Radio Free Akron: Africa (Almost) Comes to Our Living Room

Finally. Finally everything is falling into place.

We got the cars back today. Virgil's bill was right about $190, and Pedro's brakes (which were caused by a worn hole in a brake line, not problems with the installation before) were $145. Virgil's bill came with a report that his brakes were shot (which we had been suspecting for a while) and that he had a bad ball joint in the front (which we had wondered about for a while as well). To get that crap fixed, it's going to be another $500, but that will give Virgil a clean bill of health.

Yep, the income tax return is just about gone with all of this.

Now, what was disturbing about this was that, upon the receipt of financial aid this semester (back in early February) we took the Volvo down to get the oil changed and get generally checked out by Kempthorn, the Volvo dealership in Canton. Kempthorn told us that all of the systems, including brakes, belts and whatnot, were in perfect working order, contrary to our opinion of the brakes. Autobahn, without prompt, confirmed our fears about the brakes, which have been noisy for a while. They're shot. Interestingly enough, Autobahn also let us know that the oil looked like it hadn't been changed for quite a while, contrary to Kempthorn's claim.

I'm definitely going to give Kempthorn a nasty phone call tomorrow. Fuck them.

Anyway, even with all of that money going out into cars, we managed to get ourselves a couch.

Prepare yourself.

We went down to Franklin's, a pretty nice used furniture store just a few blocks away in Tallmadge. We had seen a pretty (ferociously) ugly blue couch/loveseat for $279, just cheap enough that we could afford it. It was still there, but when we walked in the door we saw this even uglier, more ferociously disgusting couch/loveseat combination. It was black and cold with 1980s faux African tribal patterns, and it was far more comfortable and it was far more comfortable (for the same price) as the crappy blue one.

Well, after checking out the Africa one (and finding out that it emitted some really nasty smoke smells) we wandered around the store and checked out some other things.

They've got a mini-fridge and microwave I would love to buy for my office. Only $58 for the pair, but...

Anyway, as we thought about this God-awful not-as-African-as-Africa-but-wishes-it-was couch/loveseat set, trying to figure out if we could extract the years of tobacco (the final consensus came to a "probably!" after calling Amy's mom), we stumbled across another set of seating which became our eventual purchase.

Okay, so it wasn't nearly as pretty as the one that we had wanted from Value City. But it wasn't nearly as hideous as the I-like-Africa-enought-to-buy-ugly-furniture-but-not-send-the-continent-money living room set. It's an old tan leather couch and chair. Yes, tan is the most bland color ever invented, and no, I don't like spending money on leather. But these things are extraordinarily comfortable, easier to clean, and they were a lot cheaper than the (ridiculously ugly... I wish I had taken a picture...) smoky African mess.

[Yes, I know it's used, but remember, by spending money on leather products even in the used market props up the market value of leather goods by increasing their perception of durability or simply demand in the used market. I ended up coming to term with it by yelling at myself (repeatedly) that I was ensuring that these cows died not to give one family a couch, but to legitimate their sacrifice a little more by making more come of it... kinda like those self-righteous brand of vegans who'll finish the leftover steak from a dining companion to ensure that the death didn't happen in vein. Right? Right?]

So, on Tuesday, we've got a new couch/loveseat coming via delivery. And Amy made negotiations with the furniture place to the point that we got the couch, loveseat, delivery and a new (or, I guess the word should be, different, though at least it's purpose-built instead of an old converted endtable elevated by books) TV table thing for $262 tax-inclusive, which was cheaper than the sale price of the original couch (even uglier and less comfortable) we had intended to purchase tonight.

And Africa will be going elsewhere, thankfully.

Amy rules. And for more than furniture negotiation, trust me.

That $17? Well, that just happened to pay (exactly) for the horribly shameful stop we made at Mariachi Loco's (the Akron metro area's version of Muncie's famous Puerto Vallarta, but with better chips and salsa) on the way back from picking up the Ped. Strangely, that happened before we ever stopped at Franklin's and figured out that we were going to sit on cow corpses for the next (at least) year-and-a-half.

It's weird how things work out sometimes.

Okay, before I quit this for tonight, I have to mention something: The Astronaut Farmer? Really, what the hell? I know I'm not a fan of fantasy (Harry Potter can suck my nuts, and The Lord of the Rings is the most overrated garbage I've ever seen), but this movie looks absolutely horrible. I mean, I guess give them credit for trying something that's somewhat creative... but is the idea factory really that decrepit?

And Toyota needs to quit running the commercials with the "you keep me running, yeah you keep me running" song.

It's annoying.

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