My Latest Automotive Adventure

Damn it. I've always laughed at people who've managed to lock their keys in their car (especially with the car running), so I want to state, just for the record, that when it finally happened to me, it was not my fault.

I don't remember what the last thing I said about the state of my car here was... I think I mentioned that I took it up to the body shop in Albuquerque, that they kept it for an annoyingly long time, put a new door on it, spiffed it up all nice and shiny, and gave it back to me.

Well, a few days later, I was trying to unlock the door, something went click!, and the lock just... broke. I could turn the key, but nothing would happen. So I called the body shop again. They said this was a minor thing, easily fixed, and that, rather than make the trip up there I could get my local mechanic to fix it and they'd pay for it. So I did. The local mechanic said, yep, it was an easy thing, fixed it pretty quick, and charged me $50 for labor, which I figured I could get back from the body shop later.

The mechanic did say he thought I should probably take it back up sometime to have the door "adjusted," whatever that means. I had noticed that sometimes when I shut it, it wouldn't latch properly and I'd have to give it a bump. I also noticed that, post-fixing-by-local-mechanic, the key didn't turn nearly as easily or the lock button pop up nearly as high, but I didn't think too much of it.

Then, this morning, I got off of work and noticed that, since it was a cold, foggy morning, my car was all covered in frosty moisture. So I unlocked the car, turned it on, put the heater on to defrost the windshield, got out, closed the door, and proceeded to wipe off the other windows. Then I went to open the door... and couldn't. Aaargh.

I will say, however, that this little incident did lead to me making the interesting and rather surprising discovery that the organization I work for keeps an official set of car-thief tools on premises.

So, yes, I did get back into the vehicle, after about half an hour. Fortunately, it had two-thirds of a tank of gas. But now I really, really need to get in touch with the damned body shop. Because I'm taking it back up there, and they're fixing it, damn it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to call them since I had it worked on, as I've been asleep during all the hours they're open for the last couple of weeks.

Damned cars. It's always bloody something.