![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
And a week later and I feel much better about work. The very next day after I posted that last, my boss and I had our weekly meeting and she said how impressed she was with what I'd been doing. I held a shit-ton of meetings with people this week and they were all productive. I took on an additional project outside of my actual job, because it totally is the same as what I do, but for a separate group (sorta).
So work is kinda good! I now have a metric buttload of work to do. METRIC BUTTLOAD. But being busy ensures that I won't have time to feel lonely or useless. Which is good.
So in non-work parts of my life, I finally went to the eye doctor for the first time in a few years. I went to Patrick's eye doctor at his suggestion, and I love him. He's very soft spoken and nice, but has a funny edge and listened to my questions and answered them, unlike my old eyedoc who was basically an android who ignored me while quietly humming to himself. The end result is that my eyes are healthy, I only need to go once per year, and I got a new prescription. I got one new pair of glasses through his place, because hey, he's swell and I have an eye plan that pays for a lot of it and he should make some scratch off of me. Then I got one through Zenni Optical, which I'd been planning on doing for YEARS, but never got around to. My glasses from them arrived today and they're totally cute and they fit and the prescription is perfect. And hey, frames for $19.00! Of course I needed progressive lenses and I got antiscratch coating or something so they worked out to a little over $50, but cool backup glasses for $50? I might get a different pair for every day of the week!
What else is new? I haven't been reading as much as I did this summer, when I was taking the train every day and read for a solid half hour each way, but I've been getting some reading in. I need to post my updated counts. I don't know if I can go back and review everything. Mostly I'd say "hey, this was pretty good!" about all of it, anyway.
Oh, and the car. Sigh. The car. So I bought the damnable thing in May of 2010. Happy happy joy joy! 2007 Mazda 3. Cute! Really fun to drive! Then in December it needed a new battery. Ok. Probably it still had the original battery, and the car had over 60K on it, maybe that makes sense. Fine. AAA puts in a new battery with a warranty. There were subsequent jumps, not sure how many. At least two the following November, because I have printouts from them. Pretty sure some in between. Probably right around there I got a warranty replacement battery because it finally tripped a sensor to say bad cell. So, 1.5 years, two new batteries. Ugh. Definitely got another warranty battery in October of 2012, because again, I have the slip. AAA getting annoyed with me. "They can't all be bad batteries." etc. I can't afford to be without the car for long enough to get it diagnosed, however. (batteries #1, #2, and #3)
May 2013, I get moved to new office in Boston. Car sits all week, because I am taking public transportation. Very first week I have to get it jumped.
May 13, I have it towed in to the dealership. I figure ok, I don't need it for M-F, they can keep it all week and diagnose and fix the problem. Left it there for three days. "Nothing we can find. Sorry! We even checked with Mazda to see if they had any ideas. Nope." They charge up the battery. That should do it!
June 10, dead again, back to the shop. Left it there three days. "Can't find any draws, starter is fine, diagnostics say everything is AOK. Must be the 'aftermarket' battery. We recommend a Mazda battery." Uh-huh. Ok, fine. Put in 3 year warranty battery. That should do it! (battery #4)
July 30, dead battery. Dead dead. New battery put in under warranty. Found a corroded connector on the battery terminals. Cleaned that. That should do it! (battery #5)
Stopped working Boston job end of August. Started driving car daily again.
October 12, 92K on car, clutch craps out. Put in $1400 new clutch. Unrelated, but relevant to frustration level. Helpful "Full Circle Service Report Card" on back of expensive receipt gives battery a green and says 100% charge level! That should do it!
November 5, dead cell in dead battery. Diagnosis, must be the battery was defective. Uh-huh. New battery put in under warranty. That should do it! (battery #6)
November 20, 15 days later, car starts hard. Was the first really cold morning of the year, so while I had the dread sick feeling, the eternal optimist was all "oh, it'll probably be fine". Left work that night, car started hard. Ugh. Drove it extra, so it could charge up? Be warm? Mostly because I felt like if I performed the right series of rituals it would all be fine.
November 21, car won't start. Battery not dead, but really drained (I could open the door locks and the dome light came on when I got in. When it's dead dead I can't do those things). Had towed to dealership. Told service guy if they couldn't find the problem this time and they tell me it's fine? They have to buy it. He laughed nervously.
Phone call end of November 21: "We found two problems!" (I might have some of these details wrong, because I took the call at work and was slightly distracted, so don't hold me to this) Apparently my hood pin sensor (something) was disconnected, which told the car that the hood was open all the time and kicked on an idiot light while the car was off. I never noticed it??? Sounds unlikely. And something about the starter needed cleaning and adjusting, it made it start harder when it got jostled, and that is a known problem in Mazda 3s.
IF IT'S A KNOWN PROBLEM, mightn't someone have thought of that back in MAY? When they supposedly contacted the mother ship who said no, no known issues with starting in Mazdas. (They probably asked if there were any known issues in battery draws so they missed the obvious?)
ANYWAY, they think this time that they've got it for sure. The sensor light drained the battery enough that the starter issue kicked in. They reconnected the sensor and cleaned and adjusted the starter. They're keeping it overnight. Going to see how it is in the morning. That should do it!
Can't wait to see if it makes it past three weeks, this time. Thankfully all of this shit (except the clutch) hasn't cost me much. Two batteries. One small diagnosis fee ($60). Whatever it costs tomorrow. And my blessed AAA membership. But the annoyance factor? I feel like I've aged 10 years!
I don't plan on buying another Mazda after this one, which is a shame, because even with all of its problems, I heart it. I only have $5k left on the payments, universe. I've only had the car 3.5 years. It's only six years old. CUT ME SOME FREAKING SLACK!!
So that's my week. How's yours?
So work is kinda good! I now have a metric buttload of work to do. METRIC BUTTLOAD. But being busy ensures that I won't have time to feel lonely or useless. Which is good.
So in non-work parts of my life, I finally went to the eye doctor for the first time in a few years. I went to Patrick's eye doctor at his suggestion, and I love him. He's very soft spoken and nice, but has a funny edge and listened to my questions and answered them, unlike my old eyedoc who was basically an android who ignored me while quietly humming to himself. The end result is that my eyes are healthy, I only need to go once per year, and I got a new prescription. I got one new pair of glasses through his place, because hey, he's swell and I have an eye plan that pays for a lot of it and he should make some scratch off of me. Then I got one through Zenni Optical, which I'd been planning on doing for YEARS, but never got around to. My glasses from them arrived today and they're totally cute and they fit and the prescription is perfect. And hey, frames for $19.00! Of course I needed progressive lenses and I got antiscratch coating or something so they worked out to a little over $50, but cool backup glasses for $50? I might get a different pair for every day of the week!
What else is new? I haven't been reading as much as I did this summer, when I was taking the train every day and read for a solid half hour each way, but I've been getting some reading in. I need to post my updated counts. I don't know if I can go back and review everything. Mostly I'd say "hey, this was pretty good!" about all of it, anyway.
Oh, and the car. Sigh. The car. So I bought the damnable thing in May of 2010. Happy happy joy joy! 2007 Mazda 3. Cute! Really fun to drive! Then in December it needed a new battery. Ok. Probably it still had the original battery, and the car had over 60K on it, maybe that makes sense. Fine. AAA puts in a new battery with a warranty. There were subsequent jumps, not sure how many. At least two the following November, because I have printouts from them. Pretty sure some in between. Probably right around there I got a warranty replacement battery because it finally tripped a sensor to say bad cell. So, 1.5 years, two new batteries. Ugh. Definitely got another warranty battery in October of 2012, because again, I have the slip. AAA getting annoyed with me. "They can't all be bad batteries." etc. I can't afford to be without the car for long enough to get it diagnosed, however. (batteries #1, #2, and #3)
May 2013, I get moved to new office in Boston. Car sits all week, because I am taking public transportation. Very first week I have to get it jumped.
May 13, I have it towed in to the dealership. I figure ok, I don't need it for M-F, they can keep it all week and diagnose and fix the problem. Left it there for three days. "Nothing we can find. Sorry! We even checked with Mazda to see if they had any ideas. Nope." They charge up the battery. That should do it!
June 10, dead again, back to the shop. Left it there three days. "Can't find any draws, starter is fine, diagnostics say everything is AOK. Must be the 'aftermarket' battery. We recommend a Mazda battery." Uh-huh. Ok, fine. Put in 3 year warranty battery. That should do it! (battery #4)
July 30, dead battery. Dead dead. New battery put in under warranty. Found a corroded connector on the battery terminals. Cleaned that. That should do it! (battery #5)
Stopped working Boston job end of August. Started driving car daily again.
October 12, 92K on car, clutch craps out. Put in $1400 new clutch. Unrelated, but relevant to frustration level. Helpful "Full Circle Service Report Card" on back of expensive receipt gives battery a green and says 100% charge level! That should do it!
November 5, dead cell in dead battery. Diagnosis, must be the battery was defective. Uh-huh. New battery put in under warranty. That should do it! (battery #6)
November 20, 15 days later, car starts hard. Was the first really cold morning of the year, so while I had the dread sick feeling, the eternal optimist was all "oh, it'll probably be fine". Left work that night, car started hard. Ugh. Drove it extra, so it could charge up? Be warm? Mostly because I felt like if I performed the right series of rituals it would all be fine.
November 21, car won't start. Battery not dead, but really drained (I could open the door locks and the dome light came on when I got in. When it's dead dead I can't do those things). Had towed to dealership. Told service guy if they couldn't find the problem this time and they tell me it's fine? They have to buy it. He laughed nervously.
Phone call end of November 21: "We found two problems!" (I might have some of these details wrong, because I took the call at work and was slightly distracted, so don't hold me to this) Apparently my hood pin sensor (something) was disconnected, which told the car that the hood was open all the time and kicked on an idiot light while the car was off. I never noticed it??? Sounds unlikely. And something about the starter needed cleaning and adjusting, it made it start harder when it got jostled, and that is a known problem in Mazda 3s.
IF IT'S A KNOWN PROBLEM, mightn't someone have thought of that back in MAY? When they supposedly contacted the mother ship who said no, no known issues with starting in Mazdas. (They probably asked if there were any known issues in battery draws so they missed the obvious?)
ANYWAY, they think this time that they've got it for sure. The sensor light drained the battery enough that the starter issue kicked in. They reconnected the sensor and cleaned and adjusted the starter. They're keeping it overnight. Going to see how it is in the morning. That should do it!
Can't wait to see if it makes it past three weeks, this time. Thankfully all of this shit (except the clutch) hasn't cost me much. Two batteries. One small diagnosis fee ($60). Whatever it costs tomorrow. And my blessed AAA membership. But the annoyance factor? I feel like I've aged 10 years!
I don't plan on buying another Mazda after this one, which is a shame, because even with all of its problems, I heart it. I only have $5k left on the payments, universe. I've only had the car 3.5 years. It's only six years old. CUT ME SOME FREAKING SLACK!!
So that's my week. How's yours?
