On Cars

Currently reading:
Hareíos Potêr kaì hē toû philosóphou líthos
   by J. K. Rowling (tr. Andrew Wilson)
Cattus Petasatus
   by Doctore Seuss (tr. Jennifer & Terence Tunberg)

This week has been . . . interesting. On the lighter note, I now have the reading material listed above (Cattus Petasatus was the book behind the quote a couple of posts ago). The kids' foreign language section at Borders is actually an interesting place to go for Latin books.

In other news, it seems like this was the week for car troubles (I seem to be learning similar lessons about potholes, Scott). This Wednesday, I was driving my wife's car to school and tutoring. As luck would have it, everything went swimmingly until I got back to the apartment complex - and hit a pothole coming in. Dead on, hidden within the slush and shadows, even at 5-10 miles an hour I got a flat. Needless to say, Joy was not happy. We do now have experience in changing tires, however.

For most of the trip in her car, though, I was impressed by all of its modern conveniences, even in the midst of the snowstorm and 9 inches that we got. Conveniences such as heat, or windshield wiper blades that clear off the windshield in front of your eyes, or directional turn signals that work so that you don't have to look for cops every time you turn and make manual signals in icy cold weather, or an engine that doesn't decide to be picky about starting. Of course, this all brings up the question of why I was driving Joy's car, now, doesn't it?

I am sorry to say that, on Monday the 4th, Shadow Snail-Mail went to sleep and never woke up. Never quite as quick as a fax, ol' Snail-Mail kept chugging along until his last days. There are currently signs of electrical activity, but the engine is done gone for, and any possible repairs would most likely cost a grand or two to extend his misery for a couple more months. RIP, Snail-Mail.

So, later this week my new car should be coming in. We went with a Hyundai Accent, minus any bells and whistles. For that reason, I get to learn to drive a stickshift. I'll probably post something about how that's coming along in a week or so....