Can't Catch a Brake

(Attention: bad pun only tangentially related to actual problem.)

Monday, on my way to work, I had the wonderful experience of seeing smoke/steam streaming from under my hood and the temperature gauge spiking at the top end of the gauge. I got off the interstate, popped the hood to allow it to cool. I found lots of steam and green goo (coolant) decorating the inside of my engine compartment.

After a couple phone calls, I ended up buying a gallon of water to put in the radiator (after it had cooled, of course) and taking the long (lower speed) way to the mechanics.

I'll confirm the details when I pick up the car Tuesday morning, but it seems* that the radiator was cracked and needed replacement.

Why is it that my car waits until my savings account is severely depleted before having serious problems?

* Stay tuned for more accurate techno-babble...

Mixed Weekend Before It Even Starts

Keep me away from your expensive mechanical stuff, people. Right now, I'm deadly.

On my way up to see Auntie Ruthie, my engine died. Yup, DIED. Fortunately, it's death scene was a little longer than 5 minutes so I could get off I-25. Here's the transcript:
Big D: [Hiccup]
Me: Uh Oh
Big D: "Check Engine. Check Engine."
Me: [puts on hazards, since I'm going so slow, then drives on I-25 shoulder to the nearest exit]
Me: Come on, just keep going a little longer...
[Right turn, right turn to convenient parking lot. Just reach a clear spot out of the way and...]
Big D: [gasp! DIE.]

I called Ruthie, let her know what was going on, then called the dealership (of the two places I've taken the car, they seemed like the more reliable, if possibly more expensive, choice). For the auto-savvy among you, when I stopped and opened the hood, the area under the radiator (towards the back of the engine stuff) was smoking lightly. There were no strange noises, only a change in the power available.

Fortunately, I had a book with me since I did a lot of waiting. Waited for the tow truck and waited at the service center while they diagnosed the car. Turns out its something going on inside the engine and they needed to wait until Monday to get in there and take it apart. I'm thinking this bill will measure in the thousands and is the raison d'être for savings accounts. :(

I got a rental and ended up going up to Ruthie's anyway. It was only half past two at that point and I certainly wasn't going to let it ruin my day. I'm really glad I did, since Ruthie and I had a good time making soup for her and chatting. :)

Now I'm tired and going to take a hot bath and read more of my book. :D

Cautiously Optimistic

I started doing some of the practice exams this evening and although I'm not getting everything right, I'm doing pretty well in terms of understanding a majority of the questions. There are three chapters in a second book that I should really read. I might skim them tomorrow. We'll see.
Regardless, I'm happy that I'm not super stressed out.

I've been spending some of my procrastination time reading the archives of the online comic strip, Player vs. Player. It's a funny strip with lots of computer/gaming/scifi references, but most important of all -- well drawn characters.

Also, my sister made me laugh my ass off when she said that she had a feeling of half deja vu when she sat in the passenger side seat of my car. See, my brother-in-law, her husband, also has a Subaru Impreza WRX. The reason it's half deja vu? My BIL's car is impeccably clean. Mine, however, is... not. Not that there's McDonald's french fry boxes all over the floor or anything, but the dash tends to get dusty and sometimes dead leaves collect on the floor mats. I wasn't offended at all, just had a really good laugh.

My big Amazon order last week hit a snag since I was trying to get the free shipping, which necessitates waiting 'til everything's collected to send it out. When they predicted I'd get the whole order in mid to late January, I went in and changed the settings to "send it whenever you have stuff to send." Snag unravelled and now I have at least some of my purchases headed my way and the rest are scheduled to be sent early next week. There may be a Christmas after all. Whew!

One more advantage to all-wheel-drive: I usually like to back into the garage to park. (I prefer to be able to see where I'm going.) However, when there's snow and ice, I used to have to just suck it up and drive in front-ways, since I had front wheel drive and I needed to get powered wheels onto dry concrete to pull into the garage. Now all my wheels are powered, so I can back in under snowy conditions -- the back wheels will pull me in. Yipee! Small thing, but it's nice.

A Full Day

My sister and I went up to Loveland to leave a card for my aunt and ended up talking to our cousin (her son) and his wife and then -- wonderful surprise -- we got an audience with the the great lady herself! Yes, we got to visit, a short one, of course, with dearest Auntie Ruthie and see how she's doing. She's not out of the woods yet, but her spirits were very good at the time we saw her. She had just had a bath and was feeling quite chipper (I can SO sympathize!). It was wonderful to be able to hold her hand and give her a kiss on the cheek.
Then, we helped my brother and his girlfriend move. It was freezing and snowing, so a perfect day to be killed while moving. It wasn't far, only from a one bedroom apartment to a two bedroom in the same complex. BUT it was down a flight of stairs and up two. There were some question of whether we would be crushed by the TV (damn CRT) or make it to the third floor, but in the end, we got everything moved without serious injury. My back and arms are sore today and I have a crick in my neck (from moving the mattress, I'm sure), but it was worth it to help Max and Jenn.
Even though the weather was super crappy (re: aforementioned snow and ice), we went to the party in Ft. Collins. It was fun and I got to talk to some friends I don't get to see very often, but I waited too long before leaving. It turned out fine, since, although I was tired and my contacts felt like chips of plastic on my eyeballs, it was so late that there were almost no cars on the road. No cars = no unexpected variables = no skidding (yay!). "Big D" did great. The all-wheel drive really made a difference. At one point, there was a fog in addition to the snow and ice, and idiots (in SUVs and pickup trucks) went zooming on past me. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed that they seem to have made it through the fog intact (ie. no horrific wrecks), but I suppose there have been times that I've been an idiot and haven't been killed, so I can't complain. I used my usual trick of downshifting instead of braking (it irritates the hell out of me that people think you can only do that in a manual drive) and had very few problems. I officially love all-wheel drive. The wedding is Wednesday next week.

And now I'm home and the plan is to kick some study material ass.

Yep, I'm hard core.

New Adventure

Just back from Moab, Utah. It was a blast. I went off-roading on an ATV for the first time. It was really fun and exciting. It would have been more fun if I hadn't had trouble with my hand cramping towards the end. Because the speed control is on a lever operated solely by the right thumb, by the time we were halfway through our 6 hour excursion, my thumb was starting to hurt. The next day, my right hand was not really working very well. I think it was a combination of the physical shocks my hand was taking as I held on to the handlebars and the grip I needed to manipulate the throttle lever. I've lost a bit of strength and dexterity in the hand, but I'm sure it's temporary. My hand difficulties meant that the next day I got to just ride along, rather than drive. Interestingly, I found it almost as entertaining, since I got to sightsee a bit more. The scenery was absolutely beautiful - red rocks and greenery against the bluest sky. The fact that I was strapped into a motorized 4WD vehicle with a helmet, goggles, and a lunatic driver just made it all the more vivid.
It was a really fun road trip. The car did very well. The extra space was really nice to have. The AC didn't really work (needs to be "charged"?) and the CD player only works when the car is cold, but other than that, it was great.

Meet Big D

About a month and a half ago, a car hit my car and did about $2500 worth of damage. My car being 12 years old and starting to look pretty dinged up (even before the accident), I decided to keep the money (plus a bonus I got from work) for a down payment on a "new" car. I never buy actual new cars, plus I like not having much of (if any) a car payment.
To my surprise, I found a car yesterday. He wants to be called "Big D" (the nickname of the USS Dallas, a submarine in The Hunt for Red October). He's a blue 2002 Subaru Impreza "Sport" WRX, with "all wheel drive," which was top of my list, along with small size. After I bought it, I realized I also got a bunch of cool modern features that I've never had before - a 6 CD changer, an alarm system (and one of those key chain lock button things - woo hoo!), a mirror that automatically dims when headlights are too bright behind you, wipers that you can change the delay speed on, etc. So cool!
Apparently, I went to the car dealer at the perfect time -- late in the day on a crappy, cold, sleety day. They hadn't sold many cars that day and were motivated to sell to me that day. I also traded in my car for a nominal amount (saves me from trying to have to sell it for probably about the same amount).
It'll be nice to have a new car on my road trip to Moab next weekend.

I Vant to Drink Your Gasoline

My cute little car grew icicle fangs today. I managed to get home without dislodging them so I could take a picture.
(Yes, I blanked out the license plate because, yes, I am paranoid.)