from one rainy day to another...

thursday 04.10.08

i tutor in the library after school on thursdays. the program ends at 4:30. this particular day two girls stayed a little later with me... neither of them are my students, but i adore both of them so i didn't mind staying late. i finally made it out of the building and into the rain around 5:20. i got into my car fairly wet only to have it decide not to start. before panicking i remembered other times several years ago when the car wouldn't start because of the security system so i tried locking and unlocking the car using both the door buttons and the clicker. nothing worked. i called dana and had to leave a message. i called josh and he picked up... but he was out with tom and age... fortunately they were getting ready to leave dick's and would come save me soon. of course, before getting off the phone, he tells me that hopefully it is just the battery but it could be the alternator (just what i wanted to hear seeing as though it had been just two or thee weeks since i took it into vandam's and had a beautiful $600 bill when i returned to pick it up).

the boys arrived and i got out in the now heavier rain to get the jumper cables out of my trunk and they popped the hood. turns out that we needed to move my car so i had to put it in neutral and the three of them pushed the car back a bit so that age could pull his car up by mine (i was parked next to one of the autoshop's cars... otherwise we wouldn't have had to worry about it since i was one of the crazy few still at the school!) after hooking the car up and jumping it, the car was great and ready to go! the boys sent me to autozone because they would test my car for free, so i thanked them and headed on out to continue on this lovely adventure.

i get to autozone and look like a drenched rat... they must have felt so sorry for me! the guy comes out in the rain with me and we pop the hood and he goes to test the battery and i'm like, "oh, right, the battery is under the backseat." (i don't even know why... this car is one of a kind!) so i pull the backseat off and he tests the battery and the thing is just going crazy and he's like, you need a new battery. so i asked if they could change it and he said he'd have to ask his boss, but since it was inside the car he didn't know. so we trekked back into the store and he asks the boss, but of course, they won't change it so he recommends farm and fleet. i go back out to the car and it won't start... obviously. so i get out in the rain again and go into the store and the guy comes out and jumps it with i don't even know what, but just a small boxy thing. so now it's off to farm and fleet...

i call dana to give her this latest update and she suggests calling first so i don't go all the way out there to find out they won't do it (good idea seeing at though farm and fleet is pretty much the furthest point from my apartment in all of champaign and urbana). so i call and after a while i finally get to talk to someone in the battery department and he looks and they have one! then i ask the really important question about if they'd change it since it's internal and he said yes! i was so excited! so i continue on my trek across town and get to farm and fleet and go straight to the automotive area... then it was a nice little parade to get to where i actually needed to go, but eventually i got there and they got the battery and put in the work request and then just wandered around for a bit... after a while my feet got tired so i bought dinner (reese's pieces and raisinets!) and went back to the automotive waiting room where i ate that oh-so-healthy dinner and then a few minutes later the car was done! so i took the receipt, went back into the store and up to the front counters and paid (a lovely $150... gotta love an internal battery for a big engine car!) and then was free to go home! the car drove perfectly and i finally got home at 8:00... yeah... good thing i didn't have much to do!

the good news is that despite my fears that it was also the alternator, the car has been starting just fine and running perfectly! phew!