Here we go again.

Tonight we missed not only the shellacking of the Ottawa Senators by my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs to the tune of 5-0 and the beating of the Indiana Pacers by our beloved Toronto Raptors to the tune of 102-98, but we also missed attending the George Clinton concert that I won tickets to from Flow 93.5. Why did all of these things happen? The same reason everything has happened or not happened this month; Max is being a King Kong beeyatch!!

I am at class this week and left downtown Toronto for the burbs (in this case, lower Scarborough) at 5PM to go and get the car from the mechanic. I was apprehensive but the car started just fine and drove just fine all the way back home to Ajax without issue. I was meeting Pam at home because we were on our way back out to a George Clinton concert at the Phoenix. I took the car because if anything was to go wrong again, better it with me in the car tonight and not with Pam on the way to work tomorrow. Be careful what one wishes for.

We took the AC inverter because we needed to charge the camera battery which was going to be used to provide some nice candid shots and video of us boogie-ing at the concert. It started making noises like when it has a short though which was the first sign of trouble. Shortly there after the lights on the dash dimmed, then the radio cut off and the usual suspects started to act up. Great, here we go again.

I pulled over and came off on the Liverpool exit in the hopes of making it to an area of street where I was the least disruptive. As luck would have it, we were able to pull into an Esso station (where the attendant will be reprimanded for his attitude once I get through writing to his bosses) and park near the car wash, out of the way. I called our mechanic, who lived nearby in Pickering, and he came out to see what the issue was. While waiting for him to arrive, I was checking on the pulley, and belt, and alternator; all of which were recently installed. All of them were still there and still connected but when I tugged on the wires at the back of the alternator, two of them came out of the plastic connector. I won't repeat what I said at that point.

So, our mechanic checked it out, tried to get the wires back in and had to pop out to grab some other tools and a flashlight. After some effort, we were able to get the wires back into the connector securely and we jump started the car. After only a few minutes, we shut off the car and tried starting it again to ensure the alternator was charging the battery; it was and it did start. So, as it was well past the time, we were missing the concert, the hockey game and the basketball game so we just headed back home. Our mechanic said to bring it back in the morning and he would change the connector to ensure that this did not happen again.

I know what some of you are thinking but let me assure you that a) our mechanic is very good and feels very bad that this keeps happening to us, b) these were unforeseeable instances and stuff happens so nothing could have been done short of changing EVERYTHING in the engine compartment and c) Max is not a hunk of junk just a poor lad that needs some TLC that he never got previously.

We started the car this morning with no issue and I drove it in to drop it off. As luck would have it, it started to snow so people in Toronto did their usual "how do I drive in this" schtick so I was late to class again this morning. I'll pop out this afternoon after class to pick Max up and take him home for some well deserved rest. That, hopefully, is the end of these adventures for the winter. Well, we have one more with a check at Crappy Tire of the tires as there is a vibration I do not like at speed. The rest will wait till the spring when I intend to do a full tune-up with new NGK platinums, new wires, hose off the interior (both vehicles need that in a bad way) and generally ensure things get looked after before next winter.

OK, these posts have been more for the guys to break up the usual CD1-12 talks. :) We will now resume the posts on fluids, tests, yoo-hoos and such.

V.