Aluminium sumps are expensive too

I took my car in for a routine service yesterday, and when Sarah took me back to pick it up at five o'clock, I was surprised to see my car still hoisted up in the garage. I was greeted at the desk with a friendly "You've got a big problem, mate. Come with me..."
As it turns out, years ago at some point, someone used a steel bolt to seal the aluminium oil sump, and with repeated oil changes the steel bolt has stripped away the thread on the sump. I had two options: either drill out the existing thread and glue in a replacement hole with new thread, or replace the entire sump.
Drilling out the existing thread was a less than attractive proposition, because there's no saying how long the glued-in thread would last and it would introduce metal shavings into the inside of the sump - this is the thing that holds oil for lubricating the engine; hardly someplace you want metal shavings.
So I'm replacing the sump. The guy initially quoted me around $300 or more for the sump, but after grimacing a bit I decided to go with it. Fortunately he managed to secure me a second-hand sump for $170 - much more managable.

Sarah's been driving me around while I wait for the part to come, which I'm very grateful for. She even helped me put my new computer chair together, this morning - because I realised after I got home that my tools are in the car at the garage :)

Silver Linings are Expensive

It's been expensive lately... and I haven't even gotten around to Christmas shopping yet!

My loyal Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite has finally succumbed to the evils of corrosion and one circuit of keys stopped working irreversibly. *sniff* That keyboard has been with me since my Gateway Pentium 300Mhz, and has been my favourite keyboard ever.
Sadly you just can't buy them anywhere; everything is a "multimedia pro deluxe" keyboard these days. The best I could find was a Fellowes split keyboard, which has an almost identical layout. I'm happy with it :)

Tainting my satisfaction with the keyboard though, I lost my sunglasses somewhere in Harvey Norman whilst buying it. Searching turned nothing up, and no-one's called me back to say they've been handed in.
They weren't extremely expensive - $80 - but I'd counted on them lasting several years. It's a pain having to buy new ones now, but it's an opportunity to get polarised lenses; Sarah delights in telling me how clear and colourful everything looks through her sunglasses any time we go to the beach.

And finally, whilst leaning back on my computer chair watching Seven Samurai, I was surprised to find myself tumbling off it backwards following a sharp CRACK! - The backrest had rusted and snapped away from the base.
I guess I have an excuse to buy one of the cool mesh-back chairs I've been envious of my brother having :)

Games

World of Warcraft beta has ended and the Warcraft universe has opened to the public. I played a bit during the beta, but I'm trying to resist playing the game now - I don't want to spend that much time on it; I don't want to spend that much money on it; and it's a hassle to play it on my computer, which is usually without internet access.
For now I'm quite content to watch the others play it :)

I have more than enough games to play right now anyway; I just got Half Life 2 and that's been enthralling me lately. When that's finished I have endless Neverwinter Nights content to play, Far Cry, and if I get through all that, Thief 3. It's tough gaming!