New Ride Post

Today was a pretty good day. Nothing much went on at the office but after work I got to head down to the garage and pick up the Celica. I didn’t get a chance to mention it on the blog, but I cashed my insurance claim check from the vandalism and bought some custom parts for my car. I went on the wild side and figured I might as well have some fun with it being that its my car now. So once the parts came in I took them to a local garage to get them installed. I love the results. The side exhausts look really cool and the wheels look sooo much better with the rims. The decals came out really nice, but I think if I could do it again I’d have designed them around the door handles a little better. Check out my tricked out whip below.

The Celica Vandalism Post

So I was burgled last night. The side panels off of the Celica where knicked right in my apartment parking lot. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me, and I have been an unpleasant cocktail of irate, depressed and irritated pretty much all day. I have filled a police report and had the damage assessed ($1200) and am moving forward with an insurance claim. The thing that really pisses me off is that this will cost me a minimum of 500 bucks if I go through insurance, and there is no guarantee that the thief/thieves won’t just strike again*. With this being a gated community my finger is pointing at someone one the inside, or maybe a friend of a neighbor, but of course that’s just irritated speculation on my part. I suppose I was owed some vandalism after living in my old apartment and escaping unscathed, but I’m still very upset about the whole ordeal. I hope they find the guy/s and let me kick off their side panels in retaliation, but I doubt that is going to happen.

*I am making security adjustments so that this doesn’t happen, but if you are reading this thief/thieves then consider your cheap ass/es warned.

* P.S. eat a fat one.

The Costco Post

Costoc rules. Lots of stuff of little money. Love it. As a permanent employee of Colorvision I am eligible for a business membership to Costco on the company. I flexed my new membership card this week and used their tire center to get some nice (and long overdue) wheels on the Celica. Went with some BFGoodrich Sport tires which looks pretty baddass, and ride smooth. Best part is it cost less than half of what the Toyota dealership was going to charge. Those guys really rip you off. I was quoted $1300 to have my catalytic converter and exhaust train replaced by them.. which is a lot to be spending on something I don’t really understand. So I took it down to a muffler shop on the Trail and had a guy cut out the converter and left the old train on there….cost me $400 even. Its crazy what one place will charge compared to another. Pays to shop around I’m learning.