Today will go down as a classic. All day it just rained bad news. First off my trusty 2002 Lancer stopped running on the 405 transition to the 118 west at 9:05am. I called AAA and got a tow to the closest Mitsubishi dealer. Unfortunately the Mitsubishi dealer was now a Hyundai dealer. Hmmm, that sucks. The tow truck driver didn’t know of any others so I called my friend and he found one in Glendale. Great, even a further tow. I was over my AAA limit by now and growing increasingly frustrated. Once we got to the Glendale Mitsubishi things were looking up. They said they would get to my car today and the inspection fee would be waived if I choose to have the problem fixed there. I paid the tow guy for the 26 mile tow – less 7 miles thanks to AAA – at $9.00 per mile for a total of $171.00. AHHHH. I got a quick shuttle ride to the train station in the courtesy car. Once there I checked the schedule and found that the train that could get me to the office was not going to come by until after 1:00pm. It was 11:00am so I bought a $6.75 ticket for the next best option and had to wait 40 minutes for the Metro to show up. I took a few photos and listened to my I-Berry while waiting. It only took 15 minutes to get to my destination once I was aboard the train. My friend Mike came by and picked me up and got me to work at 12:15pm. A 4 hr commute.
Mitsubishi called around 1:30pm and gave me a tale of terror. The first price was $3,740 but they would make it $3,600 even and it would be ready next week. Right. They told me it probably needed a valve job and the timing belt was broken. Probably? Well, guess what? You’re probably full of shit. So I had my wife rent a tow dolly for $45.00 and she came by the office and picked me up at 4:00pm. We got over to the dealer around 5:00pm and loaded up the car. Now here is where it gets good. The morons at the tow dolly rental place told my mother and wife that the angle at which the dolly was connected to the back of our Yukon XL was ok even though the rear of the dolly was 1/4 inch from the ground. Once the car was on it would level out. Now I’m not saying only idiots work at rental yards but this clown is getting an earful tomorrow when I return the deal. Once my car was on the dolly the rear-most part of the ramps were 1/16 of an inch from the ground. Any movement caused massive scraping and some cool sparks. Great!!! All the while my kids were complaining that they were starving. So we’re in an unfamiliar area, dragging my car around, and the kids are just about making me want to explode. We quickly found food and got out for a break. El Pollo Loco $21.00.
Let’s revisit the tow set up. The receiver and ball were in place and not correctly oriented. A blind dog could have seen the problem. There was no way I could drive the 60 miles home with the dolly so far off. After the food stop we found a K-mart and I went in looking for tools. I have a massive tool set at home – a roll-away plus 3 full tool boxes and many extras. Of course, of course, I have nothing in the Yukon. Inside K-mart I found an outrageously overpriced wrench set and that wasn’t going to fly. $40.00 for something I have at home? Nah. I went back out to the Yukon and took the receiver apart and went back inside the K-mart to find something else. No luck. The friendly K-mart guy said a Lowe’s was nearby. I went back outside and reassembled the receiver and hooked the dolly back up and we started towards the Lowe’s. We quickly made a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong Victory street. We wanted Victory Place but landed on Victory Blvd. Not good. We were instantly off track. I pulled over twice and used my Blackberry to get us on the right path to Lowe’s. Once we got to the Lowe’s parking lot I found a good spot and got out and proceeded to take the receiver with me into the to the store. I found a nice Kobalt adjustable end wrench for $15.00 and flew through the self-checkout. All this time my phone was ringing consistently from people wanting to know how things were going. As my frustration increased I stopped answering. It took all of 2 minutes to get the ball flipped around on the receiver. Then the good times really started. The straps on the tires were starting to move around a bit so I needed to loosen the straps and readjust them. The strap ratchet thing on the right tire was unbelievably stuck. It took my wife and I 20 minutes to convince the piece of shit to move. The other side was easy and done in 2 minutes. By now I was ready to blow like a box of t-n-t. It was after 7:00pm and we had gotten a whopping 8 miles out of the way for a 60 mile trip in nearly 2 hours.
We found the 5 and started heading north. Immediately the freeway turned into a parking lot. I called my mom and she looked on SigAlert and saw a wreck at San Fernando Mission Road. It took a good 30 minutes to get past it. Once we were moving at the 50 mph limit of the tow dolly we got back home just before 9:00pm. I made the trip even longer by going to the store and getting a 6-er of Becks and a few items we needed.
Overall my car had a great run, 167,000+ miles in over 6 years without a single mechanical. Not bad at all.
Total time away from home today: 13 hours
Total time at work: 3.5 hours
Total time being utterly psychotic: 12 hours
Total damage to bank account: $330.00+ – and my car still doesn’t run.
“Bush is now more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned from office during Watergate with a 66 percent disapproval rating,” said CNN polling director Keating Holland. Nuff said.
If you’re a republican and disagree with this make a comment and let’s hear your rebuttal.
I am always skeptical about new age products and their supposed effectiveness. Last night I was getting ready for bed and I tried a free sample of Restalex PM that I got from work. This wacked economy we’re in has me stressing about money and finances and sleeping good is becoming an issue. The product is actually a wafer that you put in a glass of water and it dissolves into a tasty drink. I drank it around 10:00pm and by 11:30pm I was out, as it lights out out!!! Normally I toss and turn but this time I was done. Check it out here.
After 8 years of hell it’s time to get back to business. Obama will be the president of the people. Not the president of his friends like the current lame duck in Washington.
Yes we can.
Fiddy.com is projecting that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Any Republicans that need a ride to the border just let me know. I will gladly help you get out of this country.
The new guard is taking charge. This is the change we need. The old guard is done. The Republicans have essentially ruined this country and the people are over it. The latino vote, the black vote, and more importantly the youth vote is making a difference. 207 to 135.