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August 25, 2005
Ruining My Reputation
This post is to issue a public apology to John Bailes and his campaign staff and supporters for not making it to the Back-to-School rally at Eastgate.
What was supposed to have happened: after I got through at the Citizens Advisory Commission on Ethics meeting, I was going to go home, grab the guitar and gear, and head over to the Bailes event.
What happened: the [vapor lock or fuel injection or ignition relay] problem that my old car has, but has after sitting out in the heat of Summer only, kicked in bigtime, and I sat in Chattanooga State's parking lot for over two hours trying to start it. By the time I got home, the rally would have been wrapping up. I regret that this car trouble had to happen on this very day -- the day I would have otherwise gotten to jam with none other than former Hamilton County Executive Dalton Roberts.
I hope Messrs. Bailes and Roberts both know how much it affected me to miss the event, not only because I don't like presenting even the slightest image as "the guy who doesn't show up," but because I truly wanted to help with the campaign rally.
I recorded the odometer reading on the car -- didn't have much else to do at the moment -- at 222,670.1 miles. Even though it let me down in a big way today, I can say that this has been an extraordinarily reliable vehicle (1990 Honda Accord LX 2.2-litre 5-speed, if you need to know) for many years, and I'll buy from Honda again. If they'll just lower the price a bit on their hybrids, I'll gladly go that route. Shortly before 6:30, as the baking sun began to wane, the car started as if the previous two-plus hours hadn't happened at all.
By the way, several people asked if they could help, including two mechanics who converged on my open-hooded plight at around the same time and offered lots of assistance (even if they, too, were thwarted by the car's stubbornness). I'd like to "shout out" to Josh, currently of Ron's Automotive at Wilcox and Shallowford, and to JoJo, of the former JoJo & Che Automotive Shop in Cleveland. Both were well-versed in Honda repair, but unfortunately neither had his tools on site. (I didn't have any money, so it probably worked out for the best.)
I'm working up a post on the Ethics discussion, and will get that online as soon as I can. I took a lot of notes, as the afternoon was chock full of enlightening and blog-worthy moments.
Guitar Blogging | By joe lance | 09:09 PM