Totally unrelated...
... to anything I would normally put here:
Today I spent the entire day Dealing With Car Issues. Called insurance agent to figure out why I have no registration for my car. (Nice traffic department guys yesterday blew off giving me a ticket and told me to call to find out what was up.) Insurance agent said it was renewed and everything's all legal, I just didn't have the paperwork/sticker. Went to the registry. Spent 10 painless minutes getting stuff sorted out, even though I had the same chick as last time who argued with me about whether I said "replace" or "return" when handing her my scorched old plate. Took car to get inspected. Shop pointed out my shredded wiper blades and dismissed the issue when I said I had new ones in trunk, then used half an hour figuring out that the emissions machine wouldn't work on my car. Apologized profusely, and told me where another shop had a different kind of emissions machine. Took car to different place. Really long line, but jovial staff. 2 hours later, after Faking It with the new wiper blades (I couldn't get the old plastic bits off), failed emissions inspection. New shop also noticed I have a nail in my front right tire. (Sigh. Just got those rotated and checked 2 weeks ago.) I declined having them fix it, and they told me to Be Careful going home. Went to my favorite Audi shop and made an appointment for the six gazillion things going wrong with Greta Golf, plus oil change. They remembered my mileage off the top of their heads, and diagnosed my electrical problem and wheel bearing issue just by my vague humming noises and flapping motions. On the way home, in 5:00 traffic, the car overheated. Stopped for groceries so the car would cool down, then limped home with it.
Now, normally, I would consider this kind of day very stressful and a pain in the ass. Except for one thing. From the guy in the RMV parking lot who was willing to move his SUV so I could park my motorcycle in a spot next to another motorcycle instead of sharing the space, to the rotund African man with the big smile and teensy toddler girl on his shoulders outside the dojo... every single person I encountered today was nice.
Today I spent the entire day Dealing With Car Issues. Called insurance agent to figure out why I have no registration for my car. (Nice traffic department guys yesterday blew off giving me a ticket and told me to call to find out what was up.) Insurance agent said it was renewed and everything's all legal, I just didn't have the paperwork/sticker. Went to the registry. Spent 10 painless minutes getting stuff sorted out, even though I had the same chick as last time who argued with me about whether I said "replace" or "return" when handing her my scorched old plate. Took car to get inspected. Shop pointed out my shredded wiper blades and dismissed the issue when I said I had new ones in trunk, then used half an hour figuring out that the emissions machine wouldn't work on my car. Apologized profusely, and told me where another shop had a different kind of emissions machine. Took car to different place. Really long line, but jovial staff. 2 hours later, after Faking It with the new wiper blades (I couldn't get the old plastic bits off), failed emissions inspection. New shop also noticed I have a nail in my front right tire. (Sigh. Just got those rotated and checked 2 weeks ago.) I declined having them fix it, and they told me to Be Careful going home. Went to my favorite Audi shop and made an appointment for the six gazillion things going wrong with Greta Golf, plus oil change. They remembered my mileage off the top of their heads, and diagnosed my electrical problem and wheel bearing issue just by my vague humming noises and flapping motions. On the way home, in 5:00 traffic, the car overheated. Stopped for groceries so the car would cool down, then limped home with it.
Now, normally, I would consider this kind of day very stressful and a pain in the ass. Except for one thing. From the guy in the RMV parking lot who was willing to move his SUV so I could park my motorcycle in a spot next to another motorcycle instead of sharing the space, to the rotund African man with the big smile and teensy toddler girl on his shoulders outside the dojo... every single person I encountered today was nice.