Random stuff + a tale of my own stupidity
Jun. 15th, 2010 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Finished the second book in the Airhead series, Being Nikki, and am now on the third. It's so crazy, but entertaining. Stuff like this is why I love Meg Cabot: "What girl wouldn't want a guy to go on a wild computer hacking rampage against a majorly environmentally irresponsible corporation, just for her?" LOLOL.
So I think I've mentioned before that my dad is going to be here in a week or two to help me look for a car due to my current lease ending. I've drawn up a list of places to take him to eat, because he's picky in a weird way, but am also considering making one meal at home, including ginger and green onion crab, and his favorite -- rocky road ice cream. I haven't made chocolate ice cream before, and in this case, I think I would also try making the marshmallows myself also. It's kind of ambitious in terms of the ice cream I usually make, so I'm not positive I'm going to do it yet, given that my dad will quite frankly probably not appreciate it as much as his favorite Dreyer's. :P
I've ordered a cat tree from Overstock. It's supposedly easy to put together. I hope for Jaime's sake that that's true.
Speaking of ordering things online, a couple of weeks ago I ordered some cookbooks from Barnes and Noble, the first time I've ever ordered from them (I usually prefer Amazon and Borders), and possibly the last. After waiting and waiting for the books to arrive, I finally checked their tracking number and it said that it was delivered two days after I placed the order! Except, I so have not received them! I suppose it's possible that someone stole them from my front door, but I've ordered tons of things online and that's NEVER happened. Apparently they are doing some kind of tracking with UPS or whatever, but I was like, you can do that if you want, but the fact of the matter is that I have not received my order and I have no intention of paying for merchandise I have not received, even if UPS comes back and says it was delivered (and why wouldn't they? Why else would they have marked it delivered in the first place?). I mean, I DIDN'T GET IT. I can't go around paying for stuff I never get, if that were the case I'd never order online! This is stress I so don't need.
You know why? Because I had An Adventure the other day -- and not the good kind. It's the kind where I was forced to deface my own car. And yes, it was mostly all due to my own procrastination, but that doesn't make it any less embittering.
A few weeks ago, my car started telling me that my key battery was low. This is more critical in my case than many others because this remote key is the ONLY way to get into the car and start it (with push button activation). There's no keyhole or anything where you can stick the key and turn, like you would most cars.
I was lazy about getting the battery replaced. I have a service due coming up, as well as the Toyota safety recall thing where they need to replace the mats, AND my dad's coming up very soon so we can trade *in* this car. All that made me not want to make a special trip to the Lexus dealership just to replace the battery.
At first it was fine, things operated normally. Then the car started having trouble recognizing my hand (I put my hand on the door handle while having the key on me, to unlock the car); a couple of times I panicked that I wouldn't be able to get in. The push button ignition started requiring that I put the key right up to its face so that it could sense it. But STILL I did not go get the battery changed, for all the reasons stated above, and because I thought it could hold out until my dad was here.
Well, that totally bit me in the ass. On Friday, I took the work bus into the office as usual. I even debated with myself that morning whether or not to lock the car, because I knew I might have trouble unlocking it. Still, leaving it unlocked seemed like I was just inviting trouble, so I decided to risk it. Big mistake. I couldn't get back in. I calledjade_okelani for help, and she began to look online for people who have experienced the same thing to see what they did, but try as she might, she couldn't find anything useful. Meanwhile, I called the nearby Lexus dealership to see if there was a manual way to unlock the door. It was 10 minutes before they were going to close, and they said yes, that there was something I could pry off on the door handle that would reveal a place where I could stick my key, to unlock it. I thought I knew what they were talking about -- there's a little rubber button that if you press it, it'll lock the car. I thought I needed to pry that off.
I was wrong. I pried it off, and as I did so, I could tell that it was not meant to be removed -- I was tearing it, not just popping it out. And there was nowhere to stick my key. And it was so difficult to do, I'd ended up scratching up the paint near it. ARRGHGHGHGH. I guess what I was supposed to pry off was the other 'cap' thing that wasn't rubber, but that I was even more hesitant about keying/ruining. I was so frustrated at this point, because I'd basically defaced my own car for no reason. I was no closer to getting into the vehicle! As K. later pointed out, I probably had Lexus roadside assistance, which pretty much comes with any vehicle. Why hadn't the dealership suggested that, KNOWING they were closing in 10 minutes and wouldn't be able to help me further? YES, WHY DIDN'T THEY. The bitch of it is that replacing the door handle is probably going to cost some insane amount. That little piece of rubber is probably going to end up costing me $100 or more. Double ARGH.
Anyway, so at this point, the work buses had been coming in and dropping off their passengers (it was like an hour later), and another employee offered me a ride home. I decided to take her up on it, figuring that my car would probably be okay where it was (the park and ride is in a church parking lot), and I could figure out what to do from the comfort of my own home (because otherwise, I'd have to be waiting there for help to come for who knows how long).
The Lexus people had said that I needed to bring in my key to get the battery replaced ASAP (no duh), and that if I had a spare key, I might as well bring that in too because it would also need changing. (Yes, I had a spare key, but I had figured the same thing, which is why I didn't try to find it earlier and just start using it instead.) Once I got home, I went to look for it, and I really didn't have much hope that it would actually work -- and I had no way of telling if it WOULD work. That's why I let the woman who gave me the ride drive off. Another big mistake on my part. I was looking at the key, wishing I had some way to tell if it was working. I would totally WALK back to the church, but I didn't want to risk walking all the way there only for this key to not work, either. But then I pressed one of the buttons, and a red light blinked! I didn't even remember that it DID blink, because my original key probably stopped doing that a long time ago!!
It made sense that it would still be working, though, because even though the sensor is 'always on,' I also didn't use it to lock the car thousands of times, open the trunk, etc. So it *should* have more juice than the one I'd been using. However, since I had stupidly allowed my benefactor to drive away without testing the spare key, I had no choice but to walk back to the church parking lot. It was 3.4 miles and took me like an hour and a half. It felt like so much longer. It was kind of hot that afternoon, especially when I was going uphill. Worst of all was that there were stretches of the road that didn't have sidewalks, so I was basically walking on a very narrow shoulder during some parts. I swear I thought I was going to be hit by a car, and prayed that if it was going to happen, I wanted to go quickly and not suffer.
So, yeah. That was my lame adventure. Instead of paying $6 for a new battery and some gas in getting me to the dealership, I instead have to pay who knows how much now for the repair to the door handle that I ruined. There are times when I get really annoyed with myself, and this is definitely one of them.
So I think I've mentioned before that my dad is going to be here in a week or two to help me look for a car due to my current lease ending. I've drawn up a list of places to take him to eat, because he's picky in a weird way, but am also considering making one meal at home, including ginger and green onion crab, and his favorite -- rocky road ice cream. I haven't made chocolate ice cream before, and in this case, I think I would also try making the marshmallows myself also. It's kind of ambitious in terms of the ice cream I usually make, so I'm not positive I'm going to do it yet, given that my dad will quite frankly probably not appreciate it as much as his favorite Dreyer's. :P
I've ordered a cat tree from Overstock. It's supposedly easy to put together. I hope for Jaime's sake that that's true.
Speaking of ordering things online, a couple of weeks ago I ordered some cookbooks from Barnes and Noble, the first time I've ever ordered from them (I usually prefer Amazon and Borders), and possibly the last. After waiting and waiting for the books to arrive, I finally checked their tracking number and it said that it was delivered two days after I placed the order! Except, I so have not received them! I suppose it's possible that someone stole them from my front door, but I've ordered tons of things online and that's NEVER happened. Apparently they are doing some kind of tracking with UPS or whatever, but I was like, you can do that if you want, but the fact of the matter is that I have not received my order and I have no intention of paying for merchandise I have not received, even if UPS comes back and says it was delivered (and why wouldn't they? Why else would they have marked it delivered in the first place?). I mean, I DIDN'T GET IT. I can't go around paying for stuff I never get, if that were the case I'd never order online! This is stress I so don't need.
You know why? Because I had An Adventure the other day -- and not the good kind. It's the kind where I was forced to deface my own car. And yes, it was mostly all due to my own procrastination, but that doesn't make it any less embittering.
A few weeks ago, my car started telling me that my key battery was low. This is more critical in my case than many others because this remote key is the ONLY way to get into the car and start it (with push button activation). There's no keyhole or anything where you can stick the key and turn, like you would most cars.
I was lazy about getting the battery replaced. I have a service due coming up, as well as the Toyota safety recall thing where they need to replace the mats, AND my dad's coming up very soon so we can trade *in* this car. All that made me not want to make a special trip to the Lexus dealership just to replace the battery.
At first it was fine, things operated normally. Then the car started having trouble recognizing my hand (I put my hand on the door handle while having the key on me, to unlock the car); a couple of times I panicked that I wouldn't be able to get in. The push button ignition started requiring that I put the key right up to its face so that it could sense it. But STILL I did not go get the battery changed, for all the reasons stated above, and because I thought it could hold out until my dad was here.
Well, that totally bit me in the ass. On Friday, I took the work bus into the office as usual. I even debated with myself that morning whether or not to lock the car, because I knew I might have trouble unlocking it. Still, leaving it unlocked seemed like I was just inviting trouble, so I decided to risk it. Big mistake. I couldn't get back in. I called
jade_okelani for help, and she began to look online for people who have experienced the same thing to see what they did, but try as she might, she couldn't find anything useful. Meanwhile, I called the nearby Lexus dealership to see if there was a manual way to unlock the door. It was 10 minutes before they were going to close, and they said yes, that there was something I could pry off on the door handle that would reveal a place where I could stick my key, to unlock it. I thought I knew what they were talking about -- there's a little rubber button that if you press it, it'll lock the car. I thought I needed to pry that off.I was wrong. I pried it off, and as I did so, I could tell that it was not meant to be removed -- I was tearing it, not just popping it out. And there was nowhere to stick my key. And it was so difficult to do, I'd ended up scratching up the paint near it. ARRGHGHGHGH. I guess what I was supposed to pry off was the other 'cap' thing that wasn't rubber, but that I was even more hesitant about keying/ruining. I was so frustrated at this point, because I'd basically defaced my own car for no reason. I was no closer to getting into the vehicle! As K. later pointed out, I probably had Lexus roadside assistance, which pretty much comes with any vehicle. Why hadn't the dealership suggested that, KNOWING they were closing in 10 minutes and wouldn't be able to help me further? YES, WHY DIDN'T THEY. The bitch of it is that replacing the door handle is probably going to cost some insane amount. That little piece of rubber is probably going to end up costing me $100 or more. Double ARGH.
Anyway, so at this point, the work buses had been coming in and dropping off their passengers (it was like an hour later), and another employee offered me a ride home. I decided to take her up on it, figuring that my car would probably be okay where it was (the park and ride is in a church parking lot), and I could figure out what to do from the comfort of my own home (because otherwise, I'd have to be waiting there for help to come for who knows how long).
The Lexus people had said that I needed to bring in my key to get the battery replaced ASAP (no duh), and that if I had a spare key, I might as well bring that in too because it would also need changing. (Yes, I had a spare key, but I had figured the same thing, which is why I didn't try to find it earlier and just start using it instead.) Once I got home, I went to look for it, and I really didn't have much hope that it would actually work -- and I had no way of telling if it WOULD work. That's why I let the woman who gave me the ride drive off. Another big mistake on my part. I was looking at the key, wishing I had some way to tell if it was working. I would totally WALK back to the church, but I didn't want to risk walking all the way there only for this key to not work, either. But then I pressed one of the buttons, and a red light blinked! I didn't even remember that it DID blink, because my original key probably stopped doing that a long time ago!!
It made sense that it would still be working, though, because even though the sensor is 'always on,' I also didn't use it to lock the car thousands of times, open the trunk, etc. So it *should* have more juice than the one I'd been using. However, since I had stupidly allowed my benefactor to drive away without testing the spare key, I had no choice but to walk back to the church parking lot. It was 3.4 miles and took me like an hour and a half. It felt like so much longer. It was kind of hot that afternoon, especially when I was going uphill. Worst of all was that there were stretches of the road that didn't have sidewalks, so I was basically walking on a very narrow shoulder during some parts. I swear I thought I was going to be hit by a car, and prayed that if it was going to happen, I wanted to go quickly and not suffer.
So, yeah. That was my lame adventure. Instead of paying $6 for a new battery and some gas in getting me to the dealership, I instead have to pay who knows how much now for the repair to the door handle that I ruined. There are times when I get really annoyed with myself, and this is definitely one of them.
