Bad news, good news

When I arrived at work in Richland this morning my computer had rebooted.  Bad news since I had a job running that takes about a week to complete with no ability to restart at an intermediate point.  It was a little over half done when the power went out for several hours.  Even if I had a cheap UPS on it I would have been screwed.

I took the van in to have some work done on it.  The brake fluid was low and I figured they needed new pads in front and lining in the rear-maybe the rotors needed to be turned too.  The throttle was sticking some and the temperature never went above 155F.  When I dropped it off they said approximately $250.  Not bad.

I got a call a little while ago.  Bad news.  In addition to the things I already knew about I have some leaky seals and hoses that need to be replaces, the transmission needs to be flushed, and the rear brake cylinders need to be replaced.  Total damage estimate is $2400.  Plus, they can’t get all the work done today and which means I can’t go home until tomorrow night instead of tonight as planned.

The good news is that when I called Barb to tell her the news she told me Hewlett Packard is taking James out for dinner tonight.  He’s interviewing for a summer intern job.  He has had a number of disappointments with rejections from Microsoft, Google, and others.  He is a junior with a 4.0 grade average in computer science and you would think he shouldn’t have a problem getting a good summer job–but things are a little bit tighter that expected.

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