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It's been a day
Aug. 24th, 2011 09:00 pmI took the day off yesterday. I woke up after a very unpleasant dream. I had gone shopping somewhere in the Ford (our 1989 Ford Festiva). I left the shop to find four big guys lurking around my car. I chased them off, but not before they apparently managed to steal the transmission. Not the whole car, just the transmission, rendering it undriveable.
So I called my lovely wife on the phone, very upset about this (more so than would really be warranted by this in real life), and asked her to come pick me up. A long silence ensues. I ask if she's still there. She is. Will she pick me up?
"I'm thinking," she says. And another long silence follows. And then I wake up.
Make of this dream what you will.
In the real world, I got up at 6 a.m. to drive Twoson to a dental appointment. He'd been having serious tooth pain for a while, and we got an emergency appointment for him. That went well. They numbed his mouth, they drilled and filled the tooth. It's a temporary filling; he'll need to schedule another dental visit in the next three months to get it permanently fixed, but he's no longer in pain.
While he was getting drilled I called my doctor's office and made an appointment to see a doctor that afternoon at 1:30 for a couple of minor issues of my own.
On the way home from the dental office (about 9:30), I thought I saw steam flicker at the front of the car (our newer car, the Hyundai Elantra) a couple of times. Oh crap. The engine temp gauge is nearing the red zone. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! We just had the car serviced (and all the fluids checked and topped up) recently. But it's definitely overheating. I slowed down, hoping I could nurse it all the way home--and the temp dropped sharply, for a couple of minutes, then began rising again.
Finally I pulled over to the side of I-205 (the very busy by-pass highway). The radiator steamed enthusiastically. I shut off the engine. I called Snippy briefly to gripe. Then I called AAA. We maintain our premium membership for just such situations (it includes one tow anywhere with a considerable distance per incident).
Tow driver arrives about half an hour later (10 a.m.), and Twoson and I ride with him while he delivers the car to the dealership's service department. Alas, they have no loaner vehicles available--they're all out/scheduled for other customers. So we walk three blocks to the light rail station and take the MAX home, arriving there about noon.
I haven't eaten yet today (I didn't get breakfast before we left, as I often don't). So I gobble something quickly before hopping into the Ford--so old it doesn't having working AC*--to drive to the doctor's office. On one of the hottest days of the year so far, of course. It was uncomfortably warm, but I can manage, and I do.
But Snippy wilts in the heat. After my doctor's visit, I drove around to get prescriptions filled, visit the library (ahhhh--air conditioning and graphic novels), and then go back downtown to lurk in Pioneer Place (an underground mall), where I marvel at the Amazing Shrinking Food Court: four closed up spaces and one that was closed for business, though whether permanently or just for the afternoon I couldn't tell.
Then I picked up my lovely and talented but heat-sensitive wife and drove her home as fast as safety and the law would allow. There we ensconced her in the (well-air conditioned) bedroom with the laptop so she could eat, read, and netsurf in cool comfort. Eventually she felt well enough to come out into the less effectively air conditioned living/dining room to do some sewing.
Tomorrow I get to take the MAX back out to Gresham to pick up the car. Turns out, it was a cracked radiator, and it's been replaced. That would explain why it went from driving fine to overheating so suddenly, but I don't know WHY the radiator cracked.
All in all, it was a long, hot day with lots of travel all over the metro area. I'm just as glad I don't have to do that again anytime soon. I hope.
*There's nothing wrong with the AC system. But it's old enough to require CFCs for the compressor, and they're not allowed to use them any more.
So I called my lovely wife on the phone, very upset about this (more so than would really be warranted by this in real life), and asked her to come pick me up. A long silence ensues. I ask if she's still there. She is. Will she pick me up?
"I'm thinking," she says. And another long silence follows. And then I wake up.
Make of this dream what you will.
In the real world, I got up at 6 a.m. to drive Twoson to a dental appointment. He'd been having serious tooth pain for a while, and we got an emergency appointment for him. That went well. They numbed his mouth, they drilled and filled the tooth. It's a temporary filling; he'll need to schedule another dental visit in the next three months to get it permanently fixed, but he's no longer in pain.
While he was getting drilled I called my doctor's office and made an appointment to see a doctor that afternoon at 1:30 for a couple of minor issues of my own.
On the way home from the dental office (about 9:30), I thought I saw steam flicker at the front of the car (our newer car, the Hyundai Elantra) a couple of times. Oh crap. The engine temp gauge is nearing the red zone. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! We just had the car serviced (and all the fluids checked and topped up) recently. But it's definitely overheating. I slowed down, hoping I could nurse it all the way home--and the temp dropped sharply, for a couple of minutes, then began rising again.
Finally I pulled over to the side of I-205 (the very busy by-pass highway). The radiator steamed enthusiastically. I shut off the engine. I called Snippy briefly to gripe. Then I called AAA. We maintain our premium membership for just such situations (it includes one tow anywhere with a considerable distance per incident).
Tow driver arrives about half an hour later (10 a.m.), and Twoson and I ride with him while he delivers the car to the dealership's service department. Alas, they have no loaner vehicles available--they're all out/scheduled for other customers. So we walk three blocks to the light rail station and take the MAX home, arriving there about noon.
I haven't eaten yet today (I didn't get breakfast before we left, as I often don't). So I gobble something quickly before hopping into the Ford--so old it doesn't having working AC*--to drive to the doctor's office. On one of the hottest days of the year so far, of course. It was uncomfortably warm, but I can manage, and I do.
But Snippy wilts in the heat. After my doctor's visit, I drove around to get prescriptions filled, visit the library (ahhhh--air conditioning and graphic novels), and then go back downtown to lurk in Pioneer Place (an underground mall), where I marvel at the Amazing Shrinking Food Court: four closed up spaces and one that was closed for business, though whether permanently or just for the afternoon I couldn't tell.
Then I picked up my lovely and talented but heat-sensitive wife and drove her home as fast as safety and the law would allow. There we ensconced her in the (well-air conditioned) bedroom with the laptop so she could eat, read, and netsurf in cool comfort. Eventually she felt well enough to come out into the less effectively air conditioned living/dining room to do some sewing.
Tomorrow I get to take the MAX back out to Gresham to pick up the car. Turns out, it was a cracked radiator, and it's been replaced. That would explain why it went from driving fine to overheating so suddenly, but I don't know WHY the radiator cracked.
All in all, it was a long, hot day with lots of travel all over the metro area. I'm just as glad I don't have to do that again anytime soon. I hope.
*There's nothing wrong with the AC system. But it's old enough to require CFCs for the compressor, and they're not allowed to use them any more.