A freaking ENORMOUS roach just crawled across the floor of my office. From leg to tip of antenna, it was almost 3 inches long. I almost yelped out loud when I saw it out of the corner of my eye, crawling away from my desk, which means that most likely it just came from under my desk. Ew ew ew ew EWWWWW.
Killing bugs is not something I enjoy doing. Fixing things, however, is something that I do enjoy, and nothing makes me feel more handy than fixing something automobile-related. As I sat in the sim yesterday morning with one more ascent run to go, I got a call from Jose. His car wouldn’t start. Dead battery.
After the sim I drove over to give him a jump start. He had no jumper cables, but I do. (My Dad got them for me in 1997 when he bought me the Sentra. I needed the car because I’d gotten my coop job and would be spending semesters in Houston.)
We hooked up the jumper cables and let things run. For a long time. Nothing. Jose’s car clicked, but would not start. The engine didn’t even make any “I’m trying to turn over but I can’t” sounds. Just clicks. The battery was dead dead dead.
“Let’s take it out of the car and I’ll go buy a new one,” Jose said. “Ok,” I said, “we need a screwdriver to take off this random plastic covering that’s all over your engine, and then we need a wrench to get those bolts off.” But alas, Jose had no tools.
We went to work for a while, and then attacked the battery problem again. We went to my apartment, where we picked up my toolbox. (My Dad bought me the toolbox when I moved to Houston full-time because, as he said, everyone needs a toolbox.) We also picked up the Husky 60-piece socket set that I won at a Braves game in 1997 when the Home Depot ad in my program was signed by Bobby Cox. (Some guy offered me $20 for it as I lugged it home from the stadium on MARTA. I declined.) Until yesterday, I had only ever used it for bolting the bike rack on my car.
Back to Jose’s place, where my socket set made battery removal a breeze. Oooh, we are so handy. From there we drove to NTB, where the girl who tested the battery gave a laugh as she announced that her super duper battery checking voltmeter thingy was measuring 46 cranking amps…out of 600.
One new battery later, we were reinstalling the battery and voila! The car started with a roar. Successful battery replacement, and we high-fived in celebration of our handiness. Neither of us had ever changed a car battery, but it wasn’t hard at all…if you have the right tools.
My dad will be so proud.
Look at you, Ms. FixIt! LOL, my Dad also gave me jumper cables and a toolbox…gotta give props to Dads!
Jose says this post was mean. To his credit, he is very handy. He didn’t have the right tools, but he was the one who knew we could take the battery out in the first place. I was all like “do you want a tow truck?”
Jose needs to take a trip to Home Depot!
Remember this event in case you 2 ever end up as joint homeowners – LOL! I can’t say as I’ve ever used the jumper cables in my car, but they’re there all the time.
Screwdrivers, etc. are just handy things to have. BFF gave me one 20 years ago when I was a single woman on my own in Houston. It’s the perfect birthday present for someone who doesn’t have one (when is his birthday???)
Neither of us can change a lightbulb for what it’s worth (which ain’t much).
AND, you can launch the Space Shuttle. NASA folks rock!
Glad to see that a Georgia Tech education is good for something. My 92 Vovlo won’t start if you’ve gotten nothing to do this weekend.