幾鬼秘的部落格

X’mas celebrations started earlier this month with my company’s x’mas party at Pavilion Royale in Mississauga.  Just like last year, the food was terrible and the banquet hall was freezing cold.  Somebody’s got to tell upper management to stop holding our parties there.

The food at CL’s company party at Fantasy Farm was ok, but their festive decorations impressed me more.  The exterior setup was probably just as impressive if it could be seen during the day time.  CL also got to take home something by winning a triple of Fruits & Passion gift baskets at the silent auction.

We had many dinners with friends in the weeks preceding X’mas, at places like Dou Heung (hot pot), Rude Native, Wasabi (Japanese all-you-can-eat), and Embrujo Flamenco (tapas + flamenco show!).  In between we managed to squeeze in a couple of small parties at my place.

All this seemed merry enough, until today.  I wasn’t even supposed to have to work today but I decided to go in to help QA with some testing.  Just before I was about to step out of the door I got a call from CL that she got into a car accident.  I went to the site of the accident without asking the details, so I didn’t know what to expect.  I’ve never known anyone who’s been in a serious car accident so I guess I just assumed that it was no big deal, especially since she was rather calm on the phone.

When I arrived I was pretty shocked.  The car itself didn’t look too bad - a warped rear wheel and a dented door, but it was the location of the car that was puzzling.  The front of it was lodged perfectly between a small tree and a fence, without any noticeable damage to the front of the car.  This, the result of a spinout and a nudge by an oncoming car, did not count towards the ~200 accidents on GTA highways today.  I wonder how many off-highway accidents there were today.

We had the car towed to the garage and the insurance notified.  By the time I drove CL to her place it was after noon.  And since traffic was not easing, I’d decided to not go to work.  After 1pm we decided to head to a friend’s place to pick up some stuff before lunch.  When we were about to leave, I started my car to find it idling roughly.  And before I could say "dang", the check engine light began to flash.  This is the same engine misfire problem that was supposedly fixed last week.  And so for the second time in a span of a few hours, our tow truck driver friend was called for the second time.

I had the Miata dropped off at my garage.  We went to my parents’ place close to the garage to wait for the car rental to come.  Even though this was now after 3pm, neither CL nor I had any appetite for lunch.  And so a long and totally unproductive day was passed.  Both CL and I will be car-less for the rest of this holiday through to the new year (not counting the rental).  Now I can’t wait to get rid of my once beloved car

A few weeks ago one afternoon I parked my Miata at the pacmall underground parking lot.  When I was ready to leave I started my car to find it idling high at around 1500 rpm, which was not unusual considering the low temperature at that time.  However, even at that rpm the car felt like it was going to stall.  The check engine light was flashing for some time before staying on. There was a big drop in power and I had to keep the engine speed high (above 3000 rpm) for anything close to the normal amount of power.  After the engine had warmed up the idle dropped to just a few hundred RPMs.

By the time I arrived at my garage the car seemed to have returned to normal.  The OBD code indicated engine misfire.  Since I just had my spark plugs and wires replaced last year, my mechanic thought we should just reset the computer and see what happens.

The next day the check engine light came on again.  This time it ointed to the catalytic converter.  I have since learned that a flashing check engine light means that the engine is misfiring, and driving the car in this condition for even a short time can damage the catalytic converter.

That was last week.  I continued to drive the car this week, waiting for my mechanic to call to give me an estimate.  But 2 nights ago my car decided that it couldn’t wait.  First it stalled near a gas station.  I pulled into the gas station with what little momentum that the car had.  Before I could decide what to do, I got it re-started and decided to continue driving.  But no more than two minutes later it stalled again, this time in the middle lane of the road.  Luckily the road wasn’t particularly busy, and I was able to re-start it again, with some difficulty.

I pulled into a nearby shopping plaza and called CAA for the fourth and last time that I am allowed this year.  There are many little broken things in my car (attenna, cassette player, door lock, cracked windshield, center console cover) but this is the first mechanical part that broke in its rather long life.  It’ll be an expensive repair (the OEM cat converter costs $1K+).  I’ve been thinking about changing car since this incident, but I think I’ll most likely stick with this little baby for a little while longer