Angie & Jim

Money is Expensiveby Jim

Well, first of all I would like to say, “Welcome to our new blog!” I hope you enjoy your stay. A few days ago I downloaded the latest version of WordPress and gave it to Angie to do with as she pleased. I’ve got an account and will post occasionally, and although this blog is for our little family, she is in charge of the everyday upkeep and such. As you can already see, she’s done a great job setting it up, picking a nice theme, etc. So, please have fun and come back often!

So, today I called around to get an estimate on some car repairs we need done. We went to San Francisco with Angie’s sister, Emily, and her roommate Kim. We wanted to go down Lombard Street, so I made the turn and we got in this HUGE line of cars. The problem is we have a manual transmission and sitting on those great big hills is bad for a clutch. After a few minutes of waiting, I started to smell a burning smell and I thought to myself, “this is bad.” We got out of line as soon as we could and drove around to the other side and laughed at all the people driving down Lombard Street who had to wait in line. Well, actually, we didn’t laugh at anyone, but we still did get to see it from the other side — not as cool as driving on it, but we were pressed for time. Well, I’ve noticed the clutch is a little softer than it was before and since both Angie and I learned to drive manual on this car it was due for a clutch replacement. I called one place and they quoted me $720. I thought that was a little high, so I called a couple others: $880 and then $817. Well, this was also on top of the $300 for brakes they were all quoting me on. After consulting with my car consultant (and co-worker Justin Bradley), I decided that until my clutch starts slipping, I don’t need a new one. And for the brakes… well, I’ll wait on those too. Sheesh! Money is expensive!