Oh, first the good news about my car: The sound I was complaining about a couple weeks ago was gone the next day. So, onto the bad news ... which, well, I've covered repeatedly lately.
Today marks the first time the Check Engine light has been on on back-to-back days, and what's worse, it's getting to be on more consistently. My first car trip this morning was when I woke up around 8 and decided to pop out of the house, and the light went on on my way to the coffeeshop -- just a quick jaunt to the coffeeshop, and the car wasn't even warm yet, and boom! the light was on. And it went on from the mall to Taco Bell, and then from the community center to the railroad tracks, where I turned off the car while the trains rolled by. Now, for really short trips -- from the coffeeshop to the mall, from Taco Bell to the gym, from the track so O'Reilly's to try and buy some radiator fluid but they were closed, and finally from there to home -- it didn't come on. But anything else, as soon as I accelerated to between 40 and 60, it popped on.
Now about getting warm ... the past two days has been cold. Well, relatively cold; temperatures are in the single digits and teens at night, but it's not like it's fucking -16 -- you know, it's been a hell of a lot colder, but it's typical Minnesota cold, and certainly cold for mid-to-late March. It's also been windy. Therefore, it's possible that both the cold and the wind contribute to jerking the light on. Then again, the Check Engine light didn't come on all those teens-below-zero mornings weeks ago. I hope it's something like a sensor. I mean, the car is driveable ... well, except that is has a hell of a hard time accelerating. Could it be something worse? I'm supposed to worry if it comes on more consistently, so tomorrow, I will reserve a spot to bring it into My Other Mechanic Saturday -- assuming the light continues to come on, and also assuming my cars stays in one piece, as I begin the test scorer job a longer drive away.
---
But I'm really bummed about the University of Minnesota women's hockey team, which failed to three-peat after getting upset in Sunday afternoon's NCAA women's hockey championship final to Clarkson, 5-4. This Clarkson team ain't no pushovers; they were seeded third. But the Golden Gophers were seeded first and were by far the best team in top-flight women's college hockey. Just not when it counted.
What a bad day for women's hockey teams I root for. First it was the American women's Olympic hockey team choking on a two-goal lead and losing to the Canadians in the Gold Medal Game, and now this. Yes, two in a row is a hell of a run, and no one will ever take away the completely undefeated 2012-3 season. But this was an upset, a bad one, and you never know when you'll be NCAA champions again.
So now there's nowhere to go but down. That, and back into the stultifying grind of The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey.
I lost North Carolina, one of my picks for the Final Four, and still that doesn't hurt my heart as much as knowing the U. lady icers are losers.
No comments:
Post a Comment