Tag: toyota camry

  • Need a mechanic

    Wow, our car took a rapid turn for the worse. I don’t know exactly what happened but I do know the engine is making a horrible knocking sound. It started yesterday on the way to work. And today on the way home it got really, really loud.

    Websites I know. Bible stuff I know. Cars? Forget it.

    I need a mechanic and being new in town I don’t even know where to start. Adventure time!

    UPDATE: After comparing the loud sounds my engine is making to some stuff on YouTube, I think the operative word is “the engine is blown.” So I’m grabbing a rental car until we can get some estimates for a repair… or if it’s just wiser to scrap this car and get a different used car. I’m trying to focus on the good here… it didn’t happen to Kristen while I was gone. It didn’t do anything dangerous. (Still runs! I drove it home from work.) And it didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere when I was driving Megan and Stoney across the country. See, lots of good news amidst something really inconvenient.

  • Car for sale

    I was just thinking about this… I’ve never sold a car. The cars I drove before we got married I just gave away. And we’ve had this car since 1998… so this is a first for me. 

    But the car is officially listed on Craigslist. Check it out. 

    In the last couple of days we did a lot of little things to get the car ready to sell. We obviously cleaned it out and washed it. But I also got fresh tires, had the AC charged, got an oil change, and Kristen even shampooed the carpets. 

    It’s weird to have to sell and give away most of your stuff. But as my friend Gerrard is teaching at his church… simplicity really is a spiritual discipline. We’re learning let go of our stuff.

  • I got lost at the mall

    Want to know something weird about me? I can remember phone numbers. I can remember the names of my 1st grade classmates and some of their phone numbers. I can remember 10,000 details about New Testament history so I can spew them off to an unsuspecting conversant. I can remember a few hundred YMX screen names, where they live, and their real first name.

    But I can’t remember where I have parked, ever.

    I got turned around tonight at Lakeside Mall.  I was even careful to note where I had parked, what store I was in front of and once I got in that store which direction I needed to head to find my car. It turns out none of that helps. I walked out the door, headed towards where I parked the car. And it wasn’t there. And since no one is out looking to steal a 1998 Camry… I knew it wasn’t stolen. I walked around. Looked around. Walked down more aisles.

    It turns out that Lakeside Mall has two Macy’s. Who has ever heard of a mall with two Macy’s? [Shout out to AB! I pulled an Autumn.]

    The good news was that I got what I needed from Steve and Barry’s. Fortunately for me, it was my first trip to the mall since Christmas 2006.