Radio Free Akron: Pedro Lives!

Yes, Pedro has rejoined the living.

What had happened? His clutch was dead. We took him to Earl's to get him estimated, and it was going to run $500 which is A LOT of money... money that we didn't have. So, we bought a clutch and I went up to Portland the past three days and borrowed the expertise and labor of my Uncle Joe. It was REALLY hot, but an enjoyable experience. To fix the clutch in a bug requires a pulling of the engine. That, my friends, is a major pain in the ass that I can say that I've now experienced. We pulled the engine, which took most of Monday morning. That really hot Monday, with a heat index of 117.8 in an unairconditioned shop. Tuesday was the reinstallation of the engine and the realization that we weren't going to get it to start that day. Tuesday was also hot, 107 heat index and the fan in the shop window broke. Funny thing is, I'm not making that up. After Tuesday, Joe and I were both pretty discouraged because we thought we had hooked everything up correctly and the engine still didn't fire. However, my cousin Jerry, who had worked on Volvos for like 10 years, came in, recognized the Bosch engine coil and noticed what we had done wrong. Switched two wires and it fired right up. After that, we did some minor 'cleaning up' like adjusting the throttle, tightening the connections, fitting the heat exchanger and changing the oil.

But, after three days it's done. And working. And at home. All we need to do now is put the seat back, fix the sunroof, and fix the defroster blower. And the backup lights... nothing major, mind you. But it runs and is mechanically sound now, which is good. I'm still considering going back tomorrow to work on putting the seat back. It would be nice to get that done... so that I could actually drive it! Amy LOVES that car, though, so if it's not done, no biggie.

The Mac came back. I'm using it right now. Convenience of a laptop again, finally.

Apparently Jon and Kris had a baby! I read it on the Retreads forum, which is a sucky way to find out, but I hadn't heard from Jon in ages. People get old and grow up, I guess. (shrug) I wrote Mike for his phone number, so hopefully I'll be able to call him tonight or something. I'm terrible about calling people, even still. I hate calling. I can't do it without freaking out. I don't know exactly where my phobia came from, but it sucks. I need pills to fix it. If I could call, maybe I'd hear from Jon more. Shitty time to call, though... "Congrats on the baby... we're moving on Friday!" (shrug)

Pedro is fixed, Jon's a daddy and we're still working on moving to Akron. It's crazy.

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