( In which another NV road trip ends in vehicular misfortune )

Tonight I watched the 6th digit of the odometer change in a Volvo for the 4th time. (Not all of those miles were driven by me; not including rentals and other people's cars I figure I've driven ~350K+ miles.)

The shitbox was the family car when I was growing up; it was mostly exclusively my car by senior year of high school and IIRC it hit 100K ( Read more... )

I recently "sold" the shitbox to one of my co-workers -- well, basically I gave it away. The registration was going to be due in August anyway and I had already decided I wasn't going to renew (seemed silly to carry registration+insurance for a vehicle I might drive 6-8 times a year), and coincidentally the co-worker had a need because his pickup ( Read more... )

I'm back in California again for half a week for a wide variety of reasons. Some work stuff, going to tonight's Sharks game with S., playing in the NAP district finals with Nathan on Saturday (we qualified at the club and unit level before I moved, and the conditions of contest permit you to complete the competition in the district in which you ( Read more... )

The AAA physical damage appraiser contacted me this evening while I was in the car[1] and gave it to me straight[2]: "I have bad news." As related on Facebook, they currently value the car at $3877, and the estimate is $4152. One of you car guys wanna take a quick gander and see if this all sounds plausible? (Maybe stevecohen? There's another free shrimp ( Read more... )

(I'm waiting for a smog check on the shitbox)

Cute bartender.

Empty stomach.

Cute bartender.

Empty stomach.

Hmm... (he asked me about my Treo a few minutes ago too)

I went by HD earlier this evening to pick up some stuff we need at work. I had just closed my car door when an old, gaunt black man with a scraggly beard knocked on my window and said "Excuse me!" I've been panhandled in this parking lot before, but there was no real way out without running him over, so I opened the door slightly (my keys were ( Read more... )

I drove hockey carpool today, and just before we got to the rink, we hit a massive pothole (a lot of them have been cropping up in the near-constant rain here in NorCal) after which we heard a metallic rubbing sound with each revolution of the wheel. I wouldn't have thought the tire could go flat that quickly, and after pulling into the parking ( Read more... )

It's a hole in the radiator, so it needs replacing, and they recommend doing the thermostat and some other part at the same time (I forget what the 3rd thing was). ~$450 parts & labor.

Between this and the license plate holder light thing, maybe it's just time to retire the car (although, in spite of the melodrama in that entry, I've continued to ( Read more... )

Thanks for the responses. It is basically a free tow (although you only get a certain # of free incidents per year, I can't imagine going over) so that did seem like the way to go ( Read more... )