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So, my speedometer is reading 135-140 MPH, and I decide to post to LiveJournal about it[*] ...
No, I mean right now, as I'm typing this, the speedometer of my car is registering in excess of 135 MPH.
I'm not making this up -- come on over and look through the car window. Then ring my doorbell and offer me a jump start, and we'll see what the speedometer says when the electrical system has the right voltage supplied to it. (If I turn the key to the "on" position, the speedometer drops to 120 and the tachometer climbs up a bit from zero; if I try to engage the starter, the tach drops back to zero and the spedometer pegs again. I wonder whether I can translate those readings to the actual voltage in on the battery, or this behavious is just a random quirk of the system. I never had a clue that my guages were electric until now, since they're needles, not illuminated digits.)
In the meantime, having observed that I went into a ten minute "one stress too many: bad day" brain-freeze trying to decide what to do, whom to call, etc., I'm going to eat a slightly too-big bowl of instant mashed potatoes with lots of pepper, extra butter, oregano, and a pile o' grated cheddar, and Postpone Coping until this evening. Maybe I'll even sleep. And drink decaf Earl Grey tea. Then I'll start finding out who is local and has time to come lend me several electrons tonight or tomorrow morning.
(The Jury Commissioner's office insisted that I get out of bed way too early, I had my lights on for the parking garage, I failed to remember them when I got home, and left them on ... and three or four hours later, I got back in the car and the battery was flat. Maybe the terribly annoying (and currently broken) door/keys/lights beepchime is good for something after all. So anywho, yeah, I done it to me'self, but the result for now remains: one thing wrong too many and not enough sleep, and I'm just not dealing right now.)
And for the record, no, I've never actually driven 130+ MPH in this car. I don't think I've exceeded 115 MPH since that time in Ewok's Oldsmobile on the NJ Turnpike.
[*] That's not what they mean by "high speed Internet"?
(no subject)
The gas meter didn't. Most of the time. But if you put the gear in reverse and pushed the brake pedal, then it indicated quite right.
And speaking of gears; if you were too enthusiastic about voming from third to second gear, you were likely to switch on the windshield wipers.
(no subject)
Automotive electronics do odd things. I had a 1978 Pontiac Catalina that one day decided that instead of sounding the horn, pressing the horn button would light the dome lamp at half strength and make a curious buzzing sound in the dashboard. This was deemed a Too Expensive To Trace electrical mystery, until my sister's boyfriend -- she was dating an auto mechanic at the time -- got the oldest old-timer at his shop to give him a clue about a similar car that had been brought in for a similar problem. Without looking, the older mechanic said, "clock fuse". And yes, that was what fixed my car's horn even though the horn and the dome light are on different fuses and my car didn't even have a clock in it.
Of course, now we have to hear from the folks who drive British cars, eh?
(no subject)
tangent
(no subject)
I've let it get late enough that, this not being an emergency, it's not reasonable to try to drag anyone else over here tonight unless they already happen to be up and feeling social (if you're up to it, I'd be grateful, but if you're busy or still feeling crappy, I'll save the "please rescue me" coupon for when it's more urgent).
There's also a chance that we can do this in less-rain-than-now if we pick the right moment in the morning. Are you free then? My current plan is to try to wave one of my neighbours over when they're moving their cars for street cleaning, and to start calling Baltimore friends who might have flexible schedules if that fails (I really should have been calling people this evening, but like I said, I crashed really hard). Worst case, I'll sit in the car and work on a tune I've been meaning to write down, and wait for the parking enforcement folks to come 'round, at which point I'll explain that I'm waiting for a friend to help me start the car so they really [%flutters eyelashes%] don't need to give me a ticket. Any plan that gets the car moving before 3LF (http://www.wam.umd.edu/~eowyn/3LF/index.html) rehearsal counts as a Solution to this Problem. The other things I want to do tomorrow can be postponed; I've already dealt with the emotional hit from the frustration of this whole thing. (Still feeling plenty foolish enough about it though.)
Sheesh, I'm long-winded when I've just woken up, huh? Urk. Not quite awake enough to want to deal with rewriting ...
[update]
Re: [update to the update]
I hope it's merely the "too litle gas to park on this particular slope" problem (diagnosis: coast it around the corner and see whether the problem goes away; if it does, buy gas). Right now we'd have to push the car uphil to be able to clear the truck parked in front of my car, but the truck has to move for street cleaning in the morning, so ...