Two is moving on...

Two passed his driver's test, and is now a licensed driver... Those in Western Pennsylvania - Look out!!!

I am overwhelmed with a wide a range of emotions from excitement and pride, to feelings of loss. I am excited that he succeeded. The look on his face when he walked in the testing facility with the instructor after his test spoke volumes! I was so excited that I completely forgot my PSP sitting on the bench where I was waiting, and left without it (more on that later... since that's another story). I am proud that he overcame his battle of 'nerves' and succeeded. He is not what you would call a "natural born driver", and learning to drive has been a struggle for him.

I think most parents would be proud and excited when their kids succeed at something that means a lot to them, so that's not unusual... What's unusual is my sudden feeling of loss. All of a sudden I realized yesterday that Two really won't need me as much any longer. Now that he has his own transportation, and his own source of income, I won't be asked to take him places, loan him money, or hang with him as often. I will be just a guy that he will "see occasionally" as he stops into the house to get a change of clothes or a bite to eat.

The sense of loss is bigger than I expected, I think, because my girls don't hang with me much, they tend to stay mostly at their mother's place. So I think I am beginning to experience a slight taste of the "empty nest" syndrome.

Of course, now that I have said all of this, I will of course told the world (well a small part of it anyway) that I actually do have feelings, and I do more than grunt, laugh, yell and fart. So how much of my masculinity have I undermined today?

Congrats Two! I am proud of you! I hope you continue down the road and become a better man than me! P.S... Don't forget when the car breaks down, or if you need a few bucks, or some good wise old advice... call your mom, I am going to be out having a good time! (smirk!)

Later Lou

Car trouble...

My son, "Two", saved up his money and purchased a car back in October. It was a pretty good looking car, but shortly after he got it, we had to replace the transmission. After it was repaired, he paid for insurance, inspection, and PA registration. He spent hours with his mother, myself, and other family members practicing his driving. All of his hopes, money, practice and repair work went towards passing the driving test to get his license, which was scheduled yesterday. It was scheduled at 1:30PM, and I figured around 2:00PM, I would get a text message, a phone call, or I would otherwise hear the Earth move from his jubilation. When 4:30 came and went, I realized I hadn't heard anything, and I was surprised. I got out my cell phone and started typing out a message to him, and we had the following text message conversation:

Me: Where are you? Two: Here Me: Gee thanks. Where is 'here'? Two: Right where i'm sitting Me: Are you at my place or your mom's or some other location. Two: The second Me: How did the big test go? Two: She said I did great, except that I hit a cone while trying to parallel park Me: So is that a pass or not? Two: Not Me: Did you resched? Two: Yes Me: When is it scheduled? Two: Next Wednesday at three

He decided to skip his weekly scout meeting last night, and instead he went out driving with his aunt to practice parallel parking. When he was at the testing facility they told him he could practice on their course after hours. On his way back from his successful practice his car "died", and he couldn't get it started back up. By the time I got there the "Ex's" husband had arrived on the scene and had jumper cables hooked up to recharge his battery. We had a little gathering of people looking at his car: Two, his aunt, the Ex's husband, myself, the owner of the property were Two's car broke down, and the owner's 4 year old daughter. We decided that the problem seemed to be the alternator, and that when we got Two's battery charged up he would be able to drive it home. After a few minutes of battery charging, he turned the key and the engine started right up. A few minutes later, we are closing the hood of his Cavalier, and he leaves trying to get the car home before the battery dies again.

After he gets the car to his mother's house, he packs up his stuff, and slumps himself into my car, despondently. I tell him to not worry, and that replacing the alternator is a pretty easy task and we can do it ourselves without needing to take it to a mechanic. His spirits lift only slightly, and he tells me the day was one of his worst, but it wasn't all bad... He got a girl's phone number today.

My first thought was that he was kinda "pulling my leg" a little. I figured he must have gotten the number of the driving instructor on some result paper from his test... and he was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke. So I kinda dismissed him, and didn't really give him a chance to explain...

After a few minutes later, he then asked if I wanted to hear about this phone number he got. So I decided he needed to get the joke out, so I said to give me the story. To my surprise he wasn't joking, and to my relief it wasn't the driving test instructor. He had met a nice young lady from another school earlier in the day at a meeting.

Two is the "Rotary Club Student of the Month" for November at his high school, and he attends the weekly Rotary club meetings on Tuesdays during the day. This is where he met the "Student of the Month" at another local school, and they shared a "moment" making fun of the "old guys" at the Rotary club.

Two is growing up... He's almost driving on his own, and has enough courage to ask for a girl's number... I didn't learn how to do either until last week! (OK, Ok, I stretched the truth a little... I learned to drive much younger.)

Later Lou

Sigh...

Bank Update:

To the bank's credit, they didn't charge me the overdraft fees, as they said they wouldn't. However, I still have a negative balance because an automatic bill payment came out of my account yesterday, and that WILL give me an overdraft charge... So all in all, I lost $105 to the bank in fees this month... (sigh)

Cavalier Update:

Tuesday after "Two's" scout meeting we got the new battery installed. After we brought the car back to the "Ex's" place, and he was backing up in the parking spot, I heard an usual noise from the car. I asked "Two" if he checked the transmission fluid when he was going over the car, and he said he did. He assured me it was checked properly, and had enough fluid in it.

I told him that the transmission sounded bad when he backed up and that he should try a test the next day to see if it was just a noise or a more serious problem. I suggested he drive to the end of "Ex's" drive way, and put the care in reverse and backup the length of the driveway. The driveway has a very slight downward slope, so has he reversed it would be a very slight up hill, just enough to put a little pressure on the transmission.

So this past Wednesday when he got home from school, he did the test. The car didn't pass. It only backed up the driveway about 90% of the way, and then gave out. The car no longer goes in reverse. The optimist in me says, "I am glad we found out now instead of when you were out driving around." The pessimist in me says, "How are we going to come up with the money necessary to fix the transmission?"

"Two" was very upset because the transmission work will cost pretty close to his entire purchase price of the car, and of course he doesn't have the cash now. It will take him about 2½ months to save up the money for the repair.

I am going to take the car to a local transmission shop, and get a proper estimate. The estimate the mechanic gave me over the phone without seeing the car is around $700 for a used transmission or $1,050 to rebuild the existing one. I am hoping that he will give me a better estimate when he sees it. (sigh)

Parking update:

I forgot to move the trash cans I was using as a parking space barrier to the curb. So Thursday morning when the trash collectors came I expected they wouldn't empty the cans... I was wrong, they did... They just emptied them, turned them over, and put them back where I had the barrier setup... SOOOO... I haven't opened up the drive way in front of my garage to see if the neighbor will return... I think after this weekend I will remove the barrier and put the trash cans away... It looks bad with the cans sitting out in the driveway. (sigh)

Bowling update:

We officially sucked as a bowling team last night. Ok, that's just me expressing my extreme displeasure at not winning any games last night. We don't suck completely, just a little bit. The team we played last night was just better than us. Last week however we did win 2 games and total points, so we moved into second place. After this week's loss, I am thinking we will be at the bottom of the list again! (sigh).

Sweetie update:

At the end of the post "Weekend Work...", I said the following:

I am not sure exactly where we "are". We didn't really make up, but we didn't really say we would stay apart... We are somewhere in between.

Well... We are still talking to one another, and planning events and outings together. This upcoming weekend, "Sweetie" mentioned she would like to do something outside like go on a hike or something. Personally I am happy for the opportunity to spend time with her, as I really enjoy being with her, but at the same time I don't want to feel I am forcing her to be with me by my continuing to "chase" her when she has told me she wants to "move on." Maybe this weekend we can have a heart to heart and either decide to try to make a real go of it, or do an actual separation. (sigh) Tenant Update: I still haven't asked my tenants for the October rent... yeah, yeah, yeah... I know I need to be more stern, but I really hate being the "bad guy", or the "mean landlord" and demanding the rent. (sigh) New News: As I was typing this post, my brother just called and told me we finally got a bill for the funeral home. I haven't written about it, but a few months ago, my mother past away. The funeral director was seemingly in no hurry to get his money, and didn't send out the bill for quite some time. Anyway, the bill is for $6,000, and after we use whatever money my Mom had saved, which isn't much, we (my brother, my two sisters and I) have to share the remaining cost. Supposedly my mom had enough money to cover at least half of it so that means I am going to have to come up with about $750. (sigh) Later Lou

Battery

Last night after I picked up "Two" from his weekly scout meeting, we rushed to the nearest Advanced Auto Parts store before it closed so we could get a new battery for his car. On the short drive over we noticed a few things like there is still a considerable vibration from the exhaust, and his emergency brake isn't disengaging completely or properly. When I heard the vibration coming from the back of the car, I asked "Two" if he secured the spare, and stuff. He said that he didn't have a spare... I almost paniced, but then I rememberd that the man who sold the car to "Two" told us he had the spare and would put it in the car before we picked it up... So, hopefully all we have to do is call him and pick it up.

We got to the store in plenty of time for the sales person to install the new battery, and now his car starts without any problems at all. He got a pretty good first car, and with a little care, he should get a lot of use out of it. Check out my previous posts if you want to see a picture of the car, or read "Two's" blog. After we got back home, "Two" transfered to me the money I spent to transfer the title, and pay the sales tax. When we transfered the money, I saw that my account had gone into the "negative" zone, and I had overdrafted slightly. Hopefully the transfer of the money will prevent any bank charges, but I am betting that I get stung for $30. I ran short because my tenant hasn't paid October's rent yet, and I haven't confronted them about it yet... I guess today's the day!

Tomorrow is trash pickup, I am curious to see what happens when the trash cans are moved from the drive way to the curb... Will the Illinois van appear back in front of my garage? If so, I am pretty sure I will have to call the police department and express my displeasure at having someone tresspass on my property. :-) Later Lou

New Car - Part 2

"Two" is a little upset that I posted about his new car before he did. He sent me a few IM's yesterday and a comment on my last post expressing that he had the "real" story!

The rest of the story is that his car isn't yet road worthy, although it soon will be. We had to get it insured of course, which was an interesting event. The same night after we wrote the check for the car (Sunday I believe), we went home and logged onto my insurance company's website: http://www.geico.com/. I put in a few quotes: 1) Adding a car, and 2) Adding a driver. A representative from Geico wrote me an Email shortly after my request for a quote telling me that my premium had been raised to almost $1,700 for 6 months worth of coverage!

I had a small anxiety attack, not only because of the very large dollar figure, but because I didn't really ask them to change my policy yet, only give me a quote. So I immediately responded with my displeasure of changes being made without my consent.

A second representative wrote back and told me that they had to "by law" add the second driver if he was licensed, and a learner's permit was considered licensed, and if he was living in my household. I really started to sweat wondering how I was going to come up with that sum of money, or how I could tell "Two" that almost half his monthly income would be going to pay for car insurance.

Before I got too worked up I got another message from Geico in response to my quote for adding the car. I expected the number to go up even more, and was not only relieved, but elated that the number actually went down over $600! I am not sure how the insurance premium calculations work, but as long as "Two" had his own car the rate dropped considerably.

The monthly cost of insurance is now manageable, however, it doesn't manage my concerns about him being out on the roads without supervison. Hopefully within the upcoming weeks he helps me to be assured by becoming a stronger and more confident driver.

BTW: Here's second picture of "Two's" car, since he posted the same picture on his blog, that I posted previously.

New Car

I bought a new car... It's in my name.... I paid for the taxes and title transfer fees.

Ok, I confess, the car isn't really mine. "Two" bought the car... He paid for it with his own money, and he will be paying me back for the taxes and title when he gets paid on Monday. The car is, however, in my name since he is underage, and doesn't have a license yet. He's still working on both of those issues... I am pretty sure at least one of them will be resolved within 7 months.

He spent the last couple of weeks scouring the newspaper classified ads, and the local "auto trader" magazines. He called numerous people, asked questions, talked with friends, until he found what sounded like a pretty good deal.

We went to meet the owner, and see the car, and I was pleasantly surprised that the car looked in decent shape. The owner told us two bad things about the car: No key to lock or unlock the doors, and the battery needed to be replaced. Both issues can be resolved easily without much knowledge in car repair, which of course is a bonus for both him and I, since we are absolute non-experts in fixing up cars.

The owner asked if we wanted to drive it, and I was glad to hear that he was very forthcoming, and seemingly honest (yeah, I had, and may still have a little cynicism). We drove the car, and "Two" was extremely happy. The only thing that was not 100% with it was that the car had a little muffler noise which seems to be coming from a loose strap on the exhaust pipe. There were no drips coming from the engine, so no oil leaks, no radiator leaks, and nothing glaring wrong with the engine.

The car is a little old, being that it's a 1994 Chevy Cavalier, but it only has 94,000 miles on the car, which I thought was pretty good for the age of the car.

Today, "Two" and I went and signed the papers and got the new license plate. So it is now officially his property, and as soon as we can get a extra driver to go with us (or him) to pick it up, he will have it moved to our place so he can clean it up, put in the new battery, and attach the new plate.

He was very excited to place the ignition key on his keyring today.

I am very proud of him, and at the same time very nervous. My son will very soon be driving around by himself, and I will be worrying for quite some time each time he is out that he may be broke down or in an accident... Yeah, I know the car is pretty solid, and his a pretty good driver, but I believe I am allowed a little excess worry as a father... Right?

Later Lou