4:15 pm Monday

I am beat. In 45 minutes I teach my evening class. It's 26* C here in my office. I have no idea what that is in F, but it's too darn hot - it's making me even more tired. I can hear the a/c running but I think that's just a McGuffin, there's no cool air here.

I wonder if the university will go for the "conserve energy" mandate and make us suffer the rest of this heatwave with decreased a/c? I mean, I already turn off lights - growing up with my father and his "Do you think we're made of money?" question (this was in the 70s, y'all, the PREVIOUS energy crisis) trained me well. (Besides which? It's just living Aloha, folks, to not waste energy.).

But I need my a/c. I'll sit in the dark, without television, without using a hair dryer, without using my oven, if I can just have my a/c. 'Cos it's HOT here right now. Like mid-90s outside hot.

My day was a little broken up because I had to take Eggbert in for service. (Eggbert, new readers, is my car). I couldn't get Eggbert to start readily all the time, and sometimes I'd have to crank and crank before he started. And this is a problem when you do fieldwork in remote-ish areas. There are not too many people I can call and have take me home from some of those sites - not many people I would assume loved me enough to do that. I was a bit worried - it could have been the battery, true, but it could also be a host of other things - alternator, ignition, the engine itself, some kind of undefinable crud clogging an important part. (One of the ways in which I am stereotypically a girl? I don't know car stuff. I trust my car to the nice men at the dealership. I realize that's not perhaps the brightest way to be, but I have only so much real estate in my poor noggin and I'd rather not squander it on transportation issues). So I took it in, forewarning my co-teacher that he might be having to drop me off at my house tonight if Eggbert was really sick and needed to stay overnight. (I didn't refer to my car as Eggbert to my co-teacher; I have a LITTLE dignity).

It took 45 minutes. And it WAS the battery. So they replaced it. (This is one of the adulthood things that surprises me: whenever I need something fixed that involves a new part, the person asks me "do you want that right now? Or would you rather wait?" While I fully understand that for some folks a new car battery is a major life decision, for me, the bigger issue is when the hell would I have time to bring the thing in again? I just want it done, now, please, and if it means I eat oatmeal or mac and cheese for the rest of the month, that's okay by me. Not that I will have to, or anything. But still. I work hard so I can have the money so I can say "yeah, fix it" and remove the problem from my life.

I dunno...maybe in some situations where it's a couple and one spouse has to call the other spouse and say "honey - I took my car into the shop and they couldn't even start it again once I parked it.* Is it okay if I get a new battery or do I need to get one of the office workers to drive me home?" I suppose that's the same sort of person who talks about having to "hide" yarn from their spouse.)

(*this actually happened. The thing made it to the shop and then just quit. They had to jump start it so they could drive it up onto the hoist.)

Anyway. One of the few perks of being a pessimist and generally the sort who Believes in Disasters is that when it's the simplest and least-expensive of the five or six different things that could go wrong, I'm almost giddily happy about getting it fixed. So now Eggbert starts up all nice and right away again, and while I was at it, I had them change the oil and the filters and check the coolant and do all the stuff that I COULD do for myself but would RATHER NOT.

I am really really really tempted to just make myself a big milkshake for dinner tonight. I went home (before taking Eggbert to the shop) and had a big bowl of red cabbage and one of the leftover turkey "German Meat Patties" I made last night, and some applesauce and a bagel, so I had my main meal in the middle of the day. I have room in my freezer now for some new ice cream, too (after cleaning it this weekend) so I could stop off at the Braum's and buy whatever half-gallon catches my fancy.

Maybe I will be a bit more health-conscious and make a big frozen strawberry and pear smoothie instead and try to convince myself it's a milkshake.

I'm also tempted to start Cozy, but I will probably finish the armband and the sewing-bits on Bookworm instead, and maybe even block it.