Mercury in retrograde?

So the shit has been hitting the fan lately. I see from some posts that it's hitting the fan for some others too.

Last week the power kept going out, and I thought that was bad enough.

The the transmission in the barge started slipping more and more. Fuck! Maybe it can last through the week. It didn't. It wouldn't move through an intersection on the way to work, so AAA got the call. An hour later.... the car is loaded up on a flat bed. Freaking AAA service is always lame in the south end of King County. While the car is being unloaded in the back of the transmission shop, I'm waiting at the counter. The counter guy tells the guy in front of me it's gonna be about an hour, so I'm thinking they will have my car on a rack soon and know what needs to be done real soon now™.

Nope. So since I figure I'm able bodied, I'll just walk home. I grab my lunch box out of my car and start walking. I thought I was making good time, and estimated I'd be home in a hour or so. Maybe they can give it the once over twice today(Friday). Tragically they are closed on the weekends, so no work will be done then.

When I'm about half a mile from home, I get the call. Twelve just for the labor(fourteen hours), three hundred for the torque convertor, another three for assorted parts/fluid, plus whatever else turns up during the inspection. So the baseline estimate is eighteen hundred bucks. So much for escaping from my ex. What can I say, that bitch Visa is always there for me. Why would I want to break up with her? :(

Oh, and it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before they get it done.

I was thinking about Enterprise, with that whole 'pick you up' thing, but some Googl-age showed that Enterprise would be a pretty risky deal. And some Hertz shops pick you up! So now I have a Hertz Chevy Cobalt in the driveway.

Not that I'm a fan of GM design, but if there was a way that a car could be more poorly designed than my Lincoln, the guys at Chevy figured it out. The mirrors are the second worst design that I have ever seen, and the pillars are so thick that they prevent good wraparound view. The rest of the car is ok, but not really interesting. It has the Eco engine, and it goes into cruise almost right after taking the foot off of the throttle, so I'm hoping for some good economy for the next day or three.

I did find a cool radio station on the way home though. Check out http://kgrg.com/index.php if you are into a mix of rock and punk.

So I hope this Mercury Retrograde isn't hammering anyone else to harshly!

SC

ps - The walk ended up being just over two hours.