Again, speaking of giant microbes, I have been trying to keep the microbes at bay that are growing in the carpets of my still-wet car. Last Thursday I implemented a genius plan, hatched with the help of one of my fully clothed co-workers, to rent a carpet cleaner from Menards (only $15!!). I borrowed another friend's garage and shopvac and went crazy. Unfortunately it was dark so I wasn't sure how good of a job I was doing until later but it turns out I did something right because the next morning the car no longer smelled of swamp or of Febreeze but instead reeked of the heavenly scent of carpet shampoo (which I'm just as allergic to but at least it's a more appropriate smell for a car than swamp). I'm not totally in the clear yet though, the automatic seatbelts are still not working (although there is a manual override buried deep in a hard-to-reach crevice between the front and back door, and I'm working on manually inching them back into place). The overhead light is dead, the turn signal still hasn't been fixed, and a huge hunk of rust fell off the bottom of the driver's side door last week leading me to believe that the door may not be 100% protective from the elements anymore. In addition, the safety on the clutch has thrown a fit and now you have to stomp the clutch in with all your might to get the car to start (it was already what the car mechanics would call 'theft protected' - incredibly difficult to get the clutch in far enough to start - now it's nearly 'owner protected' as well). I will take it back to my mechanic next week with some fresh-baked cookies and see what kinds of things we can rig up. Ignoring all these little setbacks however the car is doing great and purrs like a kitten when driven through the neighborhood (we won't venture onto the freeways for fear of our lives).
Since I was at a conference all weekend I feel like tonight, Sunday night, is Friday, except there will be no weekend tomorrow. This is going to be a long week. Or perhaps I'll have to throw a little weekend into the middle of my week.
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2 comments:
I'm all for driving a car into the ground, but I was wondering, how do you know when it gets there?
It doesn't run at all and costs too much to fix it? And what is too much?
I'm thinking in minnesota a door that doesn't protect you from the elements could be a winter problem.
Ariel,
My mechanic says you know when you get there when you have a repair that costs more than it would cost to buy the same car. It would cost me about $1000 to buy the same car, so that's what I consider too much. I thought that was really good advice. But I think you also have to consider your level of dependence on the car and also what requirements for reliability you might have (and your tolerance for cold). Actually the inside panel of my door is fine so I think it will stay heated, it just would maybe let some water in if i went through a car wash - I haven't tried that yet so I don't know.
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