One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days for me. It started off well. On my way out from work I walked past a DVD laying in the snow, partially covered with frosty ice. I picked it up thinking the owner wasn't going to be coming back for it, and it was a full screen copy of The Bourne Ultimatum! Happy day! I brought it to my car to find that it was dead. I'm guessing the door was partially open, and with our car if the door is open enough to display door ajar on the dash, it will drain the battery. I'm not sure why, but it just does. I got out of the car and started going over in my head what I could do. First I needed to get the hood open, which was currently covered with a nice inch or so of ice. I was able to free enough ice to prop it open, but only after I put a small dent in the frame of the car from a somewhat over exuberant pound. Sigh. I noticed public safety had just driven past, which did me no good. Fortunately Mark and Tim helped me jump my car and after about 15 or so minutes I was on my way.

I was now headed over to pick up my sister to celebrate her birthday. I brought her over to Jewel to pick up a cake for the occasion, and we discussed leaving the car running while we shopped. We decided against it thinking it should be fine by now, and when we got back the car wouldn't start again. This time around brought different circumstances. I didn't know anyone who could give me a jump at Jewel, but my sister has a cell phone. Someone briefly stopped by to ask if we needed a jump, but then informed us that they didn't have cables to do so. After going over the options we decided to go inside to purchase ourselves our very own set of jumper cables (since I imagine this won't be the last time they will come in handy.) The Red Cross bell ringer recognized us from a moment ago and asked us if we forgot something, and we chuckled. As it turns out Jewel doesn't have jumper cables on stock, but the very helpful Jewel employee from Brazil suggested that we could buy or use the cables he had in his car. They were brand new and still in the packaging but he insisted he couldn't jump it as his car battery was pretty weak/bad. He actually showed me and I have to say I have no idea what was powering his car. It didn't look like a battery that I ever saw. So we are halfway there: We have cables! He said he would meet us at our car, so we walked back to wait for him. While we waited we decided to call public safety and see if they would make a trip over to help us out. They could not. We considered calling Amy and having her pack the kids in our van and make a trip over. But as we were considering that, the fellow who owned the truck a few spaces away walked to his car. After my sister asked, he graciously decided to help us with the cables that our Brazilian friend lent us. I'd say it was about 30 or so minutes and we were on our way again.

Moral of the story? Perhaps making sure your door is fully closed in weather that tends to make your door stick open slightly. And trust in God, we still had a great night celebrating my sisters birthday. And I can laugh about it now. heh heh.