Rainy Days Are Here and I Don't Mean The Weather

Rainy Day Fund

          You all know the phrase "save for a rainy day"? It's something that I practice almost religiously. Along with the unemployment checks for 6 months, it was reassuring that I had saved for a rainy day.

          Since I finally got gainfully employed 3 months ago, there seems to be more rainy days occurring in my life. First was the plumbing problem I had where a new garbage disposal system had to be installed because the old one was corroded. This happened just right after I got my first paycheck.

          Next came the car repair which involved brake pads and rotors replacement, plus a new battery because the old one had 10% charge left. The front brakes had been a problem for several years and I had been putting it off. I had been avoiding driving on the freeway because sudden or hard braking from full speed made the front wheels shake violently feeling like the wheels were going to fall off.

          Then just as winter started, my wall furnace went on the fritz. For the past 22 years, I've been able to relight the pilot on my own by following the manufacturer's instructions. This time the pilot light won't stay lit despite several tries. I called the Long Beach Gas Department and they sent a technician to check it out and he said that there was a problem with the electrical system. So I had to call a heating company whose technician first diagnosed a thermocouple problem. So he replaced that but the heater still didn't work. That could only mean one thing: the price of repairing the heater would get steeper.

         Sure enough, he had a second diagnosis and this involved the generator. He explained to me how the gas, the pilot light, and the electrical system worked. I asked him if he was sure that if replaced the generator, the heater would start working. He said "well, there are really only two parts of this particular heater: the thermocouple that I replaced and the generator". So I asked him for a price quote and again, sure enough, the price more than doubled. Well what choice do I have other than freeze in the wintertime. Unlike the movie Frozen when one of the characters sang "the cold never bothered me anyway", I prefer to keep myself warm because cold bothers me. I had to take a nap before work, so I asked the technician to come back the next day.

          So there you are. Three major rainy days in the past three months of full time employment. The timing couldn't get any better because at least I now have the income to use as an umbrella for the unexpected precipitations. Thank GOD! Oh boy, living in the United States sure is expensive! Too bad my rainy days isn't helping the drought in California.

Update: November 22, 2014 - Well my old Asus Transformer TFT 101 is on its last legs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The thing I like about this device is the 16 hour battery life when attached to the keyboard and nothing comes close to it at a reasonable price in the market nowadays. Time for another rainy day expense to replace it?