Jump Start
At the end of a long, productive day, the first thing I wanted to do was get on the road home. So, I hopped in my car (his name is Arthur Dent), stuck my key in the ignition, and <dramatic pause> nothing. The ‘check engine’ light didn’t even come on. That can mean only one thing. Yup. I left my lights on all day. 8.5 hours. That does bad things to a car’s battery.
I wish I had one of those cars that beeped at me when I left my lights on. I do this at least once a year, and sometimes much more frequently. The main problem is that I leave the house at 6:40 AM, when it’s still dark enough to require my lights. However, by the time I get to work at 7:20 AM, the sun is pretty high, and I don’t notice that I have my lights on. Couple that with no “hey dumbass, your lights are all” alert from my car, and I’m just asking for trouble.
Fortunately, jumper cables aren’t a problem. I grew up in Minnesota, and any respectable (and not-respectable) car has a set of jumper cables. Of course, I didn’t have them to combat the frigid cold. No, I had them because even then I had a tendency to leave my lights on.
The worst part about a jump, though, is finding someone who will let you use their car battery. I was at work, so I just went back in and asked JD. Though this has the consequence that a work-friend knows what a idiot I am. On the other hand, it still beats hanging out in a parking lot asking complete strangers if you can jump off of them.
I try to pay back jump-start-karma whenever I can; though, I’ve really only had the opportunity twice. Once it was after Andrew and I had flown into BWI after a trip to visit my family in Minnesota. It was late, 10 PM or so, and we were in the ultra-economy lot. We were also the only other people in the lot, besides the poor smuck who needed the jump. Also, it was a good thing I had cables, cuz he didn’t. The other time was while I was driving home through New Mexico on my way back from Minnesota (I lived in NM at the time). I stopped to get gas just inside the state line, and a trucker needed cables to try to get his refrigeration system started. Unfortunately, the problem was more than a good pair of jumper cables could handle.
(Are you thinking to replace the existing car which troubles you often? wowloans are ready to chat with you here).