Happy Thanksgiving

Well here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving, on the front edge of a long weekend holiday. I cannot say for certain what the weekend may hold, since I still do not have my car; for the past week it has been at the service department of its original dealer in Roseville, mostly awaiting its turn to be seen by the one mechanic apparently employed there who can hook it up to a computer and discover (hopefully) what went wrong. All they can say at this point is that there is some sort of power fault in the hybrid system. That's what the "initial" error codes disclosed for the one brief time it was apparently plugged into a diagnostic computer. I mean, come on, I could have told them that. That's basically what the big scary flashing light on the center console dash means, and the fact that it loses drive power after a couple of minutes provides enough empirical data to back that claim up.

So I sit now at home, my car shopping dreams on hold, while being thankful that my dad's 2014 CR-V is still fully functional and able to be borrowed by me for the purposes of getting back and forth to work and stores and my son's playdates and so on. I think his car must have spent significant time on display in a museum somewhere, for though it is nearly ten years old it only has 21,000 miles on it. Well, a few hundred more now. My car, half his car's age, just passed the 70,000 mark, before it had its midlife crisis a week ago. 

And despite this picture's appearance, I am not now drinking cocoa, for this picture was not taken today nor even this week, but way back on November 2. It was the most recent photo I'd taken of myself, that I saw fit to save and not immediately delete anyway. I'm still working on improving my selfie taking skills...In any case this was a yummy cup of cocoa, down in midtown Sacramento. And it signified, more or less, the start of the winter weather season. Which is to say that the temperatures dropped below 50 degrees, my arbitrary target line for when it becomes just cold enough to justify buying hot chocolate at Starbucks. 

I did make some cocoa today, at work, from instant powder and microwaved water. It, too, was good. And some hours later, and completely unrelated to cocoa, a random mental homeless guy wandered into my office and plopped himself down on my couch. He said he needed to sit for a bit and "consider (his) options." If that's not disconcerting, I don't know what is. He also said he doesn't like his name, and wants to change it before he is "booked". He thought his new name should be OG. I'm...not sure what that means.

But after drinking one of my Capri Suns, which he referred to as a "juice box", and giggling to himself whilst lost deep in thought, the police arrived and called him by name (Daniel) and escorted him away. And now I suppose I should be thankful that I not only have a place to live, but I still have my mental faculties. For the time being anyway. I'm not getting any younger you know. It does put things in perspective as I reflect on my poor little Niro resting up on its own little spa retreat vacation at the Roseville Kia Service Center. And despite this, I still have transportation at my disposal. Thank goodness for supportive family! 

And tomorrow we'll start the morning in our own privileged way drinking mimosas and eating cream-cheese coffee cake while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And later, wine and sparkling cider and probably more food than anyone should ingest at my brother's house. And the thing I'm most thankful for, my son, is here with me to enjoy the holiday. We just went for one of our infamous "night walks" around the property. So, yeah, it's a pretty good Thanksgiving after all.

I Think My Car Is Mad At Me

So, I think my car is mad at me. It knew, somehow, that its life with me was potentially coming to an end. Not through any fault of its own. I'm simply...outgrowing it. My son is outgrowing it. His soccer gear is outgrowing it. And when we end up taking two of his teammates and their gear to games - well, we're a little squished in like sardines. I mean, it works, it's not an insurmountable situation, but I've seriously been contemplating getting something a little bigger. With a little more room to breathe. And store stuff. And I've had this little car for over five years now. So maybe, it's time to think of saying goodbye...

My little Niro is not amused at this.

It certainly must have had its suspicions when I stopped by Stockton Kia last Sunday and test drove a new car. And when I then placed my little Niro right next to the new car, and it was unceremoniously poked and prodded in order to theoretically estimate its trade-in value. My car must have picked up on those signals. How could it not?

So then, today, Tuesday, whilst driving down Fulton Ave (on my way to another dealership to look at another car, no less), my Niro decided it had had enough. All of a sudden, and without warning, multiple lights flashed on the display and the car lost power. After pushing it off to the side of the road bit and turning it off and frantically checking the owner's manual to decipher the lit up hieroglyphics on my dashboard, it was clear the car had had a hybrid system malfunction. Which is a slightly nicer way of saying "total system breakdown". Or perhaps an "automotive nervous breakdown"?

And yet...there was a glimmer of hope. The car was not without power, and it actually restarted after resting a minute. And so I drove off, but immediately made the turn towards home. I thought to myself, if it just gets me home, we can talk it over and come to an understanding. Two minutes later it died again. So I pushed over to the side of the road again and switched gears, now thinking of looking for a tow.

First I called the dealership though, for some advice, but they would only say that their tow lot was full and they couldn't get her in till next Tuesday, and oh yes I'd have to arrange to get it there as well. Didn't they used to offer roadside assistance?? Perhaps it was too close to closing time to call with such problems. 

Well, anyways, I tried the restart method and made my way through traffic a little further down the road, like a football player rushing down the field on first down, trying to see how far he can get before he's stopped. Reaching for that next first down. In that manner I made progress - gains in yardage - through...six or seven downs. Yeah, okay, it would have been a turnover in an actual game, and I was nowhere close enough to attempt a field goal. So, about a mile east of Northgate Avenue on West El Camino, I finally threw in the towel and decided to call for a tow. It took awhile to find one who would answer the phone and not be inconveniently too far away or getting ready to close. But eventually the contact was made, the deed was done, and after a wait of about 25 minutes a friendly driver from River City Towing arrived and quickly had me on my way. For the pleasant little fee of $252.

Well played, car, well played. I get it. And now I'm sitting at home contemplating my next strategic play. It's halftime, and I can still come out strong in the second half!