Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn't believe in transcendence
It's time for a few small repairs she said
-- Shawn Colvin, "Sunny Came Home"
Last night I called my mechanic and got great news: all it took to fix my car was to bang the little motor that switches the transmission back and forth from 4 Wheel Drive, with a hammer. It's working perfectly now. And he fixed a vaccum hose that had been improperly connected. He charged me his minimum, $30. I thought I was looking at $400 or $500 worth of transmission work. I ran over there last night and now have my beloved beat-to-shit 1994 Blazer again.
When I turned the Sirius satellite radio on in my truck this morning, Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" was playing on Little Steven's Underground Garage. It's all good today.
Since my car was repaired, I was able to run up to Evanston this morning and write out a check for $203.04 to "Nabih's, Inc," and get my little ibook back. It's back where it belongs, on my kitchen counter. BTW, I highly recommend these guys. I had a very bad experience with another company in Evanston that specializes in Macs. They got my ibook to me quickly at a reasonable cost. And they repair any computer, not just Macs.
The water main is still broken, and still making a mess of our block. My wife talked to someone at the water department and they informed her that there were people in other neighborhoods who still have not got water, going on 9 days now, and referred to it as a "mini Katrina." Since everybody on our block still has water service, we're not a priority.
When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, I changed my clothes and went out and helped some people get their cars out of the ice.
My neighbors didn't ask anybody-- we all just saw them trying to get their cars out, and people just started coming out of their houses with tools to help. A couple of the guys were standing in water up to their ankles. We chopped and shoved and got their cars out. I love my neighborhood.
Some people, though, are going to have to wait. Like these guys.
This guy wasn't iced in, but he had an unpleasant surprise.
But he must have taken care of it today. A city truck came by this morning and took his Denver Boot off. Things were fixed even for him today.
Do they call them "Denver Boots" in Denver?
And last night, I got some very good news about my friend Mark's death. More on that when the wheels turn a few times-- the wheels of justice, in this case.
A few small repairs.
10 comments:
Now there's a nice post to read on a Saturday evening. I really liked the part where people from the neighbourhood just went out and pitched in to help.
Great news about your car and laptop!
I thought about you today! I was driving 45 minutes away to get a teenie-weenie fuel pump for our golf cart that broke down in the desert yesterday. Then my car seemed to be shaking, and I was wondering if there was some solar activity that was breaking stuff (recalling your post)!! But no, the highway must be buckled in that area, and the golf cart is just a dumb toy that we still haven't figured out how to fix! Glad to hear your stuff is on the mend with minimal suffering!
I'm glad that your broken bits are getting fixed as best as can be hoped for. That is some interesting ice though. But what good neighbours.
The good surprises never seem to come from the mechanic, so that's amazing news.
Great neighborhood you have there.
Yes, an excellent post for an otherwise quiet Saturday night. Damn, that's a lot of snow!
Toccata-
Thanks! A lot of it goes on here. It's a safe place for our kids to play, since everybody casually collectively keeps an eye on things.
Anon.-
On one of your posts you'd mentioned your fix-up abiities-- we're you able to install the fuel pump yourself? That's a job I think I might leave to my mechanic!
When my parents still lived here in Illinois, there was a stretch of the highway to their place near Wheaton that had some kind of rippling in it, and my car would shudder every time I drove over it. I'd always forget, and think I had a flat or something. It drove me nuts.
Barbara-
Thanks! The block is slowly becomeing an ice block. Yes, they are.
Mob-
It's so rarely good news we get from mechanics.
Alasdair-
I'm not complaining-- parts of New York have gotten over ten feet!
I want to move into your neighborhood. My neighbors are not so nice. On Friday night my friend Jordyn came over to pick me up and got her little Echo (actually her mom's Echo,they had traded cars) stuck on the ice in front of my building. The wheels were fine; the whole undercarrage of the car was wedged into a big block of icy snow. I had to push while she attempted to steer. At least five people walked by, including a guy who lives upstairs from me and know who I am, but no one stopped to help. It would have taken two minutes with the help of one other person, insted it took 20. I'm glad your neighbors are nicer.
Johnny, that is QUITE a saga. Whoah. Nice that society didn't break down in your neck of the woods at the first disaster. Very nice, indeed.
Happy Tet ~~ cheers, Erik
there is nothing more miserable than de-icing your car when the shit is on there 2' deep.
there is nothing more blissful than finding out your mechanic only charged ya' $30 vs. $300.
Well, for what it's worth, for everybody reading this blog, I've had bad experiences at Nabih's, but I just had great body work done on my car from a guy in Evanston called Suburban Nacho's - work which would normally have been well over 2k but came in at $350. Off Oakton, in back of Home Depot, love the guy, drove me home, want to spread his name around. Nacho!
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