— पांच हजार नौ सौ सैंतीस —
Back to the same routine as usual now: with the holidays behind us, not only are my weekends back to more typical fare (mostly movie watching, sometimes hanging out with friends), the start of my work week is basically back to normal as well: I share a post on Monday detailing a lot from over the weekend; I don't do much on Monday; my post on Tuesday has comparatively little to cover. I spent a good portion of my time last night just watching TV. I watched episodes 2 and 3 of season 2 of
Fallout on Prime Video and now I'm caught up on the current season.
I did think to ask Shobhit about his access in India. I already knew he had the ability to login on Amazon and purchase stuff from there; why wouldn't he then have access to Prime Video content? I suggest he look, and he discovered that he does indeed have access there. He had two TPS meetings to attend over Zoom, but because they were during normal work hours today in the Pacific Time Zone, they were at something like midnight and 3:30 a.m. his time. He decided he would catch up on
Fallout in between as a means of helping himself stay awake. And also, this way he can also be caught up by the time he gets back home and we can just continue watching the season together.
I did notice that a lot of holiday decor around town is still up. The Christmas Trees in the lobby space on level 2 here at Rainier Square were still up when I went there for my lunch break yesterday; the Holiday Tree at Westlake Center is still standing. Surely these will all be broken down soon, but it did make me wonder: is there a standard date for when people take down city holiday decorations? I have a feeling today, January 6, may be relevant: it's Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, apparently marking the visit of the Three Wise Men. Indeed, today is twelve days after Christmas. I should pay attention as to whether a noticeable number of these things are gone as of tomorrow.
I never thought of this, though: maybe I should start keeping my own decorations up until January 6? Seems like a great excuse to me! Granted, it's easier to be more inclined to this if you put up your Christmas decorations later, but I always put mine up right after Thanksgiving. A solid 34 to 40 days does seem plenty, and my own tradition is to break down the Christmas stuff by January 2.
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सैंतीस —
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सैंतीस —
The one other kind of notable thing from last night has to do with Shobhit's car. Ever since he had to replace his battery, one of the cord clamps is finnicky, and unless it's clamped on in just the right position, the car won't start. Tony and one of his friends at Action Movie Night work for a car dealership and so they came to look at it in our garage maybe a month ago, put it in a particular position, and the car has run fine ever since—until this past Sunday night.
I had gone to do some shopping at the Columbia City PCC, and when I got back home and parked, I turned off the car and realized I could pull about a foot closer to my bike, which is always locked against the wall in front of the car. But when I went to turn the ignition again, it wouldn't work. It took some doing to figure out how the hell to pop the trunk after pulling the lever under the dash, but I finally figured it out. I wiggled that stupid cord clamp all over the place over and over and could not get the car to start.
I did find that the electronic door locks were a pretty good indicator of the battery connection, ableit with some finickiness. Basically it came down to this: if the locks weren't working, the car definitely wasn't starting. If the locks
were working, then the car
might start. A couple of times it seemed to try and then wimp out.
I gave up and went upstairs, made myself a veggie burger for dinner, watched some
Fallout. I even texted Shobhit, with some photos, that I could not get the car to start. I had no idea if I was even going to be able to pick him up at the airport next week as planned. For the time being, I got no response.
But then, after I finished the first of two episodes, I decided to go try again. I brought wrenches of two difference sizes with me. A big part of the issue is a screw that needs tightening, fastening the clamp tighter to the bolt on the battery. But, we have never managed to get that screw to budge. It's a little stripped, so any wrench will just slide around it.
Here's the slightly ironic part: I did get the car to start again this time, and it was even thanks to the heavier wrench I brought down—but not by managing to tighten that stupid screw. Instead, I hammered the clamp down onto the bolt with the wrench. After that, not only did the car start, but I finally got it to start a second time without having to fiddle with the clamp again. Note to self: keep said wrench in the car, in case it's needed when I'm out.
In the nearer term, I plan to use the car on Saturday this coming weekend. Lynn is having a birthday get-together at her house in Everett and I don't want to miss it. I just realized, too, that she and I were born the same year, which means she's turning 50. Her actual birthday is on Friday. I also have a plan to do a double feature with Alexia at her house in Issaquah on Sunday. I can pretty easily take the bus to that but I made drive there too. I'm still debating that.
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सैंतीस —
[posted 12:33pm]
