Posted by Fat Boy on July 05, 01 at 13:36:36:
In Reply to: OT - Tools or AAA posted by peter on July 05, 01 at 11:26:03:
: Reading about those that carry tools and those that carry AAA cards, reminded me that when I was dating, i always checked for "quarters or cables". That is, if my date's car ever broke broke down, did she have jumper cables ready or did she run to the nearest phone. I ended up marrying "quarters" even though I was cables. Now we are both quarters.
I hear ya... I'm a cable married to a quarter myself... Even worse, she's a thumb-it-to-the-phone kinda gal. If she broke down, I think she'd sit on the side of the road for quite a few hours hoping a cop or good samaritan would stop before she actually high-tailed it to a phone. Luckily, she has a cell-phone, and it's come in handy a couple of times (how do you run out of gas three blocks from your house?).
the cable-guy in me though has recently reaped much good karma! Yesterday afternoon as we were making the THIRD trip for things that go BOOM, I happened across a younger kid in a '94 Z71 that couldn't get his truck started in the parking lot of the fireworks stand. I spent about a half hour troubleshooting his problem (couldn't jump him, even with 1950 cranking amps!). Wasn't acid in the wires, wasn't corrosion on the connectors, wiring to the solenoid checked out ok, lights and radio worked fine, but the engine just wouldn't crank.
Finally I swapped one of my Optimas into his truck and it cranked right over. Short in the battery! I swapped back in his battery while he was running, and told him to get to Autozone immediately and get a new battery in there before the alternator blows trying to charge it. In hindsight, I should've left his battery disconnected and wrapped the ends, letting him drive on the alternator, but I didn't want the cables bouncing around in the engine compartment.
Anyway, to make a long story, well... longer, apparently the owner of the fireworks stand saw me doing all this, and when I finally got in there to get some more boom-booms, he started filling my basket with all sorts of really cool stuff! In the end, I walked out with $200 worth of fireworks for $75!
Fat Boy