December 9, 2007 — Comments Closed
It’s been a while but my car works now. It also has its winter tires on as well.
I got my battery changed last Thursday in ten minutes at Canadian Tire. Now, my mum bad-mouths them all the time, so I was a bit reluctant to go there at first, but Wal-mart had a 6 hour wait or more, and I didn’t know any other places.
So on Thursday, we pushed out the car yet again and called a tow to boost me since I knew my cables were crap. This new tow guy was a lot nicer and since he didn’t accept any plastic – only cash- he followed me to a bank machine for me to get some out when my car started again. I had to fight my habit of turning off my car when getting out since it wouldn’t start again if I did. After that, I drove to CrappyTire (as my mum calls it) and left my car idling in the lot with Harry standing guard as I went in to get some service. I knew it was a four-hour wait, but I was still hoping I would get popped into the start of the queue since my car battery was that dead.
When I finally got someone to talk to, I said I needed a new battery and the nice guy said it was a four-hour wait. I let him know my car was idling in the lot – it was that dead – and sure enough he immediately pulled some strings and I was in (now it sounds like some crazy heist). Ten minutes later: new battery, car ready to go. I thanked profusely the mechanic who changed it, and the manager guy who I spoke to. I could go home now!
The next day I started my drive and it was nuts. There was almost always ice on the shoulder so if I crept a bit into it, I would probably slip. I wasn’t immensely worried since I had brand-new all-seasons – but still, it was iffy. I passed about ten cars in the median/ditch and a couple on the outward ditches. This made me worry even more. There was really only pure ice on the 416, which isn’t travelled as much, and about a 20km stretch just past Kingston. I called my dad earlier that evening and he said it was pure ice all the way – what a load of crap.
At home, I didn’t think putting my snow tires on would be on my list of stuff to do, but alas, there it was. Seeing as my luck seemed to be in a good mood, I figured I might not have to travel miles just to do that too. Wal-mart’s wait was a couple days but I went to Mr. Lube (I always thought they just did oil changes) and I dropped the yellow sub off and went shopping.
In conclusion: Car is happy with new battery life and grippier tires.
In other news, I am a huge procrastinator and try to do too many things at once with unrealistic goals. Awesome ideas come to me at very early hours of the morning and disappear quickly.
November 24, 2007 — Comments Closed
I bought cables from Canadian Tire yesterday to try and boost my car battery off Harry’s car and it didn’t work. My engine still doesn’t start. Some other random guy came by where were hooking up the cables in the back and offered his opinions. They didn’t help, but at least it was verification that I was doing this right.
First we pushed my car out of the parking spot, which required all of my rugby lock-position skills. There was a little hill we had to get the back tires over and there was also ice on the ground so we kept slipping sliding.
After reading the instructions ten times, we attempted the boosting. I didn’t get electricuited (I even gave Harry instructions for what to do if I was to be shocked) so I assumed everything was working out well so far. Then I go inside my car and try to start it. It didn’t, so I dismissed this as my error for not clearing the security feature properly (you have to flick the lights twice quickly). So I wait for it to reset, and try it again. Still no luck. At this point I’m running through the possible situations my car could be in. After some thought, I assumed it must be the starter.
Now I have to call a tow truck and get it whisked off to some mechanic. I don’t know where that will be and I don’t even know when. I will probably call someone on Monday though. At least I don’t depend on my car much these days… I would like to go home for the weekend coming though! And then there’s the more important trip of going home after this term ends…
November 22, 2007 — Comments Closed
I think today is almost done blossoming into a bad day.
I planned to go home today – a six hour drive through snow and traffic. I rushed to finish all my assignments so I could go back to the apartment and start my drive home.
The car is coated in ice from the rain yesterday that had frozen overnight. Then there was a pleasant layer of snow on top of that as well. So with the help of Harry and Roland we scraped off most of the ice covering the important places (where I need to see). Then came the fun part! /heavy sarcasm. Time to try starting the damn thing! Oh… it doesn’t start. Damn. I try a bunch more times, pop the hood for no good reason and it still didn’t start. By now I notice that my battery is sort-of dying, so I stop bullying the car to start. That’s all I need now – a dead battery too. So I leave it, abandon my plan of going home, and stomp back inside.
When inside, I try to call my mom but my cell phone has never worked inside the apartment complex here, so I tried going outside to call. Now my cell phone magically decides to not let me call long distance. It has before, but not now. Thanks cellphone.
This weekend I was supposed to go to Miles’ pre-birthday party thinger so I guess that’s not happening now. I was also going to visit my high school with Tori tomorrow.
On the bright side: I finished most of my work for the entire week…
