Velma the Volvo:

So last night I had real car problems. Right after I dropped A-- off at the Metro, I tried to make a left turn, and the power steering had died. Like, I was using all the swimming muscles that I had to make the car turn. I drove up until I could get to a good place and pulled off. Talked to my mom and my dad, and my dad said I probably wouldn't mess up the car driving it any more so I decided to try to make it home.

I took the Beltway (apparently manual steering is better at higher speeds), and as I got to Georgia Ave, I noticed that the engine temp gauge was really high. I pulled off again, and this time call edAAA. Of course it's going to be two hours, but I'm priority since I was sitting on the Beltway. I called D-- and my mother. Some nice couple stops, but they can't really help me (did I mention it's about 11 pm by now, so it's dark. I did pop the hood and could see a broken belt dangling below the engine). My awesome roommate D-- called back and told me I couldn't sit out there by myself, so she came out to sit with me. Another car has broken down on the left shoulder about 100 yards back and two state troopers moved him to the right, put some flares behind him, and didn't bother to stop and ask if I'm OK. D-- got there about midnight, not long after AAA called to tell me 10-15 minutes.

About 25 minuts later, the tow truck driver showed up, hooked up the car and took it to the Savco in Laurel. He was awesome, he told me he could tow the car to Alaska if I wanted and told us not to drive slow on his account (we were leading in D--'s car). He also admired D--'s toes. We got the 15 miles to Laurel for free since she had a plus member card. I should find out how much more that is, it might be worth it. Got home about 1:15.

This morning I discovered that three belts failed, including the power steering belt, because the crank pulley was broken. The crank pulley is a dealer part, so it cost about $250. The whole thing was $450, but they did give me a free oil change, which was very nice. It is fixed now, and this *might* fix the AC (one of the broken belts was the AC belt).

I'm also suffering from the cold of death (maybe it's even the flu, since I think I have a fever, but it didn't come on like the flu and it's early in the year) so I skipped work without feeling guilty at all. Sleeping a lot tonight!!