Monday, February 05, 2007

Ways in which one can spend Mondays (while one should be at work) finishing one's knit socks ************the first in a one-part series************

a. Have transmission on car slow down shifting and then suddenly refuse to get into gear at all at a red light downtown (also be sure that current air temp is -15F);

2. Have car towed to shop (love AAA) and wait for four hours (knitting happens here) to find out that the cold has caused a transmission line to the radiator to burst, which is fixable at a reasonable price, but then find out that transmission is a bit damaged anyway, which is *not* fixable at a reasonable price given that one's car may, in fact, be a 7-year-old Neon. Note that one had to have radiator line fixed in order to find out that transmission was fried;

D. In the end be slightly mollified by fact that car is marginally drivable, meaning that one does not have to in fact buy new car *tonight*;

42. Be sad that one's next car will not, in fact, be able to be a hybrid with heated seats as one was hoping if a certain Neon had lasted throughout one's husband's graduate school career. Be slightly mollified by the idea of having power windows, which Neon emphatically did not have.

15 comments:

Grendel said...

42? Skip some steps did we? Try, a)take care in for new tires and oil change.
b) be told all four brakes are shot, passed being able to replace pads and rear wheels are so out alignment it'll be a double charge to fix.
c)spend $1k on used car, 'cause it's still cheaper than another used car. . . :)

Stupid cars. If it's got 4 wheels or, well you know, it'll cause you trouble.

Anonymous said...

All lists should include 42. It is the ultimate number...

Anonymous said...

Darn, that is a rather irritating morning-I hope the socks are warm :) I'm waiting for the rash of cold-related things to start cropping up on the news here, where people don't even know how to moderately keep their pipes from freezing, and few homes are set up to protect against this. Besides the fact that the dry snow that fell last night responds poorly to the type of snowplow they have here, which is used to wet, slushy stuff that can actually be pulled off the road when the plow is an inch off the surface of the road...sort of.

Anonymous said...

And, yes, 42 is obligatory :)

Grendel said...

Is it the number of roads a hitchhiker must go down before they call him a man? And why does these damned white mice keep pestering me. . .

:)

Anonymous said...

No, silly - its just what you get when you multiply six and seven.

That said, I've had a long day and am in desperate need of a pangalactic gargle blaster....

Grendel said...

I thought it was what do you get when you multiply 6 by 8. . .
(too lazy to find the actually question produced by the scrabble letters.)

Anonymous said...

I stand corrected: turns out its actually six times nine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything

Grendel said...

And somebody wins the bigger geek than me award.

Sad. I feel sorry for you. :)
(kidding of course. Because if I remember the trivia right, 6 x 9 supposedly does work out to 42, just not in Base 10. . . but I could be wrong.)

Anonymous said...

Base 13. I have to go organize my pocket protectors now...

Grendel said...

That was the one that stuck in my head. . .

But what's god's last message to his creation (although that's easy. . .)

Anonymous said...

If in need of a Pan Galactic Garger Blaster, when in season, one may go to VT, where there is a microbrewery at the intersection of the road that brings you into VT rom NY and the rt 100 which takes you north into the ski areas...unfortunately they weren't brewing it last time I was there. Shame. I'd probably still be getting over the hangover. (no, I can't recall the name of the pub, shows you how good their product is :D)

Vika said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Gargle...sheesh

Grendel said...

"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
It says that the effect of a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick"

Mmmm. Lemon. . .