Friday night I picked up a burrito and get this; I ate said burrito. I was also doing a bit of multitasking as I was getting ready to drive to the Hamptons Saturday morning, that's right, the Hamptons,playground of the rich and famous. I had a lot more to do than I thought: dishes, gathering my laundry, prepping my cats. Going away for one night you have to pack everything, I need to work on scaling down my overnight bag(s). I also messed up my fantasy football team -- I'm going to get ZERO points this week. Darn.
Saturday morning I'm up at 7. Shower, get in the car, turn the key and nothing. This again!Unhooking my radio two weeks ago didn't do a damn bit of good. I bet anything I need a new ignition. So I get under the hood to "hotwire", as I've done so many times before, it turns but it doesn't catch. I keep trying and trying. 17 minutes later I spot a guy and I ask him for help. I think I need someone to pump the gas while I start it. Finally, it worked! I offered to give the guy; Dan from New York, a ride and he accepted - one good deed deserves another. Nice guy.
I drive into the city, now the whole key for me to having a successful journey is getting over to the East side. I exit the Lincoln Tunnel and I'm heading east on, I think, 37th, when I get to 5th Avenue, the police have the street blocked off. I should say "streets" because they were all blocked off; from 37th to 55th, nothing, I can't go east. Must have been a parade. Screw this; I cut over to the next street. Once I turned, I started hearing a fluttering noise. I never heard that before. Then I notice my car isn't kicking up to the next gear and then I notice that I'm not moving forward. Holy CRAP!
I slowly pull over (coast over) and turn off the engine. After thinking/freaking out about all my options, I started up and it kicked into gear. I headed west until the fluttering noise started again. I parked at 42nd & 10th and asked a gas station attendant if there's a place close by, he tells me there's a Midas around 10th Ave and 50th. I drive up there. I had to pull over three times before I got there, at various times none of my forward gears would work. I walk in the Midas and tell the guy I have a transmission problem and he tells me, "We don't do transmissions." I said to him, "OK, I'm just going to take a seat."
He was a nice guy and told me about a place that he uses so I drove there -- Lee Myles Transmissions, Serving Manhattan Since 1947. I talked to Junior and they're going to look at it today. So now I have to walk from 43rd & 11th to 42nd & 9th. Not a huge journey but I had a lot of stuff in the Jeep: 25-pound bag of laundry, video camera and another bag of heavy clothes. It was an awful journey. Got on the bus with all my crap and asked a stranger to take this photo:
Bob minus Jeep
While on route to Hoboken, I called my friend Tiffany and asked her if I could use her apartment to gather myself. She was cool. I was 'out of it' at this point. I got a burrito, rented a movie (One Hour Photo) and just took a midday vacation from my life. The burrito, not from my normal place, was the worst! But One Hour Photo was creepily good.
After the video, I carried my laundry to the laundry mat. I dropped it off, there was no way in hell I was going to sit in a laundry mat after that morning. So, I have car problems again. Maybe I should have bought a Toyota Echo? Crap.
It's not even Saturday night yet!
OK, now it's Saturday night. I picked up some proper Mexican food and settled in for a relaxing evening. I watched Office Space and did some stuff with my video camera.
Sunday I woke up around 10:30 and watched CBS News Sunday Morning, thank you very much Tivo. I watched some football but not as much as I did last week. Again, I messed up my fantasy team this week so I wasn't 100% into it. I cleaned a little and did apartment things. Around 6, I picked up my laundry and got some dinner. I watched Sweet and Lowdown on IFC and that was pretty much it.
I'm a little nervous about the call I'm going to get from the transmission place today. Yuk.
OK, that's it. Have a great day.
Always,
Bob
PS Thanks to Anne for my Photo of the Day. It was taken in front of a Bodycraze billboard in England. I added the PhotoShop effect on the guy so I'd be able to sleep at night, it was pretty scary.
