I got a “newish” car on April 13th (my Toyota Corolla was due for retirement), and only 3 days later I had to bring it back to Carmax because the engine light went on. When John went to pick it up, he noticed something was wrong and left it there. The Carmax people took it to the Ford dealer to have it inspected by “certified” mechanics (whatevs!), and I only got it back yesterday.

So today I went to work in the morning and the car was working fine, but when I went out for lunch, it started acting up again. I took it to Carmax, told them what was going on, and they told me they were going to give me a loaner. I waited for about 10 minutes, and then one of the guys came to tell me my loaner car was ready. He said “It’s a Nissan Altima, a cousin of the Infinity.” and I was thinking “Dude, he can be Mercedes’ brother, I don’t give a rat’s ass, just get my car fixed.” — I’ll make sure I open my mouth and complain my husband’s awesome style next time… LOL

I brought the Altima home, and 20 miles later I realized I was on over-drive… Ha ha ha! Oh well, now I can really say that Nissan drives quite nicely. But it isn’t my car. I really hope they do something about it, or well… I’ll get my money back.

There is an episode of “Friends” where Rachel tries to mingle with her new boss and assistant at all costs. They both smoke, so Rachel puts up with the fact that she doesn’t, and gets into the habit just so she won’t feel left out. They are talking about work during smoke-breaks, and she doesn’t want to miss a thing. I thought about this episode recently.

Most of my work team-mates are smokers, and they go religiously out at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to get their nicotine fix in the back of the building. The non-smokers? We go potty, get coffee, check personal e-mails, etc. But yesterday I had to work, and my co-workers went out for a break and told me to go with them so I wouldn’t stay alone.

Do you know how difficult it is for an ex-smoker to be offered a cigarette and say no? VERY! At least it is for me. Sometimes, when I’m in a bar with people smoking around me, I think I’m going to go crazy. I can say cigarette smoke bothers me most of the time, but there are times when I really want one. Of course I just say NO to myself and forget about it. But it was hard yesterday, and I could’ve just accepted one, but who would I be cheating on but myself, right?