Oh, the RL Interference!

[lady_karelia]

So, it's not enough that I'm being drawn back into this particular reality which I left so happily when Dorkboy was home most of the time, oh no. I happily went about my chores tonight after dropping the kidlets off to self-defence; grocery shopping, popping into the music store to pick up some sheet music (yeah, it's that. why do you ask?), then finally parked the car at Starbucks, bought a very.strong.coffee and sat down to write. Outside. It was glorious. Warm, but not hot, and, well, simply glorious. Managed about 1k words by hand, finishing the chapter. I felt rather accomplished. So, ten minutes before self-def. class was over, the chapter completed, I opened the car, got inside, put the key in the ignition, turned. *click* Lights went out. I tried again. No click, but lights still off.

It was dark by then; youngest had taken out the torch a while ago and never put it back, and my lighter wasn't being very efficient to find the %^&* number for the roadside assistance. So I phoned DB and whined. Poor guy. He's been working 10-hour days away from home, and then he had to put up with his whingey wife. He found me the number, which I phoned, only to be told that the policy number (the roadside assistance is linked to the car insurance) wasn't correct, but at least they transferred me to some other department where I successfully got the correct number. They then transferred me back to the roadside assistance, who, after taking down all the details (and confirming them) informed me that the assistance expired four weeks ago. *deep sigh*

Meantime, kidlets turned up with two of our friends, Ri and Ry. While DB sorted out the "expiry" (which wasn't), the guys tried to jump-start the car. No deal. Just rapid clicks whenever they tried to turn the key. Eventually, roadside assistance was being very helpful, offering all sorts of stuff (how to get home from the garage to which the car was to be taken by giving me variety of cab numbers, suggesting to ask whoever would tow the car there to give us a ride etc). Later, the tow truck arrived, had some magical device to make the battery work. Srsly, it was magic. Half an hour of charging it from Ri's car didn't do fuck all, the guy put his magical device on the battery, and the car started! I nearly worshiped him.

Then, worship-worthy guy told me it would work out cheaper for me if I simply went to the 24-hour-open Auto Zone and have the battery replaced there rather than having the car towed to the garage who would charge who knows what. I almost worshiped him.

Then he gave me directions how to get to the nearest Auto Zone, and I kinda lost it. I mean, I don't know Memphis well, really. But Ri and Ry jumped in and said they'd follow me and make sure I'd get there. Now, I nearly worshiped Ri and Ry.

So, we got a new battery. It looks like that was the problem. Not that it gave me any warning whatsoever, and I'm not pleased, honestly. I guess I'll find out soon enough. And about four hours after our usual time, we finally got home. Mr Tatoo-head who drove the tow truck deserves a medal. Ri and Ry deserve medals, too.

I have a few betas to do. Will get to it sometime tomorrow. No way was I going to concentrate on anything tonight. Surfing iTunes was fun, though. ;)

Comments

[notsosaintly.livejournal.com]

I like Auto Zone and Pep Boys. I decided to try to fix my car myself (dammit) since "dear" husband is never around. Finally opened the hood a week ago and filled the windshield wiper fluid (in CA that's a big deal since, uh, there's no rain and a lot of dust and, no, NSS does NOT go get her car washed, the lazy butt that she is). Then I have a little problem with both power outlets (used to be called cigarette lighters) being dead. My laptop burned them out. Poof. Thought it was the fuses. Found out where they were. Found out where the spares were; no spares of that amp. Bought more fuses (AutoZone). Wrong kind—these had longer arms. Return them. Go to Pep Boys, discover that these indeed were the right kind (ask a man, not a teenage girl who says, "I know this because someone asked me last week"; lesson learned). Spent time trimming them, peeling the plastic back, insert. Nothing. Damn. Looked at the fuse cover where it shows what everything is. I'm like S-HEAT? I don't need that. Pull. Fog? Not in CA! Pull. Insert those. Nothing. Not the fuses. Damn it. Google. Must get to wires. Pull fuses first before messing with it. Pulled fuses. Now to get behind there. Pull, yank, coax large compartment beneath to come out, dammit. Finally get it out. Can see wires. Cool. Cannot disconnect them so I can see if any are exposed. Spent a whole hour trying. No luck. In the end, I had to try to put the compartment back (also no luck; needs a good kick but angle is all wrong). Power outlets still dead.

You can see I'm trying to save money, can't you? I figure cars are like computers. Just harder to get into. And lots bigger. And there are heavy things. And I have small muscles. It's rather humorous. Watch me pump gas once. Like a little girl with a really big hose trying to get the heavy thing in a little hole and then trying to manage to hold the trigger all the way in while finding the little switch to hold it. Sometimes I feel like this stuff is built for 6' tall men. Not 5'2" 113 pound women. Though, no guy has offered to help me yet. It's probably better entertainment than prime time TV. Humph.

Glad you got car to work, by the way. Kudos to Ri and Ry and DB who helped bail you out from miles away.

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

NSS, odd that your laptop would burn the outlet out. You have tried plugging some other device into the power outlet, right? The car may have surged that device instead of the other way around. But if it is indeed the car there is a short. And sadly cars today are made so that you have to take the whole darned thing apart to fix anything. And you will likely need a soldering iron to replace the wires.

I know that in my Sebring I had a short in the installed garage door opener (which I never got to work with my garage door darn it) so whenever I moved my sun visor it would short out some of the dashboard lights or something equally inconvenient. I finally had to have the dealer replace the wires (I wasn't going to take the whole car apart to find it and I know they have a device that will tell them how far down the wire the short is). But the car was nearly 7 years old at the point.

[notsosaintly.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, let me tell you a little story. My laptop is in repair right now (after 3 years, not bad) because the DVD drive quit functioning properly. (Story in itself.) So while I was on the phone with HP, I said, "I have two other problems. One that might be important, and one that's not so important." So I told him that the power supply (you know, that box that the power cord has?) always got so incredibly burning hot whenever the computer was on, but I didn't know if that was normal. He said, "Uh, no. That should not be happening." So that's being replaced too (as well as hopefully my keyboard or at least certain letters where they've decided to pull a vanishing act).

So what I'm thinking is that the power supply from my laptop caused damage to the wires to the power outlets. I have two up front. And I had bought a inverter that allowed me to use the power from my battery as an electrical outlet. Well, they kept melting. And, believe me, I had bought the one sufficient for the size of my laptop (radio shack dude looked at my computer and power supply and I had a 150W one). So I went through 2 inverters and now have a Radio Shack gift card as replacement.

The power outlets are completely shot. I can't charge my cell phone, my palm, my kids' Nintendo, nothing. I was going to disconnect the wires from the outlet and look to see where it was blown, fix it all up (with that black electrical tape), plug it back in. Shoulda worked if I had been able to actually disconnect it. No luck.

Oh, well. Car is not going to be with me much longer. I hate the minivan anyway. I have had it for 2-1/2 years and keep swiping things on the right side 'cause the car's so wide. I'm going to get my husband's Camry and that'll be that.

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Glad they are fixing that on your computer. Though it's still odd that it wouldn't just blow the fuse and damage the wiring/device. I mean that's the point of the fuse. Ah well.

I've never been a minivan person. Of course, it has been hard for me getting used to the Charger because it is much larger than any car I have ever driven (both length and width). Thankfully I've not hit anything with it, though it can be frustrating watching me park or unpark the car. LOL

[notsosaintly.livejournal.com]

I mean that's the point of the fuse. Uh, yeah. You'd think so, wouldn't you? Fuses I get. They're sort of like jumpers on a computer board. But cars aren't reasonable like computers are.

I always said: "I'll never get a minivan!" The Pathfinder (SUV -- 1999 model which looks like an SUV, not a sneaker) I loved. I was higher up, it felt like a car. Then the husband took over and dragged me to the car lot. Said it would be easier on me (yeah, well, it does have an automatic side door--an automatic trunk would have been easier on me).

Moral of the story? Never say never. And then backpedal as soon as you can.

Though ... I did used to say I'd never have children. Look how that turned out. And you don't get to backpedal there.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

I find cars kinda more frightening than computers, LOL! And of course, I have even less clue about cars. But, gosh, I was soooo relieved when the guys turned up and stayed with us, then held my hand while I was purchasing the new battery. I'm pretty hopeless at times, considering how independent I consider myself. Hm...

[notsosaintly.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I HATE cars. For a long time, my husband even was filling my car up with gas (this was when he had a company car and he'd use mine to go visit friends). I don't even want to fill my car with gas. I feel stupid and too small and weak. But I got fed up with the damn power outlets and the fact I had no windshield fluid. I had to even ask if they sold windshield fluid 'cause I would just put water in it save for the fact that I know water isn't blue. (Asked husband if I could put windex in. *lol* He looked at me cross-eyed and said, "Uh, no.") I just got fed up and said, heck, it's got to be like a computer or wiring speakers and TV/DVD Players up. Yeah! But it's a lot bigger. And, like, you can't get into it very easily. (And I still can't get that stoopid compartment back in; keeps falling out. I need a man to do it....)

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

What a sucky day. I know the dead battery all too well. Not fun. What I'm going to guess happened (and what happened to me) is that one of the cells in the battery went bad. Say it's a 12V battery with 4 cells. Your car needs to see 9V from the battery to do anything. Well, over time you can no longer charge each cell to it's full 3V meaning that your battery with one bad cell was likely putting out around 7-8V meaning car no do nothing.

After I had one car incident, I put the roadside assistance number into my cell so I wouldn't have to try to look it up.

As to why you couldn't get it jumped from your friend's car, was the car running at the time? And if it was, did they give it some gas to so that it wasn't just idling? And it also depends on whether their car was smaller than yours. I know some little 4 cylinder engine car could never jump one of our big ol' 8 cylinder engines. Heck, my car has 2 batteries in it because the Hemi engine is a power hog on start up. Thankfully the one time J ran down my little Sebring, it was the Sebring and I knew the truck could jump it (after I had to park the truck on the grass because the batteries were on opposite sides and the cables not quite that long). If it was the truck that was dead, I'm not sure the Sebring alternator would put out enough juice to get the truck going.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Kindness comes from the most unexpected people, sometimes. Mr Tattoo-Head does indeed deserve a medal.

A few years ago our car battery exploded. That was exciting.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

It exploded? OMG. I think I would have died of excitement!

Yeah, bless that Mr Tattoo-Head. He looked a bit creepy with his shaved head and tattoo on it, srsly, but he was ever so helpful.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Yes, I turned the key in the ignition and there was an almighty bang and then nothing.

It was dark. Couldn't see a bloody thing. Husband thought I had destroyed the car. But no. The car was just developing a personality.

[lilyginny27.livejournal.com]

What lovely friends to help out like that. Everything has a silver lining :-)

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I feel very loved. LOL

off topic

[mollyssister.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE ON THE QUIZ!!!
This week the theme is Happy Birthday Hermione. I expect you will recognize the answer to #5

quiz_sshg


Here is a pretty banner for your use!
http://pics.livejournal.com/morethansirius/pic/00028che/g48

Re: off topic

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

ZOMG! *iz dropping ded*

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I feel soooooo loved. *squeeeeeeeeee*

[hogwarts-91.livejournal.com]

Goodness, what a crappy night! I'm glad everything all worked eventually, and you found help in unexpected places. Sometimes, amidst the gazillion times a day when people really piss me off, I hear of someone doing something nice and my faith in the human race is restored (for a nanosecond, anyway).

Here's hoping today goes better!!

PS - I'm so happy you got some writing done before all Hell broke loose... sounds like it was an inspiring setting.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

It turned out to be adventurous rather than crappy. Thankfully, *points at icon* those entities must have stayed off the roads last night and all the nice people were out and about; I have no other explanation. :p

I love that Starbucks for writing more than any other, even though it's right on the main road with never-ending traffic, but there is something tranquil about it, and half of That Fic has been written there.

[apisa-b.livejournal.com]

Thank god, there are still very adorable and helpful people out there to make the world a better place.
I hope good karma is heading their way.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was my thought, too!

[elise-wanderer.livejournal.com]

I read this whole thing, picturing the cast of characters and alternately laughing and nodding sympathetically, and then I get to the line that tells me you're in Memphis, which happens to be where I was born and where I still have a few relatives (which may be why I never get back there anymore, but don't tell them!).

It's a tiny little world!

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! You know, it's a shame you're not here! I think Memphis has great potential, and there are a few people who are absolutely wonderful (and not only the ones involved in my rescue, lol).

Ignoring relatives is absolutely fine with me. It's the reason I have no wish to return to Germany. ;)

[elfarren.livejournal.com]

That sounds like quite the eventful day, both good and bad! I'm glad the tow truck guy was helpful in an I-don't-want-all-your-money way :) People like that are few and far between, so it's awesome you were able to get him to help you after all that BS with the phone people.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Tow truck guy was simply amazing. If ever I see him again, I will buy him a coffee, for sure!

It surely was an eventful day, but the good really overwhelmed the bad, and for that, I'm grateful. It was as it should be, but so often isn't these days, so there's hope for humanity yet. I think. LOL