View From the Bushes

Because I'm a really responsible guy, quite often I'll get "View from the Bushes" done early. Either I'll have some time first thing in the morning or I'll scribble something down on a notepad while I'm out to lunch, and that was the case with yesterday's entry it was done fairly early on the 9th. But then that evening when I would normally post it I had to arrange to have my car dropped of at the mechanic's, which somehow turned into an expedition deep into northern Mexico when we had to drop someone else off. Fortunately even though I didn't think to bring my passport I had enough money to bribe the border officials into letting me back in.

Of course at this point everyone is saying, "Who cares about corrupt INS officials! We want to know what was wrong with your car!" Well as it turns out the brakes were grinding. Which is odd because I expected them to squeak and then grind, but they completely skipped the squeaking portion and when straight to the metal on metal grinding. So I talked to the mechanic about it and he said that on my model car (actually it's a minivan, how embarrassing is that). Ford doesn't put sensors on the brake pads. So instead of waiting for the squeaking now your supposed to wait for the grinding?

So now my car is as good as new except for this minor problem where if I don't turn off the overdrive then the car won't automatically engage when I try to start from a full stop. Instead you give it some gas and wait and wait and then all of the sudden there's this horrible lurch and you're moving! So I guess that would be a problem with the transmission. But I hear that they're cheap, right? It can't be as expensive as the new engine I put in last year. Did I mention what a good car this was...

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero,
Ross