Blow Fan Blow
Feb. 5th, 2010 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeFor some time now, I've been having a problem with the fan on the heating/AC unit on my minivan. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. I think it's actually a fault of the fan switch, not the fan itself. Some years ago, I had to have the switch replaced, and I'm afraid it's going bad again. I'd been putting off doing something about it, but I really can't wait any longer, because I'm driving to Oregon next weekend and I need to be sure that when I turn the heater on, it will blow more hot air than I can even when presiding over the WSFS Business Meeting.
I took the van to the dealership. There used to be a GM dealership within a mile of my apartment, but they closed last year, so I had to go down to the Auto Mall Chevrolet dealership. The service rep thinks I can have the van back by late Monday. We then proceeded to spend about an hour while he wrestled with the dealership's new computer to set me up as a new customer. The guy had a lot of trouble, some of which I was able to fix because I looked over his shoulder and thought like the computer programmer that I am. I couldn't anticipate everything, though, and finally one of the other people there who had used the system a bit more came, pressed the right combination of magic keys (not at all obvious if you're just reading the screens), and got the job under way. Then they took me home in their courtesy van.
I do hope they really will be able to have the van for me on Monday afternoon; otherwise, I'm going to be begging someone for a ride back from BASFA. I can get down there okay -- take the Capitol train to Santa Clara Great America, then light rail to Lawrence Expressway and walk a mile to Coco's -- but getting back is much more challenging, there being relatively few public transit alternatives between Santa Clara and Fremont (save paying $50 for a taxi) at 9 PM. Transit, after all, is only for poor people who should be off the streets before dark. *grump*
Anyway, it hardly matters that I won't have the van over the weekend, as I'm apt to spending much of it hunched over the computer working on one project or another from the office. I haven't had a complete day off since New Year's day.
I took the van to the dealership. There used to be a GM dealership within a mile of my apartment, but they closed last year, so I had to go down to the Auto Mall Chevrolet dealership. The service rep thinks I can have the van back by late Monday. We then proceeded to spend about an hour while he wrestled with the dealership's new computer to set me up as a new customer. The guy had a lot of trouble, some of which I was able to fix because I looked over his shoulder and thought like the computer programmer that I am. I couldn't anticipate everything, though, and finally one of the other people there who had used the system a bit more came, pressed the right combination of magic keys (not at all obvious if you're just reading the screens), and got the job under way. Then they took me home in their courtesy van.
I do hope they really will be able to have the van for me on Monday afternoon; otherwise, I'm going to be begging someone for a ride back from BASFA. I can get down there okay -- take the Capitol train to Santa Clara Great America, then light rail to Lawrence Expressway and walk a mile to Coco's -- but getting back is much more challenging, there being relatively few public transit alternatives between Santa Clara and Fremont (save paying $50 for a taxi) at 9 PM. Transit, after all, is only for poor people who should be off the streets before dark. *grump*
Anyway, it hardly matters that I won't have the van over the weekend, as I'm apt to spending much of it hunched over the computer working on one project or another from the office. I haven't had a complete day off since New Year's day.
