It's kind of funny how life works sometimes. I had a client that was so impressed by how quick and cheap I fixed several of her problems one day that she up and handed me a Wii. That's right, a Nintendo Wii. She said her kids had not played on it for two years (which means she spent some bucks on this unit) and it was hardly used. I swear she said she was going to throw this thing in the trash if I didn't take it.

Well, because I couldn't just let that go, I bartered a Dell Latitude C610 notebook with her. Three weeks later, as I was setting it up in her kitchen, she unintentionally backed into my car in the driveway. Hey, no sweat, they have money, and were happy to cut me a check for the parts and labor. I found most of the parts less than a day away from a shop that pre-painted them for me.

That evening, I was at another client's house displaying the damage. This guy was a former insurance assessor for a widely known insurance company. We chuckled about the fact that some blond woman had unintentionally backed into the driver-side fender. Hey, blonds, women drivers, you can pretty much pick your joke(s) from there... So then the next thing I know, this client is taking his wife out for Valentine's day and ends up backing into the other side of my car, taking out the bracket that holds the passenger-side headlight.

Well, all of the parts finally came in for this endeavor, and I am longing for the next decent day outside where my father-in-law and I can pull the front end of this car apart and get it repaired. I think the first thing I'm going to do is wash it... I mean it's really filthy...

All the while I'm finding out more and more about this car, more than I ever wanted to know. Like the fact that a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT has problems with the transmission that can be fixed with a simple $175 part that with two bolts and a little effort can keep you from buying a whole new transmission. Also, the problem related to the "low coolant" code and the passenger-side blower is all tied to a bad connection at/or a bad computer. I found a place that would even sell me a new ECM (computer) for $60, programmed especially for my car (by giving them the VIN) and shipped straight to my door. Man, you just have to love eBay! I even got props from the misses last night when I bought one of her favorite Wii games for $35 that we couldn't find anywhere for less than $50 out here in redneck's-ville.

Well, time to get the wife up. She's got surgery today... And I have a long day ahead of me, too.