Guess I’ve been a bit lax in updating this thing for the past few days… So, here’s a quick flash-backward for you:
Friday night Corinna and Matt came over, and we headed out to Bartley’s for some meaty goodness (since Matt hasn’t been in Boston in awhile, and hasn’t been to Bartley’s for an even longer period). On the way back Corinna asked “I feel like having a drink, if I get something to drink would you guys be interested?”, so we stopped at the liquor store and stocked up. When we got back to the apartment we apparently decided to turn “a few drinks” into a game of Drinking Trivial Pursuit ™. Rory and Matt suck at trivia games, so Corinna and I were playing the Drinking rules and the boys were a team and were not playing the drinking rules… Needless to say, with this handicap the boys trounced us and Corinna and I were completely shitfaced by the end of the game. Since nobody was in any shape to drive and it was getting late, I took the couch and Corinna took the bed (what a gentleman, eh?)
Corinna and I were in pretty rough shape Saturday so it took awhile to get going. I dropped her off in the early afternoon and came back, turned right around and headed out to Chinatown with Matt. He was on a mission to go to the restaurant supply store for a mortar/pestle, and I was just tagging along. It was pouring, however, so we got completely soaked (especially since we got a little lost walking around downtown). When Matt and I got back to the apartment we once again got in the family truckster and headed out to Jamba Juice (Coldbuster for me, Peach whatever for Matt). We grabbed dinner at The Ground Round over there, and we both got French Dip and their cinnamon pot sticker dessert thingy. I was still in extraordinarily rough shape Saturday evening so we just hung out and watched the Tyson fight in the apartment.
Matt was moving out today, but I knew he was going to have a bad day when he woke me up with the question “Sean, do you know anything about cars?” I put on my jacket and headed outside to give his car a look (in my jammies, no less). His car was turning over but wasn’t catching, and my first suspicion was the cap, rotor, or wires since it was so damp out. I pried off his distributor and dried the cap and rotor, but no joy. Ended up giving up and he had AAA tow it to the service station down the road (which was closed today). He got back and we watched some Good Eats and I went to meet up with the SNFC to see Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time, which I expected to be boring as hell but was actually really entertaining. Apparently everyone else in the club had the same impression, though, because only 3 other club people showed. After the movie we ate at Atasca, which was amazing.
When I returned Matt said he was going to give his car one last chance before going to bed. We walked over to the service station, popped the hood and turned the key. I noticed that the main ignition wire was sparking where it met the coil, so I told him to stop turning it over. I popped the cable and reseated it, and gave it a squirt with some of that “dry your wires” spray he had purchased earlier in the day. After some cranking (he had somewhat flooded the engine) the engine caught and the car started. We dropped the hood and I had him drive around for 20 minutes to dry the engine off and recharge the battery he had brutalized by cranking the thing all day. Thanks for making me a hack mechanic, Car Talk.
That’s about it.. One final plea: Support Salon.com.