06 September 2015
Island Life 6 September 2015
06/09/15 15:43
You see, we had planned this weekend for at least a month. Marsha flew back to Minnesota, she’ll be gone until the 15th. But she flew out on Saturday. Because it was the Labour Day weekend we planned a short vacation. On Thursday she took the 10:30 ferry over to the mainland and drove down to Bellingham. As I could only take Friday off, after work on Thursday I took the ferry over and drove down to meet her. At least that was the plan.
And really, everything was going perfectly. Work went fine. I was even able to get out a few minutes early and made the line up for the 5:45 ferry, which I wasn’t sure I could. So far so good. So I parked the car in row eighteen, along with a bunch of other cars and waited. It was raining so I didn’t even bother to get out. I just turned off the car, pulled out the iPad and read for half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. Then they announced that drivers should return to their cars as it was almost time to board. I put away the iPad and got ready to go. And that’s when I discovered my mistake. Remember I said that it was raining? Actually we’ve been getting as lot of very welcome rain this week. As I drove out to the Duke Point Ferry terminal it was absolutely pouring, and that was the start of the problem. When I parked, I forgot to turn the headlights off. When I hit START, I got a few flickering lights on the dash and nothing else. The screen wouldn’t wake, none of the computers would boot, and most importantly the engine wouldn’t start. The battery was dead and I was immobilized.
So I hopped out, told the guy behind me he’d have to go around and watched sadly while everyone else in the lot boarded the ferry and sailed away. I was reminded of a thought from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You may have a motorcycle worth thousands of dollars, but if it’s not running and you can’t get one screw off to fix it, in reality the bike is worth no more than the cost of that twenty five cent screw. Its value is locked up behind that stuck screw. At that moment my Prius, one of the most complex and advance cars sold in the world, was worth exactly twelve cents, the cost of enough electricity to get it booted up and running. I picked up the phone and called Roadside Assistance.
The tow truck arrived about 45 minutes later. He jumped the car and got it started so I could drive home. Why didn’t I take the next ferry? Well Friday I took the car to Nanaimo Toyota to make sure that this wasn't a sign of something else wrong, and that the guy jumping the car hadn’t damaged anything in using his F-350 sized booster kit on my tiny Japanese car. Everything was fine, I had just run the battery down and even though it is a ten year old battery, they didn’t even see a need to replace it. They put it on the charger all day. I picked it up at 4:00 and they did it all for no cost. But I had blown the plan. The plan was for Marsha and I to spend Friday exploring downtown Seattle before she flew out on Saturday. By the time I had confirmation the car was OK, even if I’d grabbed the very next ferry, not that likely on the big weekend, I would have made it to the hotel in Seattle by about 7:00 that night. Then we’d have to be up at 5:00 the next morning so I could run Marsha to the airport. Hardly worth the trip.
Crud.
This little screw up did highlight something interesting though. Modern communication is amazing. While I had been sitting in the car, reading and playing video games, I had also been texting with Marsha the whole time. From the middle of a parking lot by the docks and her a couple hundred miles away we could chat as easily as if we were in the same room. When I discovered that I’d killed the car she knew immediately. I looked up the numbers I needed and called the tow truck from the stranded car. I was in communication with Marsha while I waited for the tow truck and when I finally got home we commiserated over a video call. The next day I kept her up to date with the condition of the car. At one point Marsha misplaced her phone and I was able to help her locate it, all from a couple hundred miles away in another country. While she’s on the road we’ll be able to keep in contact every day. All instantaneous, all at no cost.
It’s bloody well amazing.
I keep thinking back to just after we were married. Marsha had an opportunity to do some teaching, first in the Philippines and then in Korea. She was only gone a week or two each time but it seemed like forever. The trip was too short to send letters, and back then the cost of telephone calls around the world was prohibitively high. We were essentially out of touch for the whole period. Twenty five years later I know that Marsha had Froot Loops for breakfast and I sent her a picture of todays sunrise. All instantaneously. All at no cost.
I’m not sure people that grew up before the 90s and for certain this century, grasp what a huge change this is. When my dad went off to WWII his folks sold his stuff. They just assumed that they probably would not hear from him again even if he did survive. Now, people get nervous if they aren’t in contact daily, in some cases hourly. Even as recently as ten or twelve years ago, you took a list to the store and and picked up what was on the list. Last week I came across a guy in the salad dressing section taking a picture of the shelf and sending it to his wife so she could tell him exactly what one she wanted.
It’s an amazing change in consciousness.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Finally, some cool damp mornings on Vancouver Island.
And really, everything was going perfectly. Work went fine. I was even able to get out a few minutes early and made the line up for the 5:45 ferry, which I wasn’t sure I could. So far so good. So I parked the car in row eighteen, along with a bunch of other cars and waited. It was raining so I didn’t even bother to get out. I just turned off the car, pulled out the iPad and read for half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. Then they announced that drivers should return to their cars as it was almost time to board. I put away the iPad and got ready to go. And that’s when I discovered my mistake. Remember I said that it was raining? Actually we’ve been getting as lot of very welcome rain this week. As I drove out to the Duke Point Ferry terminal it was absolutely pouring, and that was the start of the problem. When I parked, I forgot to turn the headlights off. When I hit START, I got a few flickering lights on the dash and nothing else. The screen wouldn’t wake, none of the computers would boot, and most importantly the engine wouldn’t start. The battery was dead and I was immobilized.
So I hopped out, told the guy behind me he’d have to go around and watched sadly while everyone else in the lot boarded the ferry and sailed away. I was reminded of a thought from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You may have a motorcycle worth thousands of dollars, but if it’s not running and you can’t get one screw off to fix it, in reality the bike is worth no more than the cost of that twenty five cent screw. Its value is locked up behind that stuck screw. At that moment my Prius, one of the most complex and advance cars sold in the world, was worth exactly twelve cents, the cost of enough electricity to get it booted up and running. I picked up the phone and called Roadside Assistance.
The tow truck arrived about 45 minutes later. He jumped the car and got it started so I could drive home. Why didn’t I take the next ferry? Well Friday I took the car to Nanaimo Toyota to make sure that this wasn't a sign of something else wrong, and that the guy jumping the car hadn’t damaged anything in using his F-350 sized booster kit on my tiny Japanese car. Everything was fine, I had just run the battery down and even though it is a ten year old battery, they didn’t even see a need to replace it. They put it on the charger all day. I picked it up at 4:00 and they did it all for no cost. But I had blown the plan. The plan was for Marsha and I to spend Friday exploring downtown Seattle before she flew out on Saturday. By the time I had confirmation the car was OK, even if I’d grabbed the very next ferry, not that likely on the big weekend, I would have made it to the hotel in Seattle by about 7:00 that night. Then we’d have to be up at 5:00 the next morning so I could run Marsha to the airport. Hardly worth the trip.
Crud.
This little screw up did highlight something interesting though. Modern communication is amazing. While I had been sitting in the car, reading and playing video games, I had also been texting with Marsha the whole time. From the middle of a parking lot by the docks and her a couple hundred miles away we could chat as easily as if we were in the same room. When I discovered that I’d killed the car she knew immediately. I looked up the numbers I needed and called the tow truck from the stranded car. I was in communication with Marsha while I waited for the tow truck and when I finally got home we commiserated over a video call. The next day I kept her up to date with the condition of the car. At one point Marsha misplaced her phone and I was able to help her locate it, all from a couple hundred miles away in another country. While she’s on the road we’ll be able to keep in contact every day. All instantaneous, all at no cost.
It’s bloody well amazing.
I keep thinking back to just after we were married. Marsha had an opportunity to do some teaching, first in the Philippines and then in Korea. She was only gone a week or two each time but it seemed like forever. The trip was too short to send letters, and back then the cost of telephone calls around the world was prohibitively high. We were essentially out of touch for the whole period. Twenty five years later I know that Marsha had Froot Loops for breakfast and I sent her a picture of todays sunrise. All instantaneously. All at no cost.
I’m not sure people that grew up before the 90s and for certain this century, grasp what a huge change this is. When my dad went off to WWII his folks sold his stuff. They just assumed that they probably would not hear from him again even if he did survive. Now, people get nervous if they aren’t in contact daily, in some cases hourly. Even as recently as ten or twelve years ago, you took a list to the store and and picked up what was on the list. Last week I came across a guy in the salad dressing section taking a picture of the shelf and sending it to his wife so she could tell him exactly what one she wanted.
It’s an amazing change in consciousness.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Finally, some cool damp mornings on Vancouver Island.