This is what happens when I have to post at lunch hour instead of loitering on the Internet until I actually have something to say...

On the to-do list for today:
-- Now with 100% more late-afternoon progress reports!

1. Trim the parrot's claws so she doesn't get tangled up in her food dish again.
   -- No, becase #2 freaked her out enough for one day.
   
2. Sandpaper her perches so the claws will stay trimmed.
   -- Just the first one, which freaked her out enough for one day.
   
3. Install the fourth and final light fixture (in the girls room, since they come back tomorrow). -- Well, there´s always tomorrow.
   
4. Find places for the stuff I've put on their beds while organizing the rest of the house all week.
   -- Uh, some. Enough to make a difference.
   
5. Drop off utility receipts to former landlady.
   -- Oooh! Oooh! I did this one!
   
6. Find out how much it will cost to fix the car's now considerable oil leak. (*sigh*)
   -- Yup. A whole lot, but not as much as I´d feared. It´s now on the list for next paycheck. Or the next.
   
7. Get seat assignments for Mom, Dad, Lisa & Scott's return flight (what, don't you have people in Costa Rica handle your Mexico/US travel plans?)
   -- Tried, couldn´t, was informed that Dad can do it from the hotel. Hoping they don´t come home with as, uh, interesting a travel story as Mom & Lisa & I did a couple years ago.
   
8. WATCH DR. WHO THE END OF TIME, yaaaaaaaaaaaaay and thanks Bruce!!
   -- On deck for...pretty much as soon as possible, with chili to go with it!

It's a jungle out there, kiddies. Have a very fruitful day.

Had to honk & swerve to miss a bus this afternoon. It was at this one stop sign (as opposed to all the other ones, you know) where the people do stop, but they're not happy about it.

Not sure what it is about that particular spot, but they're always nosing out into our (non-stop-signaged) street, and today this bus driver figured he really didn't need to wait for a break in traffic, but would make his own out of things he probably already had around the house.

Except, I was going uphill in the hard rain, and I'm used to seeing the cars nosing out, so I didn't notice at first that the bus was not only sticking out farther than it should, but was also moving out into my path. Until I did notice, and laid on the horn, and made the bus stop. Which I'm glad it did.

Funnily enough, I was, most of the way home, contemplating the body work I need to have done on this car. But which I'd really rather schedule at my own financial convenience, not in response to buses and things.

The bus-y swerve-y thing was three blocks beyond the Street That Always Floods When It Rains, which was axle-deep in water this afternoon; surprising, really, when it wasn't even sprinkling when I left work, but there you have it. Seasons changing and all.

And that, in turn, was about eight miles after the very smiley, besunglassed driver of the car in front of me flicked a butt out his window. A butt that, my own windows still being open at that time, I discovered when I drove over it moments later was really very much not composed of tobacco.

And those are all the anecdotes from today's commute, the end.

Two final (?) updates

So the car seems to be fixed now. Or for now.

We even drove it today--Today! A Sunday!--without mishap. In addition to all the other things I've talked about doing to it over the course of things, it now also has new spark plugs and a freshly serviced radiator.

Hopefully that'll be enough to keep it happy for a good long while now.

And I got the Karmic release of Kubuntu installed on this, the formerly broken computer yesterday. I'm using my brand new 1TB (that's a terabyte - 1000 GB) hard drive, to replace the drive that got fried by lightning a couple months ago. I saw enough of Linux when Bob had that on his computer to know I wanted to try it, and with a terabyte of space, figured it was time to go ahead. We installed Windows on the disk first (per numerous suggestions in Internet forums), then ... you know what? I could spend a LOT of time explaining all of what we went through, but really what I mean is, I've got things pretty close to where I want them. I learned a lot today about the Kubuntu environment and a little bit about working with the command line, and although I still have some tweaking to do before I'll be able to boot into the Windows side of the disk, I think it's well within reach, once I figure out what the right variables are for my setup.

I take it back

Yeah, never mind.

The computer suddenly stopped updating and no longer believes it has an Internet connection, Bob got home from work--which was closed and locked when he got there--in a car that is definitely no longer fixed and, well. We'll see about the getting wet, but I did have to dig into the laundry for some pants because I had been counting on wearing my favorite ones today, but they're a little long and therefore not very well suited to these bus commutes, where I walk a cumulative total of about an hour over the course of things and would end up with a stepped-on, muddy mess at the back of each pant leg.

Resolved

So I'm home alone, first time in a while. Bob's at work. In the car, yay. The original quotes for parts & labor held, so it came to ¢200,000 all together - that's about $340 and there's still enough to take us till payday, so whew.

I suppose I technically saved a little on gas by spending a cumulative 15 hours riding, walking/running to and waiting for buses this week, but the buses come out to about two bucks a day, plus I had to buy a new umbrella and this probably pushed my favorite old sneakers over the edge into unwearable [they were already smelly and haven't been really dry for four days now], so I suspect it all came out even, if anything.

Now I'm downloading Linux updates and looking forward to long stretches of time--entire days, even--when I don't get wet while fully clothed. Plus, it's almost the weekend.

Boring post about nothing

The car should be ready tomorrow, so I may never get to perfect my "leaving the office at the right time to catch that first bus" technique. The bus leaves every half hour and you wouldn't think it would be rocket science, but so far I've not waited less than 20 minutes at that stop.

And, on an unrelated note, I don't suppose any of you know anything about setting up a dual boot system on a new hard drive, do you? I installed Windows, partitioned the disk and installed Linux, but now I can't access the Windows part.

Anyway, I have to go. There's Friends to watch.

Steve, maybe your Ma could have a word?

So, I got the estimate today. They're talking ¢120,000 for parts - that's $200 for a water pump, timing belt and to "rectify" (I don't know what they call it in English) the head. Also includes the oil change. Then labor's to be determined, but it's estimated at ¢80,000.

How does that car always know exactly how much I can come up with at the very outside?

It's a very perceptive car.

That or Grandpa's been haunting it and I should really stop driving it on Sundays.

Well that certainly puts things into perspective

The whole ignition switch thing sure seems like less of a PITA when you hold it up next to a blown head gasket.

(Although you should know that the new (used) switch is actually doing the exact same thing the old one did, which I don't think should even be possible, much less allowed.)

It does occur to me that maybe the ignition thing was a means of prodding us toward seeking out a new mechanic before we got any really important work done on the car. And if that's the case, it totally worked.

Our neighbor down the street works on cars all the time and I had already spoken to him about doing some welding work to repair rust damage under the car. So when we limped home sounding and smelling like a tractor trailer today, I went over to ask him if he could recommend someone who could work on my engine. He not only had a ready answer, he came right over and got under the hood and under the car and helped us figure out more precisely what had happened and what needs to be done about it. He's having a guy come over to work on it right in our garage tomorrow; with any luck, I'll only have to take the buses to work for one day (seeing as how it's close to an hour and a half each way; quite an undertaking when I'm only there part time to begin with).

Oh, and once we'd figured out the whole gasket/radiator/oil/overheating issue, I asked him about the ignition switch and I hadn't even finished explaining the problem when he was telling me what it was and how they could fix it.

I love my neighborhood.

Running low on straws (In which I complain. A lot.)

I finally got the ignition fixed on the Purple Hatchback of Loveliness.

Actually, I'm not sure I had mentioned there was anything wrong with it, so wrapped up was I last week in posting pictures from the fair and wishing Steve a happy birthday.

In any case, the ignition suddenly started jamming last Sunday. Whichever key we tried would go in just fine, but wouldn't turn at all, not even enough to turn on the radio or (little detail here) put the car into neutral or anything.

After eleventy dozen tries, it finally did work and we drove it. But when we finished what we were doing and tried to drive home, it happened again.

So I dropped it off at the shop for them to look at on Monday at which time, of course, they inserted the key and started the car "thirty or forty times". I got a bonus "here, show me how you start the car" because, I guess, the first 18 months I had driven the car without ignition incident could have been an anomaly.

Plus, they didn't have the part to replace it anyway, so I asked them to track one down, and then I got in the car and drove to work.

Since the car is parked inside a locked gate both at home and at work, I simply left the key in the ignition all the time, making sure the radio & lights were off, and never had to worry about being able to start the car when I was next ready to drive it.

Of course, I also didn't have to worry about grocery shopping or any other sort of use of the car that didn't involve leaving it behind closed doors.

Funnily enough, the guy at the shop didn't call to tell me how much a new ignition switch would be. Not on Monday anyway. Or on Tuesday or Wednesday. Or Thursday.

So yesterday I stopped by and reminded them that I wanted to know how much the part would cost because I still wanted my car fixed, even if they couldn't replicate the problem. This time they figured maybe I did want to fix my car, and they called me back this morning to let me know that the part could be had, used, for three times what it costs new at any Auto Zone in the States.

But, this isn't the States and sometimes that happens, so we said to go ahead and get the part and I would drop the car off on the way home from work today, which I did.

And I went back to pick it up a couple of hours later and yes, they had replaced the ignition switch. Funnily enough, the one they took out is visibly damaged.

So, I'm a little disgruntled that they didn't follow up when I asked them to find a part I wanted to replace on my car, but I know how it is. Sometimes you're busy and if you don't think the work actually needs to be done, I can see how it would slip by.

But I'm more than a little disgruntled that the guy who did the work smoked in my car, which is disgusting, and somehow installed the switch in such a way that the chime beeps continually any time the door (or the other door, or the trunk) is open, even if the key is two blocks away from the car at the time.

The beeping from the key being left in the car all the time was actually really really annoying, and now it's a permanent feature! (Or at least till we Google it and find out how to fix it, or possibly take it back and make them fix it, or maybe find a new mechanic and get them to fix it...)

Yes, it's about the car again. I'll try to come up with a better topic tomorrow.

Fifty bucks later, we're back in business.

So, the mechanics made no move to cover the repair in conjunction with the work they've done previously but, to be fair, I could see from what they did and the parts they replaced that it was really a separate issue. And now it's fixed.

I still have a month to get the car reinspected, so I probably won't try to cram it in this week - there's a trade fair at the beach this Saturday, so I'll be out of town and working much of the weekend.

I'm really glad the repair was of the hour-and-a-half and not the day-and-a-half sort, because coordinating car repairs while out of town (and Bob'll be needing it to get to work) would have been pretty headachy.

And the final reason to be glad they were able to go ahead and repair it today: Whether it was the inspection guy under the car, the inspection process itself, or simple coincidence, whatever unleashed this leak, did so decisively; the brake light was on the minute I pulled out of the inspection bay, and the thing went through a half a bottle of brake fluid in a 24 hour period. If they couldn't have fixed it today, we'd have been adding fluid every time we drove it until they could.

PHoL update

The car didn't pass the inspection, but not for any of the reasons I worried it might not.

The emissions were close, but the guy told me to hold it at 3000 rpms for a couple of minutes to get it running hotter, and it passed. The brakes apparently passed without a problem, but then the under-car guy found a brake fluid leak that is going to have to be dealt with. Oh well.

The nice thing is, the car is now legal (I get a month from the first inspection date to correct any failures), and the reinspection only costs half as much ($10 instead of the full $20).

I recently had the brake fluid drained and replaced, and also had some work done on the steering, which involved messing with the same area of the car that the leak was found. So possibly the mechanics will go ahead and fix it without charging me more - or not exorbitantly more.

Or, possibly, this will be the first of all those future times I was warned about with the last work I had done: the car has enough rust that if you're going to get into any given spot to fix things, you're probably going to have to repair or replace whatever the part in question is bolted to as well.

So I'm not sure what to expect with the repair, but I'm happy that the rest of the car passed, and also optimistic that getting the leak fixed will finally make my brakes feel like I think they should.

Again with the lists

• I have an appointment for my annual car inspection tomorrow. I could've sworn it was due in September, but when I checked the sticker it turns out it was actually supposed to be done in August. Oops. I hope it passes; the brakes have been fixed and fixed again, but they still feel a little hard first thing in the morning (go ahead, Steve). Hopefully the drive over - and, for that matter, Bob's use of the car to go to and from work earlier in the day, will get them to their "normal," and even more to the point, hopefully their "normal" is, in fact, perfectly fine.
  
  
• I've been putting the girls off watching Monsters vs. Aliens for days now - not because I don't want to watch it with them, but because I do and it's hard to work that out on school nights. We really must watch it tomorrow.
  
  
• The four of us are going on a picnic with Jan and Dan and one or more other friends this weekend. I hear there's going to be a puppy!
  
  
• I've been playing Scrabble online, via Facebook lately. It's fun and exactly the same as the table version, except for the ability to look every random word up in the dictionary instantly, leading to a higher proportion of stuff on the board that none of the players has actually ever heard of. Each player has up to 24 hours to complete a turn, so time zones aren't an issue. Yesterday I lost to a friend in Germany - curiously, and due to licensing issues, the game is avaialable to everyone in the world except those in the U.S. and Canada.
  
  
• "The sauce of least resistance" is a good phrase. It's pretty self explanatory, and it's what we had for dinner.

Twice is probably enough

Two days in a row, that is, of dropping the girls off at school in the morning and then not being able to start the car when I get back into it.

The first day, I messed with the battery contacts and it started up okay.

The second day I actually tightened the one contact that was loose to the touch, and then it didn't start. The "hey, Stupid, your keys are in the ignition and your door is open" chime came back on, but the car still wouldn't start.

My nice Nicaraguan neighbor who works on cars was dropping his son off too, saw me with the hood open, and came over to help. He messed with the contacts while I tried to start the car and it worked. (I do like me a small town.)

My working theory is that the loose contact prevented the battery from charging adequately while I drove the day before. I'm not sure how that theory fits in with the car-starting-on-the-second-try part of it, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow morning.

(Interesting side note: I stopped and started the car a bunch of times in the 24 hours between the two incidents. Maybe there's a force field around the school and I should just park around the corner.)

Today in things you think you'd be told

Less impressive than last week's, but still.

You'd think, when the mechanic says it'll take half a day to drain the brake fluid, purge and refill the system, and you drop the car off at 10:00 on Saturday morning and the mechanic says they close at 6:00 and to call at 4:00, and you call at 4:30 but can't reach them on the phone, so you walk over and find out they ran into a delay and it's still not ready, but they are, as noted, closing at 6:00 and closed on Sundays so they'll definitely be finishing it that day...I say, in a situation such as that, you'd think someone would also mention that when they have to stay late to finish a car, they simply leave the keys in the gas station office and the customer can, in fact, pick the car up the following day.

Because if they didn't mention a thing like that, a person could walk back over to the shop at 6:00 (with a child in tow both times) so as to arrive at closing time, and end up waiting nearly two hours while they finish the working on the car.

And nobody wants that.