Back to work, despite everything

I decided to ignore work for the entire Memorial Day weekend — I don’t even think I saw any IBMers other than Diane. Instead, we geocached our neighborhood on Saturday and Monday, and visited friends for a cookout on Sunday (caching their neighborhood while we were there). We also made our first trip of the year to the Los Gatos Farmer’s Market; wild salmon is back, as are ripe peaches, plums, and apriums. Yummy!

Tuesday, although the holiday weekend was over, none of us made it to the office (or school). The father of one of the girls in Jeff’s class had died during the weekend; school was closed so that anyone who wanted could attend the funeral and shiva lunch. Diane and I both know the family, so we wanted to attend, too, so we worked at home before and after the ceremony and gathering. I can’t say I was very focused on work, though I tried.

Today, we were supposed to get back to normal, and all was going swimmingly until I started the rental Prius. Or, to be more accurate, I tried to start it. The 12-volt battery had gone flat over the long weekend (I don’t think I left any doors open, but maybe…) and couldn’t get the car going. I didn’t have time to call Hertz for assistance, so we carpooled, and I only got to work 45 minutes late.

When I got home, I called Hertz, and they said they’d send out a truck to jump the car so that I could drive it back to them and swap it. While I was waiting, I decided to try again, and the car started (very reluctantly) — so I phoned Hertz to cancel the service call and drove to the nearby Hertz Local Edition. Usually, if I have battery problems with a car, I hope the engine won’t die again until I’ve had a chance to drive it far enough to recharge the battery — but with a Prius, the engine stops as part of normal operation!

I made it there with no problems; I even restarted the car, but I could tell that things weren’t quite right, and so I was happy to swap for a Kia Spectra. It’s definitely not as nice a car as the Prius, but it’s much nicer than the Chevy Cavalier I suffered with last week — my only real complaint with this car is that the radio doesn’t sound very good.

We’re still on The List for a new Prius at four dealerships in the area; two of them have given us ETAs of next week, which would be just fine. I suspect we’re not the only ones on multiple dealers’ lists, either.

Oh yeah, I mentioned “work” in the title of this post, didn’t I? Power stayed up in my wing all weekend, so I didn’t have to do anything with my wiki server (and I could have left my refrigerator plugged in, though defrosting it was a good idea anyway). And I am continuing to work on my report and proposal to the CIO’s office, with increased urgency; I have a call scheduled for next Tuesday to make the case.