[Xion]

Wanted to share my 7,000th post with you, Holly. And also to thank you for not kicking me off, yet. LOL AND, putting up with my nonsense from time-to-time.

What a great group this is... Proud to be a member!

WOW, I'm far behind Rich! Je suis loin derrière. congrats.

 

[Xion]

Yesterday, I was about to have an evening of fun with my sister. We met at the Clackamas Town Center mall near my house, [where the picture of the Prius blocking was also taken.] As we were planning on driving a ways to eat out together and my battery was low-ish, I decided to plug in.

It was, at this time, that I encountered perhaps the first truly rude fellow Leaf owner in my year+ time of owning the vehicle. She was driving a brand-new 2013 Leaf in the S trim, which is their new "stripped-down" version. She was double parked across both charging spots. I tried to see if I could squeeze into the spot next to her (there was a bush to my right) but it just wasn't going to happen. I was a bit nervous to approach her because once someone has plugged into the DC Quick Charge, it's not just like you pull the plug out. You have to stop it on the machine, wait a few moments for the plug to unlock from the vehicle, then release. To re-charge, you then must go through the whole sign-in process again. So, I didn't want to make her unplug necessarily, but since she was taking up both spots and I wanted to leave my car there, I did need her to move.

She had her door open, and as I approached, I saw her talking on her cell phone. She didn't even look at me, and just gave me very rude and passive wave as if to dismiss me. I said tersely something like, "You're blocking the other spot."

After waiting a minute or so, she finally got out and unplugged. Rather than just moving over, though, she left. I came back later and saw another 2013 Leaf in the same color (dark grey), and it first thought she had come back, but it was an SL (fully loaded) one instead.

another queen of the queens, at least she left and you could plug. Don't worry for those guys, they just think the whole world owe them everything. LOL

 

[OkieRich]

WOW, I'm far behind Rich! Je suis loin derrière. congrats.

Merci, mon ami!

 

[OkieRich]

Holly, I just love reading your daily recants on "As The World Churns." I predict that there WILL be some movement towards rectifying this charge station parking fiasco. And soon, I trust, for the benefit of EV owners and their deminishing mental health.

 

[Em-squared]

Well, I discovered Elektra's first "official" scrape today, although I'm fairly sure it happened a while ago and I didn't notice it. I was parking in a space and ended up scraping the front end a bit, although it was just the scrape plate, which is very tall on this car. But, after doing so, I looked beneath the bumper and noticed some paint missing, but I know for certain it wasn't that incident, because the curb height was too low to have caused it.

I think it was a few weeks back when I was going to Value Village. I was pulling into their lot, not even fast, and I heard a pretty painful "SCRAPE" from underneath. I parked, then got out and looked, but it was a bit awkward because I couldn't kneel on the parking lot (pants getting dirty), nor did I want to stick my arse up in the air, facing the busy thoroughfare. Plus there was a guy walking by. He did ask if I was all right, and I just told him I'd scraped. So, I didn't get a good look and let it go. I even washed and waxed after that, but must have not noticed it. Anyhow, so fast-forward to today when I did notice it. It's not visible from a standing up position, so I shouldn't even let it bother me, but of course knowing it there triggers a bit of OCD. Let's just say I snuck by the dealership on my way home and ordered some touch-up paint. I needed some anyway for some minor rock chips.

Picture:

 

[Xion]

we always scrape the front end while parking in front of concrete curbs. LOL my E looks just the same.

 

[Em-squared]

Yeah, you can't see it at all from standing up; you'd have to crouch down to see it. But kind of a bummer just the same, knowing it's the first major paint loss. BTW, I think the photo makes the scrape look bigger than it really is.

 

[OkieRich]

What a bummer! And you're right, Holly. YOU know it's there and that'll drive someone like us over the edge. On the plus side, that's quickly, painlessly, and effortlessly repaired. And doesn't assault your billfold! That's a plus. What's that saying, "Curb happens?"

 

[Xion]

haha Rich curbs happen, I like that. Holly at least it's a lease.

 

[Em-squared]

Thanks, guys. I have some touch-up paint on order, so that will be good.

 

[Em-squared]

Saw something a bit gut-wrenching today. Was heading south on 205 to pick up my younger stepson. I glanced over toward the northbound lane and saw a large white Ford pickup pulling a flatbed full of some sort of flat brick material. Right as I looked, the truck was swerving around, and the trailer jack-knifed and ran into the guard rail. The bricks were obviously falling off the flatbed. Luckily, I didn't see any other cars involved. It was rather surreal and made me feel ill witnessing it. Luckily, not all 3 lanes were blocked, but it was obviously slowing traffic down nonetheless.

I was supposed to head back that way after picking Zack up, but found a side route home instead, using the Avoid Freeways feature on my GPS.

 

[OkieRich]

I hope I NEVER find myself in that scenario. Closest thing I've encountered was a lawn mowing trailer's rear tire going down, and quickly...at 60+ mph. As it began to fishtail behind the truck, all I could think of was the trailer losing its half dozen mowers, edgers, gas tanks, etc. all over the freeway while those of us behind would be faced with weaving across lanes to avoid collisions. Thankfully, the driver in the pickup managed to pull over to the shoulder before that potential monster had a chance to raise its head.

 

[ravenspilot]

we always scrape the front end while parking in front of concrete curbs. LOL my E looks just the same.

Mine too, alas. Somebody needs to make a skid plate for the Elantra's front fascia or something...

As for road hazards, I was on I-70 by the sports complex yesterday and somebody ahead of me hit a bag of trash. (Probably leftovers from Arrowhead tailgating, blown out the back of somebody's truck; this was about an hour after the Chiefs game let out.) Nothing big or damaging, but I took another Big Gulp cup right in the grille. So that's two weekends in a row my Raven got trashed.

 

[Em-squared]

Haha..."trashed"...literally! :laughing:

 

[Em-squared]

Hi all -

This morning, my TPMS notified me of low tire pressure, presumably due to changes in the weather (cooler). No apparent leak or flat, so I continued to work. Luckily, my dealer is on the way home from work, so I stopped by after I was off today. Good news: it was just low tire pressure, nothing weird/glitchy.

Something a little odd happened while coming out of work. A coworker had recently gotten a previous-gen Kia Optima and it still has the dealer tags on it. I saw this dirty looking guy sitting on the ground near it, then he got up and was looking in its windows and trying the driver door handle (which was locked). I didn't recognize this fellow and thought it looked really sketchy. Additionally, I don't mess around with second-guessing myself on this B.S. anymore, ever since all the car break-ins and thefts that happened behind my old workplace as well as in my own driveway (parking lot).

So, I went back inside and alerted the second-in-command at our call center. She got another guy and actually went outside to check it out. I didn't stick around to find out what happened, but yeah.

 

[OkieRich]

Smart lady! You did the correct thing: went inside and alerted someone else rather than taking this bum on by yourself. Again, SMART lady! Proud of you, Holly.

 

[Em-squared]

Got to drive a 2013 VW Passat SE today. I really liked the interior quality, but of course it feels a bit weird driving an ICE since any sort of idle feels rough.

How I got to drive it is an interesting story. My parents were supposed to come up last night, driving their own 2013 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen. So, they were roughly an hour from their home (on a 4-hour journey here to Portland) and my mom had been noticing some sort of moisture buildup on the rear window of the car. Then, the oil light went on. Turns out that when she'd had her oil changed recently, the idiot forgot to put the plug back in, and it was somehow inside the pan (IDK exactly how, there's some explanation.)

They had to have the car towed all the way back to the dealer, which is even further south than their home. The next morning they went in and luckily they were given the loaner car (the Passat) so they could still make the trip up. Turned out that the employee who messed up was fired! He may have messed up before, who knows.

So, went to my grandparents for dinner with the family, and took the Passat out for a spin afterwards. Like I said, nice and solid car. Decent power from the 2.5.

 

[OkieRich]

How a person can get the oil pan plug inside the pan is beyond me. Guess I've underestimated this new generations' skill sets.

 

[someguy]

How a person can get the oil pan plug inside the pan is beyond me. Guess I've underestimated this new generations' skill sets.

Using air tools for a job requiring hand tools

Hope this blog continues, I enjoy reading about the adventures of Holly!

 

[OkieRich]

Agree, Zak. Holly's escapades and adventures lend some sort of normalcy to my life! Miss the updates. Maybe she'll do an occasional post every so often.

Still, having difficulty wrapping my head around the oil pan plug being "inside" the pan. That takes real talent.