My new car and my awesome product advisor

I got my new car on Wednesday. I love it. It's like my previous car, but quieter and with more features.

I asked my product advisor (he's really my sales guy, but his new title makes more sense) if I could get protector film on my new car, similar to what I got on my old one. It protects the car from stone chips and such. I remembered this feature a week before getting the new car, so I knew that it may not be applied in time.

Sadly, it wasn't. I went back on Friday to drop off my car to get it installed.

The problem was that the dealership doesn't offer shuttle services since the pandemic. I'd have to wait for the work to be done.

"I'll drive you home," he said.

"Really? Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied.

He took me home and dropped me off at the dealership once the work was done.

He has been my product advisor for three different leased cars. I truly landed a good one.

New car on Wednesday that is now insured

Yesterday, I got word towards the end of my workday that my new car will arrive next Wednesday. My hope that it would be ready next week came true!

The last time I had to deal with my insurance company, I was on hold for nearly two hours. This time, I decided to call at 7 pm. I got a representative immediately.

The downside? There was so much feedback on her end. I could hear a male colleague and a female colleague more clearly than my representative. It was frustrating and difficult, but I managed to get through this call that lasted nearly fifty minutes.

At least it's done. Some cool things happened:

• Because I use an app to monitor my driving habits, I got at 25% discount on my insurance rate for the year. I saved roughly $1,100.
• My insurance rate has dropped $13 a month with the new car.

I thanked the woman for helping me out. I let her know that it wasn't her fault that the background was super noisy, but her manager may be able to do something.

I hope to get a survey. She'll get a high rating, but hearing all that noise in the background and envisioning the call centre's sound setup needs help.

It's the Labour Day long weekend coming up. I'm glad that I can spend some time with my car before it gets traded in.

Clearing out my belongings from my car and looking forward to the long weekend

I have been slowly cleaning out my car. What remains are items in the trunk that I need to remove. It won't take too long.

At this rate, I don't think that my new car will arrive this week. I am somewhat relieved, mainly because it's not payday for me this week. Next week would be better. I'm also going into the Labour Day long weekend and don't necessarily want to feel poor before it by putting down my down payment!

I will miss my current car. It has been great. I always feel sad when I trade my current car in, but the sadness doesn't last.

I am more looking forward to having a longer weekend to relax.

Anticipating a new car delivery

I am getting a new car within the next week or two. I signed for it with my sales representative back in late June.

Originally, the car's delivery date was scheduled for four to five months from late June. I was thinking that having my car in October or November would give me plenty of time to save up.

Nope, the delivery date's estimate is sometime next week or early September. Thankfully, it has been enough time to put down what I owe upon delivery. 

The most painful part of switching cars is dealing with my insurance company. I don't like being placed on hold with my insurance company to get my policy switched over. Luckily, I don't do it often, but it can take up to a couple of hours. It's not great, but the company has been good to me.

I started clearing out my car last week. There isn't a whole lot. The last thing that I will dismantle will be my Sirius XM satellite radio, which is separate device with cables. I wish that it were built in to the car's stereo, but it hasn't for years.

Documents are done. Now what?

The good news is that I completely my two documents last night. I can finally do regular work later on today. 

I am thrilled that I don't have to look at an ugly spreadsheet for a bit. I am thankful for the extended deadline.

I have worked so many extra hours that I am taking most of Tuesday off. I could technically take the whole day off, but I'll work 2.5 hours in the morning before I get my car serviced. I have a backlog of work that I should have got to last week.

I plan on taking Friday off. Monday is Family Day here, so it'll be an extra long weekend. I'm debating whether I want Tuesday off.

It's Valentine's Day. If you are celebrating today, enjoy it. Otherwise, know that you are loved.

Hit-and-run bumper scratches

On Friday night, I went out for a drive-thru event. After it was over, I went to order some pizza for dinner.

I parked in a plaza that I hadn't been in over a decade. It was raining and windy at around 8:30 pm. I got my goods and headed back to my car. The rain had stopped.

There was enough light for me to notice that my passenger front bumper had yellow scratches on it. A yellow vehicle must have grazed my car.

On Saturday, I went to file an accident report. It went smoother than I had anticipated. I then went ahead and called my car insurance to create a claim. I am waiting for a link to upload photos of my car's scratches and then find out when I can get my car fixed.

Ah, the joys of a hit-and-run incident. Luckily, I wasn't in the vehicle and this issue can be fixed.

Fixing my back with my heated car seat

I tweaked my back yesterday. It's amazing how great and flaky my back can be. Depending on how I sit, I'd be either fine or I'd get back pain.

My car is great. I got heated seats that came standard with my car. I used it on my back and it's all good now.

My car is my back saver!

Day off and the KitKat Chocolatory

I took Tuesday off as a personal day. I got a lot done, from getting my car serviced, to hitting the KitKat Chocolatory.

What's the KitKat Chocolatory? You can make your own KitKat bar. It's pretty cool! I got a voucher to make a free KitKat bar and it was a lot of fun.

I'm still going through the entire experience in my head. It was such an enjoyable day.

Installing my new licence plate sticker

On Friday, I received my licence plate sticker in the mail. Mine has been expired for a year, but it's considered valid during the pandemic. I finally decided to renew it online.

I didn't do it last year because a colleague of mine had ordered it online in June 2020 and received it in the mail a few months later. I got mine within a week, so things have definitely improved.

On Sunday, I installed the sticker on my car's licence plate. I had to unscrew the protective plastic cover on top of the licence plate, remove the outdated sticker, place the new one on, clean the licence plate, and then screw it and the protective cover back on my car. It was nice, relaxing work for a Sunday.

I'm now waiting for my driver's licence to come in the mail. It will make me feel better to flash a piece of ID that isn't expired, although it is also valid during the pandemic. 

At the car wash

On Monday, I got a free car wash and wax at a local car detailing shop. The place did a wonderful job. I haven't seen my car look that shiny and new since I first bought it.

I was highly impressed. I definitely will return. I like that the place is a ten-minute drive from where I live.

Tires, masks, and long weekend

Well, my appointment to pick up my new nightguard at the dental office is now on Thursday at 10 am. Yesterday, I only had my car maintenance appointment to go to.

It was pretty straightforward. I got there, checked in, waited for my car, and it was done in roughly an hour. I have all-season tires on my car again.

The only downside was seeing a customer take down his mask twice. The duration was minutes each time. I stared him down both times, but he was too stupid to understand why I was annoyed. The signs clearly say to wear a mask at all times indoors. What a jerk!

My long weekend is now over. At least my workweek is three days in length.

Napping and appointments

I did a lot of napping on Monday. I enjoyed it.

I spent the last hour consolidating my tea collection. I have both looseleaf and bags in different areas. I put them all in one big storage area. I'm pretty pleased. We'll see how it goes.

I was supposed to get a confirmation call from my dentist. As expected, it never happened. It's for 10:30 am later today, but the woman said that it would be between 10 am and 10:30 am. The uncertainty is annoying.

Tomorrow afternoon, I get my winter tires swapped out. It was a good call to take the day off.

Facebook and my ex breaking his hiatus on it

I don't do a whole lot on my Facebook account. I have moved around over the years, so it's easy to keep in touch with people. I wish friends happy birthday, check in here and there, and that's it.

The ex has a Facebook account. He stopped using it back in 2017. Unfortunately, I got a notification that he has posted two new photos.

The photos aren't exciting. However, they either have some sort of hidden meaning or he's simply ready to be social again.

His profile pic is a car from the 70's. What's interesting is that the licence plate is from Texas. It's where we last were together before he broke up with me.

His cover photo is a lighthouse. It's a beacon of light when it's foggy. Maybe he is seeing the light. I also love lighthouses, but I don't know if he knows that I do.

Perhaps I'm reading into this photos more than I should. It's just weird that he has resurrected his Facebook account after a four-year hiatus.

I have removed him as a contact on Skype. Perhaps it's time to do the same on Facebook.

Vacation day on Wednesday

It's a new workweek. I am taking Wednesday off as a vacation day. It's nice to break up the week into smaller segments.

I'm taking my car in for its usual servicing. It still doesn't offer shuttle service. I enjoy sitting there and relaxing. I also have a couple of errands to run afterwards. Considering that I'm not travelling much these days, I might as well start using my vacation days up slowly.

One more workday before my vacation day. It's great looking forward to a vacation day.

Free frapp

Yesterday, I ran my errands a day earlier than I typically do. It was such a sunny day that I needed to get some vitamin D. Later on today, we are expecting a mix of snow and rain. I want to simply stay at home and avoid driving in it.

I dropped by my local Starbucks. I am a regular customer. I approached the drive-thru and the barista knew who I was just looking at my car.

When I got to the window to pick up my beverage, she said that she had made an extra drink by accident and wanted to give it to me. She knew that I'd likely want it. She was right. It was a double chocolatey chip creme frappuccino. I thanked her for the free drink.

I have never had one before. I must admit that it was pretty good. It was nice that she thought of me.

Safe dental appointment and a day off today

My dental appointment went well. I felt extremely safe. There were tons of safety precautions in place. I ended up sanitizing my hands four times!

The insurance procedure was better explained to me. The dental office asks that you pay for services upfront. It files a claim on your behalf instead of filing a claim yourself. Nice!

I am fortunate that my dental appointments are uneventful. I thought that not having been to the dentist for a year would require a ton of plaque being scraped off my teeth. Nope, my hygienist said that I've been doing a pretty good job in that department.

Today, I have a day off. I'm taking my car in to get my winter tires installed. I then have to run an errand. Other than those plans, I have the rest of the day to casually figure out what else I'd like to do.

Good day with a crumbling memory

Monday was great. I vacuumed and washed my car. I also filled it up with gas.

I managed to pick up food from the two places that I had in mind in downtown Toronto I also visited my old neighbourhood.

I feel like my past is crumbling as the years go by. As I passed by the apartment building where I spent my first nineteen years of life, two men were destroying the concrete front steps. I am sure that they've been there for decades, well before I was alive.

I felt completely relaxed being a tourist in my hometown. I should do this excursion more often when I have a day off.

A different kind of Monday

I am taking Monday off from work in lieu of working the hours late last week. I have a relaxed, yet somewhat adventurous plan.

I do need to vacuum my car. Here's hoping that I can do it safely. I suspect that it won't be all that busy.

Last week, I was hoping to venture into the city. I never made it. Instead, that's my goal for today. I'm now picking up two food orders. I also hope to take in the new Toronto sign that was recently installed.

After that, I may visit either a cafe that is offering a free beverage or visit my old neighbourhood where I grew up to reminisce.

Car maintenance that cost me nothing

On Monday, I finally bit the bullet and took my car in for servicing. I have put off getting my car's winter tires off due to the pandemic. When my oil change light lit up on the dashboard, I knew that I had to bring my car in. Thank goodness we are in stage 3 of businesses reopening.

I normally drop off my car and get a shuttle ride home. With the pandemic happening, shuttle service is unavailable. Instead, I had to sit there with a mask on and wait for my car.

The work done on my car took two hours. I will say that sitting under air conditioning with a comfortable cotton mask on was great. I used three hours of paid time off from work that I was supposed to take in early July, but was on vacation. I loved sitting there, relaxing, and vegging.

How much did I pay for the car maintenance. Nothing. Crazy, huh?

My car service was under warranty. Getting my all-season tires on was free, thanks to the tire rotation part of the servicing being done. I had paid for two seasons of tire storage at the place, so I didn't need to pay for more.

To top things off, I had a great service advisor. He was kind. It was nice chatting with him about everything from running out of printer paper, to pointing me in the right direction to get my free messenger bag. Yes, I got a free bag that's pretty nice.

It was a good day.

Don't touch my car!

I tend to go grocery shopping on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Every other Saturday, I head to a supermarket in Toronto where I can get popsicles with a banana base in them. It's the closest supermarket that sells them. They are yummy!

To make a long story short, when I backed into a parking spot in front of this store, there were cars on either side of me that were roughly the same size as mine. When I was done shopping and headed to my car, there was a pickup truck to the left of the driver's side. A man was loading groceries in the backseat of his truck. The door was pretty close to my driver's side.

I was putting my groceries in my trunk when I heard someone talking to me. It was the guy who was loading the truck. I couldn't hear him when he was standing practically at the front of my car.

"Pardon me?" I asked, as he walked from between his vehicle and mine over to the passenger side of my car.

"I pushed your side mirror in so I wouldn't hit it and fixed it. Hope that's okay" he said.

I put my hands up in the air. What?!

"I guess so," I said

"I think it's better than my door hitting it," he said.

"Not really. I have to wipe down my mirror now," I replied.

I was not impressed. I didn't articulate how annoyed I was. On a normal day, I'd be okay. Things aren't normal these days for these reasons:

• We're in a pandemic. He came up to me to talk to me without a mask and far from being six feet apart. Jerk.
• How is it okay to touch someone's property because you can't park for beans? Your germs are now on my car. Even though you appear okay health-wise, you may not be. Now, I have your grubby fingerprints on my car and need to sanitize that part of my car. Geez, thanks.
• Why couldn't you have loaded your groceries from the other door? How about finding a parking spot where you can swing your doors open freely to load your groceries because you know that you won't be using your trunk?

I seriously dislike when folks adjust my car's side mirrors when I take my car in for servicing. It takes me forever to get them back to the way that best work for me. The fact that I had a complete stranger do it unexpectedly irks me.

It may seem like nothing to this guy, but it's not okay to me. He drives a huge truck, but it doesn't mean that he has every right to adjust other people's property to suit his lack of consideration for other people's property.