i started my week vacation today, and began preparation for our long awaited honeymoon, which we put off until we could schedule syncronized vacation times from work. i guess two years is a bit long to wait, but such is life. and that’s a saying that applied to my day.

i need new tires, so i stopped off at our local community tire shop to get some pricing, as honda wants over $400.00 for a new set. they had to get them from the central warehouse, so i had a couple of hours to kill before they’d be ready to install. i stopped off at starbucks for some coffee.

when i got back to the car, i could have used my pink friend as my car wouldn’t start. i thought it might be the battery, but it was acting very weird - no typical “click click” common with a low battery, yet my cell phone (whose battery i’d forgotten to charge) worked through the car charger. so i called roadside assistance. an hour later, the nice tow truck driver from jacob’s towing diagnosed the dead battery, and gave me a jump. i called the tire place and told them i wouldn’t be able to make it there today, but would stop off tomorrow for the tires. and now, i guess a new battery as well.

what’s particularly annoying is that i had my oil changed at the honda dealer (at which time they also gave me the $400.00 estimate for the new tires) and they have this “19 point inspection and battery test” as part of the deal - they checked off my battery as “good”. in fact, there’s a separate ticket on my receipt for the battery test which rates the battery at “410 cca” (though on the accompanying graph, it says 358 cca), indicates that the battery age is 24 months (ummm, the car is a 2003 model which makes the battery 4 years old, which according to my math, is 48 months - 49 as i bought the car in july of ‘03) and states “the average battery life in this region is 29 - 33 months”. fucking idiots. i wonder how useful the other 19 points are.

you know, with all the fancy schmancy computerized automotive systems in use in today’s cars, you’d think that my car’s computer could have let me know that my battery was on its way out *before* it went dead if the dealer can’t. this was the first time i’d become stuck due to a car problem in many years - probably close to 15 or 20 years. in that respect, i suppose i should consider myself lucky and privileged in that i’ve been able to own or lease reliable cars, and have been able to maintain them. i’m privileged too that i have a cell phone - despite the fact that i don’t always keep it charged. damn lucky that i thought to buy a car charger (actually, my hubby got it for me at phoenix pride ‘07 from one of the vendors there), and that i was in a position to purchase the extended warrenty for my car, which included roadside assistance. so i really have nothing to complain about.

well, other than the fact that my first day of vacation did not go as planned. of course, it could have been much worse had i become stuck in a less opportune area of town. i was right in front of starbucks, so i had iced tea and a rest room. and was approached by only one panhandler and two street vendors. with a little luck, i’ll be able to get the car fixed tomorrow, and have time to stop by at the gun show.