Well, today has been an interesting day. Do you know what could have been a less interesting day? If I went to work.
I woke up on time today. A good sign. I took a shower, looked at the clock and saw I was ahead of schedule. Also a good sign. At some breakfast (Boo Berry!!!!! I have found you once again!) while reading some webcomics. Stilly plenty of time. Good, good, and good. Read some more comics, left the house a few minutes later than I would have liked (damn you, the Internet!), let the Ultra Camry warm up for a good four and a half minutes (usually it's lucky if I let it warm up for two minutes). And off I went.
Traffic was lame. But that's to be expected when driving on a major highway during morning rush hour in Central New Jersey and especially near Princeton (yes, the town where that fancy school is). I hope none of you are familiar with this, but there's the most retarded jug handle/circle combination which I need to use to get to the train station. While sitting there I noticed an odd smell passing through my scent receptors. I figured it was the beat up looking truck in front of me, possibly with its tailpipe piping directly into the Ultra Camry's intake.
I hate it when that happens. Moving on.
Got to the train station, just before the parking lots (yeah, plural) is a guy with another parking lot but he charges double ($8 instead of $4 per day). Usually if there are a line of cars by him that means the main lots are full. But I had hope! And looped around my usual lots anyway. Nothing. So, I sat in the guy's line. I told him I'd be back tomorrow night (I had plans to spend the night at Ember's/our old apartment), I paid the $16 (that's almost a week of normal daily parking!), and then he went off to figure out some math dealing with times and available parking spots. I sat there, looked around at some trees maybe, then looked forward out the windshield.
The white smoke began to slowly billow out through the edges of the hood.
"Ahhh shit."
The guy calls out to me,
"Pull up over here!"
"I'm overheating!"
"Oh..."
I shut off the car. After some deliberation I decided that being in a parking space would be better. Plus I already paid, so I could sit there and figure out my game plan. He gave me an awesome spot right next to the the entrance (rather than yesterday's down the road, around the corner, around the next corner, behind a block of stores). I called my uncle, he's savvy on man-things that I am not.
"What'd you forget?"
"Ha, I wish it was something I forgot. No, it's the car."
"...uh oh."
"Yeah."
"I'll be there soon."
Okay, so the conversation didn't end like that, but I think this entry must be boring enough for you all.
Half an hour or so later he showed up. In the meantime the parking attendant filled his lots full and came to talk to me. We determined that one of the hoses to the radiator came off. He also asked what kind of work I do, the Imus situation (which I find hilarious and inappropriate at the same time), and if I would still be parking there. I told him it depends what happens. He was really nice about it all.
Anyway. My uncle showed up, we poked around under the hood some more. We found a clamp helping to hold another clamp in place broke off. He said he already called our mechanic. My uncle rolled a 20 on his strength check (nerd alert!) and somehow got the hose reattached to the radiator. I also still had lots of antifreeze from the last... issue that turned out to be lack of oil, so we refilled it as well. Because without the hose in place, all my coolant was on the street.
We started up the car, let it run for a little bit, and the hose stayed in place. I called work, the big boss lady is fine, I called up the other guy I'm working with on the backgrounds and he was slightly disappointed but understood. Damn right. The Ultra Camry's well being is infinitely more important than some cartoon backgrounds that rape my soul. My soul's butt hurts.
So we decided to take the chance of driving to the shop. I lead, he followed, at a steady 40-45 the whole way. Driving that slow is not something you do on a major highway in Central NJ without getting ran over. But we made it somehow anyway. The hose did not budge.
We talked to my mechanic, then my uncle suggested breakfast, so we went and did that. While there I mentioned maybe I could finally get a haircut. He said he'd take me. Then I remembered I didn't have a car and retracted my statement, but he said he didn't have plans for today. So we made an appointment for that and we went back home where I caught up on the happenings of the Internet (you know, what I would have done at work anyway) and then started going through some paperwork.
I got the haircut. I am now less hipster-looking. Thank god. Back home, more little things around the house. Lauren just reminded me that I should have called about my monthly pass (not the stolen one; at the end of last month I bought a pass for New Brunswick and Trenton when I was still with my brother and Enid and then the next day or so I moved home where I could have paid about half the price for Princeton Jct. and Trenton.). Shit balls. Oh well.
I got my car back, it was cheaper than I expected, and he threw in some stuff for free. Nice. He's not really sure how it happened. As for the why, he thinks that maybe some back-pressure built up and somehow broke the clamp and disconnected the hose. What he doesn't get is that the amount of pressure to do that should have a) burst the hoses, or b) the cap on the radiator should have popped off. Neither of those happened. Incredibly odd. The clamp is the strongest link in this process. So hopefully with new hoses, clamps, thermostat (I swear this may be the fourth thermostat I've had in this car--but they're cheap so no big deal), and radiator cap this WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. If it does, I don't think work will be so forgiving. But I'm freelance. If they'd freakin' hire me I'd go that extra step.
Well this entry was pretty long for you SG kids. This is usually how long my entries on my real [neglected, but now working again] blog are. In fact, I think I'll post this on my blog because I keep forgetting to do that.
I woke up on time today. A good sign. I took a shower, looked at the clock and saw I was ahead of schedule. Also a good sign. At some breakfast (Boo Berry!!!!! I have found you once again!) while reading some webcomics. Stilly plenty of time. Good, good, and good. Read some more comics, left the house a few minutes later than I would have liked (damn you, the Internet!), let the Ultra Camry warm up for a good four and a half minutes (usually it's lucky if I let it warm up for two minutes). And off I went.
Traffic was lame. But that's to be expected when driving on a major highway during morning rush hour in Central New Jersey and especially near Princeton (yes, the town where that fancy school is). I hope none of you are familiar with this, but there's the most retarded jug handle/circle combination which I need to use to get to the train station. While sitting there I noticed an odd smell passing through my scent receptors. I figured it was the beat up looking truck in front of me, possibly with its tailpipe piping directly into the Ultra Camry's intake.
I hate it when that happens. Moving on.
Got to the train station, just before the parking lots (yeah, plural) is a guy with another parking lot but he charges double ($8 instead of $4 per day). Usually if there are a line of cars by him that means the main lots are full. But I had hope! And looped around my usual lots anyway. Nothing. So, I sat in the guy's line. I told him I'd be back tomorrow night (I had plans to spend the night at Ember's/our old apartment), I paid the $16 (that's almost a week of normal daily parking!), and then he went off to figure out some math dealing with times and available parking spots. I sat there, looked around at some trees maybe, then looked forward out the windshield.
The white smoke began to slowly billow out through the edges of the hood.
"Ahhh shit."
The guy calls out to me,
"Pull up over here!"
"I'm overheating!"
"Oh..."
I shut off the car. After some deliberation I decided that being in a parking space would be better. Plus I already paid, so I could sit there and figure out my game plan. He gave me an awesome spot right next to the the entrance (rather than yesterday's down the road, around the corner, around the next corner, behind a block of stores). I called my uncle, he's savvy on man-things that I am not.
"What'd you forget?"
"Ha, I wish it was something I forgot. No, it's the car."
"...uh oh."
"Yeah."
"I'll be there soon."
Okay, so the conversation didn't end like that, but I think this entry must be boring enough for you all.
Half an hour or so later he showed up. In the meantime the parking attendant filled his lots full and came to talk to me. We determined that one of the hoses to the radiator came off. He also asked what kind of work I do, the Imus situation (which I find hilarious and inappropriate at the same time), and if I would still be parking there. I told him it depends what happens. He was really nice about it all.
Anyway. My uncle showed up, we poked around under the hood some more. We found a clamp helping to hold another clamp in place broke off. He said he already called our mechanic. My uncle rolled a 20 on his strength check (nerd alert!) and somehow got the hose reattached to the radiator. I also still had lots of antifreeze from the last... issue that turned out to be lack of oil, so we refilled it as well. Because without the hose in place, all my coolant was on the street.
We started up the car, let it run for a little bit, and the hose stayed in place. I called work, the big boss lady is fine, I called up the other guy I'm working with on the backgrounds and he was slightly disappointed but understood. Damn right. The Ultra Camry's well being is infinitely more important than some cartoon backgrounds that rape my soul. My soul's butt hurts.
So we decided to take the chance of driving to the shop. I lead, he followed, at a steady 40-45 the whole way. Driving that slow is not something you do on a major highway in Central NJ without getting ran over. But we made it somehow anyway. The hose did not budge.
We talked to my mechanic, then my uncle suggested breakfast, so we went and did that. While there I mentioned maybe I could finally get a haircut. He said he'd take me. Then I remembered I didn't have a car and retracted my statement, but he said he didn't have plans for today. So we made an appointment for that and we went back home where I caught up on the happenings of the Internet (you know, what I would have done at work anyway) and then started going through some paperwork.
I got the haircut. I am now less hipster-looking. Thank god. Back home, more little things around the house. Lauren just reminded me that I should have called about my monthly pass (not the stolen one; at the end of last month I bought a pass for New Brunswick and Trenton when I was still with my brother and Enid and then the next day or so I moved home where I could have paid about half the price for Princeton Jct. and Trenton.). Shit balls. Oh well.
I got my car back, it was cheaper than I expected, and he threw in some stuff for free. Nice. He's not really sure how it happened. As for the why, he thinks that maybe some back-pressure built up and somehow broke the clamp and disconnected the hose. What he doesn't get is that the amount of pressure to do that should have a) burst the hoses, or b) the cap on the radiator should have popped off. Neither of those happened. Incredibly odd. The clamp is the strongest link in this process. So hopefully with new hoses, clamps, thermostat (I swear this may be the fourth thermostat I've had in this car--but they're cheap so no big deal), and radiator cap this WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. If it does, I don't think work will be so forgiving. But I'm freelance. If they'd freakin' hire me I'd go that extra step.
Well this entry was pretty long for you SG kids. This is usually how long my entries on my real [neglected, but now working again] blog are. In fact, I think I'll post this on my blog because I keep forgetting to do that.
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Haircut, eh? I guess I'll have to wait until Friday to see it. Does that mean spiky hair is making a comeback? Yuuuusssss. Not that I don't appreciate the Harry Potter look. Daniel Radcliffe has gotten pretty hot.