My Blog Venture

I’ve been shopping at Walmart for God knows how long now. I used to shop at Target, but after comparing prices, I switched over to Walmart just to save a buck or two. I used to hear horror stories of how badly Walmart treated their employees. This was one of the main reasons why I didn’t shop there in the first place. But as time went on, I heard less and less about it. I thought maybe things had gotten better. But I guess not.

The other night, I was surprised to see a commercial on T.V. advertising a website called “Wake Up Walmart.” Visit it by going to www.wakeupwalmart.com. I went over the website very briefly. The website is basically demanding Walmart to change it’s ways or leave America. One of the big stories on the site talks about Walmart facing a gender-discrimination lawsuit. Managers telling women that they don’t belong in management. They are also denying mothers time to see their sons and daughters scheduled to be on leave from war because “their commitment is to Walmart”. There is a petition on the website written to the CEO Lee Scott that you can sign to get this going.

The website has a section about Walmart facts, pretty much all the horror stories that I heard in the past have not gone away. You can join and grow the movement. I’m not really the type that tries to make changes in our world, but I will definitely think about joining this group. But a the very least, I will start shopping at Target again. It sucks that Walmart is just around the corner from where I live and that Target is a little ways, but I will make that extra effort to go there and hopefully it will make a difference.

I really think that it sucks that so many people out there know about this stuff, but don’t really care about it. My ex-gf is the one that got me to shop at Walmart and I told her about those stories. She didn’t really give a damn, all she cared was that we’re saving money. And I’m sure that’s what most people care about too. But for those of you that do care, just visit the website and at the very least, stop shopping at Walmart. Again the address is www.wakeupwalmart.com.

After all that’s been going on lately, I actually started feeling a little better today. I just needed to get through this week and everything would be ok. I went to work happy knowing that my week was almost over and that tomorrow was my last day of my work week. It was about lunch time and I had a craving for Pho, so I ordered my usual from Pho 777 to pick up and take home to eat. I get in my car and leave for lunch. As I’m approaching the next intersection, where I would normally make a left turn, I noticed an unusually long line of cars turning left. I thought to myself maybe I should just make a left at the next street. So, I decide to go straight. But oh! The light is about to change, so I step on the gas to catch the light. I continue to drive for a little bit, but then soon realize that a cop is behind me trying to pull me over!

At this point I feel no more emotions. With everything else going on my life, I just didn’t know what to think anymore. I just pulled into the next parking lot as if this was supposed to happen. I park the car, but notice that the cop isn’t behind me for some odd reason. He was back there still pulling over another person. So I thought to myself, “Maybe it wasn’t me he was pulling over. Should I just leave?” I decided the safest thing to do was just stay put. So I waited. The driver he was talking to back there pulls up next to me. Turns out the cop was pulling both of us over! WTF!? I didn’t know cops were allowed to do that.

So, the cop explains to me that he was actually targeting the other car with his radar. But noticed I was driving along side her and I continued to drive at my speed even after the other car had slowed down. So he went after me first to get me to pull over, then stayed behind to get the other driver to pull over too. He also said that when he first saw me, it was a 35 zone…but I continued into a 25 zone. I didn’t even notice the 25 speed limit sign. (I drove that same route later and it turns out that the 35 zone turns into a 25 zone, then right back into a 35 zone, then a 25 school zone later. That street is stupid.) He said he had paced my speed at 56mph. I really don’t know how fast I was going though, but I was going with traffic, there was another car in front of me going the same speed. I wonder why the cop didn’t pull him over too!

I’m usually very careful with my speed, but I’m driving my sister’s car right now so it feels different. It’s bigger, so I don’t realize that I’m actually going faster than I think until I look at the speedometer. Another thing that I can’t help but think about is that I should have just made that left turn instead of going straight! If I had waited, I would’ve been fine. But there’s nothing I can do about it now, right? Oh well, thank God for Ticket Terminators. Now I just have to figure out a way to pay the ticket.

A friend of mine told me he’s not religious or anything, but maybe it’s a sign from God.

My response was ,”If this is God’s way of trying to tell me something, well it’s pissing me off!”

Seems like 2008 has brought nothing but misfortune. I really hope things do get better. Wishing for a better tomorrow….

Well, I gotta make this post kinda short because I am about to go meet up with my friends at the Rack. It’s some bar or something at the Topanga Mall. Well, my car is at Acura now. They haven’t told me anything yet because they haven’t even checked it out. But my friend there got me a loaner car, which I must say is a lot nicer than mine! It’s an Acura TL with navigation, xm radio and whatever else. I can keep it for the whole week until they finish up with my car. I’m in no rush. LOL. He said he’d keep me posted and call me before they start charging me for anything.

Not much for me to say about the rest of my day except my mom cooked lunch and I took a nap afterwards. I didn’t wake up until 9pm to eat dinner. Now I’m meeting up with my friends. Oh my typical Saturday. LOL well gotta go. Hope you are all having a great weekend! =)

So my car made it all the way to LA just fine. I was so scared that it wouldn’t make it, but it did. I was so scared that I just drove straight through without stopping anywhere. Took me about 3 hours and 45 minutes…lol. That’s a really long time to drive without stopping and I was getting pretty tired. I actually felt like I had to pee when I reached the 210, but I held it in. It sucked, but I made it.

When I exited the freeway, I turned off my stereo and rolled down the windows to see if I can hear anything unusual. I noticed a clanging noise whenever I accelerated. Kinda like metal hitting metal. I have no idea what that sound is, but it sounds bad. I really hope I didn’t mess up my transmission. Well, I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out what the deal is. I made sure to call up Josh at work first before leaving vegas to confirm that we are meeting tomorrow. He said 9am would be fine. Hopefully I will wake up in time for that. If you know me, I tend to sleep in late on the weekends.

Anyways, off the topic of my car now. I’m sitting here in my old room and I’m kinda bored. I called up some of my friends and they’re all doing their own thing right now. Everyone said they’ll call me later. There would be a lot of nights when I’d be bored in Vegas and I’d wish I was in LA because that’s where all my friends are. I figured we’d always have something to do. And here I am, in LA…with nothing to do. So, I’m just on my computer like I would normally be in Vegas. Kinda ironic I guess. But whatever. It’s cool. Hopefully I can meet up with someone later on tonight. But it’s already past 11pm. Kinda late to really do anything around here. We’ll see I guess.

Earlier this morning, I called up the Acura dealership that I normally go to in LA. I wanted to get a second opinion on my car problems. I wanted to speak with Josh to see what he thinks and what he can do for me. Josh has been my Service Adviser ever since I got the car. He was actually promoted to manager recently, so he doesn’t set up my service appointments anymore but he’s still there to help me out.

Anyway, to make a long story short, he said that the Acura over here in Vegas is ripping me off and I shouldn’t have to pay as much as they are asking. He said to bring it in so he can take a look at it and give me the right pricing. And if I needed it, he would get me a loaner car and everything.

So, I’ve decided to drive my car all the way to LA this weekend to get my car fixed over there. I’m pretty sure my car will make it there. I’ve been driving it all week and it hasn’t shown any signs of getting worse. It actually feels like normal. It’s like it knows I’m planning to take it to the shop and it’s scared. Kinda like a person scared to go into surgery…lol. But I want to get this problem fixed before it gets worse. So, hopefully all goes well with it. LA…here I come. =)

I went to Acura this morning to get my car problem diagnosed. After waiting 2 hours, they finally told me what was wrong. They said that my transmission needs a replacement. The estimate for parts and labor would be somewhere over $2700! If I want the clutch replaced as well, that’s an additional $800. I was really not prepared to pay that much money, so I said I would get back to them. I really don’t know what to do at this point. I really can’t afford to pay that much money.

An option I thought might be possible would be to just trade in my car for a new one. Put a down or no down and start fresh with a new car. I really don’t know how possible this is, I’m already struggling with my money. I told my mom and she said she was willing to drive up here on Friday to take care of it with me. She said I just have to find an affordable car and a good dealership to go to.

Ugh…ok so my mom actually just called me back right now telling me to just get it fixed and that she’ll split the cost with my sister. I just have to pay them back. I really thought a new car would be better so that I won’t have to worry about anymore future problems. And I won’t have to owe them anything. But she insisted that getting it fixed would be cheaper. I don’t know. I’m really not in the mood to blog right now. Sorry for such a whack blog post today. Hopefully things will get better.

My car first showed signs of something being wrong this past Sunday on my way back to Vegas from LA. I was only there for the weekend for Mother’s Day and needed to get back to work on Monday. I have a habit of leaving really late. It’s so hard to leave sometimes because I never know when I’ll be back again. Anyways, I think I officially left around 11pm. My car was perfectly fine all weekend. But as soon as I hit the 118 freeway, something went wrong with my clutch. First and second gear were fine. But when I tried for third, I could not get it into gear. I pumped the clutch hoping something would happen. I even tried skipping to Fourth and Fifth…nothing. So, I am on the freeway, slowly decreasing in speed. Then I tried rev-matching to shift it into gear with no clutch. Score…it worked. My first instinct after that was to exit the freeway. Soon as I exit the freeway, my car is perfectly fine. I scratch my head and wonder…WTF?

I continue to drive, but I call up a friend to ask him what he thinks. He tells me he thinks my clutch is wearing and that I should be fine as long I am careful when shifting. So I make it to Barstow and stop for a bathroom break at a Shell gas station. I buy a drink and some chips. Then I hop back in my car. It starts fine, but then I couldn’t get into first OR reverse! I couldn’t get the stick through the gate. Holy crap! So I call my friend back and he’s offering to pick me up. I’m like, “But then what? I can’t leave my car here.” He asks if I can get into gear when the car is shut off. So I shut off the car and put it into gear just fine. So he comes up with this great idea to put the car in gear…then start the car. I was a little scared at first to do that because what if the car jumps back or something. But I try it anyway…and holy moly it works! So weird!

I’m on my way again, back on the 15 north. My friend tells me to drive safe and just don’t make anymore stops. At this point I’m pretty stressed, so I light up a cigarette. A few miles later, I see a hell of a lot of solid brake lights. Oh geez! What now? Both lanes are blocked so we come to a complete stop. I sit there thinking this has got to be one of the worst nights of my life. I pull my hand-brake up and just wait. People start getting out of there car and walking around. I watch as firetrucks, tow-trucks, police, ambulances and whatever other emergency vehicles drive past us on the shoulder. Even a helicopter comes, patrols the area and lands on the freeway. We were stuck there for a good hour and a half to two hours. They clear a lane and finally let people through. I finally got to see what caused all this and it was the most horrifying accident I’ve ever seen. First thing I saw was a red big rig that fell a little off the side of the freeway. Looked like it did a complete 180 then fell off. After that was a small car smashed and upside down. I’m guessing they had towed all the other vehicles involved in the accident already. Here is a photo of the big rig I was able to capture on my iPhone.

I do a short little prayer for those involved in the accident and continue driving. I finally make it back to my Vegas home at 4:30am. With unpacking and getting ready for bed, I didn’t get to actually sleep until 5am. I have work at 8am…you can imagine how much of a zombie I was at work. It was awesome.

So, the symptoms on my car seem to be getting a little worse. I didn’t want to take it to the dealer because I know it would be pricey, so I asked my coworkers if they knew any good mechanics out here, but no one knew of any. After all, this is Vegas and some places can be very shady. I was going to attempt to take it back to LA this weekend and bring it to a mechanic that my friends know. But after driving my car today, I don’t think it will make it. At least I don’t want to take the chance. The last thing I want is to be stranded on the 15 freeway in the middle of nowhere.

So, I made an appointment with Findlay Acura over in Henderson I think. They said if it is a clutch change, the parts & labor will cost about $1,650! #$%!!! I know…it’s hella expensive. But I don’t really have much of a choice right now. I don’t know a trusty mechanic. I’d rather pay a lot to get the job done right by a certified Acura mechanic than to get ripped off by some shady hole-in-the-wall mechanic shop. Well, they said they will diagnose it first to see what the real problem is. Hopefully the real problem isn’t so expensive! Wish me luck. =/

I have had my own website, www.aj-ontheweb.com for a few years now. When I first created the site, I had a blog, a gallery, my portfolio and few other pages. I wanted it to be the one website where you can find out everything going on in my life. I was pretty good at keeping my blog up to date, but when I redesigned it using Joomla! I sorta stopped blogging. I think the main reason was that it didn’t have a convenient way of posting blog entries. Don’t get me wrong, Joomla! is great for content management. I still use it to post my photos and I also want to learn more on how to customize templates. Hopefully I’ll be able to use it for freelancing if I ever dive into that. I had plans for it and even purchased a domain name www.pixelmotives.com. It is nothing more than just the standard Joomla! template at the moment, but I hope to make it into something more.

So what is my point right now? I think I gave up on creating one website that holds everything I want in it and decided to split them up. That way I can put more focus into the design of each individual website instead of trying to get them all to work with one single design. I will keep my old website for my photo gallery and pixelmotives.com will hold my portfolio. That way I can design the photo gallery however I want while keeping my portfolio more professional. And then there’s my blog, my latest website: myblogventures.com.

Coming up with a website name is probably one of the hardest things to do, especially since a lot of the good ones are usually taken already. I jotted down different domain names for days. I came up with a few good ones and a few really dumb ones. But it’s a brainstorm list, so you have to put everything you think of down. My main focus for this site is to blog on it, but I couldn’t quite come up with a name that really caught my attention. Then today, while I was driving, I passed by a plaza that was named Venture. Sounds silly right? But I liked the word. I thought of different combinations with the words blog, blogger, blogging, ventures and venture. A lot of them were already taken. I added I, a, the and my. Then, to my surprise, myblogventure.com was available! I was sold.

A venture is an undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome. I don’t know what will become of this blog, but I hope it will be something great. This is my blog. This is my venture. This is my blog venture…