I made a pitcher of mojito this time, to be savored over the coming days and weeks. Delicious. Besides, I had a bunch of mixer left.

So the holiday season is upon us; next week is Thanksgiving, and a good long four-day weekend for me. And yet, with the holiday season comes obligation season, which means traveling and spending time away from home and some such activities. I generally don’t mind the traveling and the get-togethers when I’m there, but ramping up to it is always the hard part-it’s like gearing yourself up for a shot-the mental prep is always much much worse than the actual injection, if all goes well.

Still, I should probably start my holiday shopping. Yikes, I haven’t bought anything for anyone yet.

The week was full of ups and downs. Monday and Tuesday Raevyn and Tim spent a few vacation days together seeing the sights in Washington DC and Baltimore, while their respective significant others, myself and Brooke slaved away at the office in their absence. Ah well. The tables will turn one of these days, you guys! I shake my very tired fist at thee!

Photos from downtown activities are coming, I’m sure-I gave Raevyn my camera to take with her for the trips.

Thursday was an up-and-down day, more up than down, of course, but still. On the way to werk, my car started stalling out on me-at high speeds, on the DC beltway, which, if anyone reading has ever seen, let alone driven, would know that during rush hour is no place to have car problems. Especially if you’re not in a lane next to the shoulder. I managed to hold it together until I was pretty close to the office, when I lost power completely-I had to shut the car down and try to start her up again. She turned over and I got to the office okay, albeit panicky about how much I would have to spend on repairs and what that might mean for the holidays. I called the dealer to let them know I was bringing the car in, and as I sadly put my jacket back on to head out, my colleague in the cubicle right next to mine asked me where I was headed. I explained the car trouble, and said I was going to try to get around the beltway to get to my dealership, and he all but pounced on me.

“Stalling out like that? Yeah, that sounds like your sparkplugs are foul-or your air filter is clogged and your engine can’t breathe. I work on cars, you know-do all my own repairs. Wanna go look at yours?”
It was raining, horribly-more than an inch of water was running down the parking lot streets, but he offered again anyway. No sooner than we had run out in the rain and I had popped the hood did he take off my air filter and sure enough, it was horrid. I mean it looked like it had never been changed before, and I know I’ve paid my dealership for maintenance that includes changing it.

We ran back inside and he offered to head to the auto parts store on lunch with me and pick up a new air filter and sparkplugs. I heartily agreed, after hearing that the plugs and the filter would probably only run me about 50 dollars, and knowing that the dealership would probably charge me hundreds for the parts and labor. When lunch came around, I had a meeting, but he offered to go without me, and sure enough, picked it all up. When he got back, we put in the new air filter, and it already made a difference. The drive home that night resulted in only one stall out (whereas the drive to work was something like six or so, one losing power entirely), and the drive back to work today resulted in one minor stall on the way in. As soon as I got to the office though, we went ahead and replaced the spark plugs (remarkably easy to do!) and I haven’t had a problem since.

According to my coworker, cars are essentially like computers-if you have the ability to troubleshoot things logically, you’ll be just fine. It’s all bolts and nuts, and the will to learn is more important than anything else. I think I get the moral of this story.

So in the end, things turned out alright, and I learned a thing or two.

I’m doing pretty well, I think, and looking forward to a good weekend of relaxation, and a short week next week. Some vacation time will do me a world of good.