Sledgstone

Good luck with your car Strider. I used to do all my own car maintenance, but this toyota has been so damn good the last 7 years I've only had to get the front brakes done once.

Normally I'd agree that the dealerships are rip offs, most of the time they are. But this toyota dealership I go to has been very reliable. The only thing that really seems marked up is the labor. I used to do all my own brake jobs, I'd buy high quality pads for $30+ and rotors for $30 a piece. So for about $100 I'd do my own front brakes, but I'd have to do them at least once every 2 1/2 years because of the amount of driving I was doing at the time. But after putting on a crap load of miles on my corolla and having the front brakes last roughly 4 years, I decided to pay the extra cash for the OEM brake pads and rotors since they last twice as long as the aftermarket ones. The price for those in parts was a bit over double, $230. I was having some health issues and since it was winter (I have no garage), I had the dealership do the work. Ended up charging me $160 in labor. $500 for a brake job seems pretty steep to me compared to getting it done somewhere else for $200, but the parts are double the life span (at least they are for toyota, never seemed to be the case with any GM vehicle I ever owned). This ECU unit is going to cost me $600 for the part. I could save $500 buying a used one, but I'm hesitant because it could have some issue as well. But for the full $1k they quoted me, that also includes replacing the thermostat ($75 part). Roughly $325 in labor total for both parts. I could probably get the bill knocked down to $500 going to another mechanic and getting a used ECU, but I'm also planning on making multiple 18 hour round trips to ohio over the next couple years. x_x If I was just driving around locally I'd probably go with the cheaper option, but it feels like I'd be better off with the more expensive route for the peace of mind.

After getting screwed around with for the last 2 weeks with the dealership not getting the part in, my car has finally been fixed. They did have to replace the ECU and the thermostat. I need to do some more test driving to make sure the car truely isn't overheating anymore. So far so good tho. The car is running smoother, quieter and idles better at least. I called up a couple places to get quotes last week. 2 places wouldn't do the ECU and told me I'd have to go to the dealership but Firestone would. They quoted me $860 before tax for the entire job. x_x Not much savings over the dealership. In the end it costed me $1100 with tax for the ECU, thermostat, oil change and labor at the dealership. I went with them in the end since it comes with a full 1 year parts and labor warranty. If I have anymore issues with these 2 parts they'll replace them again free of charge for the first year. They also gave me a free rental car for the last 3 days while they waited on the ECU to get delivered to them. This crap was costly as hell, but at least I wont have another car payment. I hope thats the end of my car issues for a while. *crosses fingers*

2 days after my last post about this issue my car's check engine light came back on. Long story short, I bitched to the dealership and my car has been there for the last week. Probably because of the cost of the repair work and the fact that they don't want negative reviews online I have had a free rental car for the last 8 days while they trouble shooted the problem with my car. Turns out they put the wrong thermostat in my car because for some reason there are 3 different versions for my vehicle type depending on where the car was manufactured or some crap. They apparently didn't get the right thermostat shipped to them even tho they re-ordered the same one they previously replaced 8 months ago. Then that thermostat also failed which caused them to realize the coolant temp sensor was also malfunctioning by being off by over 15 degrees. They then replaced the temp sensor and the thermostat again and now the car is running fine. I picked it up today. Finally. x_x They didn't charge me for the rental, or the temp sensor or the extra thermostats. They even gave me a $50 credit because the thermostat replacement should have been covered by their warranty to begin with. The ECU was failing and did need to be replaced since it wasn't sending the signal to the radiator fan to begin with either. After picking up my car and driving it home today, it feels like I'm driving a new car again. It idles alot smoother now at stop signs and while parked. Hopefully this is completely fixed now. *knocks on wood*

The guy at the dealership jokingly said if I end up having to call him back because of this issue again he'll quit his job. He also said the head mechanic never wants to see my car again if at all possible.

Pretty grim comparison X_X. I don't know if I'll watch this or not. I see everyone talking about it, but I've heard and read enough of these stories, I don't feel the need to watch ti portrayed on film. I remember all those PSA shorts back in the 80s, perticularly one about playing with firearms, where a kid shoots his brother in the head after finding their dad's gun and playing with it like a toy.

Depression is an interesting complication, because its a fairly new diagnosed disease. I'm sure its always existed, but not at the levels it does in today's society. Part of it is the meds big pharam likes to pump into us, another part is the bullshit they pump into our food, and another part of it is just how our society acts now. We're so digitized, no one really knows how to communicate in person anymore. I was out for my Sister's b-day last weekend and observed a prom couple that stayed on their phones when they weren't shoving food in their mouth. They didn't seem to ever hold a conversation. People need human interaction, but its easier when you're behind a keyboard. Toys, and imagination have been replaced by a tablet... thats gotta nerf the brain's cognitive development somehow.

I still recommend watching the series because of how they portrayed the the people that wronged her. The majority of those 13 people had no idea their actions directly contributed to her decision to commit suicide until they heard the tapes and understood. And that portrayal of how these individuals came to understand what they did is a great part of the show. Something else occurs thats not stated outright, but it reinforces something I read and heard psychiatrist's talk about in shows.. many people who commit suicide don't discuss the fact that they are going to do it. The ones that do usually want to be talked down from that ledge.

Too many people think they have depression when they're really just extremely sad for a period of time. Doctors might misdiagnose it as depression to (I honestly don't think the diagnosis should be called depression since its a common term for being sad). But full on depression is something that, once set in place, will last for years or end in suicide. In some people its purely an emotional issue but in others its a physical issue. Some doctors don't want to do a proper diagnosis and they just throw anti-depression meds at their patients and assume they'll get over it. In the case of 13 reasons why, its a full emotional breakdown that causes her depression. In some parts of the show I felt that it was a little cliche, like how much drama can one teenager keep getting involved in? But it was a perfect storm scenario. All the things that could happen to keep pushing her off that ledge continued happening like a domino effect.

I agree about the human interaction. Some people can compensate for their illnesses or disabilities by having access to a digital means of communicating with other humans, but the majority of people that have nothing holding them back really need to put the damn phone or tablet down and talk with people. I've seen way too many kids with their faces stuck to a phone playing short attention span games with limited play times. I swear that smart phone games are teaching an entire generation to be ADHD.