“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 899 (Wednesday) – easy fix

Cause for concern?

The car was in the shop. A kind and observant neighbor had sent a text on Sunday that there were some big spots on my driveway where I park, and because the car is usually parked there, she correctly thought I hadn't seen it. 

The car was parked overnight on Sunday in a different spot to check if new leak stains appeared overnight and photos were taken of the leak stains. Some were reddish brown, some were darker, and all looked rather sizable. I wasn't sure how worried I should be.

The dealership website was consulted. It had easy online scheduling when I needed the oil changed in April. This time, the service online scheduling link led to options for either an info form or a chat box. Both required providing a lot of info, only to be informed that someone from the service department would call during normal business hours to schedule service. It seems that some programmer completely missed the point of “online scheduling.”  

Monday was a remote work day based on an email from the previous week that the A/C had been fixed but might not be totally set, and it was suggested to work remotely to be sure. The car was moved to a different spot in the driveway to check if it leaked overnight. It hadn’t.

At 12:30, with no call yet from dealership service, I called them. Joe in service told me that the earliest date they could look at the car was September 8. Three weeks felt like an excessive time to be worrying about a possible leak. I called the service garage two streets away from the house, and they could look at it Wednesday morning. Local for the win! At 2:30, a call finally came from the dealership service ticket opened online. I told her what Joe said hours earlier and that I was all set.  

Tuesday was a regular remote day. The car was relocated in the driveway to check for a leak. There was none.

Wednesday morning, the car was taken to the garage, located two streets away. There was bonus exercise with the walk back, a brief 0.3 miles. At 1:30, the call came from the garage that the car was all set and a second walk was taken to retrieve it. No leaks were found, the oil was full, but the oil filter was loose. And now it’s fixed, and worked out in the best way possible.

Decadent. Delicious.

After being at the house for most of vaca/staycation week, I was surprised to be feeling antsy to be in the office. During my online attendance of our weekly team meeting, I learned there were treats today to recognize birthdays and an intern finishing up her rotation. There were gigantic cookies from Crumbl Cookies in flavors like red velvet and strawberry and cinnamon frybread. There was also a decadent homebaked brownie treat layered with marshmallow and topped with chocolate. That was added incentive to  bolt for the office  as soon as I was in the car.

After work, the lawn was mowed. The weeds out front had gotten shaggy, but the back yard wasn’t too bad. The whole mowing operation took barely 30 minutes. Between the two little walking adventures and the mowing, the day was more active than most. I probably burned off one bite of the massive and delicious cookie and the homemade amazing treat. 

Overall, with an easy car fix that was also easy on the wallet, office time with colleagues, and amazing yummies, it was a pretty good day. A real treat.