Thank you, Auto Repair for Dummies. Today I changed my spark plugs (the most difficult part of the process was figuring out what they were), my air filter, checked my hoses (one’s busted), and all my fluid levels (coolant is empty, washer fluid is empty, oil needs changing and is leaking into fuel line, brake fluid needs changing, but power steering fluid is OK!).
From here, I just need to get insurance, try to pass emissions, probably fail emissions, get at least $150 worth of work done on the car to improve its emissions performance, probably fail emissions a second time but get a waiver because of the $150 (Washington state law, whew!), and then I’ll be good to go!
After days of searching on Craigslist, I have finally purchased my very first car!
Q: Hey Niels, what kind of car is it?
A: The $300 kind!
Q: You bought a car for $300?
A: Yes.
Q: Does it run?
A: For now.
Q: What does it look like?
A: It’s a blue and rust colored 1991 Geo Storm. More blue than rust, but not by much.
Q: Manual transmission?
A: Of course.
Q: How long before you’ll be willing to park it on the 30 degree hill outside your house?
A: Months, probably. Maybe years.
Back on the bike after over a year off, I’m pretty damn wobbly. And living on a hill with a 30 degree slope doesn’t help. Seriously, I can’t even walk down my hill, I’m not about to try riding down it. Craig did, and bit it. I held off until we got back and decided to try making it up the hill. I made it about 10 feet before I knew I was going down – the only questions is – rocks or thorns? I had a split second to decide and decided to land in the stones on one side of the street rather than the blackberry brambles on the other.
Afterwards Craig and I stumbled back inside the house to plug our leaks and explore my variety of hemostasis products from my jiujitsu days. Neither of us warranted surgical superglue, so Craig went with spray-on oxidized cellulose (stings like a bitch, apparently), while I went with Band-Aid advanced formula bandages (not really working). In hindsight, the styptic pencil / New Skin liquid bandage combo was probably the way to go.
Top of the Google search for “niels” is now added to my list of dubious honors.
If making friends with a family of traveling magicians and having dinner at their place is not yet on your to-do list, it needs to be. That’s all I’m saying.
