shopping and car woes
went Christmas shopping today. left home later than i meant to 'cuz i was installing software on my computer. turned out okay, though. got a pretty close parking spot, and it wasn't really that crowded. no long lines either. so i got most of the gifts i wanted to get. only a few things / people left. yay! of course, i was bad a bought a few 'gifts' for myself too. my feet sure hurt by the time i'd spent two hours at the mall though. oh well. i even finished in time to go to the gym.
on the way from the gym i managed to drive into a snow bank. i was driving on the service road along the highway. the giant snowblower was clearing out the right hand lane (which was only half a lane yesterday). it had left a big patch of snow in one place behind itself. i couldn't tell how big the patch was until i was too close to move to the other lane or slow down (okay, i was speeding). i hit the patch of snow, did some big slalom style fishtails, spun a near 180, and plowed into the snow bank on the side of the road...which just happened to be on top of a sidewalk, so i guess i jumped the curb too. anyway, once the road was clear (a whole bunch of cars just drove right on by...including one that was right behind me and must have watched the whole thing), i backed Izzy out, ducked into the nearest drive way (i was kinda going the wrong way at that point), took a quick look at Izzy (who looked just fine), kissed her steering wheel, and headed back onto the road the right way. went to the gym as scheduled. i was feeling pretty great about my near miss.
of course, while i was in the gym i accidentally left my dome light on. i had to turn it on to find my glasses case which had gone sliding during the whole spin-out event. i should know better. about half the time i turn a dome light on, i don't notice that it's still on when i get out of the car. anyway, did my workout. noticed the dome light. said "eek!" Izzy started up just fine, though, so i figured forty-five minutes didn't do too much damage to my battery. then, when i turned into my parking space at home, i noticed that my dash lights were really dim. i decided to back out and drive around a bit to charge the battery. didn't get very far before i noticed that my dash lights were really dim, and there was a strong possibility that i didn't have headlights any more. turned around to high tail it home. got headlight flashed a few times to confirm that i was, indeed, lacking headlights. made it home fine. there's so many street lights around here that it's not like i really noticed the difference. experimentally, i tried restarting Izzy after i turned her off. nope. nada. nilch. *thuds head on desk*
kicked the car a few times. probably freaked out my OCD neighbor. once i got up to my apartment, i called the daddy-man. yes, i am a strong and independent woman. still, some things require calling daddy. he said to pop the hood tomorrow and see if i can see if anything is obviously disconnected. otherwise, i'll have to jump start her and immediately take her off to a garage. well, even if something is disconnected, i'll probably still have to jump start her. i figure i probably managed to disconnect the alternator. the damn thing is always so sensitive. dad said i may also have disconnected or cracked the battery. isn't that exciting? anyway, this may mean that i won't make it to my department Christmas party tomorrow. i'm not really all that upset about that. oh well. i think i'm going to go drown myself in TV. hmmm...and eat dinner. dinner would be good.
on the way from the gym i managed to drive into a snow bank. i was driving on the service road along the highway. the giant snowblower was clearing out the right hand lane (which was only half a lane yesterday). it had left a big patch of snow in one place behind itself. i couldn't tell how big the patch was until i was too close to move to the other lane or slow down (okay, i was speeding). i hit the patch of snow, did some big slalom style fishtails, spun a near 180, and plowed into the snow bank on the side of the road...which just happened to be on top of a sidewalk, so i guess i jumped the curb too. anyway, once the road was clear (a whole bunch of cars just drove right on by...including one that was right behind me and must have watched the whole thing), i backed Izzy out, ducked into the nearest drive way (i was kinda going the wrong way at that point), took a quick look at Izzy (who looked just fine), kissed her steering wheel, and headed back onto the road the right way. went to the gym as scheduled. i was feeling pretty great about my near miss.
of course, while i was in the gym i accidentally left my dome light on. i had to turn it on to find my glasses case which had gone sliding during the whole spin-out event. i should know better. about half the time i turn a dome light on, i don't notice that it's still on when i get out of the car. anyway, did my workout. noticed the dome light. said "eek!" Izzy started up just fine, though, so i figured forty-five minutes didn't do too much damage to my battery. then, when i turned into my parking space at home, i noticed that my dash lights were really dim. i decided to back out and drive around a bit to charge the battery. didn't get very far before i noticed that my dash lights were really dim, and there was a strong possibility that i didn't have headlights any more. turned around to high tail it home. got headlight flashed a few times to confirm that i was, indeed, lacking headlights. made it home fine. there's so many street lights around here that it's not like i really noticed the difference. experimentally, i tried restarting Izzy after i turned her off. nope. nada. nilch. *thuds head on desk*
kicked the car a few times. probably freaked out my OCD neighbor. once i got up to my apartment, i called the daddy-man. yes, i am a strong and independent woman. still, some things require calling daddy. he said to pop the hood tomorrow and see if i can see if anything is obviously disconnected. otherwise, i'll have to jump start her and immediately take her off to a garage. well, even if something is disconnected, i'll probably still have to jump start her. i figure i probably managed to disconnect the alternator. the damn thing is always so sensitive. dad said i may also have disconnected or cracked the battery. isn't that exciting? anyway, this may mean that i won't make it to my department Christmas party tomorrow. i'm not really all that upset about that. oh well. i think i'm going to go drown myself in TV. hmmm...and eat dinner. dinner would be good.