April was actually a pretty dry month relatively speaking. I think I remember hearing that we set a record for most consecutive days in April without rain. Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.
I started working as a contractor at Nike at the beginning of the month. I’ve wanted to work for Nike for a long time. They’ve been my dream local company for a while now. I really like the team that I’m on and the work that I’m doing. I’ve already taken 1 trip to the employee store and bought a whole bunch of stuff at discount. The only thing that took away a little enthusiasm is that around the time I interviewed with them, another company showed interest. I couldn’t get an answer from the other company a month ago, but they reached out again a couple of weeks ago and I formally interviewed with them this week. I would feel terrible about leaving Nike so soon, but it would be hard to pass up this opportunity.
I got my 2nd dose of the covid vaccine on April 20. Yeah, the next day was awful like I expected. I had chills, a fever, nausea. Thankfully, I felt much better the next day. I already have plans for some social activities this summer. Some friends and I are planning a cabin getaway Memorial Day Weekend. I’m so excited.
I have so many plants now. I’m sure they were happy for what rain we did get. I’m still a newbie when it comes to raising plants. A lot of what I’m doin now is experimentation.
I got talked into trading in my last week Toyota Corolla for a new car. I decided to get a 2021 Toyota Corolla hybrid. I really loved that Corolla, but I like this one better so far. I remember joking after moving to Portland and seeing so many hybrids that my next car would be one. I didn’t happen that way and all electric seems to be the way to go now, but I’m usually behind on this kind of thing.
I got a Kia Rio after my accident 2 years ago. I was pretty happy with it at the time. It was cheap, compact, and got pretty good gas mileage. Over time I became less and less happy with it. It was loud, takes too long to accelerate, and always made me nervous when I had to go up hills. Portland is a very hilly city. The noise was the main drawback. It was hard to hear people in the car with me. I was still making car payments and I didn’t think there was an easy way to get rid of my own car and get a new one. The value of the car was depreciating quickly.
I started asking about options at Nissan and Toyota dealerships over the summer. I loved my old Altima and I’ve always heard great things about Toyotas. They all promised they could work with me to buy off my old car and put me in a new car. It seemed too good to be true. I never went to any of the dealerships, mostly because it’s a hassle and also because I didn’t want to be disappointed.
In November, I made an appointment with Kia for routine maintenance on my car. A few days before they called and asked if I wanted to look at new cars while I was in there. They wanted to buy the Rio from me. I told them I would look at anything but a Rio. I saw some cars I liked, but in the end I decided I didn’t want another Kia.
A few days before Thanksgiving, I got a message from a Toyota salesman I had corresponded with about 5 months earlier saying they had good Friday deals that weekend and I should come in. So I went in on that Saturday. I drove a Camry and loved it, but the payments were going to be a little more than I liked, so I got the best Corolla they had. My only complaint was that it didn’t come with satellite radio, but I had that installed later. I’m not a car person, but I think this car is great for me. I really do love driving this car. It’s roomier, more powerful, quieter, more fuel efficient, and I think it looks cool. I don’t think I’ve taken a picture of it yet, but here’s what it looks like. The color is called slate metallic, which to me sounds pretty badass.
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