I'm three payments away from paying off the Ken Carr car. 69 payments made, three to go.
The car I drive, a 2004 Mazda RX-8, is the nicest car I've ever owned. I bought it used in 2005. I was days away from turning 40 years old and I was making enough money that the payment was easy. I made about $600 a week extra above my regular salary in appearance fees for the radio station I was on at the time. I shared an apartment with my buddy Alex and my rent was pretty inexpensive. I wanted to drive something that made me feel successful. So, I bought it.
I've learned to live cheap over the years. I don't take vacations because I can never afford them. I haven't purchased a new shirt in six months. I have one HD TV, which I bought for $99 at Target as a birthday gift for Anthony last November. The other two TV's are standard definition sets which I purchased in 2003 with winnings I got from a jackpot I won at a casino. I have never owned a house. I could go on, but you get the idea.
I've been fortunate. The longest I've ever been unemployed was eight weeks and that was in 1992. I've always found work, and always managed to survive. I've been a very lucky man.
Its been hell to pay for this car. But, it seems I've finally nearly reached the end of the loan. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to pay for the proper maintenance on it in the last year. It needs new brakes, a tuneup (there's a fuel smell when it runs, I am hoping that's all that is the problem), and the tires are shot. It seems I won't be able to do much about any of that until I finish paying for the car in November. Car repairs will be in Ken Carr's stocking this Christmas.
One of the tires is truly at its end. It won't hold air more than a day and its more bald than I am. A new one costs about $170 and I checked my ass and can't seem to pull that much out of it. So, I went to Target today to purchase a portable air pump for $35 so I can try and make it last as long as I can by airing it up each day. I only have to drive 2.2 miles each way to and from work so I'm hoping that will keep me going for a little while longer.
They're pretty neat little devices. It gets hooked up to your car lighter, and it says on the box it'll inflate a tire from completely flat to 35 psi in six minutes. It even has a built in flashlight so I can see in the dark how sad and treadless the tire is. A true wonder of modern technology.
I had to laugh when I bought it... because the manufacturer of the pump is Slime. I hope that's just a creative name for the company and not the last name of the person who started it. I'd feel sad for the family who had the last name of Slime... because kids in school can be cruel and that would cost a fortune in therapy to deal with for any children in that family.
Here's a photo of the box of the Slime Tire Inflator. And, I'm crossing my fingers and squeezing my buttcheeks for luck. Sometimes my bright ideas to temporarily solve problems work, sometimes they don't. Go Slime go!
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| "Compresor De Aire" I don't know French, but I hope it pumps some fancy French air into my leaky tire. |