Today started off like any other, went to work, got my paycheck and (Mistake #1) decided to drop it off at the bank on my lunch break. I deposit my check without any complications, and go back to my car, hop in, turn the key… nothing. Nada. Numpin. Seriously. SERIOUSLY?! Come on. I have 40 minutes to get home, get lunch and get back to work. I think, well, the battery has been a bit sketchy in the past few months, maybe it just needs a jump. I unsuccessfully try to find someone, anyone in the surrounding area that might be willing to help a girl out. Again, nothing, nada, numpin. And mind you, this is downtown, people, on the corner of 3rd and Main! So (mistake #2) I decide it would be a good idea to run home (yes, literally run) and grab the Taurus, drive that car downtown and see if I can’t get the Beamer started again. By this point, it is, naturally, pouring down rain. And I’m in slip-on Vans.

I make it home in record time (Oh, did I mention that I also received a package at work and didn’t want to leave it in the car, so I ran with that, too. Yep.) So I run upstairs to our apartment, grab the keys to the Taurus, run back to the car and scurry downtown as fast as I can. I find a parking spot (miraculously) right behind my car (Yeah, the Beamer’s battery is in the trunk… it’s a weird car.) I get the jumper cables out, get them hooked up, start the Taurus, let it soak up some good battery juices. I go back to start the Beamer, and again, nothing, nada, numpin. Repeat 3x-still nothing. Dead, dead, dead. I call AAA, they can’t be there for over an hour, and at this point I need to be back at work in like 15 minutes, and apparently they can’t come jump or tow your car unless you are present. Ughhh. This is in the downtown district, 3 hour parking, and I am afraid of getting a ticket. So I leave a scribbled note on the dash that says “I have a dead battery, someone is coming to pick me up, please don’t give me a ticket”

At this point I am angry, frustrated, wet and very hungry (This was my lunch break after all, and I haven’t gotten any lunch yet). So, then (mistake #3) I called Paul, and since he was in class went straight to voicemail, and I think I left a message that must have sounded something like this: “Paw, I, *sniff* canna get duh carra start anna gotta go backawork an *sniff* tribbleay cannuh come and caw me back when you getthis please *sniff*” So, I leave the car there and go back to work.

Paul checks my voicemail and calls me back, skips his next class, because I sounded like a ridiculous wreck, and he so kindly offers to call AAA, and go to the car and wait there until they come. But he decided to just take a stab at it and see if he can diagnose the problem with the car, so he gets in, turns the key…. starts right up. First try. What the heck! So Paul calls me at work to tell me this and I just about lost it, right there at my desk.And my pants and shoes were still soaked. But, we have a fireplace at work, and since we didn’t have clinic today I took off my shoes and socks and put them in front of the fireplace and let them dry out.

And that was the story of Alexandra and the terrible, horrible no good, very bad day.