My Day

My car's rear end has been making funny sounds, so last Wednesday I took it to the shop. They couldn't reproduce the funny sounds and gave it back. When they sent me their on-line survey, I gave them low marks on everything, because I don't think they tried very hard. But, over the weekend, the weather changed from low 70's to low 20's, and now the car always makes the funny grinding/rubbing sound, especially when accelerating uphill or in turns. So, I dropped it off last night, hoping they could try it this morning when it would be cold, etc.. They reproduced it allright - "worn exhaust hangers" said the guy on the phone. Hmm. How the exhaust hangers on a 6-month old car could get "worn" is a secret only myself, that one pile of gravel in the middle of the road, and the now-disposed-of exhaust hangers can tell. Mr Warranty picked up the tab, and I'd hate for him to think it was my fault or anything...

So, Mrs. Cleek drove me to work today.

And then, at noon, it snowed. "Heavy unexpected snow!!", now says the weather page on one local news channel's website. Actually, it snowed for about an hour, we got less than an inch, and they'd been predicting it for at least 24 hours. The DOT apparently doesn't watch the weather forecast, because they didn't sand or salt any of the roads that I could see. So, even a half inch of snow caused all the local schools to close early, and to refuse to run any buses. And all the parents had to leave work early to go pick up their kids. The place I work closed at 2:30, because everybody was leaving anyway. Rock!

But, I don't have a car today, and so, I couldn't leave. And then as I watched out my office window, I-40 turned into a parking lot as every parent in the city tried to go pick up their kids, all at once, on the unsanded, unsalted, slightly slippery road. And then all the roads that lead to I-40 turned to parking lots. And then my wife, who works a few miles from me, couldn't come to get me because she couldn't get onto the road, because traffic wasn't moving. Three hundred accidents from 11am to 5pm today, says the Raleigh police dept..

The reason it's so bad is because the Raleigh/Durham area is laid-out like this :

D---J---R

All the people live in the "D" and "R" spots, and they all work in the "J". And connecting those three spots is I-40. And even on days when the weather is fine, traffic is a giant cluster-fuck.

So, I've spent the entire afternoon (now working on early evening) surfing the web and playing Gish. It's an hour and a half past when I normally leave, my wife says she's on her way but who knows how long it'll take. I don't expect I'll be getting home for at least another hour or so. And now the car dealer has closed, so I can't pick up my car. Hopefully, I can get it tomorrow AM.

Just bored. Whining. Grumbling. I suppose there are worse things that could happen than being stuck in the office. But few of them give me a chance to vent like this.

A guy just walked into the office and said he was unable to get home, after 4 hours of trying - all roads blocked.

Wife just arrived... took her an hour to go 3 miles.

Fuck this town.