The Neon Nurse's Charting

...if you look hard enough.

Dreamcloud's little trip to Rick the Car Doctor ended up costing us a little over $450. That was about double my worst estimate, so, not so grate, aktualy.

But one good thing was that it appeared the frozen-up ignition was not caused by anything Mike did. It just chose that moment in time to finally break down completely. (It had been acting up now and then since I got Dreamcloud -- seems to be a flaw of that particular model.) Also, the battery was on its last...whatever batteries have instead of legs. It had already run down again from when I had recharged it, meaning it had to be replaced as well. Though not physically drilled out, like the ignition tumbler.

So it was actually good, in a way, that Mike's fooling around revealed the battery problem. I have a meeting in Denver this weekend, and it would have really sucked for Dreamcloud to break down up there, where I wouldn't know which auto shops were honest and where I would probably have had to pay big city prices for the repairs!

Here's something else cheerful, although it isn't car-related. It's my favorite of four ads being tested in a few TV markets by the Center for American Progress. My nickname for the singer is "I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Dylan". Bookmark it to watch when you feel discouraged about the sad state America is in. Things have been worse, and they got better. They will again.

The upside always comes around sooner or later.