The Second Sound Is Back

It was hot yesterday.  And because we got done with the project in the morning, I had some time to kill.  After I sent a letter, bought some stamps (Johnny Cash!!!) and blogged yesterday's post at the library, I went to the Mall of America Hooters.  Thought about exercising; instead, I wanted to see cleavage and enjoy a beer while watching Wimbledon.  Didn't do that; instead I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting to the right of me at the bar, who says he is an assistant professor in a college near St. Louis while he's not a Major and helicopter pilot for the Army in Romania.  Good guy.  Said he was not emotionally right after his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  When he said, "I came back.  Some of my brothers didn't," well, I still remember that.  Thanked him for all he did and does.  Not too miffed I kind of didn't watch Andy Murray win.  Hooters turns the sound off so they can play music, so it's not as if I could get into the game anyway.

So, back to the car.  Driving a lot + hot day + turning on the air conditioning = A noise that sounds heinous whenever I accelerated.  It came late in my drive, around the time I dropped by the pharmacy to pick up stuff Father voicemailed me to get.  I dread that sound.  Moreover, late in my drive I noticed some grinding whenever I steered.  I thought somehow that the coolant and/or running the A/C somehow got on the steering column and/or moistened and/or dried it, or something ... driving a long time in the heat grinded the steering, is what I wanted to say.

I checked my car this morning.  (Was so tired -- or maybe it was the beer at Hooters? -- that after dinner I fell asleep at around 7 and, with some moments of waking up, was up by 6.  Man, I haven't slept for 11 hours in a long time, so I haven't slept well in a long time!)  Steering fluid tank was dead dry.  I hope all that grinding was a result of that because that means I can just refill it.  That's getting to be a big problem that needs fixing.  But the "second sound" -- what can I do about that?