Why do I collect MP3s

Bad Luck? Good Luck?
In my life, sometimes it's hard to decide

Okay, last month I had the rare opportunity to replace my alternator. It was a sudden death, as these things tend to be. At least, I think the alternator died suddenly. It started on the drive to work in the morning. I have a 29 mile drive, one way. It was raining. At about the half-way mark, just as I was peeling off the Beltline (loop/freeway) I see the "Volts" light come on. Meant one of two things to me at the time: The battery needed water, even though it's a "sealed" battery, or the alternator was going. My old Nova would actually pretend the alternator was going bad on some rainy days. Maybe I hit a big puddle or something. But if I drove on for a bit and got it dried out, the light would go back off. But, driving the Lumina is a little different. When those fault lights come on, they latch on until you shut the car off again. I'm sure you've seen the "check engine now" lights on some cars that are on, and stay on even after the problem is fixed. Some cars/trucks even have a secret code to reset this. My dad's truck, for example, you have to turn the key on without starting the engine, pump the gas peddle 3 times, wave your arm out the window, and use the turn signal to signal a left turn. Or something just as convoluted.

Anyway, back to the Lumina. It's fault lamps generally reset once you turn the car off. So, here I am with the "Volts" and "Service Engine Soon" lamps on, driving in the rain, halfway between heaven (home) and hell (work). And not really in the mood for any of this crap. So, I drive on to work, hoping the lamp will stay off when I get off work.

No such luck. It was on as soon as I cranked the car. Naturally, as I make my way home, I have the radio on. It starts to sprinkle/rain, so I turn on the windshield wipers. Also, in our state, you have to have the headlights on whenever your windshield wipers are on. Everything seems okay as I drive home. Until I get to my exit off the Beltline. I notice the transmission is behaving oddly. A whole lot of RPMs but not very much speed. It quits raining. I signal for the left turn I have to make, and I notice the radio display is blinking in time with the turn signal. So I shut off the radio and the windshield wipers. After a couple of minutes, my brain farts, and I turn off the headlights, too. There are 4 stop lights on this stretch of road. At the next turn, a left takes me home, and a right takes me to the car parts stores. All the way home I had been thinking that the car parts stores were to the left, too. Fortunately, after managing to make it through 3 of the 4 lights, I remember. And, oddly enough, there was room to change accross 4 lanes of traffic and make the right turn. By this time, I notice the radio display is now flickering in time with the spark plugs!

There are no idiots and no lights between me and the car parts store and I make it in okay. I walk in and wait my turn to find out the alternator is gunna cost me $104 and they happen to have one left. Oh, and there's a $55 core charge, too. I say "That's okay, I'm not going anywhere until I get it changed" but they have to charge me anyway. And, it's still not raining. Now, I call my friend Ed to see if he's had any experience changing these things out. His wife has a similar car, and sure enough, he's had to change one. It's easy according to him. Now, on the older cars, there were two bolts to remove, one fitted into a slot, and when loosened would loosen the appropriate belt that drove it. And it was easy to change, but kind of a bitch to re-tension the drive belt. On newer cars, there's one serpentine belt that drives everything, and there's a spring-loaded belt tensioner. The alternator is bolted firmly in place. And it looked like there were only two bolts. My repair manual, and I use that term loosely, had very little information, but did mention one or two "braces" that may also have to be loosened. Turns out you have to reach around, down behind the engine, and to the bottom of the alternator to loosen the two screws that attach the one brace to the alternator. You can either see the screws, or touch them, but not both. And the engine was nice and hot, did I mention that? But, in little more than an hour, I got the alternator changed out, got my core charge refunded, and got home.

Now, here's the stuff that confuses me.
Bad luck: I had to suddenly change my alternator.
And it cost me $110 (with tax) that I didn't really have, so I put it on plastic.

Good luck:
The car doesn't die on me in the middle of the road, in the rain.
I managed make that last minute course correction to the car parts store without having to wait for some idiot to realize I wanted to change lanes. Ordinarily this stretch of that road is bumper to bumper all three lanes between me and the turn I had to make. At this time, during rush hour, there's hardly anybody around.
It quits raining before I have to stop.
Not only do I make it to the car parts place, but they have one in stock. Granted it was the last one, and there was another parts place right across the road, but what the hey?
I happen to have my small tool box in the trunk of the car. I had taken it along to help my brother build his deck and never took the time to put it away afterwards.
I happen to have all the tools I need. A large adjustable wrench to work the belt tensioner. An odd size socket and suitable extensions/universal joints to get to the two small screws on the back side of the damn alternator. And of course, the usual tools one would need to work on a Chevy. None of these tools were needed in the construction of my brother's deck.
Though the engine was hot, I never burned myself. Nor did I lose any flesh, or blood doing the job.
I never got really pissed off. Usually a job like this involves a great deal of frustration for me. It seems like I have to drop every freaking bolt I take loose down into the engine, or onto the ground under the car. One nut did drop, but I was able to get to it with my fingers, and not burn myself.
Sure, my hands got a little dirty, and I got a little grease dust (that black powdery substance that gathers in the engine compartment) on my mostly white shirt. But both washed clean.

So, on the surface, it seems like a bit of bad luck. But in the wider view of things, a whole lot of good cirumstances happened, in just the right way, that "alleviated the pain" if you will. Even when I finally got home, I wasn't really all that irritated by the adventure. Fortunately, I'm not afraid to work on my car. As a matter of fact, I do enjoy working on cars. Occasionally. In the right circumstances. And when I have the money for it. I'd like to have an old "hot rod" and a place to work on it. But that's a ways off.

But, it's a perfect illustration of how I live my life. Some crap happens. Some crap I really don't want to have happen. But, through an odd set of circumstances, I come through okay. Mostly none the worse for wear. Well, mostly okay. Sometimes I have to wonder where and how I would be if the crap had never happened. Or if the "odd sets of circumstances" happened without the crap ever happening. I can never depend on the luck. Sometimes, on "little things" there isn't any crap.
A common example (and I have witnesses): I can drive down a road that may have 10 stoplights on it. In one case, along about light number 8, my witness comments that he's never made it through this many lights on this stretch of road. Or, I'll be by myself and suddenly notice that I've just managed to catch a whole bunch of green lights. It never fails. From that point on, I will hit all red lights. All the way home. On every road between that point and where I have to go.
And that's just one example.

As usual, thanks for reading this far. You may now rejoin your usual programming.