Truck and Girl

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Girly swat.

I bought some new super-duper wiper blades, a new rear-view mirror and a USA/Canada/Mexico atlas today.

When I got home, my new (old) manual had arrived.

I popped down to the basement to whip out my old wiper blades and whip on the new, I couldn't for the bugger of me work out how to get the old ones off. Upon further inspection, one of them had been virtually welded on, with little bits of metal and shit. Even after consulting the instructions in my new manual, I couldn't release the bloody spring thingy on the one that wasn't hobby-horse mechaniced on, and ended up busting the plastic stupid thing that holds the whole wiper casing thing on that little metal knob thing with the bump on the end that's connected to the springy thing that comes off the bonnet.

I'll be taking it to the nice men at the nice garage for a smog test on Friday, so, perhaps I'll just hand over my new super-super wiper blades.

I can change a freakin' tire though, capiche?

Posted by george at 10:21 PM | 1 comments

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Snatch!

Took her through her paces today. Apart from some strangeness with a "Low Range vs 4 Wheel Drive" issue, she was great! Should have that whole "transmission" thing looked at.

Posted by george at 11:23 PM | 1 comments

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Criminal intent.

Turns out I was totally lying about only getting 2 questions wrong. I got 4 wrong.
The thing is, those 2 other questions were both issues of law, and frankly, one of them made me take on the guise of a hardened criminal, so I found myself taking the WWJD* tack, so the nice lady didn't send me straight to jail.

A peace officer** is signaling you to drive to the edge of the roadway. You decide to ignore the officer's warning and flee the scene. You are guilty of a misdemeanour and can be published by being:
   Fined up to $1,000 (I ticked this one, but)
   Jailed in a county jail for not more than one year (It's this one)
   Given a warning and a citation

The other question was something about when you're supposed to report things to the powers that be. Whatever. Apparently I have to write a report to the DMV if I have an accident which causes more than $750 in damages.

* WWJD = What Would Jesus Do?
** Peace officer means police officer.

Posted by george at 11:26 AM | 0 comments

Friday, August 11, 2006

Flying colours.

I had an appointment booked at the DMV in San Francisco for today at 10. I got there at 9.45, and there were already loads of people. No fear! Appointments actually do come in handy.

I was able to keep my Australian license (there was rumour of having to surrender it), had a not-too-bad photo taken, then wandered along the red carpet to the written test lady. She was actually remarkably chipper and polite, quite the exception to the normal demeanour of government office person rule.

Question 1:

It is illegal for a person of 21 years of age or older to drive with a blood alcohol limit (BAC) that is ____ or higher.
  0.08%
  0.10%
  0.05%

Gack! Couldn't quite remember. So, it's OK to drive with *some* BAC... I'll just go with the Australian rule.

There were a few reverse-the-road-in-your-brain questions about who goes first and right of way and stuff, and out of 36 questions I only got 2 wrong. (You can get up to 6 wrong.)

So, for posterity and future reference:

If there is a deep puddle in the road ahead, you should apparently steer your vehicle around the water, if possible. You shouldn't shift into neutral as you drive through the water (duh!), or maintain the posted speed to make it through the water. (But if it's wet, why would you want to be swerving all over the place? Who cares if you get a little water in your distributor??)

Also, when you see a crosswalk sign (the one with a figure holding someone else's arm), you should be prepared to stop if there are children in the crosswalk, not just always stop. Good to know it doesn't matter if there are blind people or the elderly trying to cross the road. (I picked the "nice", "safe", "not axe murderer" answer there.)

My study proved beneficial. There was a question about what to do if you see a blind person crossing a crosswalk. Here was I thinking that I lean on my horn and shout at them out the window, but luckily, I found out you need to pull up to the crosswalk so they can hear where you are.

Mwahahahahahaaaaa!

(PS - Finally received the effing title. About 10 minutes after I got home from the effing DMV. I'll have to go back first thing Monday morning to register the car, otherwise they'll start charging me. Just got insurance on the internet too. So, won't be damn long until the plan finally comes together.)

Posted by george at 4:56 PM | 1 comments

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

For fuck's sake.

I sent a check to this person promptly. (Payment in full.) It was cashed on July 14. The car arrived about a week later in not-starting order. Whatever. I was expecting a total lemon, so I figure I got a pretty good deal. Only had to spend a few hundred bucks on fixing stuff up so I could start it. Still in the black.

M.I.A. tells me once, twice, three times a lady that he's sent along the accompanying paperwork. I am a patient woman, but after being told it was going to be sent to me a week ago, and 2 sternish messages I get an email today:

The title is being sent, please call Patricia @ 555 222-5555 to confirm address, the title will be sent certified.

Does that mean you've sent it? Or...? WHAT?

You can bet your house I'll be calling Patricia. I'll be expecting chocolates and cash. You can also bet I'll be recommending a little Fucking Learn To Communicate With Your Fucking Customers Properly course as well.

Posted by george at 9:20 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Tip #1.

It's not a desperately good idea to start your car in your garage just because you're a) so excited and b) want to make sure all that work on the starter motor last week wasn't a complete waste of time.

Turns out carbon monoxide comes out quite quickly and is very stinky. I had to open the windows upstairs too, what with central heating and all.

Perhaps I should get an effin canary while I wait for the paperwork to arrive from weird internet seller person.

Posted by george at 8:46 PM | 0 comments

Trouble.

As I continue to investigate the new beast, little unsolved mysteries reveal themselves.

The boot (trunk) contains some flotsam:

• a crowbar,
• some weird strips of plastic that I think might be related to the roof rack,
• a big red light that's not attached to anything,
• a can of "Ezy Start" stuff to spray somewhere liberally on the motor (since jettisoned as my starter motor is now perfect),
• a cassette, unplayed, that I'm saving for my maiden legal voyage
• the rear-view mirror...

The driver's seat belt doesn't work. The fire-red upholstery is in fine shape, but the clicky thingy doesn't click when you put that thingy in the thingy. (It's kind of OK temporarily. I can stretch that belt over to the passenger thingy.) I really should get that fixed.

My symbol of liberation has a faulty restraint device.

Posted by george at 9:46 AM | 2 comments

Friday, August 04, 2006

Dark past.

A Challenging Situation on Vimeo

Terribly shitty video, but still... hopefully you are gripped by the fact that this was my first meeting with my Snatch, hence nervous laughter throughout.

Posted by george at 1:00 PM | 1 comments