The last week of the year

Hope you all had a fine holiday. Despite my car accident (no one was hurt) it was a very good one. My lovely wife spoiled the heck out of me. If you ever come to the Westgate Cavern you will find out why. The teenager is doing well, as long as he has his iPad to play Badfinger and the Rolling Stones' "Child of the Moon"

I, too, listened to some music this year. Here's what kept me going. Really, really liked the first two - so I'm calling it a tie for the year's best.

Algiers - The Underside of Power
Nicole Atkins - Goodnight Rhonda Lee
Alvvays - Antisocalites
Neil Finn - Out of Silence
Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Hitchcock
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - Soul of a Woman
Little Steven - Soulfire
Lorde - Melodrama
Willie Phoenix and the Soul Underground - Garage Blues Band
St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION
Harry Styles - Harry Styles
Tinariwen - Elwan
Waxahatchee - Out in the Storm

Next up, the movies watched list, and car buying.

Catching fire, or not

It was not quite the viral explosion of Ceiling Cat or The Colored Dress, but less that 24 hours after Friday's Joe Biden post it became the most viewed post in this blog's seven year history.

So thank you all for reading, sharing and clicking like. Please stick around.

When your new car gets a recall notice less than six months into ownership, it can be cause for concern. Took my Golf to the dealership on Saturday morning. Drove up to the service entrance and was directed into the garage. A batcave large, clean parking area. Gave them my keys and was directed to the lounge area, where I had average coffee, wifi and a muffin. Got to check out the sweet looking Alltrack. I was in and out in less than an hour. It was an impressive experience, no hassle service that I know is very rare in the business. So I'm going to take that and run with it for a few weeks until the first oil change.

The Golf makes a chiming noise and puts a snowflake next to the temperature when it's under 40 degrees. It also sounds a gentle alarm with a dashboard light when the car has less then 50 miles of range left. What it does not do, if inform the driver when there's no washer fluid left. Good to know.

Trying to catch some lightning with a poem a day challenge for the month. I've had mixed success with this stunt in the past, but this month is going ok so far. I am worried about keeping up when we go to Scotland next Monday.

What? Vacation is eight days away? Now that's something to look forward to!

This Day

I thought it started with the monkeys, but that turned out to not be true.

It started a bit earlier, the night before on a simple Facebook thread about cars. A friend had an accident and may be shopping for a car. I jokingly sent her a link to an old Citroen DS I’ve been lusting for, then to my utter surprise found a Craigslist link to a 1957 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud that was driving on my own street two weeks ago.

That was one of the more surreal things I’d ever seen in this city. We were driving home and I pointed out to my wife what something very interesting was moving toward us. The car was gorgeous, still had a British license plate and right hand drive.

I sent the owner an email, that I did not have the $35,000 but seeing the car on my street was a day maker. He shortly after emailed me and said he lives on the West Side, close to my house and that he tries to take the car out once a week. In all the time I’ve lived here I’ve never seen it. If he emails back I’ll offer him some Jeni’s for a ride. I mean, if he takes it out once a week why not have a passenger or two?

In that Facebook thread to my friend I was talking about old Volvos and their problems. Had to mention that my Hyundai had never left me stranded.

Until today anyway.

After emailing the Rolls Royce guy I went to bed only to be woken a couple of hours later.

It was a dream I had, about the monkeys. It was 1:44AM and I had been woken up by a very disturbing dream about kicking monkeys onto plates. I’m not sure if I was very large or if the monkeys were very small. It was disturbing because I was one of the people kicking the monkeys and I have no idea why. All I remember was that these monkeys lives were not going to last much longer.

This morning I was planning to go see my son swim but the car would not start. I suspected the battery from the beginning, the lights were not working, there was no click from the ignition when I turned the key. There was a weird continuous ticking sound from behind the dash that was a relay switch struggling to do its job with no juice.

Called AAA and the guy was a bit dumfounded by the whole situation. The battery was dead but not dead. He suggested last night’s cold temperatures may have had an impact. The car did start when he charged the battery. The alternator is fine. I drove the car around to charge up the battery after he left.

The car seemed to be sluggish and that symptom really manifested itself at a higher speed. The revs were higher and it was much louder than normal. Took the car to a repair shop, but they were not able to fit me in today. Took it to a parts store to have the codes checked, but there were none to check. The clerk there did make a suggestion about an oxygen sensor failing. Made a mental note to call a repair shop on Monday for an appointment.

Later, my wife and I went out to lunch. While driving, the sluggishness had disappeared and the car was driving as always. Meaning normally. A friend suggested I have the transmission checked as he had the same situation with one of his cars. Well that’s just perfect, if that’s the case I may have to kick a monkey.

Only in my dreams though, and I do hope my friend finds a decent car.

My black Friday did not cancel Christmas

It is easy to recognize when there is a problem with my car. If it does not feel right when it goes over 65, when you hear a belt making a high pitched scream while turning, and the most recent - the temperature gauge going over the baseline and nearly hitting the red zone that means the car is over heating. The car was, thankfully, not leaking or burning coolant. Had no idea if the thermostat or radiator was messing up, and certainly do not have the tools or knowledge to do the repair myself.

So it was off to the repair shop downtown at an ungodly hour this morning just after they opened to get the car fixed. I waited for a diagnosis and received one. New thermostat, temperature sensor and coolant flush and fill. At least it was not the radiator. They told me they'd have it fixed in a couple of hours so I wandered off to find some breakfast.

On the day after Thanksgiving not much was open in downtown Columbus, which is not how a vibrant city with ever increasing density and street edge construction should be at any time of the year. With the exception of Potbelly, the only other place I could find open was Dempsey's, which had only one customer, me, when I entered.

Dempsey's is just around the corner from the now closed Jury Room. It was announced today that the business was sold and the new owner would be renaming the place Balls. That's right it's going to be a meatball place. I have no problem with that but if the food is not good the name is going to give it nothing more than a silly novelty act.

After breakfast I went to the Statehouse to see if the gift shop I used to work at was open. It was, and I talked to the owner for a few minutes to catch up.

Picked up the car and drove it hard on 71 and 270 to see how fixed it was. The temperature gauge did not move any higher than this.



Also noticed that the heat kicked in much quicker after starting the car. Darn, it had been kicking in slow the whole time I have owned the car. Must have been off all along. Still calling it a win.

While the rest of the country catches on, a morning in Columbus tells another story

I was getting my car repaired this morning. ESPN was on in the waiting area. Some guy whose tire was being fixed said that he did not understand why ESPN was showing so much soccer. I told him the World Cup was going on. He said, "Who cares?" I said, "The World." He then half jokingly said soccer was a communist sport before holding forth on the American sports of baseball and the NBA along with the John Cooper era of Ohio State football. MLS still has this to contend with in Columbus.

Tires rotated and balanced, tested it out by blowing by a truck on I70. I was well over the speed limit and the steering wheel was not shaking like a poor Swiss guy was after his country got their asses beat by France yesterday.

No really, do not do this

Made an appointment on Tuesday to have my car repaired today. Took the car in at 8AM, gave them an idea of what the problem was. At 11AM I got a phone call with the diagnosis and quote, and was told the repair would be done today.

At 2PM I got a phone call saying the car could not be fixed today. The part came late, the guy who called me was mistaken blah blah blah.

Picked up the car and got an apology, which is not going to fix my car. I'm pressed for time over the next few weeks, they knew this, so I made an appointment with another shop. Told them I had no choice but to take my business elsewhere.

Ran some errands before going home and had a message from the owner on the answering machine (yes, I still have one of those), who wants to talk to me about my dissatisfaction and he ended the call with, "Hope you're having a nice day."

Uh, no way. Not even close.

Not going to call back today. Maybe Monday morning. Maybe.

One month in

This was the week I could finally get a few things done with the car that needed to be done.

When you buy a car by yourself, there are things you may not necessarily think of. After I signed the papers and took the car home my wife and I went out shopping.

When she went to open the passenger door, there was no handle! Very odd. When you're the driver, you take for granted the handle will be there. I immediately called the dealership. Sure, I missed it, but do they really want to be known for selling a car with no door handle?

The salesman was kind of surprised too, "I'd say that was an essential piece of equipment." He agreed to have it taken care of. It took a bit longer than I wanted, but holidays and other things set in. Finally got that taken care of yesterday.

About a week after I had the car, I looked in the trunk a bit more, and there was the broken door handle.

There were other things the dealer was not going to take care of that I had done today. Could have had them done myself, but I have neither the patience or tools to get the job I wanted done. Sometimes paying for peace of mind is easier than doing it yourself.

Mom's been gone a month and it's hard. I want to call her, but that's impossible. My motivation for a lot of things is low, but I plod on. Have to. Spoke to my step-father, who naturally has his moments also, but is keeping busy.

I've been told the park bench will be assembled and etched with daffodils along with a plaque. It's going to be dedicated in April, when the flowers in the park will be in bloom. If I can get some advance notice, I'm going to do my best to be there. If you'd like to donate to preserve the park my loved so much, you can do so here. If you have, a sincere thank you on behalf of my family.

Waiting for the 4th of July

It's a great thing to have functioning air conditioning in the car, especially during this heat wave we're having. Driving across the city in this heat to pick up my son every day is a chore sometimes, at least the car is getting decent gas mileage.

On Saturday I noticed there was be a ticking noise out of the engine when I accelerated. Not loud, yet, but a noise that would not quiet down over time. Luckily, I was able to get to the mechanic before they closed today.

I've written many kind words about Mad Hatter Muffler here. They were busy, even in the late afternoon. There were three people ahead of me, but they work fast. Car was on the lift in less than half an hour. I was called into the work area by the mechanic, who pointed at a small hole in the exhaust by the catalytic converter. He was familiar with the car, had worked on it in the past. Asked me if it was getting louder. Said he'd weld the hole shut. No charge. The whole thing took about forty five minutes.



COTA, the city's municipal bus service has been negotiating with its bus drivers for some time. On Sunday night, a new contract was tentatively agreed upon by the union after a federal mediator stepped in. However, the drivers decided to strike today anyway. This is very, very bad public relations by the workers. Regardless of the compensation of the executive board, this crass act, after a weekend of storms and massive power outages in the city, is a slap in the face of the people who relay on them not only during difficult times, but every day.

Had to drive my wife to work today. Luckily a friend of ours graciously gave her a ride home. If they're still on strike Tuesday, this is going to wreak havoc with a lot of people's plans to go downtown to see the fireworks on Tuesday night. Picking up wife up from downtown late Tuesday afternoon is not something I look forward to.

Edit: and the union has rejected the proposed contract.