It does not cook good omelettes and stews

Remember some time last year when I took Sandy in for an oil change and left in a different car?  Well, guess what happened....again.

I took her in bright and early (10am--shut up, it's early for me), and there was already a wait time of an hour and a half.  "That's okay," I said, "I'll go down to Subway to grab a bite to eat."  So, I took a walk down to Lankershim, which was farther than I thought, but not too far, and got a sandwich.  I strolled back all leisurely.  One hour down, 30 minutes to go.  Those of you who follow me on Twitter know what happened next....

Four Hours Later!!!

I was knitting, so time kind of flew by, but my aching butt told me I'd been sitting too long, so I asked the nice gals at the cashier desk, "Can you check on the status of my car? It's been four hours for an oil change."  The girl told me "Oh, it looks like it's done.  Let me ask David."  David came out and told me that, yes, the oil change is done, but they found other things wrong.  Of course they did.  Something was rattling and something was leaking (I think the same thing from last year), and Oh, btw, you're going to need new front and back brakes to the tune of $299.99.  The leaking and rattling was covered under warranty, but not the brakes.  The brakes will have to wait.  Hopefully, with light pressure and careful driving, I can get away with waiting until March.  It sucks to be poor.  

So, David tells me he is going to set me up with a rental, free of charge, but the rental car guy is at lunch.  "Ten more minutes," he assured me.  "Thanks for being so patient."  I didn't tell him the patience was wearing thin.  Finally, rental car guy showed up and set me up with this sweet ride.

It's a red, red Rogue. I have named her Joni Mitchell*.   The arrows point to where the birds in my neighborhood have already dropped a load on her.  I'll have to wash that off before I return her.  

No fear of running over small children or animals with back up camera! 

She's got a sweet entertainment system, with XM  radio, although the "rock" station was playing Elvis, and not Costello. The Pop station was playing LMFAO.  I opted to connect my iPod. It's pretty sweet; you can control the iPod using the steering wheel controls, although it didn't quite get the whole Random setting and kept playing from the same album or repeating the same song.  Maybe I wasn't doing it right.

I only wish the iPod connection wasn't in the storage area, or that there was a notch cut into the lid to accommodate the cord.  It seems awfully inconvenient, especially if you wanted to store other things in there.


I won't bore you with more photos.  The cup holders are ample and shaped like the largest fast food cups, so the cup will fit perfectly.  The cockpit area is well lit, with easy to read dials.  And, she rides smooth.  It took me a second to get used to the size and height, but I adjusted quickly.  And she's got a sun roof...or a moon roof. Honestly, what's the difference?  It's a window in the roof that opens.  Jamie had one and I kind of miss that on beautiful days.  

Okay, one more photo.  This is the 101, as reflected in the building across from the dealership. Click to embiggen. It's pretty cool.

*Joni Mitchell's "California"  And while technically, the rogue was a man, cars are girls so she's Joni.