mrs_sweetpeach | Project 52 (Reply)

A week ago today we received the report from our mechanic's about the car we were contemplating buying. It needed a number of repairs, primarily among them a new axle, so we took that information to the dealer and negotiated a better price. So our new car is 2013 Town & Country minivan and we took it to work the very next day so that we could drop off the beige Park Avenue for a few repairs of its own. We exchanged cars at the mechanics the day after that, in no small part because the idea of that axle breaking while underway seemed like a great way to cause additional parts to fail. Well, that and the other car was supposedly all better. It got a brand new fuse box, which solved most of its problems. Only that turned out not to be the only issue, it has taken to feeling like it is going over rumble strips at unpredictable intervals (including on newly laid asphalt) and the heating/cooling system is now possessed. The driver's side blows cool air while the passenger side blows nothing other than air that feels like it came up from the depths of hell.

So, to jump ahead in this story, the Town & Country was returned to us last night after a whole series of repairs, one of which was not on the inspection as it couldn't be seen until the whatever was disassembled. So we once again exchanged cars and drove off in the minivan toward the grocery store. Around four miles later it stalled as we were puttering up Main Street in Royal Oak. Fortunately

jebra was driving and coasted the car to a side street and found a safe spot to let it sit. We called AAA, had it towed back to our mechanic's, and exchanged it for the mostly working Park Avenue. I'm beginning to wonder if someone threw an automotive curse upon our vehicles.

Oh, and that Subaru Forester

jebra was in love with? It was sold over the weekend and

jebra spent most of Monday in mourning when he noticed it was no longer on their webpage. I called to confirm; that's how I know it sold over the weekend.

Scheduled for the weekend were two events, an Ingress XM Anomaly on Saturday and a Mission Day on Sunday, both in Ann Arbor. I'm still not entirely certain what an Anomaly is, but I went and helped my team (the Resistance) gain victory. In practical terms, this meant I went where I was told and did whatever action was requested (generally, keeping portals charged and helping them stay blue). We were instructed to bring as many Level 8 bursters and resonators as we could get our hands on (preferably 600 of each). Friday night after work

jebra found a park in Birmingham we could farm for Level 8 gear, so we walked around hacking portals until we burned them out. We had a reasonable supply of both bursters and resonators when we left for Ann Arbor and arrived barely in time for check-in thanks to two serious accidents on the highway. Not even Waze could rescue us from being later than we wanted but we made it and we found our team before the action began. Many hours and five miles later we were done for the day. We grabbed some dinner on the way home, then I ran a load of laundry while I took a shower and waited for my hair to dry.

On Sunday we played a dozen missions; there were supposed to be sixteen available but there was a problem with one of them and it didn't come online during Mission Day. In my case it would not have mattered as I was barely able to complete the 12 we did. I was moving at a snail's pace by the end and alternately being delighted that I wasn't having to consume pain pills the way I did during the Detroit Mission Day and concerned about the state of my knees and lamenting how slow I had to move just to keep going forward. We had dinner in Ann Arbor at Hop Cat, where I learned why their crack fries are called crack fries (they must be made with crack as they are that yummy and addictive), then it was home for more laundry and getting ready for work on Monday.

Not much work got done by me on Monday even though I was there all day. I was so exhausted from all that walking (I did another 5.5 miles on Sunday) that it was a very sleep apnea-y day -- I'd type a few words, fall asleep, rinse, repeat. We drove straight home after work, where I brushed my teeth and fell into bed. My blood sugar was awful when I woke up the next morning (149) but I suppose that's what happens when I eat a ton of pizza for lunch then skip both dinner
and my evening dose of metformin. I did, however, manage to stay awake all day at work on Tuesday and got caught up on what I'd been trying to do on Monday.

Scrapbook papers & elements from the kit Bohemian Breeze
For more information about the designers and their work, see
http://mrs-sweetpeach.dreamwidth.org/903338.html.