A Rotten Thursday

This is Steven Petrick posting:

Today seemed like a good day, until I turned the key in my car's ignition.

The dashboard lit up, but the starter did nothing. Not even a clicking noise.

Okay, it is a standard transmission, and I have "push started" it before from the apartment parking lot.

Well, here is a new joy of getting older.

My legs are no longer as powerful as they once were. I literally found it impossible to push the car onto the road. I got three of the four wheels past the gutter, but no matter how I struggled I could not overcome enough of the car's inertia to get that fourth wheel clear and the car entirely on the roadway. Worse I found that my knees would buckle from the effort. No pain involved (except when I drove one of the knees into the pavement), but they just will not hold. The locking mechanisms are apparently completely gone (at least when they are put under strain).

So I can walk around okay (if I pay at least some attention, the left leg tends to drag a little and does not work properly when I am coming down stairs), but moving heavy objects is no longer in my repertoire of capabilities (and sadly I can remember when I was able to move an I-beam by myself less than a decade ago).

So after considerable struggle and time invested in it, I finally got the car back into the parking lot such that it was not going to be towed by the parking lot enforcers (the apartment complex owners have instituted rules that if the towing company they have hired finds your car over the yellow lines, they can tow it and you have to pay to get it out of their impound, among other possible infractions).

Now I look at the time, and have to call SVC (already past 0930 hours) to let him know I am "delayed." Then instead of push starting my car, I have to call a tow company on my own to take the car to the dealership ($75.00, but at least I am not physically injured). Then, I have to wait for the tow truck (enough time to read the newspaper). Ride with the tow truck to the dealership so that I can explain the problem, then wait for them to produce a ride to work (they know me and knew I was coming as I had called them, so there was only a few minutes wait). So I make it to the office near lunch time. SVC hands me a reading assignment, and that pretty much finished my morning.

This afternoon I wound up making the mail run (Leanna lent me her car), and then got a call that my car was ready to be picked up and got SVC to take me to the dealership. I spoke with the manager because, well since the car had to go in for this starter problem (turned out to just be a loose wire) I had asked them to check the brakes (there is a "shudder" when I brake at speeds in excess of 40 miles an hour). That turned out to be a two part problem. The first part as you might guess if you know anything about brake systems is that a brake disc had become warped, and that was easily resolved. The second problem is that the bushings on the arms have nearly worn out, and those will have to be replaced.

So there goes about $1,000.00 all told. I will have to drop the car off with them on Monday (27 Feb 12), but at least afterwards I can have renewed confidence in my brakes.

The upshot is that I have accomplished nothing more today than the reading assignment SVC gave me, a few rules questions answered on the fly (but still researched because I know where to look for the specific answers or knew the specific explanation), and this blog, literally nothing more (although SVC has just asked me to check a few ship cards he has created).

Maybe tomorrow will be better, but this has been a pretty thoroughly rotten Thursday. Even so, I know enough to be grateful that things are not worse. After all, it might have been raining . . . wait, we have not had a good rain in so long that might actually have been a good thing.