I Am A Good Daddy.

La Nina made me feel good the other day.

BH was working on that day, so I had La Nina to myself. For most of the morning she was very sweet and loving. If I was sitting on the couch, she was next to me. If I was cooking, she wanted to watch. All morning was like this.

Then it got bad. La Nina got sick.

It happened while she was going potty. She started gagging, and I quickly turned her around so she could hit the toilet. After she was done, I grabbed a wash rag out of the cupboard and washed her face. Luckily it was a one shot thing, and the one time ended it.

After she stopped tossing her cookies, I took her into her room to have her lay down and watch a Barbie video. (I am actually starting to hum songs from the videos at work. Climber is starting to worry about me.)

While she is laying in her bed, I sat down next to her and ask her if she is alright. She reached up and gave me a big hug.

Then she said, "You are a good Daddy. You get a stamp."

I had to chuckle, because at her daycare, when they are a good helper, they get a stamp on their lower leg. So, in her mind, I was a good helper and deserved a stamp for the day.

Can anything make you feel better?

Later,

Deej

This is it

My first SUV!!

Car Trouble.

Well, I finally pulled the trigger, and bought a new vehicle. A 2007 Ford Escape. I went with the SUV this time, because in the 5 years I had the F-150, I used it as a truck maybe 10 times. Twice a year is not enough to warranty owning a pickup.

I am buying this time instead of leasing. I am just tired of worrying about miles, (I'll get to that in a minute) and never paying the thing off.

I leased my last truck from what was supposed to be a reputable dealer in town. BH and I wanted to to keep it 5 years then decide weather or not to buy it. We wanted to be able to drive 15k miles a year with no penalties, and even bought an extended warranty to 75k.

I picked up the new vehicle Monday, and had the dealership clean up the truck for the turn in inspection. Since the lease was through a bank, a third party company was handling the inspection, and had been calling us 2-3 times a week for 2 months to schedule an appointment. We kept pushing it back because we didn't understand why they would want to inspect it months before it was due to be turned in. We found out why.

The night after we brought the new one home, this company calls us again to set an appointment. BH talked to them, and let them know what was going on. They asked a question about the miles and BH told them it was at 79k. They then informed us that that would cost us $3000 to turn it in. That's right folks, $3000.

I almost lost it. BH informed them that we had 75K miles to use and that for 4000 miles, it should have been $600 for the extra miles. They, once again politely, informed BH that we only had 60K miles at our disposal. BH told them we would get back to them.

After tearing through the files, I found the paperwork. It seems that some things didn't quite line up. On the line where the amount of miles was stated, the typing was off center by about 1 1/2 inches. This caused the written portion of the miles to be typed over a line of text making it almost eligible. The xx's that were supposed to be in either a 15k box or a 12k box were also moved over.

BH and I then remember when we signed the paper work that they showed us that the xx's would line up with the 15k box if the typing was lined up correctly. However, if you squinted, you could see they typed in 12k in the text area.

BH and I both remember clearly stating that we wanted 15k a year, and remember them telling us we had 15k a year. This was the whole point of taking out an extended warranty.

We think we got hoodwinked. I called the next day and canceled buying the vehicle, told the salesman why, and promptly went to another lot where they just bought the lease from us, and rolled the difference into the total. They worked very hard to get me a good deal, and have earned repeat business from us.

The other dealership, however, has lost a customer for life.

Anyway, I now have a new vehicle, don't have to worry about a turn in inspection, and got it for the price I wanted.

And it is fun to drive.

Later,

Deej

Milestones.

Why is it that milestones, any milestone, make you feel older? It doesn't even half to be something big.

When you are young, this is great. Hey!!! I'm older. Yeah!!!

"I just got my driver's license. Yeah!!"

"I just graduated. Yeah!!!"

These and any other milestones made you feel good. You were older, wiser, you were ... More.

Now that I have reached 40, though, they are a little different. Now it's "Damn!!! I'm older. Ouch!"

It doesn't even have to be a big milestone. Take this morning for example. I was fixing breakfast. I put a plate of sausage on the counter, and La Nina walked up and put her chin on the counter to see what I was doing.

This is the first time I had seen her do that, and it stuck me how fast she was growing up. It hit me all of the sudden that she is no longer my little La Nina, but is now almost out of the toddler stage.

For some strange reason, this hit me hard. It made me feel old. Not that 40 is old because it is not, but it made me feel old. Maybe this is what my mid-life crisis feels like. Maybe instead of buying a sports car, and chasing young women, I will watch my daughter grow into a young woman and wish I was younger so I could have more time with her and her mom.

Then again, Maybe I'm just being silly.

Later,

Deej