It continues to be--to use the technical term--darn hot in Cincinnati.
My friend Charlie has been trying to convince me for some time to listen to Mr. Rhythm Man's show on WNKU, which goes from 6-9 on Saturday nights. I can't get 89.7 in my house, so I decided to go out driving and tune in on the car radio. There were dark clouds off in--well, I don't quite know my directions here yet, let's call it "the southwest." They were clearly rainclouds, and there was clearly rain in them, and they were clearly passing my neighborhood by. So I decided, having no particular place to go, to follow the storm--with the hopes of feeling even just the most incremental bit cooler.
I learned a few things. One, Charlie was right, Mr. Rhythm Man does him a mean show. It made an excellent stormchasing soundtrack. Two, Cincinnati is not the sort of city where you can say "I think I'll drive southwest tonight" and have your desire reach fruition. One road I followed for a while terminated in a park. Another steadfastly refused to permit me a left-hand turn. There seem to be a great many parts of the city that are only accessible from one street, and if you don't happen to know exactly where that street is, well, too darn bad.
So it was an informative as well as an entertaining evening. Never did catch up to the storm, but I got to watch the steam rising off the asphalt in thick clouds.
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Plug
'K, I was thinking of just writing Kevin a thank-you note for how he took care of my car for me this week, but thought--no, I'll write him a li'l testimonial instead.
I took a trip this week. Every time I get ready to go on a trip, my car starts acting funny. This time, I think it's because it knew I was renting a car for the trip and it was jealous. Whatever the reason, it was making an obnoxious squealing noise. No problem, though, right? For a week I was going to be a two-car household of one person. What better time to take a car in to get checked out? Except of course that I was going to be, yes, away on a trip. So I asked Our Glorious Leader (remember? He knows about cars) to help me. He works on cars, but his specialty is the outside, not the inside. So get this: he took it for me to a place--Auto Foreign--that does work on car innards, and then when the work was done, he picked it up and brought it home for me too. Isn't that so cool?
A guy like that deserves to have a plug for his business on this blog, so:
Visit Center City Collision!
The car's fine, by the way. Apparently the car has an early-warning system to let you know when the brakes are going out--they start squealing. "If you hadn't taken it in," the guy at Auto Foreign told me, "it would have started grinding."
I took a trip this week. Every time I get ready to go on a trip, my car starts acting funny. This time, I think it's because it knew I was renting a car for the trip and it was jealous. Whatever the reason, it was making an obnoxious squealing noise. No problem, though, right? For a week I was going to be a two-car household of one person. What better time to take a car in to get checked out? Except of course that I was going to be, yes, away on a trip. So I asked Our Glorious Leader (remember? He knows about cars) to help me. He works on cars, but his specialty is the outside, not the inside. So get this: he took it for me to a place--Auto Foreign--that does work on car innards, and then when the work was done, he picked it up and brought it home for me too. Isn't that so cool?
A guy like that deserves to have a plug for his business on this blog, so:
Visit Center City Collision!
The car's fine, by the way. Apparently the car has an early-warning system to let you know when the brakes are going out--they start squealing. "If you hadn't taken it in," the guy at Auto Foreign told me, "it would have started grinding."
Monday, February 26, 2007
Friends and Cars and Lucky Money
Had a good week with A., my friend from St. Louis. We hung out with the JesusFreakCrazyCommuneCult kids Tuesday night, Wednesday she came to Our Daily Bread with me, Thursday we went out for sushi, Friday we had a scrambled eggs'n'guacamole breakfast and then she drove home.
I had smelled a sort of burning smell one day the previous week when I was driving; with A. in town I figured it'd be a good time to take the car in to get it checked out (as I'd have access to another car). One of the side benefits of the J.F.C.C.C. house is that Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about cars (but then, Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about EVERYTHING!. So I dropped my car off with him on Wednesday. That afternoon he called. In the call he used the term "living on borrowed time." Seems there's this thing called an "intake seal" except mine wasn't particularly sealed. And coolant and oil were mixing. And this is not a good thing. The good news is it should be all better soon, which is nice 'cause I'm planning a road trip.
Envelopes continue to arrive in response to our appeal. I have appropriated the role of letter-opener for these envelopes. Opening them is easily the high part of my day. It reminds me of Tet--tearing open the red envelopes to find out how much lucky money is inside.
I was just thinking of how nice it is that this job allows me to make use of some of my less desirable traits. It has been remarked before* that I am good at manipulating others for money and hospitality; if I am doing so for the benefit of a non-profit, it's all good. And taking delight in the acquisition of money? It's not greed here, it's a motivational tool.
*I had a letter of defamation written for me by one of my friends (hi Steve) when I was applying for admittance to a Girls Night gathering. The girls had to make sure I was of sufficient moral depravity to be welcomed to a night of eating, drinking and board games; thus a letter of recommendation would never do. The letter of defamation was a piece of fiction hinting at unseemly conduct when drunk and other proofs of wickedness, but whenever my friends read the line in it that said "She manipulates others for money and hospitality, they'd always say, "Whoever wrote this knows you really well!"
I had smelled a sort of burning smell one day the previous week when I was driving; with A. in town I figured it'd be a good time to take the car in to get it checked out (as I'd have access to another car). One of the side benefits of the J.F.C.C.C. house is that Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about cars (but then, Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about EVERYTHING!. So I dropped my car off with him on Wednesday. That afternoon he called. In the call he used the term "living on borrowed time." Seems there's this thing called an "intake seal" except mine wasn't particularly sealed. And coolant and oil were mixing. And this is not a good thing. The good news is it should be all better soon, which is nice 'cause I'm planning a road trip.
Envelopes continue to arrive in response to our appeal. I have appropriated the role of letter-opener for these envelopes. Opening them is easily the high part of my day. It reminds me of Tet--tearing open the red envelopes to find out how much lucky money is inside.
I was just thinking of how nice it is that this job allows me to make use of some of my less desirable traits. It has been remarked before* that I am good at manipulating others for money and hospitality; if I am doing so for the benefit of a non-profit, it's all good. And taking delight in the acquisition of money? It's not greed here, it's a motivational tool.
*I had a letter of defamation written for me by one of my friends (hi Steve) when I was applying for admittance to a Girls Night gathering. The girls had to make sure I was of sufficient moral depravity to be welcomed to a night of eating, drinking and board games; thus a letter of recommendation would never do. The letter of defamation was a piece of fiction hinting at unseemly conduct when drunk and other proofs of wickedness, but whenever my friends read the line in it that said "She manipulates others for money and hospitality, they'd always say, "Whoever wrote this knows you really well!"
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