Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the flat,

not a creature was stirring except me and the cat.

The stockings were hung from the kitchen bar counter with care,

in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Connor was nestled all snug in his bed,

while visions of Geometry Dash danced in his head.

And me in my PJ pants ready to go,

had just hopped in bed to watch a new show.

And that's because I just finished my parental duties, on this Christmas Eve. The duties of the Santa! I wasn't actually expecting to have Connor here this evening, but as things go...well he's here still and fallen asleep now. But I was prepared, as it's always wise to be around the holidays. As I learned the hard way two years ago.

And I suppose, as things go, it's been a fine holiday thus far. Lights were hung, presents were bought and wrapped, and many have already been opened. I mean really, we had to improvise a bit as Covid seems to be lingering around the family and threatening our ability to gather. 

So tomorrow it may well be just the old folks and me sharing a pizza for our Christmas dinner, but hey, I haven't had pizza in awhile and that sounds pretty good about right now. Connor and I did visit them this morning so he could get his gifts from them and we could delight in danishes, cinnamon rolls, and imbibe our traditional holiday mimosas. 

Perhaps tomorrow night I'll go walk the Rockmont Circle lights one more time, just to hang onto that Christmas spirit a little longer. It seems like such a build up every year, and then in a blink of an eye it's all over. Whoosh! There it goes. Well such is life, I suppose. 

But tonight all least all is calm and serene, and a little bit of magic still stirs in the air. I'm not sure how long the little guy will continue to believe the old fat guy in the bright red suit. This could be the last year, who knows. Though he seems more inclined to believe in the tooth fairy. Perhaps because there's cold hard cash involved in that one. In any case, tomorrow morning should be a delight, as he awakes and discovers that we had a...visitor last night, And he ate our cookies and drank our milk and left a present or two to boot! Ok ok, it was a bike. He left a bike. And some candy canes and Robux in the stocking. 

 

The Spirit of the Season

So I took a walk around the infamous Rockmont Circle yesterday, famed for its holiday decor. I had actually driven around it, playing chauffeur to my parents, at the beginning of the week. And truth be told...I checked it out on Thanksgiving weekend as well. Though not everything was up then. Not by a long shot. 

So yes, this was a repeat visit. But honestly, you can go many times and still not catch the details of everything. And this time someone had a snow machine set up. Walking in a winter wonderland. All told, the residents there have really outdone themselves this year.  It certainly helps one get in the holiday spirit, and at least to feel nostalgic a bit, for days of our past. Not sure what it is about all those twinkling lights that does it, but it just somehow transports you somewhere back into an innocent and carefree past.

And yes, I'll freely admit now that I've been committing the sin of a middle aged woman and watching Hallmark Christmas movies on Hulu. Just a few anyway. And yes, they live up to their ridicule of being quickly produced and heavily formulaic sentimental romps. I mean, how many movies can you have where the story line involves a cute, young female from a bustling city who is lost in life and love and finds herself sent for whatever reason to a small town in the middle of nowhere that is drenched in holiday cheer and has one love lost male who gets conveniently thrust into her life. That's...pretty much the story line of most of them. With mild variations.

But anyway, it's nine days till Christmas, and all through the house, only the cat and I are stirring. Connor come back tomorrow, and next week is the last week of school for him before the holidays. Their last day is the 21st! Talk about cutting it close. And good thing I've actually finished all my holiday shopping, and completed all the wrapping. Ready for the big day! And ready to close out 2023.

My car saga has now concluded. I unceremoniously said goodbye to my old Niro, my faithful and efficient companion for the last five years before it suddenly had a mental breakdown. For all I know it's still in the shop. I traded it in towards. new 2023 Kia Sportage while it was still awaiting a new computer for its hybrid system. And it was somewhat sad to see it go, but even sadder to now be saddled with car payments again. But such is life. And I like the new car, I do, I just wish it didn't cost so much. Sign of the times I guess. Life works out though, it always does. This picture of the new car was taken in the back lot of the dealership, just after its arrival the evening before and before my second test drive. And so, it ultimately came home with me.

And so life marches on, the year draws to a close, and a new year is just waiting to be unwrapped and explored. Though at the moment I have made no plans for the new year, no trips are booked. I haven't even really seriously thought about it. It's basically an unwritten book at this point. I guess we'll see what comes of it. But for the next two weeks anyway, I'll sit back and relax and enjoy the holidays. And I guess, watch some more Hallmark movies. 

The Saga Continues

So the saga of my car troubles continues, like an ill-conceived sequel to an only mildly-successful feature film. It's been in the shop now since November 16, a full three weeks as of today. And no, this is not my new car pictured here, this is my new rental. A 2024 Kia Seltos SX. Top of the line model with all the bells and whistles no less.

I actually got my car back, albeit briefly, last Thursday, November 30. It ran fine. For one day. On the way home from work I stopped by the drive thru of our lovely local Del Taco for some late evening sustenance, and it died. In the drive thru. Same issue as before. Fortunately I was able to get it restarted after a minute, so I could get it out of the drive thru, and the potheads behind me could satisfy their drug-induced munchie cravings. Because let's face it, who goes to Del Taco at 8pm on a Thursday evening? I mean, besides me.

So we towed it back to the dealer the next morning, after it disgracefully sat alone in the practically abandoned parking lot of the Walmart Shopping Center. And there at the dealer it sits still. The one advantage for me is, since their initial repair was unsuccessful, Kia was then required to supply me with a rental car, at their expense. So there's that anyway. And I got an update, last Friday evening, that they started a "techline case with Kia" on it. See, apparently, they aren't really allowed to work on it until the engineers in whatever super secret undisclosed location they are sequestered at give them advice and guidance on how to proceed. 

Yes, and the gods in their ivory tower spoke to my technician, on the following Tuesday morning following their long weekend break, and they decreed that the technician shall "check connections to the HPCU for any loose, bent, backed out, damaged, corroded, or moisture-contaminated terminals." The English translation, or rather interpretation is, "We don't know what's wrong, why don't you look and see if anything looks broken on it.". And lo, the technician followed the Good Advice, and he hath come up with...nothing. Apparently. Because now, they want to order a whole new HPCU Reservoir Unit, which again is just a fancy term for "computer". They are just awaiting approval to order it. And life goes on.

Oh well, at least today is like a winter break day at work, since the faculty are on a one-day strike and all classes were effectively cancelled. More fun times.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving, on the front edge of a long weekend holiday. I cannot say for certain what the weekend may hold, since I still do not have my car; for the past week it has been at the service department of its original dealer in Roseville, mostly awaiting its turn to be seen by the one mechanic apparently employed there who can hook it up to a computer and discover (hopefully) what went wrong. All they can say at this point is that there is some sort of power fault in the hybrid system. That's what the "initial" error codes disclosed for the one brief time it was apparently plugged into a diagnostic computer. I mean, come on, I could have told them that. That's basically what the big scary flashing light on the center console dash means, and the fact that it loses drive power after a couple of minutes provides enough empirical data to back that claim up.

So I sit now at home, my car shopping dreams on hold, while being thankful that my dad's 2014 CR-V is still fully functional and able to be borrowed by me for the purposes of getting back and forth to work and stores and my son's playdates and so on. I think his car must have spent significant time on display in a museum somewhere, for though it is nearly ten years old it only has 21,000 miles on it. Well, a few hundred more now. My car, half his car's age, just passed the 70,000 mark, before it had its midlife crisis a week ago. 

And despite this picture's appearance, I am not now drinking cocoa, for this picture was not taken today nor even this week, but way back on November 2. It was the most recent photo I'd taken of myself, that I saw fit to save and not immediately delete anyway. I'm still working on improving my selfie taking skills...In any case this was a yummy cup of cocoa, down in midtown Sacramento. And it signified, more or less, the start of the winter weather season. Which is to say that the temperatures dropped below 50 degrees, my arbitrary target line for when it becomes just cold enough to justify buying hot chocolate at Starbucks. 

I did make some cocoa today, at work, from instant powder and microwaved water. It, too, was good. And some hours later, and completely unrelated to cocoa, a random mental homeless guy wandered into my office and plopped himself down on my couch. He said he needed to sit for a bit and "consider (his) options." If that's not disconcerting, I don't know what is. He also said he doesn't like his name, and wants to change it before he is "booked". He thought his new name should be OG. I'm...not sure what that means.

But after drinking one of my Capri Suns, which he referred to as a "juice box", and giggling to himself whilst lost deep in thought, the police arrived and called him by name (Daniel) and escorted him away. And now I suppose I should be thankful that I not only have a place to live, but I still have my mental faculties. For the time being anyway. I'm not getting any younger you know. It does put things in perspective as I reflect on my poor little Niro resting up on its own little spa retreat vacation at the Roseville Kia Service Center. And despite this, I still have transportation at my disposal. Thank goodness for supportive family! 

And tomorrow we'll start the morning in our own privileged way drinking mimosas and eating cream-cheese coffee cake while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And later, wine and sparkling cider and probably more food than anyone should ingest at my brother's house. And the thing I'm most thankful for, my son, is here with me to enjoy the holiday. We just went for one of our infamous "night walks" around the property. So, yeah, it's a pretty good Thanksgiving after all.

I Think My Car Is Mad At Me

So, I think my car is mad at me. It knew, somehow, that its life with me was potentially coming to an end. Not through any fault of its own. I'm simply...outgrowing it. My son is outgrowing it. His soccer gear is outgrowing it. And when we end up taking two of his teammates and their gear to games - well, we're a little squished in like sardines. I mean, it works, it's not an insurmountable situation, but I've seriously been contemplating getting something a little bigger. With a little more room to breathe. And store stuff. And I've had this little car for over five years now. So maybe, it's time to think of saying goodbye...

My little Niro is not amused at this.

It certainly must have had its suspicions when I stopped by Stockton Kia last Sunday and test drove a new car. And when I then placed my little Niro right next to the new car, and it was unceremoniously poked and prodded in order to theoretically estimate its trade-in value. My car must have picked up on those signals. How could it not?

So then, today, Tuesday, whilst driving down Fulton Ave (on my way to another dealership to look at another car, no less), my Niro decided it had had enough. All of a sudden, and without warning, multiple lights flashed on the display and the car lost power. After pushing it off to the side of the road bit and turning it off and frantically checking the owner's manual to decipher the lit up hieroglyphics on my dashboard, it was clear the car had had a hybrid system malfunction. Which is a slightly nicer way of saying "total system breakdown". Or perhaps an "automotive nervous breakdown"?

And yet...there was a glimmer of hope. The car was not without power, and it actually restarted after resting a minute. And so I drove off, but immediately made the turn towards home. I thought to myself, if it just gets me home, we can talk it over and come to an understanding. Two minutes later it died again. So I pushed over to the side of the road again and switched gears, now thinking of looking for a tow.

First I called the dealership though, for some advice, but they would only say that their tow lot was full and they couldn't get her in till next Tuesday, and oh yes I'd have to arrange to get it there as well. Didn't they used to offer roadside assistance?? Perhaps it was too close to closing time to call with such problems. 

Well, anyways, I tried the restart method and made my way through traffic a little further down the road, like a football player rushing down the field on first down, trying to see how far he can get before he's stopped. Reaching for that next first down. In that manner I made progress - gains in yardage - through...six or seven downs. Yeah, okay, it would have been a turnover in an actual game, and I was nowhere close enough to attempt a field goal. So, about a mile east of Northgate Avenue on West El Camino, I finally threw in the towel and decided to call for a tow. It took awhile to find one who would answer the phone and not be inconveniently too far away or getting ready to close. But eventually the contact was made, the deed was done, and after a wait of about 25 minutes a friendly driver from River City Towing arrived and quickly had me on my way. For the pleasant little fee of $252.

Well played, car, well played. I get it. And now I'm sitting at home contemplating my next strategic play. It's halftime, and I can still come out strong in the second half! 

Fall!

Well here it is, October, the psychological start of fall. And Mother Nature got on board, dropping temperatures into the 70s and even giving us a little rain this past weekend. Of course She is still subject to Her mood swings, as the current forecast touts temperatures in the 90s later this week. 

But still, it's October! Fall!

I started getting my Halloween decorations out over the weekend. Actually, I got almost all of them out. There isn't a whole bunch, really. And yet I've added more this year, including two, 5-foot skeletons to adorn the front porch. And a Haunted Mansion themed tablecloth and lantern for inside. So, slowly but surely, I'm becoming more festive. 

This little glowing jack was actually an acquisition from last year, and follows the current trend of timer-based LED light up decor for the holidays. Six hours on, 18 hours off. Repeat. Until the batteries die. I already have two lanterns, including the afore-mentioned one, with electric candles featuring the same schedule. And it's nice, creating an atmosphere around the holidays, and especially one you don't have to physically turn on and off each night. It's something I was determined to do - create a more festive atmosphere - at least little by little, when I moved out of that cramped, sad, little apartment and into my new condo. Call it a certain pride of ownership, to decorate your castle each holiday season. 

And I like how it's coming together. Oh, to be richer, so that I could really go hog wild! But it's fine, just a little something new to look at each year. Slow and steady, Of course now, today, I'm thinking I need to get some more of those skeleton-laced 3-foot tall decorative plastic fences I had gotten last year...and I do have a 20% off coupon for Spirit (they've been giving those out like candy). So maybe...just a little bit more for this year...

And then one month from now, I can take it all down and get ready for the Christmas decor...same mental approach, but cheerier and more colorful. But in the meantime, hooray for October and hooray for fall!