Logjammin'
The car's running again (it was severely low on oil and coolant, and desperately needed a flush), but now the check engine light comes on. So I'm taking it back to the shop tomorrow morning before work, so they can check the code and see if it's just a false positive or something. I hope so. I'm putting off replacing the seized up AC compressor for a few weeks (this was the source of the burning smell). It's goddamn expensive, but without it I can't run the defroster. You try living in Minnesota without a working defroster on your car.
Mom and Dad came up on Sunday to help me with the rest of my autumnal yard work and tree surgery. Dad brought his electric chainsaw, which was an immense help. But here's the thing: Dad has a terrible problem with mission creep when it comes to household projects. He way overestimates what we can do as a team, and what he can do now that he's in his seventies and diabetic. I used to have a pile of sticks and branches about the size of my car, and over the past three weeks I pared it down to a few logs about seven feet long and as thick as my arm. Well, now I've got a pile of branches and logs twice as big as my car, plus several piles of unbagged leaves. Gee, thanks Dad. I keep reminding myself that it all really needed to be done (the tree was seriously overgrown), and that now I'll have less yard work next year, but it's taking a phenomenal amount of mental effort. I don't see how I'm going to get this done by the yard waste pickup deadline.
Still, it was pretty fun playing lumberjack for an afternoon. Dad left me the chainsaw, so maybe this time the bundling process won't be as prolonged and debilitating.
The car troubles made me miss a day and two hours worth of work. And of course major problems came up in my absence, which were not fixable by anyone else in the department. I did not enjoy work today.
Some other things I miraculously need to do by Omegacon:
1. Write overdue MISFITs Trivia Contest questions.
2. Get a wi-fi card for my laptop.
3. Work ahead on my Spanish homework to compensate for missing a weekend.
4. Use this birthday gift certificate from Fossil to get myself a decent watch.
5. Set up mousetraps and other rodent deterrents.
6. Kick improv ass.
Argh.
Mom and Dad came up on Sunday to help me with the rest of my autumnal yard work and tree surgery. Dad brought his electric chainsaw, which was an immense help. But here's the thing: Dad has a terrible problem with mission creep when it comes to household projects. He way overestimates what we can do as a team, and what he can do now that he's in his seventies and diabetic. I used to have a pile of sticks and branches about the size of my car, and over the past three weeks I pared it down to a few logs about seven feet long and as thick as my arm. Well, now I've got a pile of branches and logs twice as big as my car, plus several piles of unbagged leaves. Gee, thanks Dad. I keep reminding myself that it all really needed to be done (the tree was seriously overgrown), and that now I'll have less yard work next year, but it's taking a phenomenal amount of mental effort. I don't see how I'm going to get this done by the yard waste pickup deadline.
Still, it was pretty fun playing lumberjack for an afternoon. Dad left me the chainsaw, so maybe this time the bundling process won't be as prolonged and debilitating.
The car troubles made me miss a day and two hours worth of work. And of course major problems came up in my absence, which were not fixable by anyone else in the department. I did not enjoy work today.
Some other things I miraculously need to do by Omegacon:
1. Write overdue MISFITs Trivia Contest questions.
2. Get a wi-fi card for my laptop.
3. Work ahead on my Spanish homework to compensate for missing a weekend.
4. Use this birthday gift certificate from Fossil to get myself a decent watch.
5. Set up mousetraps and other rodent deterrents.
6. Kick improv ass.
Argh.