I first attended Clatsop Community College in Astoria, OR., in the Summer of 2006. This was after finishing my Facility Maintenance certification at the Job Corps Center.
I studied for a liberal arts degree but left after my 4th semester for a trip to Europe.
I enjoyed Economics, Local Government Operations, and three semesters of World Religions.
In 2021, after many years working in a retail pharmacy, I decided to go back to school and earn my degree.
I enrolled at Vance-Granville Community College and completed the Business Administration program, graduating in December of 2024.
My coursework included HR, Accounting, Logistics, and Federal Taxes, among other subjects.
I have been able to apply much of what I learned in school to my entrepreneurly aspirations, including my eBay stores and digital products through Payhip and Amazon.
My parents would always buy coconut milk for curry dishes.
My father being British would make Indian Currys while my mother was fond of Thai curry. Coconut-fried rice was also a staple of many meals.
The fats in coconut are beneficial for health, and the pulp is a good source of fiber for digestion.
Fresh Fruits
Apples and Oranges, Bananas and Berries, Seasonal Melons and exotic fare. Fresh fruit is always kept in ready supply.
A great alternative to sugary foods and full of vitamins, you cannot go wrong with fruit. As they say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
But make sure you brush your teeth. All that natural sugar will rot your teeth if left unchecked, and will summon doctors of dentistry.
Canned Salmon
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, salmon was a staple of the region for many groups including First Nation people’s. The Chinook and Sockeye in particular played a big role in the culture and lives of the people.
I can remember school trips to Native-American museums in Washington, totem poles, and visits to the reservation in Yakima. My parents would often say, I was conceived on the Res.
Living now in North Carolina, the salmon here is predominantly Atlantic and especially pricey. Canned Alaskan salmon however is inexpensive by contrast. The cans are tall and hold a good amount of fish, enough for multiple meals.
Canned Salmon was the first food we fed our family cat, Mei Mei. She eats dry food now that she is older, but occasionally, we will give her a fishy treat from out the can.
Rice
Our grain of choice when it comes to cooking, sometimes mixed with bulgur or buckwheat. Rice pairs nicely with most dishes. Sometimes the Rice is the primary focal point of the meal as with fried-rice and rice-balls.
As mentioned earlier, Coconut-fried rice is a nice Thai dish. My mother enjoys cooking East Asian foods like Korean Bulgogi, Japanese Miso Soup, or Chinese Egg-Drop Soup. Rice often accompanies these dishes as a side and staple.
Frozen Veggies
Stir fry is probably the most common way we eat our vegetables, seconded only by tossed salads.
The pre-made stir fry mixes in the frozen foods section at the Food Lion grocery store seem to be shrinking, but we still buy them. I recall the bags were a couple pounds each back in the mid 2000s, but now they are often less than 16 ounces for the same price.
They have also begun to include sauce packets in the bag that take up space that previously help more veggies.
What we cannot get at the grocery store, we buy from local farm stands, or grow ourselves in our backyard garden. We sometimes also go to the Farmers Market.
I came across Wilton while checking prices on Zillow for houses and land. When I checked the map, Wilton didn’t show up right away, so I had to futz with the zoom to get the name to show.
About Wilton
Its an unincorporated town with a few landmarks letting you know where you are.
The local Wilton Elementary and Wilton Grill bear the towns name.
Wilton is located in Granville county which lies along the state border with VA.
Wilton High School was originally built in 1924 and remained in operation until 1962 when the larger Granville High School was built to serve the county. The high school was then converted to an elementary and has been in operation since.
There is a local Wilton EMS / Granville EMS Station 2 is in town just down the road from the elementary school.
Photo update for Wilton EMS / Granville EMS Station 2 By Hillel Dorel (Local Guide Lvl 7)
After I decided on a trip to Wilton, I saw that I would first pass through Franklinton and end near Creedmoor, so I incorporated those two stops into my itinerary.
The center of town lies at the intersection of NC-56 and NC-96.
Sitting on the north east corner is a 76 branded fuel station, and the Wilton Grill sits at the northwest corner.
On the south-west side of the crossing you’ll find Adriano’s Pizzeria, and across to the east is a Dollar General store.
76 Fuel Center in Wilton NC76 Fuel Center in Wilton NCThe Wilton GrillAdriano’s Pizzeria
Knightdale is a town in Wake County, North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, Knightdale has a population of 19,435.
The story of Knightdale starts with exploration and discovery. The community, which goes beyond today’s boundaries, has a history that dates back to the colonial era in America (Read More).
Situated about 20 miles from my home to the north, the drive to Knightdale was pleasant from my perspective, maybe not so much for the cars stuck behind me. You see, I’m something of a speed limit zealot.
With Fall in full swing there was plenty to see. While the oaks were already bare, there were several other breeds including the odd maple that were full ablaze in orange and red.
The road conditions, however, were not great. More than once I had to navigate around busted up pavement edges and potholes.
In town, train tracks ran down the center and roads ran alongside with crossings spread far apart. I initially drove around and snapped shots of local shops, then I stopped by the local Goodwill and browsed their stock.
One of my personal rules for these trips is that I don’t bring any money. I’m just their to observe and record my surroundings.
Spring Hope is a town in Nash County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,320 at the 2010 census.
It was a 32 minute drive to reach Spring Hope from my home in Franklin county. The weather was a bit chilly and the streets were nearly empty with the exception of folks walking their dogs.
The drive to the terminal was pleasantly quick despite the early morning commuter traffic. Going through the airport queues took considerably longer.
I am now sitting outside Gate D1 awaiting the pre-flight boarding announcement heading to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SeaTac).
Gate D1
Apparently something I hit at the checking kiosk meant that I was volunteering to check my one free carry on bag. Because I had a white tag on my pack, I got to go to the head of the line for boarding.
So, I am now sitting at the very back of the plane in seat 31F near the bathrooms and the staff area. We still have about 20 minutes before the flight occurs.
There is background music playing in the plane. It’s like classic elevator muzak. Not my taste, but I’ve really only listened to kpop since 2009. I’m not exactly open to new experiences.
Thankfully, flight is not a new experience. I quite enjoy flying actually. Like many children, I wanted to be an astronaut. Plane rides are about as close as I can get to space.
I went in to my local Nissan dealership to get two tires replaced.
Local dealership
On a previous visit the staff had noted a nail in the front tire near the sidewall. This had caused a slow leak and set off the sensors in the car.
Unfortunately, the nail was quite likely already present when I purchased the vehicle. I recall having the same message appear on the dashboard and inflating the tires soon after.
My visit to the dealership took much longer than I expected, although, I had not been given an estimate on how long it would actually take to swap my back tires to the front and install the two new tires on the back.
I arrived early, at 1:30 pm, by about an hour and did not leave until sometime after 4 pm.
During the wait a women sitting next to me recounted a harrowing experience with this particular Nissan Dealership.
I was quite unsettled after hearing her story. I don’t know If I will go back there. I have other options as there are many mechanics available in my area.
I do like the idea of getting my work done at an official location. I also enjoy using the My Nissan Rewards program.
I have a copy here of my message to the dealership:
Hello Katie,
Cole was not on duty when I brought my vehicle in for my service appointment. Although, he did handle the checkout process after the work had been completed.
A different employee assisted me, I do not recall his name. I had not been given an estimate on the amount of time it would take to complete the tire replacement. I arrived at 1:30 pm and left around 4:25 pm.
For a portion of the wait, I sat at the large windows and viewed my vehicle being lifted, lowered, moved, and relifted repeatedly. I observed the employee working on my car taking multiple breaks during the operation.
I also had a chance to speak with other customers while at the facility and heard from them some rather unsettling reports of misconduct by your staff and sales people.
Your facility is conveniently located near my home and I do like the idea of receiving services from Nissan.
However, I am now concerned whether I can trust your staff to be ethical in their work.
I will likely need to discuss this matter with other people to get a better understanding of the experience.
Afterwards, I can make a clear and informed decision.
Sincerely,
Daniel K. Arthur
I was responding to a text message and ended up being more verbose than is typical of texting as a medium of communication. But I do think I got out what I needed to say.
I plan on asking around on Facebook and Reddit to get an idea of other people’s experiences at this particular dealership.
Whether I go back in the future depends on the answers I receive.
What ended up happening was I found a somewhat local dealership that had a Nissan LEAF SV Plus available and it only had 17k miles on it. For $15,998 I felt it was a good deal. After the regular fees, I was quoted $17,422.19 and a separate charge for delivery of $149 (75mi).
Last week, we went to the dealership to take the car for a test drive. It was a long trip and it was my mother’s birthday, so we stopped at the H-Mart in Cary to procure some choice pastries and on the way home we swung by the Red Robin for her free birthday burger and the Starbucks for her free birthday coffee. Plenty of sweet freebies including a cake from the Publix grocery store.
The car took some getting used to but I found the drive very smooth. The only issue was a loud buzzing sound, however, I found it to be a bug stuck in my dreadlocks. Some weird cross between a moth and a carpenter bee I’d say. It managed to free itself while I was pulled to the side of the road searching Google for “buzzing sounds” and the Nissan Leaf.
Cutting ahead now to the present, I have scheduled delivery and I am expecting a cashier’s check ($10k) in the mail for my down payment. I will be financing the remainder of the balance ($7422). I’ve got another check for $4,000 coming soon and then I can probably put the rest on my US Bank Altitude card which has a 0% promotion running.
The next hurdle was getting a “binder” from the insurance company. I initially spoke to the insurer for the house and my relatives’ vehicles but was told I was too old to be on their policy without being a joint owner.
I was directed to start my own policy, however, the quote was $533 per month which was too much given my small income. I tried Progressive, but their website was down, I called the General and was quoted $1,538 per month.
Finally, I used a generic website which led to a phone call with an insurance agent from Direct Auto Insurance. This ended up being the ticket. I received a quote of $224 per month, which is still a bit much, but better than the others.
The binder was handled smoothly and I should have the details sent over to the credit union that will handle the financing and the lien. I’ll have a few more calls to make tomorrow with the dealership and possibly the insurance agent, but otherwise, I think I am pretty much set.
At some point down the road, I want to get a custom license plate with my name on it. That’ll cost $33 with fees. I also want a DashCam, I have been looking at the Vantrue Element 1 for $71 on Amazon. I may make a post about that later.
I got some helpful input from my relatives on which cars they had good opinions of. After reviewing my options I have finally settled on the 2020 Chevy Bolt EV.
The Bolt gets 259 miles of range with a 66kWh battery. It has all the technology I am looking for with Android Auto, a nice console screen, a backup camera, and safety features.
2020 Chevy Bolt EV
I found a nice dealership in Virginia that will be able to deliver the vehicle to me for $300. There are processing fees of $699 plus the cost of the vehicle itself, which is $16,000. The EV Tax credit will help a bit next year.
I have $11.5k in the bank and I have a one-year, 0% Balance Transfer offer on my US Bank Altitude GO card. I can probably get another 4-5k from that card without pushing the minimum payments too high.
My limit is 9k for that card and the BT fee would be about $199 for a $4,000 transfer. I am also getting 3k from my father as an early graduation gift.
So that should be about $18.5k available to cover the cost of the purchase plus registration fees. I will also need to get the car added to the household insurance policy. I was added to the policy earlier this year as a requirement to take the NC driving test.
I had dithered some time on getting a Kia Niro PHEV which has excellent mileage. The main problem I ran into with the Niro’s was that most were priced at 20k+ and often had 60-100k miles on them. I didn’t want to get something that was nearing the end of its life (or midlife).
2019 Kia Niro PHEV
I will be losing the larger trunk space that the Niro (19.4 ft³) has to offer if I go with the Bolt (16.9 ft³), but I think that is an acceptable trade-off if I can get a vehicle with 20-30k miles on it instead.
Another car I was looking at was the Nissan LEAF. The dealership only had the SV model (40kWh) available and I really wanted a Plus model which has a larger 62kWh battery. The trunk in the LEAF is much bigger (23.6 ft), this is despite having the wheel wells constricting the space.
2019 Nissan LEAF (SV)
So for now I am just getting my funds together to make the purchase. If a LEAF Plus shows up before I make the call, then I may switch to that vehicle instead. Otherwise, I expect to be driving sometime in May.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate your taking the time to be here. If you have any questions or comments for me, be sure to leave them below, and have a great day!
Fat Wallet Refugee 