George Bu$h might have been right...

to my chagrin. I called my bank's information number to listen to my bank balance. I knew I had money because it was pay day, and thanks to four months of insisting I get a 1 year review at my job, I earned a slight raise that equals to about $30 extra in each bi-monthly paycheck. Yay. Now I can afford gasoline. I dialed in my account data and actually heard an amount I wasn't read for. After more investigation, my research found that I had received my economic stiumulus payment! It's not a myth; they do exist. Thank God for those very low last two digits of my SSN; I wish patience to those of y'all whose SSN ends in 90+.

That $600 couldn't have come at a better time. I had just made an "appointment" with a good friend of my brother, NOPI. Thanks to my brother's natural male inclination to love everything about cars and his love of all things customized Honda, he's made an interesting array of friends including The Asianphile (AP). He's a lover of all things Asian considering he's a black man with a whole lot of Asian friends, he lives with two Cambodians, and he can even claim Cambodian heritage. AP introduced got me to go to that Chrimmah party I blogged about last year: http://sunshynelyfe.blogspot.com/2007/12/shredded-papaya-who-hell-knew-that.html

Plus, AP happens to be a very nice, honest, trustworthy, and hilarious mechanic with an affinity for Hondas and Acuras. Our appointement was set for yesterday just to get the valves on my engine readjusted because they were making too much noise. We decided to hook up at my parents' house where NOPI is currently residing. NOPI won't be with them forever because he has a fiancee and new baby. There's no date yet, but you best believe my Mom and Dad aren't moving a new family under their roof.

So what does that jackass D.ubya have to with this weekend? Because I had that $600, I was more willing to spend money on my car. I gave AP the set amount of money for working on my car at my location of choice, and we did all kinds of maintenance on my 201K+ mile Accord. It sounds a lot better, and I can tell that the minor tune-up made a difference in performance. If things go as I plan, my car will stick around for another 100K miles, minimum.

I'm satisfied with the current status of my car; therefore, I feel no fear in rolling out. I'll be on the road spending money in other cities. Even AP has extra money in his pocket thanks to the economic stimulus payment. He'll get more money soon because I want to get some more maintenance done on my car that has never been named. I shudder to think D.ubya might have been halfway right about anything.

Besides that, the weekend has been excellent so far, and it's not even over. Hubby and I are going to the Atlanta Cyclorama, which is basically a circular artistic depiction of the Civil War. Someone suggested he should see it because it''s a great Atlanta landmark. My mind leads me to wander if we'll be the only black people for miles..., but I'll go anyway. It's another Atlanta landmark I haven't been to yet, but at least hubby is willing to go out somewhere.