Sunday in the Garage

Had some great sunshine today, so I actually made my first drive in TDWD (Top Down, Windows Down) Configuration. This is how I spent my day:

9:15 - Gratuitous drive around the beach with top down. Freeze.
9:30 - Car warmed up. Get coffee at drive thru.
9:45 - Continue drive. Celebrate 1st annual Sustainable West Seattle Fair by burning some extra fossil fuel. (Before you freak out at me, I take the bus to work 15-18 times a month, so I feel like I do my part and am entitled to a little Sunday cruise every now and then...)
10:00 - Guitar lesson - work on some Ted Leo solos and the acoustic version of "Psycho Killer"
11:20 - Wrap up lesson
11:23 - Receive first in-transit vocal complement from pedestrians. Euphoria can't prevent me from nearly running over traffic circle.
11:45 - Auto parts store. Deliberately park next to new black SLK 320 with its top up. Shameful.
12:00 - Leave with gear oil and air chuck for compressor (I now have 12 auto tires, and 6 bike tires - time to make the investment).
12:15 - Arrive home - eat lunch.
12:20 - Begin interior detail
12:25 - Wife returns with kids from the park. Hide stomach ache that resulted from eating lunch in 5 minutes. Wife laughs at my collection of detail equipment and starts snapping photos.


2:00 - Interior detail done. Found 2 pens, a fuse holder (note to self - look for non-functioning electrical equipment), several candy wrappers (Nana had a sweet tooth) and Nana's keychain with the Norwegian flag. Find excuse to do another drive
2:20 - Go to hardware store. Buy 8' of 3/8" rubber tubing
2:40 - Return home. Wife is leaving with kids to go on a bike ride. They offer help when they return. I accept.
2:45 - Go through process of opening fill plug on differential - (Pull on wrench, nearly burst blood vessels in head, go to basement for bigger wrench/breaker bar, repeat 4x)
3:05 - Differential is finally draining. Discover that used gear oil is the aromatic equivalent of rotten mushrooms steeped in turpentine marinated in a dirty baby diaper.

3:25 - Wife and kids return home. I am too cheap to buy a pump, so we use aforementioned rubber tubing to fill differential. New gear oil doesn't smell much better than the old stuff. Our 5-year old is the only one with a free hand, so she takes the picture. Create your own caption.


4:00 - Car is put back together, and I take one last test drive. Differential is not making noise. I take pride in completing a successful $13 gear oil change.
4:30 - Return home, put up soft top. Just as I'm packing it in for the day, I find one more thing to have taken care of...


5:00 - Leave instructions with wife to get tire fixed. Enjoy dinner out with the family.