A Minor Variation

...with a couple hitches.

I got my car back this morning! Everything was covered by insurance, including the use of the rental car for two weeks, and it looks as good as new. You can only tell where the work was done by touching the paint, because it feels smoother. They basically ended up repainting the entire back end of the car, in order to match the paint or something like that.

I got to enjoy having my car back for, oh, a few hours before I tried to go out to join some friends for dinner and it would not start.

Turns out the battery was bad. I'd had it checked like a month ago and it was fine, so I'm not sure if the auto shop guys ran it down somehow or what. It was the car's original battery, admittedly. So I got a jumpstart and went and got a new battery and everything seems okay now. But, geez.

So on Saturday on my way home from work I noticed that my car was making an unpleasant knocking sound in the engine. At that point it was after 7 pm and there wasn't much I could do but go home and leave it be until Monday, but yesterday morning I got up early to check on it and, sure enough, the noise was still there and sounding even worse.

So I called into work and took it to the shop.

Apparently it is time to buy a replacement car.

Work helpfully refuses to let me have any time off until maybe Thursday and Friday of next week, so now I get to either try to rush through the entire business of finding and buying a car tomorrow - bad idea - or try to arrange for rides to and from work for... a while.

Today makes the second time I have gone to lunch only to find that my car would not start and I would have to ride home in a tow truck.

I am not liking making a habit of this. :(

The Ninjamobile is in the shop.

I knew it needed looking at; it's been overdue for an oil change and general looking-over, and the power steering recently went out. This morning it was a bit sluggish to start, and the speedometer started failing, but since work had agreed to let me take a personal day tomorrow to take it in, I was hoping it would make it that long.

No such luck. When I went on my lunch break, the battery was dead, and when I managed to get it jump-started it refused to come out of park. I had to call for a tow. Providentially, the shop is about five lots down the street from my apartment, and one of the team managers promised me she'd clear the rest of the day for me, so I was able to catch a ride with the tow truck and walk home from the shop, and my car is currently there. No word yet on how bad off it is. I'll be checking with them tomorrow if they don't call me first.

To keep myself from stressing out over it, I am rewatching bits of Gundam SEED and Ouran High School Host Club so that I can finish the fics I owe annwyd and atrocity... and also dorking out over Pony Island.

I always did love My Little Ponies.

My CAR.

...well, okay, it's probably just an unusually scary-looking flat tire. I was pulling out of the parking lot of my apartment building to go back to work and it started limping and making a really scary BANG BANG BANG noise, so I pulled over, and... that sucker's not going anywhere tonight.

It was nicely timed in that it happened an easy walk from my apartment and right next to a tire & automotive shop. Not so nicely timed in that I was supposed to work another four hours tonight, and had in fact been asked to stay an extra fifteen minutes because people had called in. But considering that it was 7:30 on a Saturday night and there was no one I could, say, borrow a car or bum a ride from... no help for it. I called in, left a voice mail since they don't man the resource central line at 7:30 on a Saturday.

Edit: Got a call back from one of the managers at work, who apparently got worried when I didn't make it back in and managed to check the messages. Official word is don't worry about it, they're happy I'm alive and not stranded someplace scary.

Hopefully should be all fixed by Tuesday. I hope.

The next few days promise to be interesting. My car stopped last night and refused to start again, so I am currently carless. This means, among other things, that I won't be able to fulfill the part of my job that requires me to go to the bank and post office every morning, and some sort of alternative will have to be arranged until I have a vehicle again. Yay.

On the bright side, my car had the excellent timing to stop in a parking lot which actually adjoined the lot of an auto shop, and when I walked over there they were willing to send some guys to look at it, determine that the problem was probably the starter, and push it over to the shop so someone could take a closer look this morning. They're supposed to give me a call once that's been done. It had the further good timing to happen the day I deposited my paycheck, and I'm told that starters aren't so expensive. My biggest worry at the moment is that this is going to be the precursor to larger problems. On the other hand, I like the shop that's got it; I've been there for oil changes and minor stuff like wiper blades and taillights a couple of times, and they're always really cool. They were in fact sufficiently cool enough to give me a ride home last night after I couldn't get hold of my mother, so... small blessings.

Crossing my fingers for a quick repair and no further problems for a while. In the meantime, I'm bumming rides to work and will probably not be around on my lunch break as I usually am. Which if I get paid for the extra hour is not so bad. Maybe I can get Ashley to pick something up for me when he goes.

For everyone who wasn't around to hear my bitching about it previously - I got into a car accident yesterday in Mobile.

I'm not hurt, and my car is still driveable, thank God. I was heading down Government Street, a very picturesque 4-lane divided highway lined with old live oaks and expensive homes. Up until then, I had been having a pretty good day; I like driving, especially by myself. The lanes there were kind of narrow, so cars were pretty close together, and I was doing maybe 35 mph when a big old truck in the left lane tried to merge right without noticing that my car was next to its right front tire.

He should have seen me. I can't think of any good reason that he wouldn't have seen me. At least he stopped afterward; we exchanged insurance information etc. His truck wasn't even scratched. There is, however, a big wheel-mark on my driver's door, and the front left fender is dented so badly that the door doesn't open all the way any more. The rear-view mirror got knocked out of alignment, too.

I contacted the insurance company today, so they're looking into it. As long as he's either a) not currently insured or b) has liability coverage and is determined to be at fault (hello, big wheel mark on my door) the insurance should pay for the repairs.

I did not need this.

I should be grateful that it wasn't worse - am grateful, believe me - but the stupidity of the whole thing just pisses me off. And I still have to get my transcripts and letters of reference sorted out this week, in addition to being available for the insurance company to conduct their liability investigation and examine my car.

Meh.