Monday, March 31, 2014

$6 worth of books in a Ford Festiva: How I almost got away with it.

7am! Gotta get up!

There's a book sale in Harrisburg today. You can fill a grocery bag with books for $1. My cash flow issues haven't evaporated, so the price is right. My car - the almighty Ford Festiva - just got a ton of work done. I want to see what it thinks about the highways again.

It liked the highways pretty good, I'd say. I haven't personally put many miles on this car, and today I noticed that it has cruise control. No tape deck, but it came with cruise control. Wild times. No cup holders... but cruise? Check. It's a nice touch.

8:30am. I look at my watch, and I'm starting to feel pretty good about myself. It was a rushed morning. No time for food. No time for coffee. No time to interrupt my fiancé in the shower. (btw, I'm getting married.)

Just as my brain was patting my body on it's back, I realized there was a problem. The address I put in the GPS was in "Lancaster," which is not the same as "Harrisburg." It didn't even bother me. I fixed the address and set out again. Maybe I should have taken the extra two minutes to get a coffee.

I was a little bit late, but I got there just the same. I entered the basement of a church and started looking for books that a sane human might want to read. I skipped over the fad diet books and the hopelessly obsolete computer books. I inspected one computer book: there was a 3.5" floppy disk still affixed in it's plastic sleeve inside the back cover. Nope. Gonna go ahead and leave that one right there.

All said, I spent $6 on books. Some of them are actually pretty good. My wireless barcode scanner found quite a few with a healthy estimated value. These prices are great. The snack bar was selling Cokes for a quarter. These folks had put commerce on hold.



I got back in the car, and set my sights on home. I'd stop somewhere and get a coffee. Finally. Maybe I'd get some food.

Instead, my brakes started feeling mushy. Then, when I was looking for a place to pull over, they felt downright fucked up. By the time I pulled over at the Choo Choo Barn in Strasburg, there was no hopeful wish that it was a dream. My rim was hot to the touch, and there was clearly some caliper malfunction afoot.

No matter. This is why I subscribe to AAA services. I got a ride the rest of the way, and I'll save the strife for another time.