One of my favorite moments of Woody Allen'sEverything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask was when the guys in sperm suits were lining up for ejaculation. All of the actors were white -- save one lone black guy (in a sperm suit, of course) who was panicking, yelling "What am I doing here? What am *I* doing here???"
Hey dude, I know how you feel. I felt that way for more than four hours today.
So my husband is now working in Denver. That would have been an awful commute from his Ft. Collins apartment, so he's not renewing that lease and instead is living back here in Boulder part time and living part time at a rental in Denver.
This means that about half the time, his (formerly our) Jeep is here. (Our arrangement upon separating was that the Jeep and all its attendant responsibilities and expenses are now entirely his.) I'm pleased to say that I really haven't been tempted to use the Jeep. Going carless really is easier and more fun for me.
However, this weekend while my husband is out of state, I'm going to borrow his Jeep to get together with friends and head up to my mountain cabin. Since he's flying out tomorrow and the Jeep needed an oil change and filter, I did him a favor and drove it down to Elway Jeep in Golden, where he has a maintenance plan.
Well, when you're dealing with a car with more than 100,000 miles on it, you should expect the unexpected.
Sure enough, the Jeep also was due to get differential replaced. Plus, the hood latch is stuck in the open position and needs to be replaced to keep the hood from flying up while driving. Plus the drive belt needs replacement. And there are some mysterious oil leaks, too.
I ended up spending just over four hours there waiting for maintenance -- that's right, me, the car-free person! What
really sucked is that I neglected to bring my laptop (since I thought I'd only be there an hour). Worse, I forgot to bring my wallet, so I couldn't even go out to get lunch via the shuttle service they offered. So my workday was shot, and I was starving and grumpy by the time I got home.
All told,
$660 today with more charges undoubtedly coming tomorrow once they track down the oil leaks. (Yes, I have to go back -- but this time I'll remember my laptop!)
The good news is that huge car maintenance bill goes entirely to my husband. In other words:
Not my (financial) problem, heh heh heh...
The bad news is I'll be working for a while this evening to catch up. But at least the Jeep will be safe for me to use this weekend.