My big goal today was to arrange for the car to be fixed. I thought I’d go over there, tell them what needed to be done and make an appointment to go back. Not what happened.
When I left the apartment, I first stopped at the building manager's apartment and asked him and his wife if they would be willing to let the auto shipper pick up the car from them, instead of from me, so I could keep it as long as possible. They said that would be fine, so I have to call the shipper tomorrow and set it all up.
Then, I went to the vet and made an appointment for Conrad. I wanted to go the Monday before I left (4/6), but it turned out the only time I could get an appointment is the Thursday before (4/2), which should be okay. The certificate just has to be dated within 10 days of flying.
Then, I drove the 4 miles to the Chrysler dealership on Balboa. I pulled in, waited a few minutes, and then they told me that they didn’t do body work and sent me next door to “Jimmy Johnson’s KEARNY MESA CHEVROLET.” I was instructed to ask for “Stan.”
When I got there, I parked and went into an office. They told me I had to go to a different section, so I had to get back in the car a third time and drive to a particular building, which I did. I went inside and asked for Stan. A few minutes later he arrived. He was adorable – little and cute. I don’t know why I pictured Stan being in his 50s with gray hair and a pot belly, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
He went outside, looked at the damage, and told me it would be about $1,000 and would take about 5 business days. Yowzer! I told him I only received a little over $600. He asked me what insurance I had. I told him GMAC. He said he deals with them all the time, and even knows Bill, the guy who did my appraisal. He said I have to leave the car with them, get the appraiser to come and approve the additional funds, and then he’d have it fixed – getting the additional money directly from GMAC.
In the meantime, he called across the street to ENTERPRISE (where Eric and I had originally rented a PT when we first got to San Diego and where we purchased the one we now own). A few minutes later, Jason from ENTERPRISE came and picked me up (that’s what Enterprise does, as you know!) and brought me across the street. Five minutes later I drove out of there with a silver 2008 PT and went back across the street to transfer Betty, my yoga mat, my CDs and my box of tissues from my PT to the rental.
Then, I had to drive back to the apartment, because the body shop needed a copy of my appraisal from GMAC. I came back to the apartment, picked it up, went back to the dealership, gave them a copy, signed all the paperwork, and was on my way.
ENTERPRISE is only charging me $15 a day, which I will get back from AAA, the insurance company of the car that hit me. So, it’s all good. The funny thing is that the cars are so exactly the same that I don’t even feel like I’m in a rental, which is really great.
Jason asked me if I wanted to rent something different, but I told him I’m a “creature of habit” and that I liked getting a PT, because I didn’t have to think about anything.
After all that, I finally hit STARBUCKS, and then headed back to the apartment. I did a little work on the computer, paying bills, making more moving arrangements, and coordinating all my paperwork, and then I took a nap.
When I woke up, I made some tuna and a macaroni and cheese for dinner. I’m using up all the food in the apartment and am putting off going food shopping for as long as possible. I ran out of SNAPPLES the other day, but I have instant powered iced tea (which isn’t that good – but, hey, it’s a drink) and lots of tea bags, so I figure I should be able to avoid buying SNAPPLE until I move back to NY. That should save me $12 a week!
Monday nights is a great night on TV for me – HEROES, MEDIUM and now the new season of DANCING WITH THE STARS. I watched most of DWTS and really enjoyed it. I didn’t get to see all the dancers, because I switched to MEDIUM at 10:15pm, but I really enjoyed the guy from the SEX AND THE CITY movie and STEVE-O, from JACKASS. I never watched that show in my entire life, but he had a great personality and was surprisingly sweet and not cocky and crazy like I thought he would be.
There are a lot of interesting personalities on this season. Steve-O is a recovering drug addict; Lil’ Kim is an ex-con rapper; there’s a rodeo cowboy, and a computer genius (Steve Wozniak), along with a Playboy Bunny, an Olympic gold medalist, a football star, a comedian, and some actresses and singers. A very interesting group, indeed!
Perhaps the most notorious is the recently-dumped Melissa Rycroft who “won” on THE BACHELOR only to be replaced by the runner up! I don’t watch that show, so I missed all the drama, but I’m glad to see she’s already on to bigger and better things.
Anyway, I have a lot going on this week. Wednesday night I’m taking Elsa out to dinner for her birthday at Haiku in Pacific Beach. Thursday night I’m having dinner with Rosemary at BJ’s, the pizza place we like. Friday, I’m going to go karaoking with Marti, the girl I met through Jimmy, and who lives right down Clairemont Drive. I had my fender bender about 100 feet from her front door!
Saturday morning Joe and Miguel are driving down from Los Angeles to spend the weekend with me. I’m SO excited! They’re going to stay a a hotel Saturday night, but we’ll get to spend Saturday and Sunday together. I’m going to be in Los Angeles for a weekend before I go back to NY, so I’ll get to see them then, but I thought it was SO wonderful that they wanted to take the time to come down and see me here before I leave San Diego.
So, I have a lot of fun ahead of me. I’m really looking forward to it!