A different sort of day
I got home early for reasons you will read about later in this post and went to comment on my comments, but either HaloScan is having problems or my borrowed internet connection is acting up again (I'm not complaining - you get what you pay for and I'm not paying for this borrowed connection so no complaints from me.) Instead I'll take this opportunity to post about my odd day in notepad and transfer it to blogger later.

The day stared out weird when Rob and I overslept even though the alarm was set. As usual, I woke up the moment the first bits of daylight started to come in the windows which was about 7:00 am - the time Rob and I normally LEAVE for work. I didn't have to be at work at 7:30 today so I tried to stay out of Rob's way and decided to leave the house around 9:00. This gave me ample time to shower, drink coffee and take care of a few emails. That turned out to be a good thing because I got a couple of miles from my house when my car decided to crap out. Had this happened on a morning where I didn't have time to wake up and have some coffee before I left then things could have been a lot uglier.

The verdict was a thrown belt and there was much speculation as to why the belt was thrown in the first place (either the harmonic balancer was out of balance or it was a frozen alternator), but there was no driving the car any further. I managed to get it into a parking lot decorated with a number of "tow away zone" signs and went inside to beg their forgiveness. Permission was granted and I then lugged my 40 pounds worth of briefcase (10 pounds of laptop and 30 pounds of "stuff") down the street to Jack-in-the-Box for some morning sustenance. Made a few phone calls and discovered the "must do" office stuff was covered (amazing, but true) and that Rob had a good opportunity to get off work early (also amazing, but true.) It seems it was meant to be. After my stint at the J-Box I wandered down to my car and discovered internet access which enabled me to take care of a few work-related emails. After a time, Rob arrived (my knight in shining armor, er - make that my knight in shining INK) and transported me to Rising Sun who wouldn't head my pleas to fix a "domestic" model, but referred me to D & B Automotive down the street. It's a place that's been there for a long time, but I've never used them. In fact, this is the first time I've ever faced finding a repair shop for my own vehicle because in days long past I always fixed my own. I've been lucky since then, but it seems my luck has run out so we wander in and discover it's a good old-fashioned South Austin repair shop. I'm immediately at ease and hand over the keys and give them the location of the vehicle. .

At this point Rob's off work, not making any money and I'm off work, not making any money so of course we wander into Maudies (just up the street) and spend money that we are not making on drinks while we hang out and wait for the verdict from the auto repair shop. And the verdict's not good, folks. $1100 to repair a car that worth $1000 in good running condition. It was my worst fear come true; the harmonic balancer is out of round and it's on a transverse mounted motor. I've changed my share of harmonic balancers (and seals) and in this case you have to pull the motor, plus the part is only available special order from the dealer so I'm not questioning the amount. If anything, the repair shop is giving me a bit of a break here. But I can't afford that break and a few drinks at Maudies and some missed hours of work doesn't even begin to make a dent in that kind of bill so we decide not to feel guilty about our little monetary transgression at Maudies.

We wander home after the depressing news and I do something that I don't do often enough. I call my parents for advice. It is, after all, THEIR car on paper (we haven't yet transferred the title) which provides me with the perfect excuse to call. But what's really going on is that Rob's post the other day about his dad reminded me that I do have that resource; a resource I very rarely use because I'm still, after all these years, acting like that teenager I used to be who was desperately trying to be "independent". One would think I'd be past that at almost 43 years old, but no, it normally takes a MAJOR crisis in my life before I'll pick up the phone and call my folks. Today, I changed the rules. I called and said "The car's broke; here's what it will cost; what do you think?" And I discovered that I'm definitely my father's child when he said "Have it towed to your house and we'll think about it." Ditto. But it was sooo sweet to get that ditto.