car issues, parking permit, quiet weekend

So, I'm heading out to visit one of my friends on Friday and my check engine light comes on. So, I pull over into a nearby park and pop the hood. Which is foolish, since if it's not shooting out flames I'm not going to know what to do with it. I'm not a car guy.

No fire, but the light is still on. I drive directly back home and notice that the car is running just a little bit hot. Not much, not in the red zone, but just a little hotter than usual.

I took it over to a Monroe service station and they told me that they could look at it first thing Saturday morning - so I left it there and walked home. They said it would be $50 just to look at it. And somehow I knew:

a) They won't be able to figure out what the problem is and
b) They'll still charge me.

Well, I was half right. They couldn't get their diagnostic computer to make a connection - they suspected a bad socket or something. But, when I went to pick it up, they just handed me the keys and didn't charge me. Which was nice - though it would have been nicer if they had been able to actually fix it. They suggested that I take it to a dealership.

I took the car home, checked the phonebook and called the two dealerships listed to work on Chevys. The service area of the first one was closed and wouldn't be open until Monday morning and the second took all my info and gave me an appointment - for tuesday morning.

Gee, good thing it's not important or anything.

So, I drove it to work today - windows down and heat turned up - and again it got slightly hotter than it usually does. And of course I hit every single freaking red light on the way here.

I'm got tranportation lined up to leave the car at the dealership tonight and I'm really hoping it's something simple and cheap.

Because the cost of my parking permit just got taken out of my most recent paycheck. But wait, Anthony, don't you work there? Yes I do. And you have to pay to park on campus? Yep.
Isn't that wrong? Well, I think so. Do you kinda wish you could charge the parking office for helping with their web pages. A little, yes.

So, my finances are a little tighter than usual. Great. And I was planning on getting my Halloween supplies soon. Looks like I'm going to have to wait a bit.

Otherwise, a quiet weekend. I worked on my stained glass and a couple other little projects. Did some reading and played video games and watched movies.

I'm hoping the week is quiet - the boss is out of town at a conference and I've got plenty to keep me busy.

Well, that's it for now. Back to work...