Speaking of my Car

A funny thing happened this morning.

So, by the next morning after posting the Corrado on craigslist, I had a number of response emails and you wanna know the number one question...?

'What's the mileage?'

Duh. Well, as easy as that sounds to respond to, in practice its actually more involved. See, while I haven't been keeping exact track, I wouldn't be surprised if I hadn't started the car in over a year. Add to that 30" of snow in the dead of winter and, you guessed it, a dead battery. And *bing* you're two for two now...the odometer is digitized. So that means, in order to respond with the exact mileage, I need to jump the car. Good thing we have three cars at the house. But each one presents its own set of challenges...

• the 1985 BMW - seeing the age on this car, the fact its covered and abuts up to just as much snow as the Corrado, and the fact it probably hasn't been started in the month of February, this car probably needs a jump too. Even though starting this car is as simple as getting the key from out my pocket, rather than trying to dig this car from under the snow, attempt to start it then move into 'jump' position, I figured one of the other two cars would be a better bet...
• Dad's Mercedes - Getting the key was as simple as asking dad, who upon being asked said, 'Yeah, the keys are on the counter in the kitchen'. However, finding the battery is a whole 'nother exercise. First, just try to find the lever to pop the hood. After searching high and low throughout that damn car, and asking dad (who didn't know cause he'd never popped the hood on the car before), I finally just started pushing and pulling unlabeled buttons and levers under the steering wheel. Finally, this nondescript red lever popped the hood. But of course it doesn't open all the way, you have to find the second lever under the hood to release the whole thing. However, unlike most cars, where you slide your finger under the opening to push the lever aside, this car has a second lever that slides out from in between the grills (quite clever, but still an inconvenience when you're just trying to keep it moving and these damn Germans just want to be so different and difficult for the sake of 'luxury'). But this was the kicker...so I finally get the hood open and I'm looking for the battery (high and low again) and can't find it. Then I spot a little box that looks like it should be the battery, and what does it say? - "Battery in trunk". WTF?! Mind you, I had already moved the car into position for a hood-to-hood jump, now I had to turn it around yet again. But before I did that, I decided to find this bad boy first. Which I couldn't because of all of dad's junk in the trunk (pause) and I didn't feel like pulling back any velcro. So now we're down to the final car...
• Mom's Mazda - Now, the issue with this car isn't on the back end, but the front--getting the keys. Now mom is on the phone when I call upstairs to ask can I use her keys to jump the Corrado. "Huh, wait, lemme call you back". Here I am thinking to myself, here we go. I'm finna get asked a million and one questions about the Corrado and hear a million and one chicken little responses about the car and how she's worried.

"So what did you need?"

"Can I use the keys for your car so I can jump the Corrado, I need to get the mileage--"

"You know Fred, I'm worried about that car, that car hasn't been started in a long time..."

"Mom, I'm not even starting the car, I'm just turning the battery on so I can get the mileage. Any what does that matter...?"

"Look, I'm just worried, and why do you always get huffy when I ask a question."

"Cause this has nothing to do with starting the car, and everything with you is always a big deal. I ask dad, and he's like the keys are in the kitchen. With you, you have to stop everything, get off the phone, sit on the steps and have a pow-wow..."

And it went on like this for like another 5 minutes. In the end, I got the keys and everything was smooth sailing from there (118,703 miles, by the way). Its just this aspect of life that gets me peeved. All the stuff that made this whole ordeal 'un'-simple, had NOTHING to do with the actual jumping of the car--whether it was the snow, finding the battery or dealing with questions/comments that have nothing to do with the problem at hand.

And this is how it is with things in life, I'm beginning to see. I just thought this situation, in hindsight, was quite illustrative...even if during the time it was quite perturbing.

Cheers.