Calmed

[jay]

Or at least not moving rapidly, as patgreene is home, but both of our cars are broken. The van is getting its bodywork done after the wreck en route to the hospital, while the transmission failed on the convertible. After only 18K miles on the last one... this will be $3K in car repairs in one week, grr. A lighter foot and better workmanship would have helped...

Otherwise, I had to pull together a set of speakers on our Space Launch Initiative work in vehicle health management to brief my boss today, and also give the overview myself. It went well... but later, my boss privately said that he could understand my keeping a low profile for the past couple of years, but that over the next couple he expected to see me take a more visible project leadership or PI role somewhere.

And tomorrow, ice skating lessons begin for this year! (bounce)

Comments

Oh no!

[runeshower.livejournal.com]

That is WAAAAY too soon to need transmission work. The shop ought to do it for free. Will they cut you a deal?

And your boss's remark is about as left-handed a compliment as I've ever heard! But it does work out to a compliment in the end. He wants to see you more active and visible, and thinks you can handle it! So congrats!

Re: Oh no!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

There's no warranty? Then there's definitely cause for trying to get it done cheap where you bought it.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I had it done in February 2000 at an AAMCO in Sunnyvale... they use their own parts, and only give a 12-month/12K mile warranty. I'm at 30 months/18K miles, so am out of luck. And it turns out that they did poor work -- the internal pistons' machining was a bit out of tolerances, and the shift linkage was missing a metal grommet -- AAMCO used a plastic tie wrap! Which stretched and bent over time, causing the transmission to shift irregularly and accelerating wear.

I could try to take the local AAMCO to small-claims court, but I'd have to prove it was their poor practices that directly led to the failure. And spend another $1K on an attorney... not worth it. The small family-run shop that has it now I trust explicitly... and they build and sponsor dirt-track racing cars

[daltong.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize.

My car died in August--it needed $3K of repairs, which I could never in a million years afford, so in a panic (never again) I bought a used car "As is" on 15 August.

As of last week, it has needed $2.5K in repairs. Mom and Dad no longer have the funds to be helping me out like this.

Sorry to hear about your car plight! Like y'all need this now.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Sigh. My sympathies, likewise... my experience is that any used car more than 2 years old will require $2-4K of deferred maintenance or hidden-problem correction, within the first six months after purchase.

*sigh*

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Mercury retrograde will be over soon, thank goodness.

Ice skating lessons? I keep getting really interesting surprises from you, Brian. I learned to skate when I was six, on a frozen-over pond in Michigan across from my grandparents' farm. Used to skate all the time on the tennis courts they flooded for the purpose in Rochester NY. Unfortunately, my ankles are no longer particular happy when I try to skate, and it throws my toes out of alignment too. *pout* I've even considered selling my skates. How sad. Hope you have a blast--have fun for me too!

Re: *sigh*

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I did, I think ;-). It was a lot of fun, getting out there again. The same movement issues (leading into 3-turns and mohawk combinations with my hips, instead of my upper-body) were there as when the ice closed in April. But I wasn't as rusty as I'd feared... summer rollerblading must have helped :-).

If your ankles and toes are ever feeling up to it, I'd be happy to join you for skating someday...

Re: *sigh*

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounds like you are a much better skater than I ever was. I never even mastered skating backwards! But Allegra was just bugging me about going skating again, so perhaps we could arrange a poly family outing, and you could see if I'm teachable in that regard. Last time I went I had not-long-before twisted my ankle (and the skating really aggravated it), so maybe my fears of their demise are premature. I'm a little concerned because my mom always complained about her "weak ankles" when we went skating. Mine used to be fine, but it's been a long time since I had the time to do Hornpipes weekly at the Plough!

Re: *sigh*

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

A joint family outing would be fun... all three of my boys skate, at varying levels. I can't attest to my teaching abilities, but I'm willing to try ;-). And what are (or were) Hornpipes? Sounds vaguely nautical...

Re: *sigh*

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Yes, hornpipes are nautical. They are an Irish dance form associated with the Navy. The distinguishing characteristic in this case is that there are several places in the dance where one is up on one's toes with one foot right in front of the other, and then rocks one's ankles back and forth side to side in time with the music, while maintaining that position. It requires quite a bit of ankle and calf strength to do it. I learned to do these at the Starry Plough, a pub in Berkeley where they have Irish dancing every Monday night.