Still in My Room...

Well it's been a week and I'm still in my room. My principal talked to the registrar and she pointed out that we were going to have to hire a geography teacher part time next trimester and another part time health teacher since one is going to be out on maternity leave. The result being that even if they moved me over to the crappy room there wouldn't be room for the new people next trimester. The upshot is that special ed is cleaning out one of the store rooms. I'm not counting on anything, but I've got my fingers crossed that it's all over. At least for this year.

Mr. Foresberg came down and tried to help me out with my car. We started by cleaning the posts on the battery, then replacing the bad clamp. It still wouldn't start so he looked for the solenoid, and found it in a ridiculously inaccessible area. Having done so we jacked it up with the piddley little tire replacement jack and wedged a box of books under it in case the jack turned out to be as unstable as it seemed. He still couldn't get to it so we took off the wheel. By this time it was dark and he was working with a headlamp, and still it foiled him, so we put the wheel on cleaned up the tools and push started it again with the plan of me driving up to Cache Valley for a more thourough going over on the weekend.

We parked it on a hill on A street, and I left it for a couple of days. But as I was getting ready to go online and try to get a solenoid I saw the switch that doesn't allow the starter to draw if the clutch isn't depressed. I decided I was going to monkey around with that just to see before I bought the solenoid, so when I went home yesterday I walked up to the hill and did so. It started like a dream. I turned it off and started it again. I drove down around the corner, pulled to the side and shut it off, then tried to start it again. It wouldn't, so I got under the dash and played with the switch again and it started. Then I drove around some more and smoke started to come out of the hood.

That worried me so I called Mike again and told him the good and the bad. He told me to check my oil levels and add some if any had leaked. I drove the car to school this morning and there was no smoke, so I think it may be ok. At least for now. I think I'm probably just going to try to find something that permanently holds the button on that switch down. Or if I got ambitious I'll spend the $22 and buy a new one to replace it. Who knows. But if I get take out tonight it will be at a place closer to home than Curry in a Hurry.

The Fateful Day...

Friday after school my principal pulled me aside with the social studies teacher and told us that they'd tried to make it work, but one of us was going to have to move over into the worst room in the school so the special ed teacher could have my room. He avoided the issue by telling us we could decide among ourselves which one of us would move. My face immediately turned into a wooden smile. I hate this.

Later that day I went to Curry in a Hurry for some dinner, and when I came out my car wouldn't start. I was instantly panicked, but calmed down relatively quickly. I called Mr. Foresberg and he said to try to loosen the clamps on the battery posts and get some of the lead off, then I might be able to get a jump. I had no tools so I pounded on the clamp, trying to jiggle it. Finishing that, but accomplishing nothing, I asked everyone at the restaurant over the course of a half hour if they could give me a jump, but to no avail. I was a little resentful, as I started calling everyone I knew in the Salt Lake area. Two calls later I was done, and still out of luck, so I ate my curry in the car, locked up, and started walking home up State St.

After about a mile I got to a bus stop and a fellow was there waiting. I asked him if the bus was going to be along soon, and he said it must because he'd been waiting for about 45 minutes. Then he asked me if I had a phone so he could call a cab, and without even thinking about it I lied and said I didn't. I walked away, and felt instantaneously like a totally hypocritical jerk. I'd been miffed because no one could help me, and I could help this guy but I wouldn't. Then the bus came by and stopped for me, even though I wasn't at the stop. It waited for me to run up and when I got on the guy was there and he nodded. I think he told the driver I needed to get on.

The next day my home teacher called and I asked him if he could go out there and try to jump it with me. We bought some jumper cables and a new set of clamps for the battery posts. But it wouldn't jump. He called his dad and he said it was probably the solenoid. That was discouraging, but we were able to start it by compression and I got home and parked it. Mr. Foresberg is going to come down and try to help me fix it, which is super nice of him.

So I was back on my bike this morning and I got a bug in my eye. I wiped at it a lot then during lunch I wiped at it again and found the bug's carcass on my finger tip. It was weird and kind of gross.

I should get back to work...

Sitting in the Dark...

We're almost through with our second week of school. The first week was rough. I though I might be looking for a job, but I had a good talk with my principal and things look like they're probably going to turn out ok. He was very understanding, which I wasn't expecting at all.

So, now I'm sitting in the dark in the library, which I will very likely be moving out of in the next week. Faculty meeting is over, and I think I'm more or less alone in the building. I was trying to get a new version of Windows Media Player installed on the circulation computer so I could synch my mp3 player and load a couple of audio books I downloaded from the Salt Lake City Library page. But there seem to be redundant layers of protection on them and if there's a way that I can get through our system's security, and the security on the files, and get them to agree that neither one is going to shank the other in the back on the way to my ears, I can't figure it out.

I no longer have internet access at home, so I'm doing things like this after school. That means until I have a new place of my own with my own connection, posts will be scarce.

About buying a house... As I was afraid of losing my job these last two weeks, I kind of dropped off of looking, but I guess I'm on again. But as the summer has come to a close the houses coming to market are in worse shape and worse locations. I think I may have missed my window.

I never posted about it, but the house on 13th East that I liked came back on the market and I made an offer on it about a month ago. We didn't hear back on it from the selling agent by the time I had set for the end of the validity of the offer. Rich kept calling the agent but never got any reply. Eventually a week after the offer was supposed to go cold, Rich got a hold of the selling agent's office. They said the selling agent went out of town on vacation the day my offer went in, and they didn't know when he'd come back. We've never hear anything more.

I don't think selling agents actually care about selling houses in my price range. Rich says many of them won't even list them because the stakes are so low. I'm frustrated by the situation.

We did finally hear back from the selling agent on the house on 4th East. He said that I was still the highest offer even though it has gone to short sale. They think if I would pay $120,000 the sellers and the bank would go for it. That was very useful. It was a number slightly higher than the asking price I think. Even after that I'd have to replace the roof, trusses and all, and I don't like the neighborhood that much. It's about as low quality as the east side downtown gets.

I'm starting to think more and more about trying to build a house myself. Could it be any harder than trying to get someone to sell me one?