| Yep, I was playing my new game ".hack" (dot hack)
when my mom wanted me to get off like always and do something
constructive, since video games makes you brain-dead. She wanted me
to look into getting that computer technician certification (A+
Certified Technician) so I could get a better job than pushing carts
at Wal-Mart. Well, that's fine, but I'd still keep the cart job to
stay in shape. The current test only covers up to Windows 2000.
Since then, WinXP has come out, and my friend, Jonathon, who is also
going the A+ route, told me that he's going to wait until the new
test that covers WinXP comes out before taking it. I had the mind to
do the same, but when months passed and still no news had come from
such a version of the test, I called up the place and they said that
a lot of places are still upgrading to Win2k, and it won't be a long
time until a test that covers WinXP comes out, so I'm going to read
the study guide again to freshen up, and take the 2 tests, which are
$139 each. Basically, if you get a college degree in that field, it
means next to nothing to employers compared to the certification.
Well, I didn't stop at the certification plans. I knew I had to read
the guide again, but I also went and looked in the Classified Ads to
find a car. From all the people I asked, Hondas were a common good
car mentioned, whereas all the other car companies were left out of
at least one person's list of good cars. Hondas can supposedly last
a long time with little maintenance, and can practically run on just
water. The only drawback is they lack power, which is something I
don't need to get to work.
Looking through the ads, I found 3 Hondas under $3,000. The $2,900
and $2,100 ones didn't return my calls, but the $1,700 one did. None
of the Toyotas even close to $3,000 were automatics. So I went with
my mom and we saw the car. It was an '87 Honda Civic; a little
darker than normal grey. It was clean, though, and the engine looked
new. The guy seemed really nice and he was the manager of a hotel
where he lived, also. He said his friend, who is a mechanic, looked it
over and it was fine. My mom liked the look of the car. So my mom
and I drove it to Steve Wasson, whom all our church members go to for
car troubles. He looked at the engine and put his hand in there and
pulled it out with a little oil on his finger. He said it's leaking
oil, and all the guy did was clean the engine. Then he wanted to
drive it with us in it. After a short trip, he said the breaks are
shot, the transmission is making grinding noises, and the front
bearings are about to go out. If you let the steering wheel be at
normal position, the car would go to the right. Steve said that in
his opinion, we should keep looking.
On Steve's property, however, there was a car that one of his
customers was selling because he's 85 and he said he's too old for
it. Steve said it has a new $500 carbeurator in it, the exhaust
system was redone, and they just messed around with it. It has a new
paint job, too. It's just dirty inside, and it doesn't have a radio,
and the rear defrost doesn't work. He said it has great tires and it
runs fine. Basically if Steve says it's good, then it's good. And
the price was good, too. Only $100 more than the Honda. I only had
$1,700 so I offered to pay $1,650 and he agreed. So now I have my own
car, the first day I started really looking. And BTW, it's an '83
Chevy Camaro. |
