four score and seven years ago (part i)

wait – i have a more accurate title here…

…”six and a half bills and seven days ago”.

sadly, i THINK this fits better.

this, again, is being written before i even know the whole story – so to ruin part of the magic that is this site, it’s being written at (checks time) 9:22am on friday, august 31st. as of now, here’s what happened:

when i was coming home from a quick run to san marcos to run to the gym, grab lunch, and get a couple things i made it as far as a half mile or so outside of lockhart, top down, wind whipping, and the new prodigy cd blaring (which is really good, by the way) when my cruise control (set at 70 MPH) suddenly cut off. i thought maybe the transmission was slipping (i have a small leak) so i start switching into lower gears and stepping on the gas – with no RPM reaction. at this speed, with this level of wind noise (i’d cut off the radio at this point) i couldn’t tell the engine had actually shut the fuck down. i coasted all the way to the first strip center on the outskirts of town, which coincidentally contained an auto repair place, which had framed plaques in the office signifying it winning the readers poll in the local rag for “best automotive repair” for 2007 & 2008. i saw this all as a good sign.

i explained how i needed my car back no later than noon on friday (which at this point it was 1:30 on monday, so he said that would be no problem) and that i couldn’t pay until next week, but could drop a post-dated check so they knew they weren’t getting stiffed. at FIRST he said this wouldn’t be a problem, we (me, the owner, and his mechanic) pushed my car around the strip center, into a service bay, and i was told all was well. that was as far as things got monday.

tuesday i realized that i had left my bluetooth in the car (and i’m spoiled as hell when it comes to that whole “hold the phone to my head” thing) and (ironically) the key to my bike lock, meaning i couldn’t really go anywhere ’cause even though i had a bike or two to choose from, i couldn’t lock ’em up, so i couldn’t really STOP anywhere. but shane had shit to do, so he swung by and got me and we hit the garage on the way out of town – my car had been pushed out of a service bay with another car in it’s place, and when i popped my head in i was told that afternoon (which was told was when my car WOULD be started on) was now just a “maybe” in that regard.

not cool.

even less cool was shortly after 5:00 when i got a call from the garage – i would have to pay for my own part up front, as he could float the labor for a week but not the part (part retails for $600, but i had found a place that would sell me one for $350) AND that he couldn’t push my car back in the service bay, so if i wanted that to happen (which i did) i would have to come out and push it back in the service bay MYSELF.

what the fuck?

so, me and shane got back into town and headed straight for the garage and pushed my car in so it was secure. no work done, and we had to push it back into the garage, and now i had to figure out how to arrange a $350 part. thus ended tuesday – two days down, two and a half to go till i HAD to have my car.

not fucking cool.

wednesday i peddled my ass across town to talk to my parts guy who acted offended that i even THOUGHT this would be a problem. payment was arranged, pending me finding out this was the part i actually needed (as of this writing that’s still undetermined, i might add). i went out to the garage to tell them this hurdle had been handled, so NOW we should be cool, right?

um, no.

now he was saying that was great, but first we needed to determine if that was the part, and that tests had to be done, and that they weren’t sure if they could even get to my car this week unless i did most of the work myself!!!

so next thing i know, i’m jacking up my own car and pulling off the fuel filter to see if it was clogged. i’d done this before, and it was WAY clogged. then they started instructing me on how to remove my own muffler and tail pipe, as this was the first step to reaching the gas tank. i shimmied up under the car and started to work but also started to think, “this is fucking insane” (especially since step one was remove the muffler, two was drop the rear end a bit (as in the whole axle and differential), and three was pull out the whole gas tank). soon thereafter the mechanic left, so i did as well, ordering my part on the phone on the way out just to be cautious.

and thus ended wednesday – my car’s ass four feet up in the hair, having being jacked up and raised by me, with no fuel filter on and the muffler on the hang. he’s looked better.

thursday started with me peddling my ass across town AGAIN to the parts place to get the fuel pump and fuel filter, coming back by the house, changing into grubby clothes, and heading off to the garage to install my fuel filter, put the muffler on, just for giggles try to start it up (no such luck) then drop it off the stands and roll it out of the service bay and into a parking space and call ANOTHER garage to come get it. when JAB and i ran out of town later we passed the first garage and my car was gone – (around 12:45pm or so) and a quick call verified they had my ride. when i first called them they said getting in by noon they could have it ready “same day, no problem”.

actually, the girl’s exact words were “if we get it today, you’ll get it back today…”. i fucked up and told her “today is bad ass, by noon tomorrow [friday] is critical.”

so now it’s friday, at 9:51am (see how long these sometimes take to write?). i just called garage number two and it was explained that they had an emergency job pop up yesterday, but that they HAD started on it, they were aware of my time line (i told them the drop dead time was noon to cover my bases), and that “putting that part in is a hell of a bitch but i’ll call you when your car is done – that’s how we do things around here…”

so we’ll see where this adventure takes us today…

(oh, and in case i forget to mention it later when i do the wrap up on this, happy b-day to the now former non-girlfriend, as now that we’ve split she DOES actually read the site!)

UPDATE: just made this a part i on saturday morning…stay tuned for the part ii!