Ah, Wonderful

Another car related hassle. The PT Cruiser got me and Bailey to dog training last night, but decided not to get us back. No advanced warning - just a complete power loss. A jump attempt got things going as long as the charger was attached, but once it was removed, the car died. So this morning, I had an early morning trip back to Austin Canine Central to get my car towed to the dealer. Fortunately, I still had the AT&T Roadside Assistance, which actually has turned out to work pretty well so far. I may actually keep it.

So we are looking at four possible outcomes:

1. A dead battery. Unlikely, since it was recently replaced.
2. A corroded battery cable. There is some corrosion, but I don't know if it would cause these symptoms.
3. A bad alternator. The first diagnosis of the guy who gave me the attempted jump.
4. Something else mysterious in the electrical system.

Hopefully, it is number 1 or 2, which look like the cheapest and easiest to fix.

This car continues its string of bad luck. This is one of the first problems I've had that were the car's fault - I can't blame it for being rear-ended twice, or my ripping the front-end off, or the flat tire. But I never had this many bad-luck events with the old Altima (until it got totaled by the garbage truck).

And by the way - just out of curiosity, I checked on what a taxi ride from my house to my car (about 7 miles) would cost by taxi. The answer is about $20, but the odd thing is: it appears that taxi rates in Austin are calculated to the nearest 1/7th of a mile.

One-seventh? What in the world else do we measure in sevenths - besides days in a week? The fact that they chose such a goofy increment makes me suspect that it somehow screws the rider - they think more in eighths or something, so they think they're getting a better deal. Like having gas be $2.899 per gallon instead of $2.90. Oh, well, I'm not cynical or anything.