Geekery

I dropped a wad of cash on my car today.  Had that nasty gas pedal recall done (I actually think it was a placebo fix, but now if anything does go wrong, at least my insurance company can't go saying that I should have had something fixed and I didn't so they won't cover me), and 'got the computer recalibrated' whatever that means - I wonder if they could recalibrate my laptop too; maybe it would quit shutting off on me for no good reason.  Anyway, the computer thing was because my engine light came on yesterday.  99% of the time its just a sensor or a computer error, but it's not something you want to mess with.  They're also going to order me a new door panel because apparently I have a heavy elbow and have broken the plastic under the fabric of the arm rest.  The break recall (yes, there are 2 recalls on the Corolla), will have to wait for another day because the parts are back ordered; but like the guy at Toyota said, that won't be a problem unless I plan on driving to the Arctic in January.  Now, all of that stuff, ALL OF IT, didn't cost me a thing - I love warranties!  But where they get ya is the dog-gone regular maintenance and servicing!  You know, the oil change and 10,000 point inspection, and fluid refills, and valve stem replacement therapy, and gizmo re-alignment, and do-hickey boondoggling or something etc, etc.  Friggin cost me about $1000 bucks.  (Ok, not really, but still!)

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And on a completely different subject:

Once upon a time, a 6'7" man named Fr Steve built a website for St Mary's.  It... well, it was lacking some character, BUT, at least it was a website presence for the church.  Fr Steve, unfortunately, was the only one who had the computer knowhow to do anything with it.  And then he moved.  Enter a long lineup of people who said they could probably figure it out, but never bothered to, and two years later, we once again have no website presence.  Now, maybe it's not entirely necessary - I mean, the Roman Catholic church is a bit of a dinosaur anyway... I mean... um... gee, I hope I don't get fired for that...

But seriously, a website, a GOOD website, has its uses.  But I don't know how to code HTML.  Enter: Google Sites.  So much fun!  Google practically has a 50% stake in my life now anyway what with Calendar, Reader, Blogger, Documents, Picasa, Youtube - all of which I use on a regular basis.  So I figured, hey! Why not let them host a website for me too!   (Google does have an ambitious goal of collecting and cataloging ALL of the WORLD's data, so I might as well help them out.  They figure it'll take them roughly 300 years.  Note to self: buy Google stock.)

If all goes well, maybe I'll have a new website to share with you soon.