a vonnegut adventure with antifreeze
"Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around." -- Kurt Vonnegut.
Words to live by, and not unlike that koan about the strawberry.
Yesterday I drove down to the beach, to sit around and enjoy the sunlight and listen to the radio. Then the radiator in my car blew out. All I was doing was sitting there at the end, watching the boats, listening to music. Then there was a noise like opening a giant shaken soda can, and a great plume of steam came out from under the hood. The heat gauge was all the way down at Cold, and the car was just sitting there. I don't even know how I managed that. I called roadside service, answered the question about whether I was safe with "I'm sitting at the beach and it's gorgeous out!" and kicked back to wait.
When the tow guy arrived I opened up the hood to look at the damage. I'd been hoping that the radiator cap had just popped off and a gallon of water would have me on my merry way once more. Not so: the radiator looked like the right side of the Titanic. Coolant sadly leaked everywhere. Alas. When a tow guy peers into your engine and goes "Sheeeyit," you are in trouble.
The tow truck driver and I had fun cracking each other up on the way over to the mechanic. He told me funny tow-truck-driving stories and I told him he needs to see Mythbusters and we laughed about Type A drivers in expensive cars. He had the dispatcher call a cab to get me from the autoshop to home. Then, of course, Tim was there and said, "If you hadn't already called the cab out I'd offer you a ride home!" So we said hey and he asked how my mom is and we caught up until the taxi cab arrived. Then the cab driver told me about living in Russia and Brooklyn and what the white nights are and how Women's Day is a big deal over there.
I had a lot of fun on this little broken-car adventure, which I am going to cling to quite desperately when the repair bill comes in.
Words to live by, and not unlike that koan about the strawberry.
Yesterday I drove down to the beach, to sit around and enjoy the sunlight and listen to the radio. Then the radiator in my car blew out. All I was doing was sitting there at the end, watching the boats, listening to music. Then there was a noise like opening a giant shaken soda can, and a great plume of steam came out from under the hood. The heat gauge was all the way down at Cold, and the car was just sitting there. I don't even know how I managed that. I called roadside service, answered the question about whether I was safe with "I'm sitting at the beach and it's gorgeous out!" and kicked back to wait.
When the tow guy arrived I opened up the hood to look at the damage. I'd been hoping that the radiator cap had just popped off and a gallon of water would have me on my merry way once more. Not so: the radiator looked like the right side of the Titanic. Coolant sadly leaked everywhere. Alas. When a tow guy peers into your engine and goes "Sheeeyit," you are in trouble.
The tow truck driver and I had fun cracking each other up on the way over to the mechanic. He told me funny tow-truck-driving stories and I told him he needs to see Mythbusters and we laughed about Type A drivers in expensive cars. He had the dispatcher call a cab to get me from the autoshop to home. Then, of course, Tim was there and said, "If you hadn't already called the cab out I'd offer you a ride home!" So we said hey and he asked how my mom is and we caught up until the taxi cab arrived. Then the cab driver told me about living in Russia and Brooklyn and what the white nights are and how Women's Day is a big deal over there.
I had a lot of fun on this little broken-car adventure, which I am going to cling to quite desperately when the repair bill comes in.