My day so far has been an unmitigated disaster.  I’m feeling the need to vent about it in more than snarky Facebook status updates, so here we are.

I woke up early this morning to take my car to the shop, so I could get the snow tires put on and have one of my brake lights looked at [I was pulled over (while on a date!) for apparently no other reason than that light being out].  I had also planned to have the car inspected, but failed to get PA plates yesterday (a whole other disaster), which meant I was only having those two things done: tires and brake light.  I’m leaving town the day after tomorrow, for almost two weeks, so I at least wanted to make sure driving in the snow wouldn’t be a problem.

Immediately upon getting to Sears Auto Center, I was informed that they wouldn’t be able to fix the light, since they didn’t carry the right part.  Fine, I said, just do the tires.  I went to have breakfast in the mall, and think about the things I was going to be working on later in the day.  I had planned to just leave the car at Sears and go write at Barnes and Noble, but the Sears guy said the tires would only take about an hour.

Two hours later, I’m back in Sears, still waiting for my car, and they come in to tell me that they can’t start it.  The battery is dead.  I ask if they can give me a jump (and even show the guy where I think you’re supposed to clip on to jump the car) but he’s too freaked out by the fact that it’s a hybrid, won’t try jumping it, and tells me to call a tow truck.  He also says I should just forget about the tires for now and go get my car serviced.  I call the Toyota dealership, but their Service department is busy, and the receptionist asks if she can take a message, which seems a bit futile to me since I don’t even know the problem, really.

The tow truck comes, we get the car started, and I drive around for a while to make sure the battery is charged.  Now I’m back home, no snow tires, brake light still busted, my morning gone, and no idea if the dead battery is symptomatic of larger problems (it has died once before, but that was months ago), or if it’s just something that happens, especially in the cold.

All of which is to say that I’m in a pretty shitty mood.  On the plus side, I’ve written a blog post for the first time since March.  Jesus.  I’m going to try to start blogging again, even if it’s trivial shit like this… maybe this is something I need right now.