Our scary future...

This country is in a precarious balance right now.  If Trump gets the nomination for the republican party, that means a) that more than half the republicans think that this hateful, misogynistic, criminal is fit to lead our country (which scares the holy bejesus out of me!); and b) we have to pick between Biden (who I agree probably won't make it through another term) and that Jackass.  I'm registered as an independent, so I can't vote in the primary, but if they would just come up with another candidate, I would be very inclined to vote republican this time.  (Anyone but DeSantis or that Indian guy, who seems like a real SOB...) But if the only choice is Trump, YIKES.  If the republican party really wants a chance, they need to nominate SOMEONE ELSE because I believe the decent people of this country will come out of the woodwork to vote to keep him OUT. He's a menace to decency and an embarrassment to the world.  I can only imagine some of the things that are being said about us around the world as they look on and see how much support is given to a man who tried to challenge our democracy!  While we try to shove democracy down the throats of other countries, they see OUR OWN PRESIDENT challenging the one most important concept of democracy - the right of the people to choose their leader.

And that's my rant for today!  Our snow ended up being around 5"  here.  A little less at the airport, which is always the official amount for Omaha proper, but a lot more in west Omaha.  Columbus got 13"!  They always seem to get it pretty good.  I found a guy on NextDoor to shovel the walks.  When I told him (via text) how much there was to do, he said, "I can do that for $20."  I told him that I've paid $40 in the past and I feel that's very reasonable - I think he must be a desperate fellow (he told me his car is not running right now) and I wasn't about to take advantage of that... He did an awesome job.  And now it looks like we'll get another 4-7" overnight tonight??  I told work just to take me off the schedule until next week.  

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Started this on Tuesday, I think, and here it is Friday.  We got at least another 7", maybe closer to 10" of snow overnight and today.  A light snow, blowing like crazy so lots of drifting.  What a mess! My guy came by at noon, when it was still snowing pretty good and cleared the majority of it, and he'll come back tomorrow sometime and clean it up.  Even if it had been done snowing, I probably would have had him come by tomorrow due to the drifting.  It is SO cold!  Right now... 4 degrees real-temp, -20 with the windchill.  Horrible!

I don't think I've talked about my new car.  I've been talking about it for a couple years.  I decided I would cash in my life insurance and use the money toward a newer car.  I've been driving my old HHR for 15 years and even though it was low mileage for it's age (under 100k), I was ready for a change.  But then after covid, there was a car shortage and used cars were selling for a premium.  So I waited.  After Mom passed, it made me feel my mortality and got me thinking... how much longer do I have to enjoy a new car??  Why wait!  and why not get what I want?  I had decided, after driving lots of different cars in my work, that I wanted either a Kia Soul or a Mini Cooper.  The Soul was a more practical (cheaper) choice, but the Mini is what I really, really wanted. So around the end of July, I went through the steps to cash in my life insurance. One day, I was delivering a car to Enterprise car sales in west Omaha and behold - there was a Mini sitting right out in that "premium" up-front spot on the sidewalk!  When I dropped off the keys, I asked what they wanted for it.  The sales guy said $24k and some change, which was about $4000 more than my life insurance (but then I get a $1000 discount for being an employee, so really only $3000 more...)  I came home that day, getting home early enough to call my insurance folks and see how much more it would cost to insurance it and it kind of surprised me that it was only about another $75 every 6 months.  Hmm.  Then I started going through my mail which I had grabbed as I came in and what was there but that check from the insurance company!  Sign #2, I figured!

So I had the next day off and went out to talk to them about it.  I ended up buying it and even added an extended warranty (24,000 miles) - I did this mostly because I asked my mechanic about the Minis and he said they are notorious for having some issue with the timing chain at around 65,000 miles as a "just in case".  The car had 43,000 miles on it, so I figured that would get me into that mileage range.  It cost me an extra $1700 and it was probably not worth it, but it gives me a bit of "peace of mind".  Anyway, I found a pic on the web to show what it looks like...

I love it!  It's adorable, it's zippy, a comfortable ride, fun to drive.  Gets around on snow very well...so far!  The dash is so retro.  The app screen is round and has a very cool light around it that can change colors.  It has a decent sound system. All the new features like a backup camera (though with all the new cars I drive for work, I hardly use the camera - I do better with the mirrors...), heated seats which I didn't know at first!  Nice right now!  LOL!  Just wish it had a heated steering wheel... love those when it's cold!  I'm not sure if they're leather seats... I supposed they could be fake leather.  How would I know??  Oh, what I discovered after about a month is when it's dark out and you open the door, a light shines on the pavement with the Mini logo:

 

So cool!!  Anyway, with my insurance money and a little more, I was able to pay cash for it, so no car payment.  YAY!  Though I dread how much more it's going to cost to register it each year!

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It's now Saturday, and painfully cold.  Right now:

Look at the "feels like"... FUCK!  I'll take snow all day over this shit.  My snow removal guy was going to come back, but I couldn't let him do that in good conscience.  It's all drifted back over the sidewalks, but the wind is still blowing like a mother, so it'll just fill back in anyway if he does come.  And no one is going to be out walking in this stuff anyway, so I told him I'd see if he can come back in a few days when it warms up a bit.  They said it's going to be like this until Tuesday.  I already told work I don't want to work Monday...

Well, Pearl stole my chair while I was up for a minute, so I'll end this for now.