murphied

My car broke again. Inexplicably it's the catalytic converter. Wednesday I noticed that the car didn't seem to have the power accelerating that it should have. Thursday morning it wasn't switching gears right--and it's an automatic. Friday getting to work was a challenge, and Saturday morning I wasn't sure if I was going to get it into the shop or not. About 3 miles away, the check engine light came on. Not only does Murphy hate me, he's a mocking bastard too.

There's only 69k on the car, so I'm really not happy. Given that the intake-manifold gasket was leaking coolant and had to be replaced, I'm now left to wonder if coolant was getting into the exhaust and fouled the converter. I'm also wondering if it's time to bail on the car and get a new one. I really like the 2006 Impala's, but probably can't afford the payment, and really shouldn't go there. OTOH, the new Kia Sedona looks promising and probably would be more comfortable for cross-country driving.

But, first things first. Gotta get the car fixed. They are supposed to get the part in tomorrow. I'm hoping they don't kill me on the labor, given that the spent 4 hours on it Saturday and are left guessing that it's the converter. It's the only thing that fits the behavior, though, and the 02 flow sensor in the exhaust *after* the converter is reporting dubious numbers. If I'm lucky, the sensor isn't fraked too, otherwise I'm going to be out another hundred-and-a-half.

I'm convinced that cars have an "automatic paycheck sensor"; I get paid by-weekly, so twice year I get a 3 paycheck month. March, naturally, is one of those this year, and damned if the sensor didn't go off on the first of the month. I was planning on using the middle check this month to pay for my first Java class. That may not happen now. More waiting for events to unfold that I have no control over.

in your face murphy

After I dropped my car off to get fixed, I walked back downtown, and stopped at one of the bookstores to kill some time. One of the primary reasons I like this particular store is that they have several "special value" tables where they have books marked down by 2/3 or more from their original list price.

One of my interests since elementary school has been World War I aviation. I've read the autobiographies of von Ricktofen and Rickenbacker more than once. I have about a dozen books comprising biographies, autobiographies, journals, and historical documents of various aces from Germany, England, and the United States.

Lately I've been reading philosophy. One of the books had a couple chapters on Kafka, grouping him with Nietzsche and Nihilism. Imagine my surprise, if you will, when at the book store I find in the dishevled piles of the Value Table a blue covered book entitled "The Air Show at Brescia, 1909". The Jacket has a blurb on the front cover which reads, "A singular event of the modern age in which thousands of eager spectators came together with celebrated aviators and artists--among them Franz Kafka...."

Well, knock me over with a feather. It turns out that Kafka's first paid work was a newspaper article he did on the Air Show, which he happened upon quite by chance while on vacation in northern Italy. Being able to put someone like Kafka into a real-world setting and look at him as a regular person and not just an insightful genius whose true message I'll probably never grasp is just huge.

I'm only maybe a quarter of the way through the book. I've found in the last few years I'm actually making an effort to read slower, so I can savor and immerse myself into the story. While this book is mostly a narrative, it is still thus far immersion-worthy.