Thanksgiving Adventures

My favorite season of the year is here! That being sale season....woop woop! My holiday weekend started with a trip to Detroit to watch my Packers play. The Packers win, so I am in a great mood! Post-game we are headed back to my car, we hop it and I open the glove box to grab my parents GPS, I had borrowed and it's missing! Ah, where did it go, how did someone get in without the window being broken? Well, I soon found out someone had jimmied my driver's side door lock and stole the GPS out the glove box! From there my main question is, how did someone know it was in there? Every piece of it was completely hidden in the glove box. I'm going to attribute it to the shady parking attendants at Kentwood Academy. And to think I was helping children by parking in that lot, yeah, helping them scam me. Life lesson learned.

After that depressing event, it was back home to prep for the biggest shopping day of the year. Luckily, Best Buy had the same Garmin on-sale the next day so in addition to my Dyson, I was also in the market for a Garmin Nuvi. Awesome.

My Mom and I arrived at Kohl's at 3:30 AM, my Dad didn't feel like waking up that early. I have no idea why not?! Thank goodness, we got there so early within about a 1/2 hour of opening the entire Dyson stock was wiped clean! That fabulous low-quality picture above is my Dyson I snatched up right after opening. woop woop!

Ah My TV Died!

Tonight after eating my fabulous Friday dinner of Chinese food with my boo, we sat down to watch some TV. Typical Friday night at the Paruch household. Only to be ruined when my TV died! Now this TV was a gift of sorts, we bought it after I got my first job out of school - so I guess it could be considered a post-grad self-gift. Now, I'm no TV professional but I think it's a nice TV.

However it suddenly when rainbow-colored in vertical stripes! AH! Out of nowhere....so tragic. It also made noises that sounded like an alien attempting to talk to me through the TV. I told Ryan aliens were taking over - I still think this is true.

Anyways, thank godness I have experience with bad luck, and you know I bought the extended warranty on that TV. We called it in and someone is coming to take a look on Monday - YAY!

UPDATE: My TV is home! Thank goodness we purchased the warranty plan the motherboard or something had to be replaced...value of the part alone was $300!! The doesn't even included labor to repair the TV. Bottom line....warranties are my new best friend.

Life lesson learned

Ever do something then think shit, that was stupid? Well I do, and often, then I just chalk it up to a learning experience. This was the case with using a world phone in Antigua. Now, I have experience with world phones from my study abroad days, yes imagine life without a cell phone, then those pay phones come in handy. However, things in the Caribbean most be rigged for "rich tourists" unlike "poor students/backpackers" in Europe. I think to myself "I should call my parents and check-in" well I decide to use the world phone at the dock in Antigua. BAD IDEA.

I made a total of 3 calls - 2 of which went straight to voicemail. This week I learned how much those calls cost me. $41 + change PER CALL!!! Are you kidding me?! This was my first reaction - $120 for a 2 minute call to my parents! First step, call Chase and see what they can do....scored a contact number for this mysterious telecom company. Next, I call the telecom company and explain my situation. Fortunately for me, the representative takes pity on me and tells me since I am a first time user (NOTE: and last time user) they might be able to credit me back. I was able to get $60 back - which was nice. Still the $60 2-minute call to my parents is now my most expensive call ever......life lessons learned.....never use a world phone at a cruise ship port.

Stupid things I do

Yesterday afternoon/evening was the ultimate roller coaster day...down a bridesmaid....up a bridesmaid...dance classes are completed....quick trip to the ER....too much...too much. All after working all day.

T-minus 8 days till I get my normal life back (well, let's be honest it's more like 15 days because we'll be on vacation the week after the wedding - so def not my normal life). Side note: sorry readers, I will not be mobile blogging via Carnival Cruises...I discussed this with T-Mobile, but they wouldn't reduce their mobile fees with Carnival, even if I gave them a shout-out on my blog. I mean do they know how large the following of "Marisa Explains it All" is? Clearly not!

So how did I end up with a quick trip to the ER....bottom line...I am an idiot and I jinx myself. While prepping for the office potluck, (I placed 2nd for best dish - okay it was a 4-way tie & I voted for myself, but hey - what can a girl do) I was in search of a knife that could travel well. Low & behold, I find a knife with it's own safety cover, except the I cannot easily remove the safety cover. Here is where men come in handy, I pass it off to Ryan and say I'm afraid I'm going to cut myself (it's like I can see the future). Ryan shows me how simple it is to take out. I say let me try, I hold the safety lock in my palm and pull the knife out...and cut my palm open....major ouch. I proceed to run into the living room holding my hand very tight so I don't bleed everywhere, while my soon-to-be-husband sits on his ass, thinking I am joking! Let me be clear, I'm never the little boy who cried wolf, I am that stupid, that I would cut myself with a kitchen knife. After yelling my "f-ing hand is bleeding" Ryan realizes I am not joking and I am stupid. Due to the amount of blood we weren't sure if stitches were in order, so we made a quick trip to the Portage ER, to find out stitches weren't needed (woop, woop) only steri strips. An awesome end, to an awesome day.

Some guys have all the luck...

Most people will say, they definitely don’t have all the luck; but sometimes I will be going about my normal day and think this truly is me. It’s even more interesting when someone else calls you out on your extreme bad luck. Sometimes I think I am truly immune to my severe malchance, and just imagine a cute little French man saying “quelle malchance!”. Yesterday was my grand departure from the mitten state (home state), and I set off first to get gasoline then continue my venture home. Well, too bad the Alero decides she wants to stay in the mitten state a little while longer. After filling up her 13-gallon tank to head home she won’t start. Which is amazing because she just made it to the gas station perfectly fine. Now, as a frequent sufferer of malchance - I keep my smartphone as a trusty sidekick. After a quick phone call to the old man to inform him Alley was out of commission, I Google “Alero won’t start”. Top results: dead battery (not the case here), Passlock security issue, etc. I fell into the Passlock security issue…. which can be fixed by getting the ignition switch fixed ($$$) or patiently waiting in the “On” position 10 minutes and restarting. Now let me debate here between waiting 10 minutes or calling the nearest tow facility, waiting for them to arrive, they haul my Alley off, I'm sans a vehicle, then pay $$$ to get it repaired. Clearly, I chose the former.

My Monday starts off like a typical Monday…except…en route to the train station my ‘Service Engine Soon’ light turns & stays on…FML. Next, arrive at the train station “We are currently experiencing indefinite delays ahead”….FML. A girl just can’t win. I board my train with the car manual in tow, since I’ll have extra time today to diagnose the new problem with Alley. During my train ride this morning I came up with some potential fixes for the ‘Service Engine Soon’ light, which I’m hoping to repair instead of my local GM dealer…we shall see who wins this round my friend Alley or me...