Meet Jeeves, My Chauffeur

A few days ago, Louise (my vehicle) decided she no longer liked her ignition switch. Now, sometimes during the winter, she didn't want to start up and resent the key being jammed into the ignition, and I understood that. It's cold in the winter, and I hate having to wake up, too. But in the middle of the summer? No, thanks, Louise. She already is temperamental about the driver side door -- which sticks and jams and is a general pain in the butt whenever it is over 90 degrees.

Anyway, as I was driving around, delivering cupcakes on Tuesday, Louise decided she had had enough. I couldn't turn the key in order to turn off my car. I left it running while delivering to the last houses, but once I got back to my apartment, I forced the thing to shut off, and couldn't get it to turn back on.

We called James and told him to come over and see if there was anything he could do. He could do something! He managed to turn the car on, not once but THREE times. None of the rest of us were able to accomplish even that much. He promised that he would drive me to work in the morning, or anywhere I needed to go until Louise straightened up and then returned for the evening.

When I went out to start Louise the next morning, I was hoping that she had gotten over her little grudge towards me, but no dice. I called my dad to let him know what was going on. I called my favorite mechanic in the Provo/Orem area: EP Auto, and I called one other mechanic recommended by EP. Of course, Dad can't help me from Ohio, and the mechanics both claimed they were too busy to see my car until middle of next week. So I called Andrew who has a fabulous mechanic. Up in Salt Lake.

As promised, James came over and rescued me. He got my car started so I could get gas, and then started it again at the gas station, and we headed up to see Bill of Rockport Auto in Salt Lake City. Bill recently broke several ribs and had only one operating arm, but he assured me that he could have the problem fixed by the end of the day or early today, and sure enough, he called me this morning to say that it was done.

Not only did he get it done in record time, but he didn't charge me very much, and for that I am very grateful.

While I was without my car, James dropped me off at work and then picked me up. Yesterday, he picked me up from work and drove me to dinner with the FTC. We met at La Jolla Groves. It was... good. But I won't say that it was the best thing I've ever eaten. The atmosphere is really cute (and fancy-ish). And it was fun to see Kati and Meghan...and then watch Kati chase Meghan with her (cute) pregnant belly.

If you ever need a personal driver, I recommend James. He has a pretty decent taste in music. He's very prompt. He will literally take you anywhere you need to go. He does drive like a Californian, so... be warned of that.

For a Thank You and for James' birthday, I took him to Thaifoon. I was super disappointed to find out that they had removed my FAVORITE dish. I didn't love what I got (some pineapple, mango chicken and shrimp dish... it was OK, just not the Mahi Mahi that I wanted). We had free appetizers and enjoyed the coconut shrimp and potstickers. James liked his Mongolian beef. And I liked our spring roll dessert. I got two more stamps in my frequent diner card, but I'm afraid that I won't get the rest... I just don't know. That Mahi Mahi is my favorite. Dear Thaifoon managers, please bring back the Lemoncrusted Mahi Mahi.....

Sigh.

After dinner, James and I walked back to our respective cars. I sat down and put my key in the newly graphite-d ignition switch, and....nothing. NOTHING! Oh no! What did I do? Did I leave a light on? I called James to tell him not to leave the parking lot so that he could come jump me. He turned around, confusing the parking attendants and proved his manhood by being able to put the jumper cables in the right spots and... nothing! EEK!

It took two tries and then.... I remembered. I had done something that I haven't done in seven years. The last time I had this problem, I was living at the University Villa and not one single guy there knew anything about cars.

Louise has this security feature, that if you remove, you are not going to get the car started. No matter what you do -- even if you hot wire her, she's not going to start. I had taken it out and put it in my purse.

Oops.

After I remembered, everything was good to go. Poor James. At least he doesn't have to be my driver... until Louise's next temper tantrum.

Jeeves, aka James

"Not You"

It was a tradition of sorts for the youth of the Piqua Ward to go to Friendly's after a stake dance for ice cream. Not just any ice cream, of course, but for candy shoppe sundaes of the most delicious variety. My favorite being the Reese's Pieces. (And yes, we pronounced it Ree-sees Pee-cees.)

I drove the car shown above in high school. Really, Bessie deserves her own post, but that will have to come later. Amy and I were driving in said car, Bessie, and sitting at a stoplight on the I-75 overpass. We were listening to music, and reliving the (not-so-)exciting things that had happened at the dance. Happily sated with our ice cream - Amy probably not quite full with her five-scoop - when a car of boys pulled up beside us.

"Hey!" They yelled.

We ignored them.

"Hey, beautiful," they said again, trying to get Amy's attention. More whistles, more cat calls. Amy stared straight ahead.

Finally I turned to look at them.

"Not you," the driver said with a tone of juvenile disgust.

"I know," I said, returning the irritation in my voice.

And then the light turned green and they sped off. I ignored the flush that crept to my cheeks. And the sorry look on Amy's face, that I mistook for pity.

"Idiots," she said.

"Yeah," I agreed, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

We returned home. I am sure it was after curfew. (Amy and I were never very good at keeping curfew.) Told our parents good night and started getting ready for bed.

I do miss that car, though.

That Time of Year

Well, it's time for the annual car breakdown. And I'm happy to report that Louise (she's my car) was happy to oblige.

I drove up this weekend to attend my cousin's wedding reception. (Shout out to the family members I was able to reconnect with - Congrats Rebecca and Jordan!)

The new Mrs. Bartholomew, i.e. my cousin Rebecca

I was excited to see Amanda at the reception as well!

And then I was off to finish my weekend in Logan with my boys! Of course, it was raining the whole time, but it was nice to go and have a place to stay instead of driving all the way back to Provo that night. Jake cooked dinner and baked brownies and then we all went to bed. I woke up to breakfast being cooked and then I was on my merry way. (Pretty much, it  was like staying at a Bed and Breakfast with two very amusing hosts.)

Only, I didn't get far. Louise was acting up, and so I pulled over to check the tire - which was fine - and then almost immediately after, I lost my brakes. Not that they fell off, or anything. They just, stopped working. So I creeped my way off Main Street and parked the dumb thing on the side of the road and immediately called my cousin Andrew (bless him) who said he needed a minute to figure some things out. I let Jake know what was going on. And called my dad just to see if he would answer in the middle of church. He did. And then I sat in the car and read.

After a few hours, I heard from Andrew (seriously, he's awesome) saying that he was trying to get a trailer. And a couple hours later... I needed to get out of the car! So Jake and David came and picked me up, fed me dinner and I continued to read while they worked on homework.

(Also, David can attest to this - in fact, he commented on it SEVERAL times - I was in a perfectly good mood. After all, this is nothing new. Louise chooses to break down at will, and so I was just very grateful that I hadn't gotten out of Logan, hadn't been on the highway and that Andrew answered his phone! I was doing great! No ogress to be seen.)

Andrew getting the car onto the trailer. By himself. (We all tried to help, but I think we were mostly getting in the way.)

Louise looking pathetic.

It doesn't look like it is raining much in this picture, but once we got out of town it was BAD. Also, i t was cold and rainy and windy and Amanda and I braved it all out in the truck while Andrew showed us his manliness and toughed it out. Louise didn't fall off the trailer, and I am infinitely grateful for that. (But mostly only because it would have risked the lives of other people. I am slowly losing any and all affection for my car.)

Around 9:00 p.m. (eight and a half hours from original departure time) Andrew rolled up with a trailer (YAY!) and we drove through the torrential downpour back to Salt Lake. And we didn't die! Which I attribute to the copious amounts of prayers that Amanda and I sent up to heaven coupled with Andrew (because he's my hero).

We made it to Andrew's dealership - Select Motorsports -  where he gave me the keys to a Camero and let me go home. (YAY!) Which I did. I got home around 1:00 a.m. And my roommates were very pleased that I made it home alive.

Matti and Savannah. Probably a little sleep-drunk because it was well after 1 a.m. and we don't sleep in our apartment.

I drove the Camero around for the day and then after work (and FHE) I went up to Sandy and Louise was back in my possession. If she keeps true to form, we won't have any more major complications for another 10-11 months or so. Maybe I can get her sold before then? In the meantime, she has brakes again! (Albeit, in desperate need to be "bled" - terminology given to me from the menfolk, basically there is still air in the brake lines and I have to pump the brake pedal before I get any sort of response - and then she will be... ready for the next break down.)

Although it was freezing, we had to take advantage of the fact that I was in possession of a convertible. So we did.

It was Savannah's first time.

Over all, it's been an exciting week. With little or no sleep... so that is where I am supposed to be heading now. To bed! (YAY!)

And even though Andrew doesn't read my blog, I definitely wanted to send out another THANK YOU, because I have NO IDEA what I would have done if he hadn't come and rescued me.

A Day of Disappointments

When something goes wrong in life I like to solve it in one of three ways.

1. Do nothing
2. Spend money
3. Eat junk

I think the title gives away the fact that I did all of the following today. I really did have great plans my, now, treasured Saturdays. Saturday is, after all, the day we get the work done-day. Having spent the night in Huber as a Relief Society activity last night, I figured that I would actually be awake at a reasonable hour. Which I was, and we were back in Provo by 11:00am (after spending fifteen minutes trying to find a way AROUND the stupid homecoming parade - that no one seemed to be watching) or so.

After taking a shower and getting ready for the day, I pulled up my stats to do a quick review before I went to take my test. Unfortunately, the Independent Study office is not open on Saturdays. Which means - no test. I hate that. I hate that I think that I am ready for this test - or as ready as I will ever be (I'm sure I'd do a lot better if they would just let William come take the test with me... he wouldn't have to tell me anything, just be there for the extra brain power and allow me to talk through some of my more stupid mistakes) - and I couldn't. That seems to be a running theme with this whole stupid class. Every time I actually want to make progress - I am barred in someway from doing so.

With the free time I now had on my hands, I felt like I should do something productive like clean my room (which is disgusting... Stupid laundry!) or work on my Halloween costume or move on to the next lesson in Stats and worry about the test on Monday.... the list is basically endless. Not to mention that I am currently reading three books but haven't been able to get past a page or two at a time because I am SO tired all the time now.

And then I remembered. My brakes in my car have been periodically squeaking. I bought brakes a while ago when an acquaintance offered to change them for me. I shouldn't have trusted him from the beginning - after all, he doesn't seem the "car guru" type anyway. When he came over, he struggled getting the lug nuts off (by struggling I mean, of course, that he never did accomplish the feat), broke the key to get the lug nuts off and then we basically gave up. He took a look at the brakes, we drove the car around hearing only a single squeak and then returned. He declared that the brakes were good. They probably had a while yet on them. As this was something I wanted to hear - I believed him. I still had every intention to get the brakes checked, regardless, but I wasn't in as desperate a hurry. The last few days, though, I've noticed that the squealing was worse. I didn't think there was grinding, until I saw the possible brake dust on my wheels. So, having been spared my Stats test, I took the car in with my $50 off coupon and a book for the wait only to find that I didn't just need brakes.

I needed a whole brake system.

Not just shoes and pads (are those the same thing?) but calipers and rotors and front brakes and back brakes...and every ten minutes Tyler - the one I thought was just so lovely and customer-service oriented when I called to see if he could fit me in, and then the same who met me in the front as I pulled in my car - would come out and tell me that I needed another $100+ part. Apparently my brake fluid was dirty and dirty fluid is detrimental to a car. It ruined the whole brake system. The calipers on the right side were grinding my rotors to the point where they couldn't be refinished and the brakes were unevenly worn on the left and right sides.

Like I really have a clue what they are talking about.

I know I could have taken it somewhere else to get a second opinion. But really, when was I going to do that? And I like Big O Tires (although, I will go back to the Orem one, not the Provo one from now on) because they know me and I trust them, mostly because I've worked with them and they've saved my bacon a few times. I just wanted to get it done. I knew they needed work, I had been prepared to get the front brakes changed and possible the back ones (having only discovered that there were back brakes when I bought the brakes in the first place.) Tyler tried to convince me not to use the brakes that I bought, but I persisted. That saved me, oh, $20. Maybe. What a discount! I'm told that they also provided me with a FREE brake flush. I thought it was all very generous.

In the end, it cost me $708.49. Aren't we all SO glad that I have a job now? I know I am certainly grateful.

Needless to say, I needed chocolate after such an excursion. (Also, I just remembered that they were supposed to fix/replace the key to my lug nuts, and I don't know if they did or not...)

Anyway, I went to the grocery and picked up some things - one being little less than half a gallon (I know you've all noticed the smaller portions and higher prices on the ice cream) that was on sale of chocolate ice cream. Along with a few other items. At least I didn't have to charge this purchase.

I came home, ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich - severely lacking, now that I am out of my mom's jam - and watched about a half hour of TV because there is nothing on TV anymore. And then did nothing. So my laundry isn't done. My stats test still looms over my head. My room is a mess.

Boo.