I called Chris, that's the name of the guy down at the service dept., first I apologized to him for being rude when he gave me the news about the car. Then I told him my concerns/needs. I explained that the tags are expiring, so I don't want to drive the car until I get new tags. I'm going to drop the car off Sunday afternoon and then my friend M will take me to the airport to pick up a rental. But, I explained, my need is getting my inspection sticker. I had paid for one somewhere else, which I failed because of the SRS light. He then offered to do the inspection, at no cost to me, since I'm a new customer and they had already given the car a good going over this past week. Which is what I was hoping he'd say :).
So, I went online looking for a car to rent. Fortunately there is an airport about 15 minutes away, which helps with selection. Then I remembered that I'm a member of USAA which can get you some pretty good deals and indeed their website provided a link which got about a 25% discount. But, then I discovered the quirkiness of car rentals. First i entered in from Sunday-Tuesday and got a quote on a RAV 4 for $90. Then I thought that might not be enough time, so I entered until Wednesday and the quote went up to $350! What the...so after fighting the website a bit, I hit the "talk to a rep button" and got a phone call. After talking to the rep I discovered that if I pick up the car by 4:30 on Sunday and return it by 4:30 on Tuesday I get the Weekend rate and it will actually cost me $70. $90 was because I had an extra hour. And indeed if I added a day, the whole rate converted to something else, and I almost tripled the daily rate. So, I told her, that if 2 days weren't enough I'd return the car on Tuesday and rent another one! The extra half hour trip would save me several hundred! CRAZY, that 1/2 an hour could have such an effect on prices. So, I get to pay a little stupid tax, for not taking care of something I should have probably done a year ago. But, at least I'll still be legal. I was stressing more about driving on the expired tag than anything else.
Talked to Mike, and if definitely looks like he'll be coming home sooner than later. Which is good and bad news at the same time. Good obviously, because we want him home with us, bad because we are really thankful for the opportunity he's getting to work with the orphans. Don't worry, that work isn't diminishing their ministry to the soldiers. In fact, I think it's probably enhanced it, as he's been able to take other soldiers out on their "off" time to do some manual labor cleaning up and playing with the kids.
I had to go to the annual "how to recognize and report child abuse" class tonight. I just about feel like I could teach that class. One positive, a lady present, turned out to also be a social worker who works with adoptive placements. I did make contact with her and she gave me the name of the lady to talk to regarding get our homestudy into the state system so that we could increase our options as far as finding our kids. Most foster kids are adopted by their foster parents, especially the younger ones. So, it'll be good for us to have that contact. Now, if I'd just get the paperwork done!
Well, I'm blogging early tonight because the kids are watching a movie, then I plan to go upstairs and watch "Walk the Line" as I fold clothes in honor of Johnny Cash's b-day. So have a good night to you all!
Blessings.
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