July 4, 2014
Dear Everyone:
Happy
Independence Day, everyone.
My car is all better now.
The body shop replaced the
bumper and, more importantly, the other
pieces that were damaged and dragging on the ground under the car.
They even did a spot of painting and buffing on a large scrape on
one rear fender which had been around for years, since it didn’t
interfere with the car’s operation.
I’m guessing they had the paint already in the sprayer from
working on the bumper, so did it as a courtesy.
While the car was “in the shop” for three days, I got a
rental car to
get around town.
Don’t you hate driving rental cars?
Everything is in the wrong place and, as “Marshall” pointed out,
just when you start to get used to it, it’s time to turn it back in.
In this case, the trouble started with the key.
I’ve had rental cars where they give you the key, but not the
key-fob
that has the button to unlock the car door.
Presumably, too many renters lost the fob.
Unfortunately, many auto manufacturers have discovered that they
can save money by not placing a lock on any doors except the driver’s
door. Instead, you use the
electronic fob. Unless you
don’t have one because the car rental company didn’t give it to you.
I discovered this during a torrential downpour when I couldn’t
unlock the car on the passenger side.
This time, the rental company gave me the fob, but no key.
Another great innovation.
The fob contains a microchip that tells the car it’s OK to run.
Without the fob, the engine won’t start.
I thought, “This is great.
Just put it in your pocket or purse and there’s less chance of leaving
it on the counter somewhere.”
Then I got into the car, pushed the “Start/Stop” button and…nothing
happened. The engine
wouldn’t start. I knew it
worked because the car was running when they gave it to me at the body
shop. I had the fob in my
hand, even “showed” it to the magic “Start/Stop” button.
No go.
Gear in “Parked” position?
Check.
Parking brake on? Check.
I still had the contract from the rental agency, in its own folder, so I
called the “800” number on the front of the folder.
Turned out that was the number to call if you wanted to
buy a “slightly-used” rental
car.
Went into the house, looked up the local office of the rental agency.
Took the number, along with my cell phone to call them from
inside the car. Encountered
my upstairs neighbor with her two dogs taking their noon-time walk.
She suggested, try putting your foot on the brake while
simultaneously pressing the “Start/Stop” button.
Bingo! Apparently, this is
one of those things that “everybody” knows.
Once again:
Management-by-Telepathy, Still Not Working.
Rental agencies always have the latest and greatest automobiles, with
the latest and greatest bells and whistles.
The car I drove in Denver had a large display on the dashboard
that proclaimed: “325 miles
to E”!
I thought, “I’m not going to ‘E’.
How many miles to the airport?”
Evidently, “E” referred to “Empty”, as in “you can drive 325 miles
before you run out of gas”.
Wasn’t planning on going that far.
This latest car had a display with a green bar that constantly shifted
to the right and/or left.
Apparently, it was telling you how many miles per gallon you were using
at any given moment.
Like I’m going to keep my eyes glued on the MPH?
Shouldn’t the driver be watching the road?
This is what is known as “Feature Creep”.
The more things the programmers can think of, the more they add
to a gizmo. Remember when a
phone made calls to another person?
Now it takes pictures of your knee, or the inside of your purse.
On the other hand, I could barely live without the “To Do List” or
“OneNote” in my current phone, not to mention using it for reminders
when it’s time to take medications.
Not that I’d want the car to do all that.
Cars are for driving.
And my car is now home and happy and so am I.
Programming Note: Next week
is the annual Regional Leadership Conference for
ARMA (Association of
Records Managers and Administrators).
I’ll be in
Sonoma the latter half of the week; so no Letter.
Have a Happy
Fourth!
Love, as always,
Pete
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