Friday, January 8, 2010

Back to School Blues

With arctic temperatures abound in the US, it is hard to get excited about going back to an even colder land. (Blacksburg tends to be 5-10 degrees cooler than Washington, D.C.)

I can't honestly say my break was relaxing, but I did accomplish some important tasks. I worked 7 shifts, possibly for the last time as a technician at the Hope Center. I visited 4 other animal hospitals and have definitively decided to do a private practice small animal internship. I worked on funding requests for my externship to China this summer. My mom came to visit from NY and meet the granddog. I did some shopping, got a little sleep (not enough). I cleaned many bathrooms and vacuumed much pet hair. I also got in a little workout time (again, not enough). Consideringmy break is shorter than the rest of the school because I am a third year vet student, it was a veyr prolific break.

The most interesting turn of events, however, was the unexpected purchase of a new car. In our original plan, we had hoped Matt's 1997 Acura would last a year or two after I finish school. Never in our wildest dreams did we prepare for my 2006 Honda Accord to have transmission failure at the tender age of 6 years 80,000 miles. It was a shocker. The next thing I knew, we were sending my NY Yankee to the used car lot and trading it in for a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid. I didn't have time to mourn, and we barely had time to triple check our decision. We knew of a minimum of $6,000 in repairs on my car alone in the next year and the x factor of additional repairs was very scary. I also was taught when the transmission goes, the car should go. C'est la vie.

The Insight is very fun to drive, easy to park, and more ecofriendly. It has many cute features, but some of the more luxury features of my old car are missing, such as the sun roof, seat warmers, steering wheel radio controls, 6 disc cd changer, powerful V6 engine...etc. I am still getting a little teary-eyed as I write this, but I was proud of our negotiation skills with the car salesman and deep down I know that everything happens for a reason.

I am very grateful I survived the trip back to DC, as apparently the car was very unsafe to drive.

Cheers to the last semester sitting in the classroom!

1 comment:

Simmons said...

So sorry your car took a dump! I have a Ford Explorer that has been through the ringer and I just can't give it up, so I know how you feel. Congrats on making it to your last lecture semester - I can't wait until I can claim the same :-) I'd say good luck, but I know you'll kick butt!