27 April 2001
Last year: How long until they fix it?
So. My car needed one new tire to pass inspection, which is a little odd, because it's a tire I had replaced only six months ago, but I didn't have my records with me when they called to say I needed it, and now that it's already done, I don't think I've actually got any recourse but to accept it. It was less than $75 altogether, anyway, which isn't too bad.
The air conditioner, however... When I turned it on for the first time this season, a week or so ago, the air came out of the vents cool, but not cold. This has happened before, and it turned out I merely needed to have the freon replaced, or recharged, or something. Freon isn't cheap - about $100 or so for a full treatment - but I hate being hot.
But it's not the freon this time. Apparently, when I had the wreck last year, a small hole got punched in the compressor. That hole simultaneously allowed small bits of metal and trash to get into the air conditioning system, and freon to slowly leak out. Slowly enough that I didn't notice any changes last summer. The small bits of metal and trash have ruined some other interior pieces, and in order to clean out the system and replace the damaged parts (and, of course, the freon) it's going to run me about $1000.
Ouch.
My car is going on ten years old. I don't know if it's even worth a thousand dollars any more. I seriously considered going ahead and thinking about getting a new car before summer gets into full swing.
But even though my car is fairly old, it still runs reasonably well. And I really don't want to add a car payment onto my stack of monthly bills. And it doesn't make economic sense to replace this car until it's costing almost as much to keep it running as it would cost to pay for a new car. So, the car goes back to the shop on Monday, after they've got all the parts in.
Matt suggested that since we tend to take my car everywhere during the summer (at least, whenever possible) that the joint account could help shoulder some of the bill. That seemed fair to me, but I'm still somewhat annoyed that there even is a bill. This should have been detected back when I first had the wreck, don't you think? It's a long shot, but I thought I'd call my insurance company and find out if there's anything they can do.
The blinds that cover our living room window are broken. The little stick that you turn to change the angle of the blinds just makes clicking noises when we turn it, and the blinds themselves are stuck "open." To make things even more annoying, they're engineered so that, while the blinds are open, you can pull on the string to raise them, but you can't disengage the catch-wheel to lower them. So since we can't change the angle to close the blinds, we can't lower them again, either. So they're stuck there, angled open and only covering the top quarter of the window.
I know this is fixable. It happened twice that I can remember in our old apartment, and maintenance always came out and fiddled with them and got them to work again. Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember what it was that the maintenance guy did to get them to work. If anyone out there is familiar with the problem I'm describing and knows how to fix it, PLEASE tell me, because our current idea is to take them down altogether and pray a lot.
Word of the Day:
ignoramus - an utterly ignorant person; a dunce
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