Category: cars

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"Other people" Being a girl cars Nonfiction Not awesome

A Dashed-Off Motorcycle Rant

Today I saw a motorcycle zoom all the way up a line of traffic waiting at a stop light, cut into the left turn lane (which was actually in the process of turning), weave to the inside of the lane, and then flip a u-turn and speed away.

Why are motorcycles allowed to break traffic laws and behave carelessly? It’s just a question I have.

The way I understand it is that at one point in history, the motorcycle engines were cooled by air, so that’s why they were allowed to weave between stop-and-go traffic – because if they also had to sit and wait (heaven forbid) then their engines would overheat. But – the way I understand it – air-cooling is not the case anymore.

It’s not the egregious speeding on open freeways that bothers me. It’s not the weaving through stopped traffic – I mean, we’d all do that if we could, am I right? But when traffic is traveling, but slightly heavy, I still see motorcycles cutting dangerously close to other cars, and that bothers me. Because if you cut in toward a car in front of me, and that car swerves a little and knocks you into my lane, and you end up flying into my windshield, I’m going to be traumatized for life, and possibly injured.

Okay. That’s all I wanted to say. Motorcycles, I think you look dangerous, albeit sort of cool. But not cool enough to make it okay for you to traumatize and possibly injure me.

Update: Open Letters, a (hilarious) tumblr of open letters to randoms, totally did a motorcycle one a month ago, LOL.

Categories
Beginnings Being a girl cars Dreams Drew Exercise Food Home improvements Memoir Self improvement

Setting a routine

We’ve been in our new place for a week now. I can now say comfortably that I do not think we made the worst mistake ever moving out of our apartment. (That was a very real fear a couple times there.)

We’ve now had time to settle in, figure out what stuff goes where, and get used to sleeping in a new bed. We’ve each decided which shower we prefer. We’ve cooked meals in the kitchen. This morning I hosted our book club here and we made lunch for our four-person book club. (It was awesome.) (We should entertain more.)

We lived in the other place for over 2 years. I had a routine down. I knew exactly what I did every morning, and while it was a lot of back and forth from the living room to the bedroom to the bathroom to the bedroom, I knew what each step was and there was a very precise reason I did everything in that order.

But I have to kind of start over here. None of my stuff is in the order it used to be in, for one thing. For another, the bathroom where I shower is not the bathroom where I keep the hair dryer and everything. So there’s a lot more back and forth, because after 4 work days I still haven’t quite figured out what my exact routine is. There’s still a lot of, “What am I missing here?” It takes me a little longer to get out the door in the morning. Which is fine, since my commute is about cut in half.

Drew’s commute is about doubled, which makes our commutes about the same length of time now. Which is nice.

The good thing about getting a chance to recreate your routine, is that it allows you to build in some good stuff. I am trying to build the following things into my routine:

  • Healthier eating, specifically snacking – we’ve purchased a lot of fruit in the last week, and I’m also depending a lot on those frozen vegetables that you steam right in the microwave
  • Cooking dinner – in the last few weeks at the old place, we basically gave up cooking anything besides chicken nuggets on a baking sheet
  • Going to the gym on the way home from work – theoretically I can avoid the worst of rush hour if I wait it out in a spin class
  • More walks – it’s so pretty here, and there are lots of places to explore before hitting the library on the way home.

I also want to try to be more of an adult in 2012: meaning, I want to fold my clothes as soon as they’re clean* and make the bed every day and wash dishes as soon as they’re dirty. Honestly, I have less hope for these resolutions than for the others.

It’s fun to remake yourself every January 1st. And I feel like this year we get an extra boost to help facilitate that!

*I’m rolling my eyes as I write this, since I know that every single clothing item I own is freshly laundered but stuffed into a laundry bag on the floor somewhere. I guess I know what I’m doing tonight.

Categories
"Other people" cars Drew Family Memoir Not awesome

The Family That Does Roadside Maintenance Together…

I left work about 20 minutes early today. I had reached a natural stopping point in my workload, and I thought, What a lovely, productive Monday it’s been. Drew was waiting at home with sandwiches for dinner, and Erin was to be coming over later for some Game of Thrones. Wonderful.

As I drove home, I called my mom. I didn’t call her back yesterday, and I wanted to catch up and discuss coming home for a visit. While on the phone with her, I mentioned I was in the car and that it had been shaking just lately, and what did she think that was? She suggested something to do with bearings. I agreed.

I continued my drive home, which, for once, was relatively low-traffic. I was pretty happy. Mellow conversation with mom, and, like I said, the promise of sandwiches.

Suddenly, a large low sound from the rear left side of the car, and then insane thunking noises. I said, “Mom? I have to go. Um…I have to call you back,” and hung up while moving swiftly through three lanes of traffic and pulling off on the very soft shoulder.

A tire blowout! That explains a) the shaking, and possibly b) the random noise that Jonathan and I heard last Friday while we were driving around doing work errands. We checked all four tires and couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so we finally decided that something had fallen out of the sky (or from an overpass) and that was the noise.

But now it appeared that it was a tire problem even then. And I really didn’t drive the car at all since Friday afternoon, which I guess is lucky.

Drew came and changed the tire – but when we got in our cars to leave, he found that his battery was dead! I backed up my car level with his to give him a jump.

As I backed up, I ran over a sprinkler pipe sticking out of the ground, and it made the most godawful scraping sound. I pulled forward again – cue second scraping sound. Jeez louise.

We hooked up the jumper cables and did our best to get his engine to start, but no dice. He called his dad – who knows everything about cars – to ask for advice, but there was really nothing he could tell us over the phone. So then we both sat in my car and waited for his dad to show up.

“On my 280 commute, there’s always at least one car pulled over with its hazards on,” I said. “And every time I see that car, I’m thankful it’s not me. But I guess sometimes you have to take one for the team.”

“Yeah,” Drew said, “but if this is the worst thing that happens to us, then that’s pretty good.”

Luckily, I was very close to home when my tire blew.

When Drew’s dad showed up, he somehow managed to find the sprinkler head in the dirt behind my car, even though it was pitch black out there and practically in the bushes. “Just leave it,” I said, and he laughed at me.

He hooked up Drew’s battery to a magic portable battery and got the car started in seconds. Then we packed away everything and all three pulled onto the freeway to head for home.

On the way, we passed a car on the side of the road, with its hazards on. A minute later I got a frantic call asking, “That wasn’t you, was it??” But I was practically home, safe on my sturdy little spare tire.

So I guess tomorrow I’m making a pre-work Firestone run. And I guess I’m forking over the money for a new tire. And I feel grateful that the shaking mystery is solved. And that all three of us got off the pitch black side of the freeway safely.

What I learned: The best thing to do in an emergency is remain calm. I should probably just change my own tire, rather than making someone come all the way out and drain his battery to do it for me. And stuff probably doesn’t fall out of the sky to cause weird noises with your car.

Categories
Awesome Beauty cars Sentiment

Golden Gate Bridge pictures

On our way home from Labor Day dinner with my family in Santa Rosa…we stopped to check out the Golden Gate Bridge from high up.

Everyone else had had the same idea, so we had to pass the first two vista points and stop at the third, which is a little further away and so the point is slightly less vista. But that’s okay!

Then we got back into the long line of cars to drive slooooowly over the bridge.

Long live San Francisco!

Categories
Being a girl cars Friends Love

Riding in cars with boys (in other cars)

Last night, while driving home from Redding, Megan and I found ourselves tearing down the freeway at 70 mph, somewhere near Benicia, around 11:00pm. A car pulled up next to us and honked, and when Megan looked over, the driver made several “call me” motions. She just said, “What are you doing? Keep your hands on the wheel!” Then I passed a car and that Casanova car had to fall back, but a minute later they pulled up next to her again. Her new friend made more faces and gestures at her (nothing crude), and she just couldn’t stop laughing. The third time it happened, she pointed to her engagement ring, and he made a, “Okay, I’ll back off!” gesture and pulled away.

It was maybe the highlight of the drive home. Maybe not, actually, when I think about it. But it was a nice little few minutes.

But here’s my question: What was he trying to achieve? What would be the ideal outcome of that scenario for him? Was she supposed to scribble her number on a piece of paper? Gesture for them to get off at the next exit so we could all hang out? Take her top off? I mean, I know it’s just having some fun, but really, what did he want from her?

Categories
cars

This Perfect Sunday

Do you want to know what your brake pads are NOT supposed to look like?

Behold:

Ever since I had to stop rather suddenly one day last week, my left front brake had been making a grinding sound. It stressed me out, not because I thought it was dangerous, but because I was afraid what it would end up costing me. The brakes didn’t feel any different, but the grinding wouldn’t stop.

After my dad’s over-the-phone diagnosis, and Drew’s ever-so-informed analysis, this afternoon we went to the parts store and picked up some brake pads, and then my awesome father-in-law “taught” us how to change them out. (Conclusion? It’s not that hard.)

This perfect Sunday has also included finishing this season of 30 Rock, then signing up for a free trial of Hulu Plus so we can watch the second season of Modern Family. We napped. We made steak and mushrooms and corn on the cob for dinner.

The weekends fly by – probably because we spend a lot of them being what some might call unproductive – but the weekdays also fly by, so it’s a fair trade.

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Awesome Being a girl cars Family Religion

Attitude of gratitude

This morning before work, I drive down to Redwood City to pick up sub paperwork and the forms to take to my 9:00 am fingerprinting appointment.  So I get to the school, park, go inside the office for, like, 8 minutes, and when I come back out, my car will not start.  Like, it doesn’t even make any noise when I turn the key.  What??  So I call Drew’s dad and tell him what’s up, and he says that it sounds like a dead battery and that he’ll come down.

So I sit in the car and fill out my paperwork, and then I read a little bit (Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup, who also wrote Slumdog Millionaire), and the sun is out and it’s not too bad.  I do have to go back into the office and ask if I can reschedule my fingerprinting, as there’s no way I’m getting there by 9:00.  But they say to just come on over whenever.  Occasionally I turn the key in the ignition and see if it’ll start.

Drew’s dad shows up a little after 9:00, and as he walks up to the car he says, “See if it’ll start.”  And of course…it does.  Flawlessly.  Not even hesitantly.  Wtf, Saturn??  His dad is totally cool about it and says that he needed to come down that way anyway, and that he’s used to cars suddenly acting fine when he shows up.  But jeez, he had to drive half an hour to me at 8:30 in the morning…I’m afraid I’m going to get booted from this family for being a bad daughter-in-law.

I’ve had no more problems with the car for the rest of the day.  So the only logical explanation is that I needed to be detained in Redwood City this morning for 45 minutes.  I wonder what disaster I avoided?  I guess it doesn’t have to be something on my way to the county office (fingerprinting) – it could have been something I would have run into in San Francisco, or even on my way home this afternoon (I ended up staying later at work because I didn’t get there until almost 11:00).

Anyway, whatever it was, I’m grateful.  Having to sit in the sun this morning and read is by no means a hardship.  And I have to assume that someone is looking out for me.  So…thank you!!

Categories
Awesome cars Family Not awesome

I promise this is the last “Dear Diary” entry for the year.

Okay.  So on Tuesday I was supposed to drive up to Davis to meet up with Molly (who lives in SF but was spending Christmas in Reno) and Liz (who until last week lived in NYC but now has moved back to Stockton).  I had made it to about Richmond when my car started making weird feelings again, and I got too freaked out that I wouldn’t make it to Davis.  Or that I would make it to Davis, but not from Davis to Lakeport.  So I drove back home, and Drew’s dad looked at my car, and he replaced all the spark plugs and two of the spark plug wires.  And now, I promise (this isn’t like after I changed the oil and “thought it felt better”), it is running like before again.

The funny thing is, when it was all shaky on the freeway, I was desperately trying to figure out how I could fund getting a new car, and I was like, “I’d be sad about losing this one, but happy to get one with no problems and less than 190,000 miles on it.”  Then after it was fixed, I was super happy and sentimental about it, thinking, “I couldn’t imagine getting rid of my baby!”  I’m a hypocrite?

Okay, so then I had my car but it was too late to meet Liz and Molly, and my brother was flying in from Colorado.  My dad was supposed to come down and pick him up but I called him and said I’d pick up Robb.  So then Robb and I drove up to Lakeport in the pouring rain.  My family – like, just the four of us – hung out for the first time in maybe like 8 years.  It was really nice, until I got kind of bored of the constant stand-up comedy routine and went in my room to read Catching Fire (the second book of the Hunger Games series).

Also, from being home on Christmas, to being home on the 28th, our bathroom was completely torn up.  They are fixing the floor and the entire bathtub area, so that was a surprise…  So then on the morning of the 27th I woke up to strange men’s voices in the hallway, my bedroom door not really shut, and all of my regular clothes (besides pajamas) in the dryer.

In the afternoon my high school best friend was throwing her sister a surprise bridal shower, so I went over there.  Her sister was completely surprised, which is always fun, and there were a bunch of people there I haven’t seen in years.  It was awesome.  But then there were snow warnings so I had to take off so I could get home without dying.

And that is basically my second Lakeport trip.  Here’s a slideshow, since I just learned how to make them.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

(And happy 1st birthday to my blog!)

Categories
cars Not awesome

Nightmare before Christmas

This is the kind of car that scares me.  It’s hard to make out every single sticker here, but rest assured, they’re all a little frightening.

Under normal circumstances I would have moseyed on around the front of the car to see if they actually did have a handicapped placard.  The parking lot was so full I didn’t get a chance to.

Categories
Awesome Being a girl cars

How many times can I reuse the “car-ma” pun?

My car was making this infrequent shudder, even after I put 3 new quarts of oil in it a week ago.  This was causing me no end of frustration and anxiety…what could possibly be wrong?  When it comes to computers and cars, I’m completely and totally helpless.  I can barely diagnose the problem on my own, let alone solve it.  This was, like, weighing on me heavily.

Finally today, I took the car to the oil change place (which, btw, is across the street from our apartment…what was my excuse for not going earlier?).  While sitting in my car, in line, I realized I was feeling intense anxiety pangs.  Akin to those felt right before a visit to the lady-doctor.  No, not even that.  Because at least when I have had to sit in the waiting room at Planned Parenthood while I wait for my appointment (which is guaranteed to be at least 45 minutes late), I know that they’re not going to find anything wrong.  No, this feeling was more on par with a long-overdue visit to the dentist, when you know you have a cavity and no insurance.

So the first thing the guy did was say, “Come out here, I want to show you something.”  This is when my heart drops to my stomach, because you don’t want them to have to “show you something.”  (I debated whether or not to admit here in writing that last week, when I put  more oil in, I left the oil cap off – again.  So that explains the shuddering.)  Humiliated, even though he was very nice about it, I got back in the car.

They changed the oil.  They checked the pressure on the tires.  They checked all my lights.  (When he asked me to turn on the right turn signal I definitely turned on the left one, and three guys laughed at me and said everyone does that.)  They filled up my wiper fluid.  They gave me a list of things they recommend I get done, but no one pressured me to do it today.

Definitely less painful than I was fearing.  And in the tenth of a mile I had to drive to get home, the car did feel better.  And knowing that I have a list of things I should try to get done in the new year is encouraging.  Especially because the most expensive of them is a little over $100…not the $3000 I was terrified of.

So all in all, it’s been a good day.