July 13th, 2005

So I got my car back from "the shop" this morning. (Why do we call it "the shop" anyhow? By using the declarative, we make it sound as though there is only one car repair shop in the world, and it is "the" shop that everyone brings their car to.)

A couple of weeks ago someone busted into the underground parking at my condo building. He was seen by a few people: About 19 or 20, slender, approx. 6 feet tall, brown hair, black hooded coat. Or, in other words, just about any 20-year-old's description these days ...

And five cars were vandalized. I use the term "vandalized", and not "broken in to" for the simple reason that this kid was not competent at breaking in to cars; he made a lot of damage to those five cars, but was unable to actually get inside any of them! If you think about it, he's reached the ripe old age of 20 years old and he has no experience breaking into cars, then something must be wrong to make him start doing it now. If he was going to be a seasoned criminal, he'd have enough experience at his age to get into 15 cars that night, not been seen, and leave a lot less damage than he did. So, not a pro, just a too old beginner. And, really, too old to be a career car thief.

Well, regardless, my driver side door locking mechanism was thoroughly thrashed and in order to unlock the driver's door I had to unlock the passenger door and climb in and unlock it from the inside. A bit of a pain ... so I made a claim with my friendly local ICBC agent, and brought my car in to be fixed on Monday morning. Two days later, and here I am with my car all fixed.

Now there is an unmistakably shiny door, and three not quite so shiny doors! The locking mechanism is a good quality used one, but still shinier and newer than the other one on the other side. But at least they washed my car so that the newness of the parts isn't quite so obvious. I have to say, I like it when I get my car back from a shop or from a dealer and work has been done and I can see or feel the difference right away.

* * *

And a couple of weeks ago, the alternator died because the battery wasn't holding a charge very well and so the alternator was constantly charging the battery. Hence it finally burned out. I replaced both with my own fair hands, making myself extremely greasy and dirty in the process (the last time I worked on cars was a dozen years ago or more, and I was pretty good at the art of staying clean, but, alas, it is a skill I've lost over the years.)

As soon as I got the new alternator bolted on, and the new battery secured into its place, the car roared to life and is even more peppy now than it used to be. Again, I felt that buzz for a few days because my car ran better and more smoothly than it used to.

It was a bit of well-placed work. And, really, there was a sense of pride for a while too, when I was able to start the engine, hear it roar to life from the electricity of a freshly-charged battery and think to myself, "This car started so well because I fixed it myself."

Addendum July 14th, 2005:

My wife reminded me that when I came in from fixing the car, I had to stand in the hallway, not touching anything and stand with my arms out-stretched while she undressed me. Just as though I were a little kid again coming in from jumping around in the mud ...

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