Update Time - Car Story
OK, it's been a bit over a week since I last updated - though I can technically call it a week apart due to the dates on the post -- as long as I finish this within the half hour!
Car stuff and D&D stuff follow:
Starting with the car stuff - Thursday at lunchtime I went to the comic store then returned to work. No problems. When I left work again six hours later I tried to start my car and .... nothing. It didn't turn over at all. So, I hiked back to the main entrance (from the east parking garage), got the battery boost thingy from the guard at the main entrance desk, hiked back to the parking garage, and got my car started. So far, so good.
So, I figured I must have left something on, though I couldn't figure out what. I can remove the key from the ignition without turning it off, so maybe it was left slightly in the AUX position. I drove around for a half hour or so, out to Sugar Grove and back home, then left the car to deal with it in the morning.
Friday morning, I'd forgotten all about the car. I went to go to work and .... nothing again. Oh yeah, I forgot! Unfortunately, I'd put all our jumper cables into kid's cars, so I didn't have one in my car or Ellen's. I took the day off work and used Ellen's car to do some errands, including buying two sets of jumper cables. Jumped the car, drove around for a while, came inside to check on something, back to the car to check on it .... nothing.
As it turns out, when the kids came home last weekend they drove all three of their cars (for complex reasons). So, I talked Kathy into leaving her car at home for a week or so so I could use it while I got my car in to be checked.
I got the car into Saturn yesterday afternoon, and a few hours later they'd checked it and pronounced that it needed a new battery. That was the last thing I'd really suspected since it had been OK earlier on Thursday. I figured the alternator had gone, or that I had a short causing a rapid discharge. It turns out that the battery just wasn't causing the charging system to kick over to "charge" (?) due to low amperage (?). I'm not entirely sure how that works, but I suppose there's a relay in there somewhere that need to switch. Anyway, the new battery seems to have done the trick.
And Kathy gets a free oil change out of the deal, since I left her car at Saturn to have that done when I picked up my car again. Now Kathy's car is also back home, with fresh oil and a bit cleaned up.
OK, now D&D stuff, mainly just an enumeration of stuff going on. We're in a build-up toward Stuffed COWS, so there are a number of zeros going on, as well as just other stuff. Friday night Louis Swiger came out and ran a zero of "Return to the Undercity" for Matt, Kalen, Ryan, and I. A decent mod -- I need to try to find my old, old copy of "Slave Pits of the Undercity" as this mod is an update/sequel of that one, and the Slave Lords are starting to show up in other core modules as well.
Saturday I ran a game of "The Letter" for Kalen, Kathy, Matt, Ryan, Tony, and Mike Mistele. Not a good module, but the group seemed to have fun. The next one in that series, "The Price of Power", is being run at Stuffed COWS and Matt, in particular, wanted to be sure to play those modules in order.
Tomorrow night I'm running a zero table of "Gateway to Bright Sands" for a group in the city (at Rudy's). I thought that was a fun module when I played it a couple weeks ago, and now that I've read it I like it even more. This is going to be fun, and I'd be happy to get Brad to have me run it a couple times at the convention.
Thursday night I'm going into the city to Brad's house to play the aforementioned "The Price of Power". It should be a good group, with Dick Gilbert judging, even if the module might not be so good.
Finally, at least for the moment, I'll be running "Here There Be Dragons" on Saturday afternoon/evening here at home. I'd promised this to Louis in return for him running the game last Friday, so hopefully he'll be enough over his cold to be up to playing. The table will also include Kalen and Tony.
Today I got the shipment of D&D miniatures "Underdark" boosters that Matt, Ryan and I had ordered. In the 10 boosters that were my part of the shipment the figure were very evenly distributed. I got either 3 or 4 of every common figure, 1 or 2 of every uncommon except one (I'll need to trade for an Elf Stalker), and no duplicates of any of the rares (so I have 10 of the 24). I got a Deep Dragon, but not the Silver Dragon. I got the Drow mounted on the lizard. I got the Aspect of Kord (keeping my set of Aspects complete, I think), and the meanest looking guy, Balor. And several other cool rares. So, all told, I'm pretty pleased with what I drew from this set.
Car stuff and D&D stuff follow:
Starting with the car stuff - Thursday at lunchtime I went to the comic store then returned to work. No problems. When I left work again six hours later I tried to start my car and .... nothing. It didn't turn over at all. So, I hiked back to the main entrance (from the east parking garage), got the battery boost thingy from the guard at the main entrance desk, hiked back to the parking garage, and got my car started. So far, so good.
So, I figured I must have left something on, though I couldn't figure out what. I can remove the key from the ignition without turning it off, so maybe it was left slightly in the AUX position. I drove around for a half hour or so, out to Sugar Grove and back home, then left the car to deal with it in the morning.
Friday morning, I'd forgotten all about the car. I went to go to work and .... nothing again. Oh yeah, I forgot! Unfortunately, I'd put all our jumper cables into kid's cars, so I didn't have one in my car or Ellen's. I took the day off work and used Ellen's car to do some errands, including buying two sets of jumper cables. Jumped the car, drove around for a while, came inside to check on something, back to the car to check on it .... nothing.
As it turns out, when the kids came home last weekend they drove all three of their cars (for complex reasons). So, I talked Kathy into leaving her car at home for a week or so so I could use it while I got my car in to be checked.
I got the car into Saturn yesterday afternoon, and a few hours later they'd checked it and pronounced that it needed a new battery. That was the last thing I'd really suspected since it had been OK earlier on Thursday. I figured the alternator had gone, or that I had a short causing a rapid discharge. It turns out that the battery just wasn't causing the charging system to kick over to "charge" (?) due to low amperage (?). I'm not entirely sure how that works, but I suppose there's a relay in there somewhere that need to switch. Anyway, the new battery seems to have done the trick.
And Kathy gets a free oil change out of the deal, since I left her car at Saturn to have that done when I picked up my car again. Now Kathy's car is also back home, with fresh oil and a bit cleaned up.
OK, now D&D stuff, mainly just an enumeration of stuff going on. We're in a build-up toward Stuffed COWS, so there are a number of zeros going on, as well as just other stuff. Friday night Louis Swiger came out and ran a zero of "Return to the Undercity" for Matt, Kalen, Ryan, and I. A decent mod -- I need to try to find my old, old copy of "Slave Pits of the Undercity" as this mod is an update/sequel of that one, and the Slave Lords are starting to show up in other core modules as well.
Saturday I ran a game of "The Letter" for Kalen, Kathy, Matt, Ryan, Tony, and Mike Mistele. Not a good module, but the group seemed to have fun. The next one in that series, "The Price of Power", is being run at Stuffed COWS and Matt, in particular, wanted to be sure to play those modules in order.
Tomorrow night I'm running a zero table of "Gateway to Bright Sands" for a group in the city (at Rudy's). I thought that was a fun module when I played it a couple weeks ago, and now that I've read it I like it even more. This is going to be fun, and I'd be happy to get Brad to have me run it a couple times at the convention.
Thursday night I'm going into the city to Brad's house to play the aforementioned "The Price of Power". It should be a good group, with Dick Gilbert judging, even if the module might not be so good.
Finally, at least for the moment, I'll be running "Here There Be Dragons" on Saturday afternoon/evening here at home. I'd promised this to Louis in return for him running the game last Friday, so hopefully he'll be enough over his cold to be up to playing. The table will also include Kalen and Tony.
Today I got the shipment of D&D miniatures "Underdark" boosters that Matt, Ryan and I had ordered. In the 10 boosters that were my part of the shipment the figure were very evenly distributed. I got either 3 or 4 of every common figure, 1 or 2 of every uncommon except one (I'll need to trade for an Elf Stalker), and no duplicates of any of the rares (so I have 10 of the 24). I got a Deep Dragon, but not the Silver Dragon. I got the Drow mounted on the lizard. I got the Aspect of Kord (keeping my set of Aspects complete, I think), and the meanest looking guy, Balor. And several other cool rares. So, all told, I'm pretty pleased with what I drew from this set.
posted by TT at
11/08/2005 11:23:00 PM
2 Comments:
Good thing you got the car fixed. It sucks when you have something broken that you need, cause then you are always thinking about it. At least thats how I am.
Sounds like you did pretty good on Underdark. I'll be looking at mine the minute I get home. Hopefully I have the same luck with the Uncommons so that I actually end up with at least 1 of each.
By
Matt, at 11/09/2005 12:18 PM
Two things: (1) either it's the voltage regulator (which is cheap and easily replaced with a screwdriver) or (2) the battery terminals are corroded and need to be rplaced. (Also cheap and easily replaced with a socket set.) Cars up north tend to get a ton of corrosion on the battery terminals because of the salt on the roads -- try that first.
Ah, battery cables -- another thing I haven't had to think about for three years. Thanks for the nostalgia, Tim!
~~JD~~
By
J.D. Long, at 11/09/2005 8:33 PM
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