It's Only A Paper Rose

...or more specifically, when the computer in your car crashes and causes the transmission to quit working.

Seriously. That's what they told me happened. The computer that tells the automatic transmission when to shift "hiccuped" (the mechanic's word), and when he rebooted it the problem went away. While he was at it he found out that Mazda had a firmware update to correct some hard-shift issues, so he installed that too. So it's apparently fairly unlikely to happen again, but if it does he'll see about replacing the shift sensor.

Something about this really cracks me up...quite possibly because fixing a problem by rebooting and updating the firmware is something I see the Brians do all the time at work, not something I expect to hear from a car mechanic...

...my car must be running Windows XP. D'oh. =D

I never thought a day would come when I'd prefer rain over sun (especially in Juneau), but the sun pops behind a cloud and the rain comes down and all of a sudden my nose has magically stopped running. So let's hear it for rain!

Let's also hear it for warranties on cars. Brian's been driving Kitty for work while the J&W Volkswagen Bug is in the shop, and some of his car-breaking-down karma must've rubbed off on her - the transmission's having issues shifting and making some rather ominious clunking sounds. Now, if this'd happened in my old car, I'd have to limp home, call Ishi, make an appointment, and find some means of alternate transport to and from work (a bit tricky since neither of the other two cars we own are currently insured). In my new car, Brian was able to use the manu-matic thingy to get us to the dealership okay, I walked in and gave them the info, and they said "It's still under warranty, so we'll call you when it's done - meantime, here's the key to a powder-blue PT Cruiser while you're waiting." Whole process took something like half an hour.

I'm kind of liking having the PT Cruiser as a rental car - I've always kind of wanted to drive one, even though I was never seriously interested in buying one. Even though I've just got the base model, I have to say they're not bad for the price - $14,500 or so for relatively cushy (if narrow) seats, a fairly nice radio and CD player, some really cute exterior and interior styling, and a heckuva lot of interior space. The acceleration's adequate if a bit anemic; and while the engine isn't as quiet or refined as my Mazda's, handling is decent and it has a very nice supple ride. I'd give it three and a half stars - if it weren't for the unimpressive fuel economy and reliability ratings, I might seriously have thought about buying one. But I have to say that I feel like I got a better deal with my Mazda3 - better turning radius, (slightly) better fuel economy, near-equal hatchback utility, and a much peppier engine (not to mention more options in general for the price, but that's what comes of getting a car that's a year or two old). I just hope that the transmission issue doesn't end up being a recurring problem - I don't remember reading anything about it being a common problem, so here's hoping it's just a one-time thing.

As for beer...well, mostly it just rhymes with "cheer", but I suppose beer's worth cheering on its own - especially if it's Alaskan Brewery beer. Yum.

Last night, when I looked in the mirror, I noticed something distressing. I have two grey hairs now.

It's not the first time I've found a grey hair, admittedly. I had my first one when I was 19 due to the incredibly stressful job I was working (and quit shortly thereafter - I figured getting a grey hair at 19 was a bad sign). I plucked it out and saved it, along with one of my regular hairs, just for comparison. However, this is the first time I've seen more than one (and the first time I've even seen that one again).

I'm not even sure why it's so distressing. Partially because I still think of myself as pretty young (I mean, heck, I'm not even 23 until this July), partially because it's a pretty undeniable sign that I will, in fact, get old someday...though I can still delude myself for a while into thinking that Time will make an exception for me and I'll be young forever - after all, isn't that what youth is all about?

I think mostly what's bothering me about it, however, is that it's a symbol of adulthood - which I know I've achieved for quite some time now, but still feels pretty new. After all, in addition to having a stable home and boyfriend and cats, I've got a new car now that I'm making payments on - that all sounds pretty adult to me.

Which isn't to say that I mind adulthood. Quite the opposite - the fears and restrictions of my teenage years are loosened or gone, I feel free to make my own choices and take responsibility for my own life, and I get nifty things like cats and new cars to play with (not to mention steady income sources). I'm not even sure why I have so much trouble thinking of myself as an adult. Maybe it's just that the majority of my life has been spent as a non-adult in one form or another.

In other news, it's looking like spring actually is here (miracle of miracles). The sun's out, it's at least a good forty degrees outside, the snow is all melting, and I was able to go outside without my coat (comfortably!) for the first time in a while. The weather forecast says tomorrow should be more of the same. I could certainly get used to this. Especially since today I got to drive with my new sunroof open for the very first time. =D

I'm going to visit my mother in Anchorage this weekend, and I'm starting to feel very glad that I am - this kind of weather invariably makes me want to go places, so having a recent memory of airport hassles and the like should help me feel content where I am this spring.

So yesterday dumped a good foot of snow on us...guess it doesn't want to be spring yet. On the other hand, today's fairly warm and most of the snow is melting, and really it feels more spring-ish than it has in some time. So maybe spring will get here after all. Given that I live in Alaska (even in the banana belt of AK, as it were), I suppose I must make allowances...

On the upside, I learned this morning that my new car (whom I have tentatively dubbed "Kitty", due to her kittenish enthusiasm) handles fairly decently in slushy conditions, even with what are most definitively summer tires. It really shows that the anti-lock brakes are from the current generation (as opposed to when they were fairly new like with my old car) - when they engage, you can feel them adjusting each wheel independently. They're really quite efficient. I'm hoping to invest in some Michelin Blizzak tires over the summer - they're expensive, but they're purported to be better than summer tires in the summer and better than studded tires in the winter, with the implied bonus that you don't have to change them over each season. Plus they come with a 75,000 mile warranty - I can get behind that.

Dinner last night was interesting. Brian and I had invited Chris and Jeanne for corned beef and boiled vegetables, but right about the time I was going to transfer the beef to the oven (and, coincidentally, right when they knocked on the door), the power went out. So we ended up putting dinner on hold and playing Dread Pirate for an hour or so until the power came back on. I went to put the beef in the oven, set the oven, set the timer, etc...and the power went out again. And on. And out. And on. Eventually we did get dinner cooked, but it was kind of annoying having to reset the oven and timer five times. Joys of living in a place where it can snow three feet in an hour, I suppose...

Speaking of which, it occurs to me that in fifteen minutes or so (once people start getting into the office and discovering that their phone systems have been blown from the multiple power outages) my phone's going to start ringing like crazy. (Come to think of it, I'm really not sure why this is - lots of people seem to have their systems blown when the power goes out, but we never do. I'm guessing the difference is probably that we have ours hooked to a UPS or some such, but I wouldn't really know.) So I guess I'd better get set for when the inevitable "MY FONES R BROKE COME FIX THEM NOW!" calls start rolling in...

Though I guess I should be grateful. Last time the power went out over the weekend two of our techs were sick and we weren't able to get to everyone as quickly as we needed to. :s

...and I'm so very happy with her. She's fun, she's got a nice peppy engine, she handles well, she rides smoothly, and she's got all these fun little extras. I'm completely in love with the xenon HID headlights - driving home from downtown yesterday, it was practically daylight in front of the car. Interestingly, they also appear to have an angle adjustor - you can set them to point up and out or down at the ground. That'll probably be handy on foggy/snowy days.

Other things I love: how quickly she goes from road speed to highway speed - there's no feeling of straining along at all like Marian sometimes had. (Comes from having the same horsepower in a car that weighs two-thirds as much, I guess.) The little gauge that tells you what gear you're in - I don't have to stress about whether the car sounds like it's switching gears properly. The low-tire-pressure sensor - another thing I don't have to worry about (though it tends to light up on cold mornings like this). The CD changer - "I don't feel like listening to this, let's press a button and listen to something else." The nice sound system. The sunroof, even though I haven't had a chance to open it (it's just been too flippin cold the last few days). How quiet the engine is - even on the highway, pretty much all you hear is road/wind noise. How much cargo room she has, being a hatchback and all. Stuff like that.

One thing I do sort of miss is the cushy seats - Marian, being an American semi-luxury model, did have more comfortable seats. But the new Mazda's are still perfectly serviceable, and certainly not as bad as the seats in my parents' early-90s-model Civic growing up.

I'll have pictures up eventually, once it's not too frelling cold to be outside taking them. Meanwhile, here's hoping I still love her after I make the first almost-$300 car payment. :)

Also, I still haven't named her yet, though I'm open for suggestions...should be something peppy and fun without being annoying, methinks.