Sunday, June 30, 2013

Car Troubles (or "A Day in the Life of a Poverty-Stricken Grad Student")

I bought a car last year when I came back from Jerusalem. I tried not to be desparate in the decision-making process, but with a very small budget and a very short period of time in which to find a car that would be immediately able to make a trip across the US filled with my earthly belongings (thankfully I don't have very many!), I was somewhat limited in my decision-making process.

So I bought a car. A 97 Honda Civic with 220,000 miles on it. I found out right away that this car had some quirks--like the back door (driver's side) didn't open from the outside. And the air conditioning didn't work (in the middle of August, this was more than just a little quirk!). And everything was manual (manual locks, manual windows). And the driver's side door didn't lock with the door open unless the door handle was pulled open. And the oil dipstick's handle was broken. And the handle on the lever under the dash that opens the hood was broken (you have to use pliers because there is nothing to grip).

But, what's a car without some quirks, right? So I bought it and, with a little (lot) of help from my parents, promptly fixed the air conditioning and drove out to Ohio. 

A year later, it's had a few problems...like the clutch fork breaking and smashing the clutch, rendering it completely unusable (that one was a pain to fix because it happened right at the end of the semester and I had to get it towed to an auto repair and arrange for someone to go and pick it up because I was out of town for Christmas--you would not believe how few people know how to drive a stick shift!)
yeah, I did that

...and replacing the timing belt (an expensive repair that I knew needed to happen when I bought it) and oh yeah, that one time when the ball joint on the driver's side tire broke in the middle of the freeway when I was driving to church and THIS happened:




One broken ball joint on the freeway + skidding over to the side = broken ball joint, broken axle, and unusable tire. Thankfully it was the snow tire that got torn up and had to be replaced, since I needed to replace it anyway, but still. Coming on the heels of the other car troubles I had had, I wasn't thrilled about the price to make it drivable again.

With this background, you might be able to imagine why, when my air conditioning quit working a few months ago, I wasn't keen on fixing it. Yes it was deathly hot. Yes I couldn't see when it rained because the defogger didn't work. But gosh dangit, I didn't have any money to repair something that had just been fixed LAST YEAR.

But. I just moved out to DC, and it is HOT. And humid. And has been flash-flood raining almost every other day since I got here. Which means that I spend a lot of time suffering from heat exhaustion from driving in the heat (even with the windows rolled down--it's like having a hot blow dryer on your face all the time) or pulled over to the side, waiting for the rain to stop because I can't see.

This past Thursday, I finally decided it was time for a change. I was going to fix my air conditioner. I had called my dad and found out that it might be a cheap repair and I could even fix it myself. So I headed over to AutoZone to buy some freon. 

Now, I hate going to car stores in fancy clothes because almost without fail the people there treat me like I don't know anything about cars (and try to sell me the most expensive thing) when I walk in. But I had just come from a job interview and didn't have much choice. So I walked in with my dress pants and heels and bought the freon (NOT the most expensive one that the guy tried to sell me, thank you very much) and asked one of the workers to come out and show me where the opening was so I could put the freon in.

But. I had to open my hood first. And remember how I mentioned that the handle was broken off the lever thing that opens the hood? Yeah. I've had to open it with pliers, but I've always been able to get it open. Not today. I tried for a full two minutes before the AutoZone worker kindly suggested that maybe he should give it a try. Well, I was more than happy to relinquish the pliers to him. But unfortunately he couldn't get it open either. We both left embarrassed -me that my hood wouldn't open, and him that he was clearly not manly enough to figure out how to open it.

Well, it was at least a thousand degrees that day (more like 89, but still HOT) and I was dying. I drove over to an auto repair shop next door just to get an idea of what could possibly be wrong and how much it would cost to fix it. I walked into the shop and asked the guy at the front how much it would cost to replace the cable so I could open the hood. When he said $120-$160, I looked down at my dress pants and heels and thought, he just jacked the price up at least 250%. Dripping with sweat and dying of heat, my patience was already running thin. So I asked him if there was a way to open the trunk without fixing the cable.

"What, you just want to look inside or something?" he asked with derision.

No. I patiently explained to him that I just need to add some freon to my A/C because it was broken.

"Ha," he laughed, again with derision. "Don't even try to do that yourself."

Now, I don't know everything about cars. But I have had to do quite a few repairs, and I'm pretty sure that I can put a tube on a spout and fill my A/C up with freon. I was MAD. I didn't care how hot it was. I left the shop, got back in my oven-of-a-car, and drove home.

And guess what? Two days later, I figured out how to open the hood ALL BY MYSELF, and I replaced the freon ALL BY MYSELF. Take that, guy at run-down car repair shop.

And my A/C? Works like a charm now. 

Life is good again.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Peter and Emily

While I didn't take "family pictures" for the May family, I couldn't resist pulling out my camera when I visited them a few weeks ago.

Peter is wearing his bicycle helmet in the sandbox because, duh, it's his work helmet and he's working.

 
 
 
 
 

They wouldn't smile, so I told them to make "angry fish faces"


It's a roly-poly! (I call these things potato bugs but apparently I've been saying the wrong thing my whole life. Although recent research confirms that the majority of Utahns also call these things potato bugs!) (It's question 74 on his list)
 
 

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

White Family Pictures

I absolutely LOVE taking family pictures for families with small children. Whenever I visit any of my siblings, I slyly suggest that they should probably get another family picture taken and hey, I happened to bring my camera. Something about the challenge of getting the small children to look at me AND smile AND for the parents to look at me AND smile AND not look like they are about to beat their kids because they won't look at me is just thrilling to me. What can I say, I'm a thrill seeker.

Anyway, I was in Utah a couple of weeks ago for my friends' wedding and so I graciously volunteered to take pictures for my brother's family. I even snapped a few of just the kids a few days before. Aren't they lovely?




I love Maxton's face in this one. What the heck?






Jumping on the tramp--a promised reward if they were good for pictures!











Kayla loves wearing frilly dresses and cute shoes and then going out to play in the dirt. :)





Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Writing Doldrums

I am almost at the end of the marathon that doubled as my Master's program, and guys, I just can't write any more. I have been working on my thesis like crazy, and then last week I had to take my Master's exam and write even more (13 page paper in a day--merely proving that I am just as good at writing a paper the day before it's due as I was as an undergrad, but this time it was supposed to be that way!). And my thesis isn't even done yet. I sat down to write a blog post today, got a couple of paragraphs in, and realized, I. Just. Can't. I just can't write any more. So here are a couple of pictures to enlighten your day (for those 3 people who still occasionally check my blog). One day I will write about these things. 

When my thesis is defended.

Anyway, in the past two months I took a few trips to break up the monotony of writing, writing, writing. I went to Philadelphia to visit a former roommate, dropped down to DC to network and job search, flew out to Utah for my friends Amy and Kyle's wedding (and saw others of my nieces and nephews, not just the one pictured here--pictures are forthcoming!), went up to Kirtland for Sunday morning church, and oh yeah, I moved to Washington DC yesterday.







Whew. That was about all the writing I can handle right now. I'll check back in with a celebratory post when my thesis is done and defended!