Just one of those days
We have all had them. "Those days". The ones what come up without notice and make sure to leave you wondering what in the name of Batman and Robin's tights was all that about?
I had one today. It started out alright. I woke up early. I showered, shaved, checked email, yadda yadda. My wife actually got up with me (which is always a great way to start the day) and made coffee. The day was starting out aweomsetastic. Until I went out to my car to put my coffee in it.
As I put my head in the car I heard clicking. Repetitive clicking. It was coming from my stereo and my CD changer light was flashing. So I checked a mirror light and it was dim. The dome light was off completely. I put my key in the ignition, turned it and everything in my car went silent. There was nothing. No juice whatsoever. Awesome.
I went into the garage and looked for the jumpbox. To my chagrin I remembered that it had not been charged for almost a year. That means it would have been deader than a doornail. And it takes six to eight hours to charge from dead. Awesome.
Then I thought "Maybe I can just get the jumper cables and jump my car from the Suburban." Nah, no cables anywhere. Awesome.
So I had to call my insurance and ask for Roadside Assistance. This was actually a bright spot in my morning as the folks at GMAC Insurance are an absolute pleasure to deal with. They had me set up with a jump company and about an hour later I was on my way to work. Finally, something good is happening again. Oh, and for the record, my lights were on all night long. Yep, that'll kill that battery in the span of a night.
/* Insert work day here. */
I wrote code.
/* End insert work day. */
I left work tonight at about 5:15. Not a bad time to get out of work. I hit the road and very early on in my afternoon ride I began to notice that my car would suddenly surge. Out of nowhere my RPMs would spike from 2500 to about 5500 and I would feel absolutely no acceleration. This happened on and off from Concord to about San Ramon. In San Ramon it got a whole lot worse in quite a hurry. Awesome.
As I was on the phone with my wife asking her is she noticed anything odd about it when she drove it the night before. As I was talking to her my engine roared and my car began to slow down. I had nothing. No motive power in the car at all. This was at about 5:45.
I managed my way passed an off ramp and an on ramp and pulled over onto the side of the road. I tried to put my car in gear (which it allowed me to do) and go somewhere (which it did not allow me to do). I tried all gears. Not one of them offered a power connection. I was stranded on the side of the road. Awesome.
I called my insurance company again. I have been insured with them for almost three years and today was the first time I ever had to call them for something other than adding a car or removing a car from my policy. And wouldn't you know it, I had to call them twice. Anyway, I called roadside assistance and set up a tow. A few minutes later I was approached by a CHP service tow truck asking me if I wanted to be towed off the freeway to a safe drop location. At first I had said no, but when my tow company called me back and told me it would be an hour before I would be picked up, I ended up asking the guy for that lift not wanting to be stuck on the freeway for an hour. This was about 6:00.
So Mr. Boyd hooked me up and, after a not-so-brief stint with trying to help another vehicle on the side of the road, got me to my safe drop location where Jake and Kieran (Jake's niece) were waiting to tow me. It was about 6:55 or so.
Jake was a great guy and Kieran cracked us both up on the way to my repair shop (quick note, unless you want your teenager to be on an all night high keep them away from Red Bull Energy drinks after 7:00 PM). Jake drove very well and was very kind to me. He made the evening just that much better in an otherwise not better afternoon. He got me to the shop and unhooked my at about 7:40.
I signed my car in at the shop, made a little small talk with the cashier (that I had known when I worked at the auto plant) then headed home. I hot home some time around 8:15. How's about that for your nice three hour commute home? But I digress, I actually did not feel that stressed about the situation at all. I am a little miffed at myself for reasons that I am not going to go into at the moment. But, all things considered, I still have my health and I am still a great looking guy (ok, but I do at least have some skill as a coder).
Tomorrow comes the real test when I find out how much this is all going to cost me. I am so not ready for another expense right now. But it has to be done. I can't rightly work from home forever now, can I?
