I <3 my mechanics
I owe my mechanics donuts once again. This time, it's not for the war wagon.
Three days ago, baby car didn't want to start. Granted, it was cold, I didn't much want to start that morning, either. Finally got her up.. and locked my keys inside while scraping off the ice (which, that's really operator error, but I'll still complain about it...)
Friday, she got up with no trouble, but the inside lights were a little dim. Every time I drove it Friday, the lights seemed dimmer every time I got in and brighter every time I got out. After work Friday, the lights were practically non-existant. I tried to drive to the mechanics' before they closed, but missed them by 18 minutes.
Saturday, I opened the car.. no light. Not so good. Somehow, and I think it must have car-ESP and have gotten the 'you know, Zeedrippy just traded in a ten-year car and you're, what now, 14?' vibe, and...
omg, baby car is 14... no wonde it's acting up! It's those rough 'teen years' Damn.
Anyhow, baby car decided it better start. Called the mechanics as she was warming up, and they suggested I stop in at 2pm instead of 9am, so I drove the car around until I deemed it a sufficient amount of time to have charged the battery enough to start again later.
Went out to get baby car just before 2, and the lot was being plowed, so I moved war wagon (who started right away, as if taunting baby car) and then set out with baby car. Upon arriving and having the battery tested, they told me that the battery was still reading good, but that the cold crank for it was probably low and that's what was making it unhappy, besides which, the battery itself was old.. only the second one that's ever been in that car, because I do recall when we put that one in, we pulled out the original manufacturer battery. So this time instead of cheap battery, got the mega super 8-year sucker and just dare the car not to start.
Then, of course, there's that whole 'we checked the rest of the car' speech... the one everyone dreads.
mech: Your car is running loud.
me: Yeah...
mech: Really loud.
me: Yeah.
mech: REALLY loud.
me: *inner voice: how much is this going to cost me?* It's the catalytic converter and all the stuff attached to it, right? There's a hole in the flange or something and it's all soldered together so the whole thing has to be replaced because you can't just replace one section.
mech: ...yeah.
me: Yeah, the other guy told me last time. I'm going to have that done in March after I go for emissions. It won't pass, I'll fix that, and then if it passes, great, and if not, I can get a waiver for it.
mech: Oh, good idea. Do you want me to put a gasket on it for the time being?
me: Er...
mech: Cost about twenty bucks. Then you won't have the noise. Probably last about three months or so.
So, yeah, instead of having a car that sounded like it was at the Indy raceway (and NOT in a good way) all the time, now I have a quiet(er) car again. No more having to crank up the radio to drown out the noise of the car.
In other news, used the rest of my gift certificate from Christmas to pick up sims 2 pets and open for business. I knew I wanted some expansions, but I wanted to look at all the different ones before I just bought them at random. Also, picked up Jacob's birthday present (he's going to be 21 in February... talk about time flying... seems like just yesterday I was sitting on a carpet in my 2nd grade class being quizzed by the teacher after Grandpa walked TJ and I to school and flirted with the crossing guard...)
Mrs. Z: Jennifer has some special news to share with us this morning.
me: Huh?
Mrs. Z: Your father called to let the school know that you have a special new family member.
me: ... *blink blink* Oh! Yeah... mom had a baby this morning. But they've been with us for almost a year, living in my mom's tummy, so it's not really new.
...guess that explains how all the kids were coming to me for teh babeh infoz...
Funny, come to think of it, I remember the day that TJ was born (I was at Grandma and Grandpa's eating cereal on the floor in front of the TV, something I was NEVER allowed to do at home, watching Romper Room), and the morning Jacob was born, coming downstairs to find Grandma and Grandpa there instead of mom and dad (Grandma packed AWESOME lunches that day... she always put cans of soda in lunch instead of money for milk... totally loved her packing lunches), but no recollection of Maggie at all...
....maybe they did bring her home in a Sentry bag... *snickers* Ah, but that's a story for another time...
Three days ago, baby car didn't want to start. Granted, it was cold, I didn't much want to start that morning, either. Finally got her up.. and locked my keys inside while scraping off the ice (which, that's really operator error, but I'll still complain about it...)
Friday, she got up with no trouble, but the inside lights were a little dim. Every time I drove it Friday, the lights seemed dimmer every time I got in and brighter every time I got out. After work Friday, the lights were practically non-existant. I tried to drive to the mechanics' before they closed, but missed them by 18 minutes.
Saturday, I opened the car.. no light. Not so good. Somehow, and I think it must have car-ESP and have gotten the 'you know, Zeedrippy just traded in a ten-year car and you're, what now, 14?' vibe, and...
omg, baby car is 14... no wonde it's acting up! It's those rough 'teen years' Damn.
Anyhow, baby car decided it better start. Called the mechanics as she was warming up, and they suggested I stop in at 2pm instead of 9am, so I drove the car around until I deemed it a sufficient amount of time to have charged the battery enough to start again later.
Went out to get baby car just before 2, and the lot was being plowed, so I moved war wagon (who started right away, as if taunting baby car) and then set out with baby car. Upon arriving and having the battery tested, they told me that the battery was still reading good, but that the cold crank for it was probably low and that's what was making it unhappy, besides which, the battery itself was old.. only the second one that's ever been in that car, because I do recall when we put that one in, we pulled out the original manufacturer battery. So this time instead of cheap battery, got the mega super 8-year sucker and just dare the car not to start.
Then, of course, there's that whole 'we checked the rest of the car' speech... the one everyone dreads.
mech: Your car is running loud.
me: Yeah...
mech: Really loud.
me: Yeah.
mech: REALLY loud.
me: *inner voice: how much is this going to cost me?* It's the catalytic converter and all the stuff attached to it, right? There's a hole in the flange or something and it's all soldered together so the whole thing has to be replaced because you can't just replace one section.
mech: ...yeah.
me: Yeah, the other guy told me last time. I'm going to have that done in March after I go for emissions. It won't pass, I'll fix that, and then if it passes, great, and if not, I can get a waiver for it.
mech: Oh, good idea. Do you want me to put a gasket on it for the time being?
me: Er...
mech: Cost about twenty bucks. Then you won't have the noise. Probably last about three months or so.
So, yeah, instead of having a car that sounded like it was at the Indy raceway (and NOT in a good way) all the time, now I have a quiet(er) car again. No more having to crank up the radio to drown out the noise of the car.
In other news, used the rest of my gift certificate from Christmas to pick up sims 2 pets and open for business. I knew I wanted some expansions, but I wanted to look at all the different ones before I just bought them at random. Also, picked up Jacob's birthday present (he's going to be 21 in February... talk about time flying... seems like just yesterday I was sitting on a carpet in my 2nd grade class being quizzed by the teacher after Grandpa walked TJ and I to school and flirted with the crossing guard...)
Mrs. Z: Jennifer has some special news to share with us this morning.
me: Huh?
Mrs. Z: Your father called to let the school know that you have a special new family member.
me: ... *blink blink* Oh! Yeah... mom had a baby this morning. But they've been with us for almost a year, living in my mom's tummy, so it's not really new.
...guess that explains how all the kids were coming to me for teh babeh infoz...
Funny, come to think of it, I remember the day that TJ was born (I was at Grandma and Grandpa's eating cereal on the floor in front of the TV, something I was NEVER allowed to do at home, watching Romper Room), and the morning Jacob was born, coming downstairs to find Grandma and Grandpa there instead of mom and dad (Grandma packed AWESOME lunches that day... she always put cans of soda in lunch instead of money for milk... totally loved her packing lunches), but no recollection of Maggie at all...
....maybe they did bring her home in a Sentry bag... *snickers* Ah, but that's a story for another time...