Why is it that when there is something wrong with a car, whatever seems to be wrong with it miraculously resolves itself the minute that you bring the car in to get repaired? Today was the last day I had before I needed to head back up north to house sit, so I thought I better find out what the clutch clicking noise was, as well as get the oil changed and tires rotated. Of course, when I brought it in, the clicking noise was nowhere to be heard. I spent 30 minutes trying to get the car to make the clicking noise in the clutch, but to no avail. I’m sure that the mechanic thought I was nuts yelling at my car to make a noise that it’s not supposed to make and I shouldn’t want to hear.
My gut tells me that it’s not the last I will hear of the clicking (although I’ll be perfectly happy if I’m wrong) so I decided to pass on the oil change and tire rotation as well. I’ll see if it comes back as I’m planning a couple of drives while house sitting, plus I have the drive up there. Either way, I’ll need to take the car in for an oil change and a tire rotation after this trip and I can make another attempt to figure out the issue if the clicking does come back by then.
After the car fixing failure, I decided I needed to work outside the house, but I wanted to test one of the other alternatives to the coffee shop. I opted for the library which worked out better than I thought it would. The hours are a bit short (it closes at 6:00 pm most evenings) and the most difficult adjustment was that it was too quite. I like background noise when I’m working and there just isn’t a lot of that in the library. These aren’t deal breakers and I think I can still work effectively there, so I think I’ll make that my first default choice when going outside to work from now on when visiting my mom.
The next morning I needed to head up north for the house sitting job. It was overcast and drizzling when I left, so the plan was to drive directly to the house without stopping, but as I drove north, the weather began to improve (a bit strange since the opposite usually happens). By the time I hit the Golden Gate Bridge the sky was blue and no matter how many times I cross that bridge, I have to stop when the sun is out. It had been quite some time since I had actually walked the bridge, so I decided to do that:
For those that have never walked the Golden Gate Bridge, when you reach the center part of the span, there are a number of suicide prevention help signs (with emergency phones below) to discourage people from jumping. It’s a jarring reminder with all the amazingly beautiful scenery from the bridge:
The two days were good to my finances as both were no spend days since I ended up skipping the car upkeep until I get back again. This puts me in a great position to get through the first month spending less than $50 which will give me a much needed emergency fund cushion going forward. I certainly have no complaints about how this minimum wage challenge has been going thus far…
Yesterday’s & Today’s Spending
Food: $0.00
Car: $0.00
Housing: $0.00
Travel: $0.00
Misc: $0.00
Total: $0.00
Total Spending
Food: $18.52
Car: $0.00
Housing: $0.00
Travel: $0.00
Misc: $19.00
Total: $37.52
Next article: Day 27: Dull Razor Blades
Maybe you will write a book about this adventure??? Keep up the good work!
Just a suggestion on the library noise or lack thereof, if you have an MP3 player with earphones you could use that as your “noise” so that you can work without it being too quiet and without bothering others.
I think that would help, but I do know that I can’t work as long when listening to music that way — having it right in my ears is different than having it in the background. but it’s certainly better than complete silence…