I woke up not “feeling it” today. It’s got more to do with the rundown feeling I’m experiencing than to the fact that the Jackmobile’s ignition switch is indeed experiencing a breakdown, or the fact that today would have been my father’s 86th birthday had he made it this far.
I’ve called in sick, but plan to be spending the day writing code and making a run out to the laundromat to do some much-needed washing.
Oh Jackmobile, We Used To Be So Happy. WTF?
Coincidence is so coincidental. Or is it?
Remember on Monday I mentioned trying to be happy but that the Jackmobile had started to exhibit something that might hinder that state of consciousness? Well it happened again, and more than once last night.
Here’s what’s happening. When I put the car into Park, pull the Hand Brake, and go to remove the key from the ignition but can’t. The ignition switch is not letting me turn the key all the way back to the “Off” position and thus not letting me remove the key from the steering column. The current work-around for this is to restart the car and turn it off until it works. I’d consider taking it in to a mechanic to look at it, but I don’t have the ability today and if all goes to plan I will be headed to Raleigh for the weekend tomorrow. Ugh, fucking ugh.
Seriously. I am on the verge of a melt-down. I want things to stop breaking. Is that really too much to ask? I see Millions of people who go through without such grief, never mind the seemingly constant flow of problems that I feel I’ve been experiencing.
Proving That Being Vegetarian Doesn’t Have To Be Cheap
The $30/week gang met up last night at Decatur’s Cakes & Ale for dinner last night. I should have known immediately that this meal would easily shatter the budget for the entirety of last week when I found out that the pint of Anchor Steam that I ordered at the bar was going to cost me $7 (plus tax which really irritated me for some reason — build it into the price!) You know me, I love beer. However, when all bars/restaurants start charging highway robbery prices for beer then I will stop purchasing it at bars/restaurants. Anchor Steam is a very good beer, but it is not a $7+ beer.
Keeping with my vegetarian plan for this week’s Seven-Day Project I ordered the menu’s only vegetarian option, the gnocchi. The only problem was that they had just sold their last gnocchi. The night was saved however when the person at my table who ordered that gnocchi offered to get something else so that I could have the gnocchi. Since I was going whole-hog (so to speak) I also ordered a dessert, a Meyer Lemon Baked Alaska which was divine.
The bill was obscene, and when you add in the $7+ beer and $10+ glass of wine that I had at the bar I came close to spending three week’s $30/week budget. I thought Cakes & Ale was good, but not good enough to be the budget buster that it is. Sometimes you’ve got to splurge…
ITP Flickr Pic
Behold, the Baked Alaska
Credit where credit is due, I love that I can shoot my Nikon D300 at ISO 3200.
Giving It To “The Man”
Since I’m working from home I won’t be able to let the house get as cold during the day as I normally would. The folks at Scana should be dancing a jig because of this. With the cold snap that hit Atlanta this week I’m sure that I should be bracing myself for another $150-$200 gas bill in the near future. All the more reason I should think twice before heading out for a fancy-pants dinner again.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad
Current Music – listening to the “Mac Geek Gab” podcast
Website Of The Day – I missed Monday’s Roswell Photographic Society meeting because I didn’t feel like driving to Roswell. I may have to see what sort of crowd the Atlanta Photography Group attracts.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – not going to work today
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4 (4)
Vegetarian Days – 2, Carnivorous Days – 1
Marta Rides – 0
March Goals
– Complete all necessary work on my kitchen
– Lose no fewer than one pound
– Run no fewer than 30 miles
– Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas
2009 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I heard someone on Car Talk recently with a similar problem but couldnt’ track down the details. Here’s what Google churned up (read at own risk – the solutions offered don’t look wallet-friendly…sorry):
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080310181913AAuXuxY
You could always just keep the key in the ignition, cover it up with some sort of cloth, and always be sure to lock the doors! 🙂
You would need an extra key, of course .
FYI to answer your question about shit breaking, it’s too much to ask, you are unfortunately subject to the same entropic flow direction we all are. You are going to have to suck it up and fix shit for the rest of your life. Sorry.
OK, here is my car talk answer for your key issue. My truck does the same thing when I forget to put it in park before turning the key off (long story on why that happened). Short version is I pulled in the drive way, set the brake and turned the truck off with it still in drive. The truck turned off but the key didn’t turn all the way so it would come out.
The reason for that story? Didn’t you just have your transmission worked on? I thought I read you had a leak that they fixed. To fix this leak they probably had to drop the transmission to replace a gasket and in the process something inside your transmission got “tweaked” (industry term). Your transmission probably thinks it’s still in gear thus “locking” your ignition. It may just be a switch on your shifter that got bumped or something.
When you turn your car off and the key won’t turn try turning the ignition back on (you don’t need to restart the car) and move your transmission into drive than back to park and see if the key will come out.
There is my shade tree mechanic diagnosis. Will there be a “stump the chump” version of ITP?
Hey Bob – how cold was that Ride to the Capitol yesterday? Did you get many to pub crawl with you?
Hard to describe how cold it was except F**K**G cold! I could not feel my feet when we got downtown but it was a good ride. Kudos to all that showed and to all that didn’t show………you are wimps 🙂
3 of us made the crawl, good times were had!
“You are going to have to suck it up and fix shit for the rest of your life”
That could be my favorite quote of the week!!
and he’s right, stuff breaks, need maintenance or has to be replaced…it is just the way it is, it is the downside to being lucky enough to actually have stuff.
Sometimes the key won’t turn all the way on my car, I just have to move the steering wheel a bit and it is just fine.
Sorry about your dad, I do understand…my mom’s birthday and anniversary of her death are around the corner, she would have been 65 (wow!) this year and 30 years since she passed away.
I had meant to ride yesterday, I’ll admitt I wasn’t too upset when i realized I had scheduled a meeting yesterday and couldn’t go.
To be clear, I’m not expecting stuff from breaking for the rest of my life, I’m just looking for a break in the steady-stream of breakage which has occurred in my life.
Interesting theory about the transmission. That almost made me consider bringing back to Curry Honda and asking them to look into it, but that would probably cost me another $1000. I vaguely remember that Car Talk segment and was trying to remember their solution. I know there’s a switch to prevent us from removing the key when we are not “supposed to” but I have no idea what it’s called.
So much for getting work accomplished. It seems that I really am a bit sick (could it be from hashing in the snow?) and have just awaken from a nap, and am thinking of taking a nap.
Curry Honda broke it so they should fix it IMHO. At their expense too.
But I’ll never get them to admit that they broke it. It worked for nearly a week, they’ll just say that I just have incredibly bad luck (and they’d be right).
Bob- were you in the group that rode back to Buckhead? I just happened to be walking to lunch when they rolled by me heading North on Piedmont near the park. Looked to be about 125 riders, with moto’s abeing followed by the Roswell Bikes van. Nice to see such a large turnout.
-FP
I heard there was a large group that rode back. I didn’t. This is the 4th year of the post ride pub crawl and taking Marta home.