My car broke down today. At an intersection. While I was in the left lane. On my way to turn in an application for a job. It was running along just fine. The fuel gauge claimed I had an eighth of a tank left. It stopped, and then wouldn't quite start up again. Not in an "I have a dead battery" kind of way; more in a "I'm having a fuel problem" kind of way.
I called AAA, and they sent a tow truck. Fortunately, because I'm a member at AAA (thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
lysander_cat and his lovely wife, who have me on their family membership), the tow was free. I got them to bring the car back to the house, because, well, I have no money to give a mechanic for a fuel pump, or fuel filter, or whatever turns out to be wrong.
The guy with the tow truck was very nice, very professional, and he arrived to help me very quickly. Yay.
So, Pima County does not accept applications for jobs online. You have to go down to their office, fill out a paper application, and hand it in. I applied for three positions in two jobs. One of the jobs was for a "Community Nutrition Assistant." The qualifications were a high school degree and a college course in nutrition. Since I had to take a nutrition class as a nursing school prerequisite, I figured I qualified.
I happened to hear the guy in front of me in line talking with the clerk. He was applying for the same $14/hour position. He had a master's degree in nutrition.
Times are hard.
With competition like that, I doubt I'm going to get the job.
And now my car is out of commission.
Sometimes, I feel like screaming, and screaming, and screaming, and....
- Location:Tucson, Arizona
Back in the days when Bill Cowboy was a deputy US Marshall in the Southern Arizona Marshall's office, people rode horses. The first motor car was introduced to Tucson in the 1870's, by a physician who lived here, but by and large, people rode horses. I don't know what Bill rode, because none of the history books I've seen record that.
But it's safe to guess that it was a horse of some kind.
I imagine there were ancilliary expenses involved in keeping a horse. There was the vet from time to time, and shoing, and no doubt some of the leather on the tack wore out, and had to be periodically replaced.
But I doubt he had to put up with the kind of beauraucratic horseshit I did, today.
But then, that's progress for you.
This morning, I arrived at the MVD, complete with title, insurance paperwork, and checkbook. Only to find out that the paperwork I had from the insurance company wasn't enough; I had to get some other piece of paperwork.
So I drove down to the insurance company office, got what I needed from them, and drove to the MVD office again.
Only to find out that I had to pay my registration in cash, because it had lapsed.
So I had to drive out to the bank, and then back to the MVD.
By the time I finally got done, four hours had passed on what should have been a half-hour errand.
That's progress for you.
I have a car! Hurrah!
I cleaned up the house a little this afternoon, esentially making sure that the living room and the front bedroom were (reasonably) clean, then sat down to play some Pocket Monsters for a little bit, to wait for Tom.
He'd said he would be over around three; by three-thirty, he wasn't there. So I called to see if there was something keeping him, and he confessed that he'd simply forgotten.
So, a little after four, he came over, and we jacked up my destrier, slipped jackstands under, and I crawled below to begin the process of removing the alternator.
From start to finish, it was a little over two hours, and it was more of a hassle than I really want to do again, any time soon.
But...
The new alternator is in, it seems to work, everything's fine. Monday, I'll take the car to the DMV, and renew my registration. That'll be the last step in making the whole thing legal again, and I owe huge thanks to my Momster for making it happen.
I can't begin to express what a feeling of liberation it is to have a car again, to be able to go, and do, without having to worry about bus schedules or routes.
Yay! Yay! Yay!
Well, as it turned out, the repair cost me about twenty bucks... and I did it all myself.
It was hot, it was sweaty, but it was amazing how fast water and baking soda eats corrosion off battery cables.
I ended up replacing the positive terminal, and putting the little felt terminal protectors on, and now everything runs fine.
It wouldn't even have cost me the $20, except that I didn't own a pair of pliers, or a wire brush.
Now I own a battery terminal removing wrench, two pairs of slip-joint pliers, three wire brushes (but not good ones) and a crappy crescent wrench. I'll need to replace the battery cable sometime in the next year or so, because it's so corroded, but for the moment, there's joy in muddville.
- Music:Rights Of Man-Alisa Jones-Irish Dreams
Well, I've had the car for most of a year, and this is the first trouble I've had with it, so that's good.
I went out this morning, with the intent of doing a little grocery shopping... I wanted some mango juice, among other things. (Yes, Gen, I still like Mango juice; it wasn't just fever-delierum).
Car wouldn't start, and the clock on the radio reset itself. This led me to think of battery problems.
Since my uncle had given me an American Automobile Association (AAA) membership for my birthday, I called them, and they sent someone out to give me a jump.
No joy.
So, Tom's coming over in the morning (there's a horrendous rain storm on, at the moment) with a wire brush, and we're going to clean the cables and terminals (the positive is pretty seriously grody), and see if that does anything for us.
I didn't actually leave the house all day, today. I can't remember the last time that happened!
