Summer's Shenanigans

I got back to San Diego yesterday and I'm going to be here for a while for work. The funny thing is that two people have already asked me, "Is it good to be home?!". Um, helllllloooooo. I'm not home. My home is in Puerto Rico. And I can't wait to go home...

Any how, my brother accidentally left the lights of my car on after he dropped me off at the airport (12 days ago), so my battery was VERY dead. We had to let the jumper cables sit on the battery for over 20 minutes before I could even start my car. LUCKLY it finally did turn over. I was worried since the lights had been on for so long that it may have killed it for good, which would have been a bummer since the battery was fairly new (and not cheap).

The office underwent some construction while I was gone and a couple of walls got knocked out, but unfortunately it's not as big as I was hoping. From my calculations, we're going to out grow this place in 6 months or less. So, I'm in the market to buy a warehouse/office in San Diego. One more thing to do...just what I need...

Labels: Business, Cars, Traveling

The transformation has begun...

I just paid $3200 (via Paypal, nonetheless..haha) for an old beat up Ford Bronco that I have never even seen. Those will be my wheels when I get down to Puerto Rico on Monday. Ahhhhhhhhhh. It's so refreshing. Back to the basics, just like I like it.

I won't have to worry about the high maintanence that comes with a "luxury" vehicle (washing, waxing and polishing the chrome rims so they burn out the retinas of pedestians), or the retarded gas prices (I paid $4 per gallon tonight for premium gas. To make it even more annoying, the gas pumps cut off at $75, so I have to do two separate transactions to fill up the stupid tank.). Best of all, I get to shirk the stereotype I get stamped with whenever someone sees me driving the BMW. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my X5. It was the 1st car I straight up paid cash for and yes, I am very proud of myself. But, I would have NEVER spent so much on a car if I didn't get the monster tax write off that I got for buying the X5 (the official Vicious Enterprises company vehicle). I'm frugal and I always will be. What can I say :). Unfortunately, it very rare that anyone sees the X5 and thinks that I actually worked my ass off to earn it. The looks I usually get are more of the "oh, daddy bought blondie a Beemer"...I guess I am still in shock at how completely different people treat you when you drive an expensive car. It's so fricking stupid. Any who, goodbye shallow southern California stereo types. Helllloooooo Puerto Rico compound!

Labels: Cars, Puerto Rico, San Diego

Today Stefan and I were driving to Big Lots (a super rad ghetto discount store) to pick up some new bins for the ever growing Vicious Enterprises inventory. I put on my blinker to turn into the strip mall and watched in horror as some moron slowly creeps out into the street...stops...then guns it into the side of my car...

Normally, I am a very level headed person, but the fact that this is the 1st car I've purchased in cash AND I recently spent almost $5K getting it totally pimped out, I exploded into a profanity-laced tirad as soon as that Ford Explorer hit the side of my car. Luckly for the driver of the other car, Stefan was with me and immediately hopped out to deal with the situation as I'm still cussing at the top of my lungs.

He hit us hard enough for us both to say, "Oh shit...", and it looked like he hit the car smack dab in between the front driver side quarter panel and the driver side door, so I was already calculating the damage cost in my head before I even saw it (r&r front quarter + r&r driver door + possible rim and tire damage + paint blend x 5 because it's a BMW = $12,000. Gee, working in the auto damage department at GEICO is all coming back to me...). I regained enough composure to jump out and look at the damage...

There was no damage. Not even a tiny scratch. Stefan and I inspected the car twice and we couldn't believe it. The must have hit us square in the front wheel where there is a 1/2" piece of plastic that frames the wheel well, because there literally is not a scratch or dent on the paint. Although, the alignment feels slightly off, so they may have hit the actual rim, but an alignment is only $60.

Nonetheless, very strange...

Labels: Cars

I took my new (new to me, but used) BMW X5 to my mechanic for a check up a couple of weeks ago. I'm totally anal about car maintenance and it was driving me crazy that I didn't know when the last tune up was, so I told them to check it out, change the oil and tune it up if it needed it. It turns out that it definately needed a tune up, oil change, cooling system flush and brake fluid flush. $714.59. Cha-ching! But, the following ailments also plague my pretty lil car:

* Fan belts cracked ($145)

* Power steering reservoir & hose leaking ($327)

* Both outer CV boots torn ($570)

* Transmission cooler leaking ($354)

Nothing needed to be done immediately, so I told them that I would bring it back after the 2007 new year (which was a few days away) since it's a tax write off and I'm pretty sure that I have enough write offs in 2006, since that is when I bought the car. Hey it's a company vehicle ;). Vicious Enterprises rolls in style...

Last weekend my super awesome boyfriend went to get the beemer detailed while I was sleeping in. Right as he got to the detail place, the driver side back window fell into the door (the power window apparently fell off the track). He had to pull it out and tape it (hahahah) so the car could get washed. Sweet. Three days later, the car wouldn't start. Shit, it wouldn't even turn over. So I had it towed back to my mechanic:

The cool part is that when the tow truck driver was wenching my X5 onto his flat bed, the tow truck did a wheelie (both front wheels off the ground!) because the X5 is so heavy. He looked worried, but it made it to the shop without a scratch. LUCKLY, the car only had a VERY dead battery. VERY dead as in, it couldn't even be jumped. Although it still cost $225 for a new battery...

Labels: Cars

Who would have thought that the largest indoor go kart track on the west coast was just a few miles from my house? Stefan and I decided to check it out last night and it was AWESOME! We raced at K1 Speed in Carlsbad, CA and I came in 2nd place (Stefan came in 1st). There were 5 people racing and I would have to say that Stefan and I did pretty damn good for our 1st time! Perhaps we will become professional go kart racers...

Labels: Cars, Fun