Spring finally arrives… and so does Game of Thrones

Well, the weather has finally warmed up enough that I can reasonably wear shorts outside.  Most of the snow piles have disappeared.  This nasty winter seems to have claimed what I hope is its last casualty: my truck.

The return of spring means the return of street cleaning, and so now that the massive snowpile covering the Ranger finally melted away, I was able to get into the truck and see how it did over the winter.

Apparently not so great.

The battery is not so old, and yet the truck would not start.  So I brought out my portable power station/battery jumper and tried that.  Still it wouldn’t start.  So I plugged in the charger to an AC outlet (luckily one of my neighbors was kind enough to let me use his outdoor outlet since we don’t have one) to give the jump a little more juice, and still nothing.  So I brought over the rental car (the Mini is STILL in the shop) and jumped the truck.  It finally started.  I let it run a while and then moved the rental down he street to a metered spot where it would not be ticketed or towed.  Then I went back to the truck.  I drove it down the street (all this had taken about an hour) and prepared to head down to an area that I knew was not being cleaned this week.  And the truck suddenly died.

Of course, it would not restart, and a line of cars began to form behind me.  I jumped out and started to push it out of the way.  A pair of passersby jumped in to help me and I steered the truck around the corner to Cambridge Street, where it was no longer in the way but was on the side of the street waiting to be cleaned by the sweeper.  And then I brought the rental back (it was close by) and tried to jump it off again.  Of course, now it would not start, even with the jump.  So a couple of the DPW guys came over to try to help.  They couldn’t reach the solenoid, which is in a difficult-to-reach spot on the Ranger, and so there was nothing to be done but tow it.  So they brought over one of the tow trucks usually used to tow cars to the impound lot, but the driver towed me instead to our garage, Advanced, near the corner of Hampshire and Broadway.  That has been our garage since I moved to Cambridge in 2008.

So they took a look at it, and they determined that the electric work alone was going to run about $250, and the truck was not going to pass inspection without some major work.  So I had a decision to make, and I made it.  It was time to let the Ranger head off to the junkyard in the sky.  Yes, after some 18 years and 165,000 miles, the Ranger had finally given up the ghost, more or less.

Honestly, I am going to miss it.

I had to decide what to do with it, when one of the mechanics offered to buy it.  He has a Ranger too, and since they aren’t made anymore, he wanted to use mine for parts to keep his going.  So he made me an offer and I sold it to him.  It wasn’t much, but I guess it is better than nothing.

So anyway, in other news, tonight is the Season Five premier of Game of Thrones.  Something we have really looked forward to coming, yet another sign of spring.  And this season is going to be interesting, especially since the show is now starting to deviate from the books even more, and so I am curious as to what twists the story will take.  I can’t imagine that the show is going to deviate so far from the books that the ending of the story will change or anything like that, but it will be interesting to see the different paths that will be taken to reach that ending.  Two very different journeys.

And as an appetizer, please enjoy this fantastic skit from SNL last night, which imagines an area in ASOIAF that we have not yet seen: South Centros.  And catch the great cameo from one of the actual GoT stars!

Enjoy!

-Geoff