Yesterday morning I got the big kids off to school and went zipping down to the babysitter's house. I had to drop Pete off at 8:15 to get to my 8:30 appointment. I rang the bell...
...and waited. No answer. She wasn't there; she hadn't called. I called the office to tell them I'd be as quick as I could, but the little girl I was seeing lives out of town and the family would be most of the way there already. I called a neighbor with a home-based business and asked if Pete could please (please!) come and play with his little girl for an hour and a half. He said yes. I breathed a little easier, because Pete adores this family.
At 8:26 I called the office again to say I was on my way to my 8:30 appointment. "CJ," said the secretary sternly, "it's only 8:26. Don't you get yourself in a tizzy. Don't you drive like a maniac to get here, because it's going to be okay. Don't you go and get in a situation on the way over here."
I thought it was a little funny that she was giving me driving advice, but in about 15 seconds I was grateful for it. I was going 35 miles per hour and the tachometer was at 2800 rpms. "Come on, shift," I said to the transmission...
...and it did not shift. "Hm," I said to myself in a calmer voice than one might have expected, "did the transmission that was rebuilt approximately 53 weeks ago (with a one-year warranty, natch) just fail? It appears so."
So I drove to the office at 30mph, figuring that 2500rpm wouldn't damage the engine, and cruised inside. I went swiftly to the filing cabinet to get out the one assessment tool we have that's suitable for the girl I had to evaluate...
...and another SLP had taken it out of the office. "Well," I said to one of my co-workers, "I am having kind of a stressful morning."
I got through the eval (I decided to break it into two sessions, because this is a family I see regularly, and I could finish part of it without the missing book), and drove home without blowing up the van, and picked up Petely and dropped off the van at the neighborhood repair shop. My MIL arrived just as we walked up to the house -- she had arranged to come so I could make an extra trip to campus this week. I drove off (in the car she generously let me borrow), thinking, "The afternoon will probably get better, right?"
It turns out that the transmission is definitely fried, but its demise occurred 51 weeks into the warranty and not a week after its expiration. (Although get this: we were over the mileage limitation, and they're still repairing it at no charge. Small town service, huh?)
My stats prof gave us our second assignment today and I was all grumpy when I saw the email. I spent many hours on the last assignment, and I thought there'd be more space between them. But I opened the attachment and thought, "Hey, this will be fun." Yes, I am the Empress of Geekiness.
Today I am one-third of the way through this crazy semester, and we're hanging in there so far. I am off to put boys to bed, and then maybe start my fun stats assignment when things are quiet. Who could ask for anything better on a Friday night?
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