This past weekend was one of the best I have had in a very long time. I got to see the movie Pan’s Labyrinth with Shelly and figment_j, then dayo came into town for a visit from Chicago, and… bliss. Snapped this pic of dayo and I at Panera Bread using the iSight built into my MacBook:
And now today I get to pay, karmically (karmacally?) speaking, for the wonderful weekend. The battery in my car has died. I know a dead battery when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now. It’s stone dead. It’s definitely deceased. It wouldn’t “voom” if you put four million volts through it. It’s bleedin’ demised. It’s passed on. My battery is no more. It has ceased to be. It has gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It’s shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile! It is, not to put too fine a point on it, an ex-battery.
This presents, as you may surmise, certain practical and logistical difficulties. Not insoluble ones, as I drive a car with a manual transmission, but difficulties nonetheless. Quite frustrating it is, especially seeing as how, at this late hour, I have little choice but to procure a new battery at the altar of consumerist greed and avarice that is Wal-Mart, and I loathe all things Wal-Mart almost as much as I loathe large, soulless corporations that have forgotten their ethical roots and become little more than gigantic, indifferent profit-vacuuming machines willing to do almost anything and commit almost any atrocity in their quest to improve the bottom line.
But I repeat myself.
And now, gentle reader, I am off, to leave work in quest of a battery that has not shuffled off this mortal coil. I was going to make a pun on the phrase “aggravated battery,” but restrained myself at the last moment. Consider yourself fortunate and escape while you still can.
Not insoluble ones, as I drive a car with a manual transmission, but difficulties nonetheless.
Pop start? I knew you could do that to work around a dead starter. Does the alternator get going quickly enough to start firing the spark plugs without the battery before to car comes to a halt?
Yep. Works a treat, especially if you’ve parked the car on a slight downhill grade.
Not insoluble ones, as I drive a car with a manual transmission, but difficulties nonetheless.
Pop start? I knew you could do that to work around a dead starter. Does the alternator get going quickly enough to start firing the spark plugs without the battery before to car comes to a halt?
Yep. Works a treat, especially if you’ve parked the car on a slight downhill grade.
That’s why I bought myself a battery charger, oh, about 14 years ago, back when I had an automatic truck. I now have a stick shift – but the charger still comes in handy, ’cause it’s way faster than calling the AAA or a neighbor.
….and why I’m careful to stay on very good terms with the guys at the local service station: they do a lot of trucks, and stock the right batteries for mine.
That’s why I bought myself a battery charger, oh, about 14 years ago, back when I had an automatic truck. I now have a stick shift – but the charger still comes in handy, ’cause it’s way faster than calling the AAA or a neighbor.
….and why I’m careful to stay on very good terms with the guys at the local service station: they do a lot of trucks, and stock the right batteries for mine.
Ack. Any nice voodooiens (or repair shops) able to resurrect it for you or is it well and truly in the ground?
It was a truly wonderful weekend, thank you. 🙂
The battery, she is pushing up daisies. I have a nice shiny new one in my car now. 🙂 And yes, the weekend was delightful–I’m so glad you made it into town!
Ack. Any nice voodooiens (or repair shops) able to resurrect it for you or is it well and truly in the ground?
It was a truly wonderful weekend, thank you. 🙂
The battery, she is pushing up daisies. I have a nice shiny new one in my car now. 🙂 And yes, the weekend was delightful–I’m so glad you made it into town!