How I Spent The Seventh Week Of The Rest Of My Life

So now that I'm officially moving to Washington D.C., I have to figure out what I need to do before I leave Chicago.  Some things are obvious (and fun).  For example, I need to use all of my Groupons.  Some things are going to suck, like getting rid of my stuff.  And, of course, I should start applying full force for jobs inside the beltway.  But other things are more up in the air.

The one that I've been trying to figure out especially is how I'm going to get to Washington D.C.  Obviously it's going to be ground transportation since I have to transport my belongings (the ones I don't give away).  I can rent a U-Haul.  But pricing that, it's $665.00 if I don't drop it off back in Chicago.  I can rent a car, but that's even more cost prohibitive.  So it actually looks like I need to buy a car to drive there (since I need one when I get there for sure).  Which was, kind of, what I wanted to do anyhow.

These are what I'm looking for in a used car:

• Somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500.  With my tax return, I can probably go up to $3,500, but that would cut into my savings.  If I can get financing without a job, I can probably go to $5,000 or $6,000.
• A car that will make it to Washington D.C. (possibly by way of Detroit and New York City) and then work for driving back and forth to the VRE for a while.
• Something that I'm not going to feel weird driving around in.  No weird 25-year old Cadillacs or something.  Though I have no problem with driving something from the early 2000s.

Does this car exist?  I'm about to find out I guess.

Now, needing to buy a car hasn't stopped me from living.  Probably a little too well.  I'm kind of scared to figure this out, but...

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15 ($6.00)

• 2:42 p.m. Chutney Joe's - $2.00.  Used my second Groupon a few days before it expired.  This time I ordered off of the Urban Masala menu.  The BombayRrito was simply brilliant and makes me want to go back.  But I don't think I want to pay full price.
• 8:26 p.m. Duke's Hideaway - $4.00.  This was the first of many birthdays of the week.  I managed to limit myself to one drink.  It helped that I got there really late.  I didn't mean to, but I was writing a blog entry.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 ($9.00)

• 5:28 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  Even though I had all day to get to the gym when it was empty, I lounged around all day instead.  My "reward" for doing so was that the gym was packed.
• 7:55 p.m. Logan Theater - $9.00.  It was a huge waste of money to go to an earlier show and eat popcorn when I had dinner at home.  I watched From Prada To Nada.  It wasn't a bad movie, it just didn't know if it wanted to be an indie film or a mainstream ethnic piece.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 ($24.38)

• 12:36 p.m. Pierogi Heaven - $7.38.  Since it was a free day at the Field Museum, I wanted to go downtown and try this place again.  They've added a 9-piece to their 6 and 12 pieces.  But it's still really expensive.  But as good as anything in Avondale.
• 1:39 p.m. Field Museum - $7.00.  The museum was free but I decided to pay for the 3D movie on digging out Sue before it ended.  It wasn't particularly worth it, but I'm glad I did.  Just like the Museum of Science and Industry, I probably need to come back a second time.  They have one more free day before I move.
• 8:09 p.m. Rocking Horse - $7.00.  My road to becoming an alcoholic continued as I broke 48 hours of sobriety to hang out with the boys.
• 11:14 p.m. Streetside Bar & Grill - $3.00.  I was, shockingly, undecided on which candidate for Alderman I was voting for.  So I posted a thread on Yelp to see if any other Logan Square types had any opinions.  They didn't.  But someone posted that the incumbent Alderman, Rey Colon, was spinning at his own campaign party.  I couldn't miss that.  He spun some old school R&B.  It was kind of amazing.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18 ($16.55)

• 2:31 p.m. Noodles & Company - $5.55.  I had been craving buttered noodles for a long time.  The cashier said they were out of the right kind of noodles.  Thankfully, she was wrong.  My craving was satisfied.
• 3:39 p.m. 2011 Chicago Auto Show - $11.00.  Since I hadn't planned on going to the show, I didn't buy a Groupon.  And since I hadn't bought any cans of food in a while, I didn't have four to get a discount.  At full price, I was not very impressed with the show.  There was not nearly enough swag.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19 ($33.38)

• 3:47 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  On another weekend day, I did another crappy job of getting to the gym early.  This was especially problematic since I had errands that I needed to run.
• 6:41 p.m. Food & Liquor Express - $5.38.  It was a good thing that I was running early to dinner since I completely forgot the B for a BYOB.  Thankfully, this place was close and sold beer.
• 7:11 p.m. The Restaurant Sarajevo - $28.00.  While I kind of wanted to see Motorhead, but I couldn't pass up a famous family style dinner at this Bosnian Restaurant.  It was entirely worth it.  There was so much food thrown at us (including a crepe made at the table) that I forgot Motorhead was playing.
• 10:56 p.m. Christina's Place - Free.  The Guinness is $2.00, but I was so far gone from the B of the BYOB at the prior place that I only took a freebie offered me and didn't even buy any beer.  I did since a bit of karaoke though.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20 ($128.55)

• 11:31 a.m. Takashi - $20.00.  When I scheduled a brunch for this day, I didn't realize how hung over I'd actually be.  I kind of wanted my brunch buddy to cancel, but I'm glad he didn't.  The ramen that they serve here has magical healing powers.
• 1:16 p.m. Borders - Free.  Since I was already near North Avenue, I went to the crappy Border.  It was less sad as well since I never much liked that one anyway.  The books were only 20% off at this point, so I didn't buy any.
• 4:49 p.m. Target - $100.19.  Somehow, the price for my happy pills doubled in the time since I got my doctor to switch me over from extended release to fast acting.  That was kind of annoying.
• 5:08 p.m. Chipotle Mexican Grill - $8.36.  If I could afford one burrito every day from this fast food place, I might not even need to be on happy pills in the first place.  But the prescription remedy is still cheaper.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (Free)

So that's $217.86.  Without the pills, that's barely over $100.00.  Not nearly as bad as I pictured it in my mind.  But I expected it to be less since the pills were supposed to be $60.00 less than they were.  Stupid insurance.  Well, I guess adding car insurance will make it even more expensive.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll pawn my television before I go or something.  It will be one less thing to move.  My total money spent while I've been unemployed is $1054.42.