Cleaning my car

For the first time since I got my Ford Focus last year, I decided to clean it. Don't get me wrong - I take out the trash every once in a while that I've thrown behind the driver's seat, but it was time for a vacuum and wipe-down.

Since the car didn't come with any rugs and I've been too cheap and too lazy to go find some that fit my car, all the dirt from this past winter has gathered near and under the front seats. I thoroughly vacuumed all the floors.

Then came the more difficult project - finding out what would get the tree sap off my hood and windshield. I knew taking the car to a regular car wash wouldn't work since Albie tried this last week and the tree sap on his car is still intact. In fact, it may be even more stuck to the car than before.

I started with a regular household cleaner. It worked well on the window, but didn't get much of the gooey stuff off. Next was dishwashing soap and water - while scrubbing with a soft sponge. This got part of the spots on the hood off, but it took too much scrubbing to even make a little difference, so I gave up.

After consulting the wonderful internet, I found out that nail polish remover should work quite well. So, there I was, scrubbing my windshield inch by inch with tiny cotton swabs drenched in nail polish remover... it was quite amazing to see the nasty goo disappear. As I was done and announced to Albie that I finally found something that worked, all he had to say was, "Great! Wanna do my car now?"

The answer, of course, depends on what happens tomorrow. If he is a nice husband, perhaps I will help him out with his car...

The Wood Trick

Since it's starting to get colder, and the prospect of snow is just around the corner, I figured I'll tell a winter story.

It was in March of 1999, and we had 12 feet of snow at my host family's house in Vermont. One person had already gotten stuck in the steep slope of the driveway; a second car was stuck in the parking lot near the house.

My host father was out for 15 minutes trying to get the little red Toyota out. Bundled up in my winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves, I watched him and asked questions.

Was it a standard car? Yes, it was. Had he tried to start it in the second or third gear? Yes, he had.

Finally, he left to go inside to get something, and I walked over to the garage and picked up two pieces of flat wood, which I put under the back tires. When my host father came back out, I was just starting the car again.

“Ah," he said and smiled. "The Wood Trick.”

He poured some ashes under the tires as well, and with our teamwork we finally got the car moving. Then he looked at me with his eyebrows raised - a little suspiciously, but also a little impressed.

“You’re the only girl I’ve ever met who knew about The Wood Trick,” he said.

The plates

The license plates for my new car finally arrived in the mail today. I've been driving around with a yellow paper tag in my back window for two and a half months and a hand-written label on my windshield identifying that the car is, indeed, registered.

I even had to go back to the car dealer last week to extend my paper plates, because the Department of Motor Vehicles hadn't sent me the plates in the time they were supposed to.

Firs thing tomorrow, I'll be outside with a screwdriver attaching my light blue Connecticut plates to my shiny new car!

My new car

Today - finally - my car was ready. This is from our parking lot at work, with the nice after-rain sunset reflecting on the car's trunk.

A guy interested in buying my car also came over today to see it, touch it, smell it and listen to the engine. His only concern: having to replace the switch for the back-up light. Everything else he'll take care of, he said.

It's not a done deal - still can't find the title for the car and have to wait for a duplicate in the mail from Vermont DMV - but I am feeling pretty good about it right now. Wish me luck!

Anyone wanna buy a car?

The long process of finding and buying a new car now seems to be over. I bought a car on Monday. However, I have yet to receive it.

First, there were problems with the insurance. Since I had initially declined to add Albie to my insurance (he can't drive a stick-shift anyway), the car dealer refused to register the car for us now that Albie had to co-sign for it. Oh, I didn't tell you about that?

Well, the bank refused to give me a loan since I don't have an American driver's license yet (just the Connecticut ID, which is all that is required to register a car). Without this license, I am apparently very likely to escape back to Sweden. If I had said license, I would of course be bound to this country for life and would never, ever be able to skip out on my loan payments. Make sense?

No, not to me either. Anyway, calls were made, papers were signed, and a good time was had by all (as we like to say at the office).

However, my new car was nowhere to be found. Some guy from the service department had apparently scooted over to Beacon Falls to get the emissions testing done while we filled out papers. Turns out, since a new alternator for the car wasn't scheduled to arrive until Tuesday morning, and since that caused the battery light to blink on the dashboard, the test could not be completed.

So, after being two hours late for work Monday and spending three hours at the car dealer's, I still had no car.

I stopped by again today, wondering how I would be able to drive two cars home, but that problem was solved by the fact that my car still wasn't ready. The wrong part arrived, the engine needed to be reset, the mechanic took the car home overnight... I got all sorts of explanations.

In the meantime, I spent two hours detailing my old car - Windexing mirrors and windshields, vacuuming behind and under the seats and scraping leaves and pine needles off the engine. Someone is coming to look at my car tomorrow after I posted an ad on Craig's list. And this is what I had intended this blog post to be about.

Oh well. I am I'm hoping to drive my new car to work tomorrow. And it better have a full tank of gas.

My new ID card

I've finally become a Connecticut resident.

The thing is, I have to get a new car. I've known it for a while, but the process is so complicated I keep postponing it.

When I got the A/C fixed last week, the service place told me my front ball bearings are bad, my battery is really crappy and my tires are worn down because of the ball bearings.

I got new tires about a year ago. Last year, I probably put $1,500 into my car to keep it running. This year, it was the radiator and then the A/C, which is optional, but I just cannot live another summer without it. Then, of course, I have to pour about a quart of oil into the engine once a week because it seems to be burning off.

My car's got almost 170,000 miles on it, and I know it's time to let go.

So I started investigating a new car, used ones vs. new ones, leasing vs. buying. The problem is, I've never been an official resident of the United States. I'm here on an H1-B visa, which gives me a temporary permission to work and stay in the country. When I was studying, I had my car registered in Vermont because I didn't officially live in Connecticut or New York.

Now, however, I am here for real and it's time to get everything straightened out. The only problem? I can't register my new car in Connecticut unless I have a CT license, and I can't get said license until I take a driving test in my CT registered car.

Speaking to some dealers, however, I found a loophole in this Catch 22. If I get a CT ID card, I can register my new car here. Then, I can use my new car to take the driving test to get my new license.

So, above, dear friends, you see the first step to me becoming a permanent Connecticut resident (I've whited out personal information to protect against identity theft). And I'm going to test drive my new car tomorrow before I make a final commitment!

Fixing my mirror - finally!

Today was the day for a new mirror on my car. I needed one because of the hit-and-run crash a few months ago.

I found one on the internet for less than $40. It's been sitting in a box in my hallway for a couple of weeks now.

Sunday night - my only free night this week - I said to myself "This is as good a night as any to put that new mirror on."

Since our automatic garage door opener does not work, getting into the garage can be a complicated process. It involves luring kitties upstairs and quickly closing doors as well as unlocking several garage-door mechanisms and jumping out of the way.

After I drove my car into the garage, I encountered a huge problem. Our garage was so crammed with stuff that I had to pull my car so close to the left that I could barely get my driver's side door open.

I started pushing some boxes in one direction, the miter saw in the other. If only I could get that big dining room table further into the corner or up against the wall, I thought. And the treadmill really should be over here in the corner...

One thing led to another, and three hours later, our garage was de-cluttered. Albie's fascination with empty boxes has been minimized to a broken-down stack against the back wall and my obsession with neatness can rest for another day.

The best part? We can now pull one of our cars into the garage without hitting anything. And there was room to work on my mirror. Of course, once I got in the car and looked at the bolts, I realized I didn't have the right tools to get started...

Eventually, though, the new mirror found its home, thanks to a socket wrench borrowed from a guy at work. It only took about 15 minutes - not even a quarter of the time it took to organize the garage. Oh well, at least those projects are both out of the way now.

Bumper stickers

I'm trying to recall if I've seen a bumper sticker on a car in Europe. If I have to think about this hard, I guess they aren't that common.

In the states, you see them everywhere.

"My son is an honor student" is a common one, especially on a minivan or SUV belonging to a so-called soccer mom. "My daughter made the dean's list at (insert school)."

Lately, I've been seeing these:

"My bulldog/pitbull/German shepherd is smarter than your honor student."

I'm thinking of getting one that says "My cat is smarter than all your kids combined," but I'm afraid I'll get hit by an angry parent when I stop at the next traffic light.

My au-pair host dad and I used to joke about the bumber stickers when I first arrived. The stickers are common in Westchester County, where every parent wants to flaunt his or her child's progress and ability. My host dad wanted to have a bumper sticker made that said "My au-pair made the president's list."

It was innocent at the time (president's list = better than dean's list at the community college), but looking at it today I can see how it could have been misinterpreted. I don't really want to be on any president's list.

For a while, I had a sticker on my car that I got from some European airline's promotional package that said "Take a liking to a viking." It received rave reviews from my friends, until heavy rain peeled the sticker off one night. Oh well, it wasn't made to stick to a car anyway.

For now, I'll keep my bumper clear. I promise to let you all know when the next brilliant sticker crosses my path. Perhaps this one:

My ruined ‘CSI’ night

Today I lived through two fillings at the dentist’s office, a few phone calls for a story and two meticulous pages of events listings with one goal in mind: Getting home in time to watch a new episode of “Crime Scene Investigation.”

Because of a writer’s strike in Hollywood, I’ve been watching CSI reruns since the end of November. The strike finally ended a month or so ago, and the writers have been hard at work creating exciting new storylines for the bug-loving investigator Gil Grissom and his loyal team.

The chips were waiting for me at home. My biggest decision was where to stop and pick up some dinner, since I hadn’t even had any lunch (dentist’s fault).

“Should I get a sandwich at Subway or do I want something hot to eat?” I wondered, cruising down the right lane of Route 8 with more than an hour to spare before the show.

All of a sudden, I hear a strange noise next to me, sort of like gravel bouncing against metal. I hear a slight “thud” and see a graying van swerve into my lane right in front of me. I look to my left and see that my driver’s side mirror is now just hanging on by a thread, dangling against the side of my door.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the swerving van now speeding off had scraped up against my car and hit me, almost forcing me over onto the shoulder. I quickly sped up to follow him.

The van moved over to the left lane, but when he realized I was following, moved over two lanes to get off the next exit. I got off the exit too, and I saw the van in the distance speed through an intersection and nearly crash into oncoming traffic. When I reached the four-way intersection, the van was nowhere in sight.

For a second, I thought of launching a search. Then I turned right and pulled over outside a gray two-story home and called 911.

While waiting for the state police to come and take my statement, I got out and checked for paint streaks on my car. There were some streaks of a lighter undetermined color on my broken mirror, but no scratches anywhere else.

A very nice police officer arrived and we chatted for a bit about what happened. He said he would go look for the van in the area, and he would call me if anything came up. Then we realized steam was coming from my engine.

“Eh… I should probably check that, right?” I said.
“Pop the hood and I’ll check it for you,” he said.
I few seconds went by, then he asked me to step outside.
“Take a look at this,” he said, pointing with his flashlight to green liquid spewing out into my engine, slightly to the right of my driver’s side headlight. “You’re radiator is leaking.”

His recommendation: If you’re going to drive, don’t go far and don’t go fast. Consider getting your car towed.

Since I was only about 10 minutes away from my house, I decided the best – and cheapest – thing to do would be to try to make it as close to home as possible. By this time, there was no chance I would make it home for "CSI." I gave my car a half hour to cool down after the trooper left, then filled up my coolant.

I keep extra coolant in my car since it has been leaking coolant for some time – so little I hadn’t had time to worry about it. I guess someone wanted to tell me now is the time to get my car checked out.

I drove all the way to my local service place with my heat blasting, just to buy myself some more time. I’ve read that’s what you’re supposed to do if your car is about to overheat. Not sure if it applied in my situation, but it got me there.

Since Albie was still at work, I walked the 40 minutes it took to get home. I guess that was my punishment for not going to the gym this week. My friend Andrea kept me company on the phone, worried about my latest adventure.

I got home 20 minutes after “CSI” ended. Instead of watching TV, I got to analyze my finances to figure out how and when I will afford a new radiator, and possibly a new side view mirror.