My Breakdown

Today I had a breakdown. Actually it was yesterday afternoon. No it wasn't a mental breakdown. It was my car. Before we moved out here I thought that I should get a new battery for my car. I went to Advance Auto Parts because they advertised free installation. They proceeded to tell me that my car is a "labor intensive installation," and therefore not free. Then I forgot about it until this week. On Wednesday my car had some trouble starting, so I decided that I definitely needed to get a new battery. On Thursday afternoon, I left work and tried to start my car. Nothing but clicking. Nina came to my office, and we tried to jump it. Nothing but frustration. I left it there for the night, and today Nina drove me to work. Today I was faced with the task of finding a reputable repair shop. This is probably the most impossible task in the world. What do you do? Look in the phonebook and pick the fanciest ad? Ask people and hope that your experience at a particular shop will match theirs. Throw a dart at a map? I decided to pick an ad out of the phone book. Sun Devil Auto Shop was the name. They came to my office and towed my car to their shop. It was the battery, so they replaced it. Now I am $150 poorer, but I have my car again.

This evening we drove past some houses on the south end of the city. The houses down there are all very new. The area used to be farms and wasteland until the developers got a hold of it about 10 years ago. Since then they have been building houses like mad. That area feels very residential and suburban, but it's actually only 10 minutes from downtown. The houses are all very new, they are affordable, and they have great views of South Mountain. So it might be a possibility. We are going to look at a bunch with our Realtor on Sunday.

Here is the house that we are most excited about.

Here is another house that is pretty sweet.

-Brian-