Sephy’s Platzish

So, today, the car was at home since my mom was getting a ride into work from her office’s manager (the ploy being that they weren’t going to allow her to make an excuse to get out of an after-work function that is happening at someone’s house). She called me around midday and asked if I had gone out for a spin. Really, I was considering heading out just on a drive into town and back, but hadn’t gone out to do it by the time she had called.

A couple hours later, I put on my shoes, a sweatshirt, grabbed my keys, phone and wallet, and headed out to go for a drive. The first thing I should have known to do was to let the car warm up for a good 10-15 minutes. However, I had heard once that the best way to get a car warmed up was to just go out and start out driving, so I did just that. Everything started out well, and I went out to the highway at a somewhat slow pace - around 25 miles per hour (mostly due to the snowy roads we still have in this area). Once out on the highway, I allowed myself to get up to the speed limit - 55 mph. After a couple more speed changes, we got to a light.

Now, there is an interesting problem that has been going on with the car for quite some time now - it’s an intermittent problem, and one that we are uncertain how to get fixed without it costing a lot of money. From time to time, when you stop the car, it will just die. Normally, after restarting it and revving the engine up to around 4,000 RPM (for some reason my mom has this idea in her mind that if you go over 3000 you can cause this problem to crop up - I’m not certain of that, but I do pay attention to be sure that I don’t go over 3000 too often), the engine will stabilize and you can go on your way.

When I saw that this might be beginning to start happening (the telltale sign of that is when the engine goes below about 700 RPM), I put the hazard flashers on to notify the traffic behind me that I was having an issue and to go around - they didn’t go around, and fortunately, they didn’t go into the right lane once past the intersection, so I did. My only thought at this point was that I needed to get the car to a safe spot, away from the main roads so that I could try to get the engine to stabilize, which it hadn’t done yet. I chose to go around to a road that is fairly secluded in my town - I saw maybe two other cars, but they were both heading out of that immediate area.

I got the car stopped, put it into park, and decided that I would try the accelerate method, and then I tried out a new method - holding the power somewhat steady around 1000 RPM, which is around the idle point for the car. While I was doing this, I rang up my mom at her work, and told her what had happened, and she said that the important thing was to get home, and to call when I did. So, I went ahead and moved out; here is where the interesting bit of the story begins. I went out and turned to the right at the main road because I knew that I would be accelerating slower than normal, so I did just that.

When I got to the main intersection (with another stoplight), it was red, so I decided to head around the community parking lot that is right there. As I got halfway into the parking lot, I felt the steering wheel slow way up on me and the engine died out again. My next decision was to just park the car right in one of the stalls and try to get the stabilization going again, which didn’t quite work again. I had enough and just wanted to get back to the house at this point. I went out of the parking lot to the north, drove up to a small residential street that ends in a cul-de-sac and looped around it to head back through town and back towards home.

I had to stop at the stoplights but only for a few seconds, as I was turning left and we had a protected turn light. Then I went through the school zone - although I didn’t see any kids, I decided to play it safe and go 15 MPH as it was close to dismissal time for the schools anyway. After going through town, I had to go through the first stoplight once more. Normally, it doesn’t stay green for the direction I was going for very long - I really lucked out this time, though, as I managed to get through the light and just as I had gotten to the other side of the road, it turned yellow. For the next 30 seconds, the only thing I was saying was “Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you” for not having to stop at the light.

At long last, I was on the final stretch to the house - I had to do a couple of more turns and turn into the driveway, but it all went fine, and the engine stopped right when I got to the right spot on the driveway. However, I decided to try to get the engine stable once more by accelerating to around 4500 RPM. The next thing I knew the Check Engine light was on - now, a little secret about the car that we have had is that when the engine light comes on and is stable, generally it’s ok to drive, if it’s flashing, then you’re in deep trouble, apparently.

I get in the house, call down to my mom and mention that I made it home and that the check engine light came on - I made sure to say that it was stable. However, now it seems that we’re going to have to take it to the garage to get this sorted out (it also needs an oil change anyway).

Fortunately, I do know my way around the area so that I can manage to get out of jams like this safely, depending on the lights…

Of course, you can’t actually buy these things with a Mastercard as it’s cash or check only at the DMV, though they do have an ATM there.

Anyway, as I’ve been talking about, I took my driving test today, and I was given some tips afterward, told about my skill at parallel parking, and then let to go on my own way, at least to sit and wait for my number to be called.

I then went up to the counter, handed over my license application, number receipt, and temporary license, along with the $33 in required fees, only to go over and sit and wait for my name to be called (that took the least amount of time). Then, after signing a pad, having my picture taken (twice, because my glasses caused some glare), and picking up a new piece of plastic, I walked out of the building. In other words -

I passed!

Now, I suppose you’re all wanting some nitty gritty of the test, eh?

Well, then, let’s do it. We arrived at the testing center quite a bit early, in the hopes that maybe someone would be a no-show so that I could take my test earlier. However, that didn’t happen, so I spent about an hour finishing reading the book I was currently reading (The Broker), and listening to a conversation about a gentleman who has been on TV a few times over the last couple of years, and who has this knack of supposedly knowing when people are going to die.

As it happened, he was there with his son or brother or some other male relative of his, and they were in the standby queue, and was talking to some of the other folks that were there, as you do. Apparently there were quite a few folks failing their tests, according to another fellow who was there. However, at 12:15 or so, my name was called by the tester, and it was time to head out to the car.

We did a check of all the lights - headlights, brights, turn signals (but not hand signals), wipers, brake lights, and then we were off on our way. I committed an error when I turned onto the first road after the one we started in, when I asked if the road was a 2-lane road; she replied that I should know the area; no biggie. I didn’t even lose a point for that

After that, it was all on some high quality roads put out by the city - as in, they were covered with snow and ice, requiring me to go no faster than about 15 mph. We then went through a couple of intersections, and it was time for the Y-turn. I did that successfully, and then we drove on, doing a couple of turns, and then it was time for the moment in the driving test that everyone dreads - the parallel park. It was next to a white panel van, I pulled aside, checked around me, and backed into the spot. After backing, we moved off and then back around to the DMV offices.

After about 15 minutes or so, it was all over, and we were back in the parking lot. The fun wasn’t over though, as someone decided to pull into the lane for the road test parking spots. The tester’s reply was that she wasn’t surprised that the van looked the way it did, and then I said (upon seeing no license plate) - oh look, no license plate either.

It was then time to go into the DMV to get the results. As I was walking in, another of the customers, who was on her way out (I believe she was with her parents one of whom was getting tested likely due to age), asked me if I passed - i said I didn’t know, but I had seen that Good Job was written in one of the places of the form.

As it turns out, those words were written in three places - in the Parking section, under Intersections, and in the comments along with “Drive Safe”. In the bottom right there was a 7 - meaning 7 demerit points I had accrued - all of them had to do with checking over my right shoulder when I’m making maneuvers. I thought I had lost a point about the two lane thing, but as it turns out, I was reading that point as the total for that column (3/3/1).

So, there you have it; I now have a proper license which is valid until 2010 (because it’s my probationary license which is valid for two years from your next birthday). On our way back, we wanted to get back to where we picked up the car and didn’t want to deal with going through the downtown of a village, so we did go on the freeway. Just don’t tell my mom we did.

And, stay tuned for some possible news about a car…

Since I’ve spent a lot of time in a car (just sitting and reading; not having a full license has its disadvantages at times) today, I’m just going to jump into it.

I’ve done a bit of experimentation with the positioning of the pedometer. From Monday, I’ve placed it on my sock; I’m not sure if the accuracy has gone up and down; you’ll see why further down.

Sunday, 25th November

The sun shines through the trees onto the still somewhat fresh snow. A bit of it had melted by the end of the week, but there were still large areas where the snow didn’t go away (due to shadows, etc.).

Total distance - 3080 steps, 2.46km

Monday, 26th November

This pile of dirt has been in this same location for quite some time now. I’m not sure why it was put there, but it’s there, and it looks like it’s going to stay there at least through the winter…

Total distance - 4333 steps, 3.46km

Tuesday, 27th November

Here you can see the effect of shadows on melting snow - the area that isn’t melted is part of the “official” path. All of the area that wasn’t shadowed in some way had pretty much melted already.

Total distance - 4958 steps, 3.96km

Wednesday, 28th November

Of course, that didn’t stop the snow coming again the next day. Fortunately, it wasn’t terribly heavy. Nevertheless, the wind was so strong that my umbrella broke somewhat (I believe I should be able to fix it with some crazy glue). Interestingly, although I did a normal-distance walk, the pedometer registered a really low number.

Total distance - 1740 steps, 1.39km

Thursday, 29th November

Well, here’s our friend the turkey; one of them at least. They were in the driveway of one of the houses along my route. It was really, really cold; in fact, I had on a scarf, which led to my glasses fogging up pretty badly. However, I can say that the water I had carried with me chilled off nicely

Total distance - 3917 steps, 3.13km

Friday, 30th November

I didn’t go out to walk today. However, I did do a little more semi-night driving.

Saturday, 1st December

Er, yeah. This is what I got for walking after we got back from the driving adventure. This was right in the middle of a storm. To walk, I put on my usual two extra layers, plus a heavy winter jacket. It really didn’t help, even with the assistance of an umbrella. I only went down to the bridge and back, and coming back, it was a difficult walk. I was walking into the wind, with the precipitation coming down as something in between snow and sleet.

The good news is that I figured out a way to keep my boots closed - I used some old drawstrings from a couple of old pairs of pants and looped them around the boots and my pants, which did the trick

Total distance - 617 steps, 0.49km

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In other news, tomorrow I should be having my first session of Holographic Memory Resolution. It is a treatment technique that focuses on resolving a memory that you have. You can check out some resources about it here.The other really big thing going on is the driving test.  As it stands now, there is a 60% chance of snow on Tuesday, with it starting sometime around noon. If it does snow during my test, I’ll be glad that I’ve done a bit of snow driving. We have all of the arrangements set for how we’re going to orchestrate moves to get the car I’m doing the test in (i.e. the same car I’ve been driving in). I know where I’m going, know how to get there. All I have to do tomorrow is get the timings down (I want to get down there about 15 minutes early, and have a bit of time to do some driving before heading in).

Honestly, I can feel the anticipation starting; I’m kinda looking forward to the test, and I feel prepared for it.

 

Well, I have to say that today has been probably the most interesting day of driving I’ve had so far. I did quite a few things that I thought I’d be nervous about while driving today. In fact, if you ask my mom, she would probably say that she was quite anxious about my driving today.

Now, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of the anxiety having gone away after driving a couple of times. Yes, that is the case; however, as is customary in these circumstances, there were some external factors.

It all started out normally, with a trip to the local superstore to get a bunch of provisions for the house - you know, Clorox, softener sheets, etc. We went out knowing that we had to get down to the city around 10AM for a short bit of driving practice with my brother who lives down there. The shortest route between where we were and where we needed to be was via…

The Freeway

Yes, the freeway. Two or three lanes of traffic going at the highest allowable speed (65mph, 105km/h) in the state. Now, we had been avoiding driving on there at almost all costs - which included getting somewhat lost on our way out of finding the test location the other day. The road that the test site is on is the same road that was bridged over by a freeway when they built an interchange, so there’s a bit of a network of frontage roads to connect the highway to the surface street. Unfortunately, they don’t post signs that show you the way to the main road from this side road (however, the opposite is true). Everything goes extremely well, including changing lanes twice, and taking one of the more interesting offramps in the area, where the freeway exits onto what is, essentially, a large roundabout controlled at each corner by stoplights. Then we get down to my brother’s house for some

Practice

As we approached his house, I noticed his car parked in a favorable position for parallel parking. Taking advantage of the opportunity presented, I pulled aside the car, stopped, reversed, turned into the spot and parked. I was maybe a few centimetres too far away from the curb, but I think I was within the 1 foot (30cm) space that makes a car legally parked.

My brother then came out of the house, got in the passenger side, and led me on a bit of a trip. The first thing was to do another parallel park with his car, which went perfectly, with the car, as he put it, even closer to the curb than he usually puts his car. We then forged along down the street, through an uncontrolled intersection or two, stopping at a stop sign (my mom asked why I was stopping behind the stop sign; uh, maybe because that’s where I have to stop? ). We then came back around the block, did another parallel park on his car, then proceeded down the road to do the Y-turn (or as it may be known elsewhere, the three point turn or the turn in the road). It went off better than it did the last time, and then we did a bit more driving around the blocks, and after one last parallel park, we set off on our way.

Our next destination was either going to be in town, or along the freeway. We decided to go into town where it was a madhouse because of the Holiday Open House that was going on at the grocery store, which included an appearance by a meat-packing-company’s barbershop quartet who were handing out little pigs to everyone and anyone. Among the folks there were samplers of all sorts - from spreadable cheese to buffalo wings to soda and even, in the liquor department, wine (I didn’t go for it this time though ). While in the store, word was coming around about…

The Snow

Walking out of the store with our purchases, we did notice the snow, and I reasoned that since it wasn’t really sticking to the roads just yet, I could drive in the weather. As it is, I have driven in the rain before. However, not very long after we left the store parking lot, the snow started to stick to the road. Not too much after that, the pleas started. “We’re going to stop at such-and-such and I’ll drive home” was a line frequently said by my mom. However, I kept on driving at a reasonable pace for the conditions (the fastest I went for most of the trip was about 35 mph (~55km/h)), and took backroads that meant us missing out on some really big hills which would have been a headache to navigate.

As we were driving, I could tell the anxiety building on the other side of the car, however, there was another good reason for my sticking to my guns - there’s a 30% chance of snow on Tuesday. Many times I heard comments about me going too slow, or having to kiss the ground when we got home; it was the first snowfall for the year, so really, what advantage would have been had if we had switched seats? Yes, there was a lot more experience in snow, but if you ask me, I think I proved myself just a bit with my skills.

I think I’m ready. Only three days away.

With only 6 days until my driving test, I know that it is a very real possibility that I will fail on my first go. Honestly, I think I will pass, but there is the real chance that I could fail it anyway.

Interestingly, statistics from the UK say that less than 43% of first time test takers pass on the first go, so really, it’s a badge of honor. As it is, I know of cases (and I’m not naming names, but I know who you are ) where a person has tried four times before passing the test. Admittedly, the standards are slightly higher than they are here. Anyway, the possibility exists that I may fail my test.

In the past, I think that I would have gone into it saying I was going to do well, and if I failed, be distraught. However, thanks to some good advice I’ve received, I’ve come up with a plan to ensure that, if I do fail, I will pass on my second go.

The first thing that I will do is continue to drive. Obviously, it would defeat the purpose of the whole exercise if I just gave it all up after only one attempt to get my license.

Next, at the first opportunity (as in the first opportunity I have to be at a computer or use the phone scheduling system) I have, I will schedule a new appointment for the end of January or beginning of February at the DMV center which is nearest to me, and pass that information along to everyone who needs to know.

The other thing, and this might just be the one element of the plan which will make it all fit into place, is to schedule some driving lessons with a professional driving school. Obviously, it’s not going to be free, but it will be money well spent - I’d be looking at taking about three or four hours of driving which would end up costing around $200, and it would be with a driving school that is well-known in this area and of the highest quality. On their website, they say that they don’t have the cheapest rates in the area, but based on the calling around that I did, they actually do have the lowest rates for adult driving going.

The only downside to it is that they do the initial sign up via mail, so I would likely be calling them soon after.

Of course,  I’m fairly confident that it will all go well and I won’t need to engage this plan next Tuesday, which will lead me to making a post in a week’s time saying that I have a new piece of plastic in my wallet.

Lastly, I was doing some temporal vortex learning yesterday and stumbled upon this video on YouTube. The coolest part is that (and I didn’t even realise this until I looked at the tags, but something told me that it was from this area; I’m guessing seeing the Speedway station on the corner helped) this video was shot on the south side of the City. It’s not the area I’m taking my test in, but it has some great practical advice from someone who passed his driving test on the first go here. He made this video (at least the part after the cameo by Tool) to help out his grandfather who was going for a retest so that he could keep his license.

And, a last request; if someone has seen some more videos on parallel parking out there, I’d love to have links to them