gravy suckin' pigs.

Profile of today's car: Chevy Venture. 2002. Gold, just like in the picture. Got about 160,000 miles on it. As soon as you open the door it becomes evident that the owner is a smoker. A major smoker. The smell wafts over you like a brick wall. You think: does this person ever open the window when they smoke?!? There are ashes all over the place. On the seats, the floor, the dash. I'm sure if a rag was taken to the windshield a nicotine film would be evident. To add to the misery, the car is primarily used as dog transport. Upon looking (not rummaging) we found three trash bags filled with god knows what, three empty bottles of power steering fluid, a full bud light can, ashes and more ashes, and a lot of dog hair. When we came in this morning to start work on the car, we found a fairly big puddle of power steering fluid under the car. Did I mention that when stephanie drove the car in the power steering sounded like a dying cat? Check engine light is on. Brake pedal is soft. Customer complaint is a grinding noise when they hit the brakes. Boy oh boy. gonna be a good one.

Did i ever mention the car i got in when working at the major tire shop that had a barbie straddling the shifter? Well, it was awesome. People do awesome things in their cars.

This car is just straight nasty and neglected. Let me count the ways. 1. Bad wheel bearings. Give the tire a little wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. It's not supposed to do that. It could equal a wheel coming off the vehicle. seriously dangerous. 2. Are those metal spikes coming out of the side of that tire? Yep. Sure is. equals = potential for a blowout. 3. We took off the tires and went to remove the brake pads. Oh, the grinding you are having? Comes from the fact that you DON'T HAVE ANY BRAKE PADS LEFT!!!! We found one brake pad on the right front side where there should be two. In the missing one's place was a strip of metal that looking like a crushed aluminum can. It used to be the shim for the brake pad. The grinding? The piston on the caliper pushing against the rotor. (This is what is should look like. Notice TWO brake pads.) It's not built to stop the car that way.

I suppose that mechanics see stuff like that on a regular basis. The crazy thing is that a mechanic can't keep the car off the road. Our teacher said that the brake job we are doing on the car would probably cost the customer around $1500. (People get the luxury of getting the work done for free by students when they bring it in to Portland Community College.) Granted, mechanics can make a lot of money off brake work, but they can't make the customer buy the brake job. Brakes are a serious thing. It may seem like as assload of money, but imagine the consequences of not being able to stop a 1 ton automobile when headed for the crosswalk. Or with kids in the back. Or having a wheel come off while you are driving down the interstate, sending a 50lb wheel bouncing towards oncoming traffic. Not to lecture people, but come on. Have your car inspected every once in awhile. Hearing grinding? Bad, bad, bad. In the automotive world brake jobs are seen as gravy work because its necessary and once you get it down, you can do it faster each time. This is where gravy suckin' pigs comes from. Our teacher called stephanie and i that today. Sucking it down because we keep getting the easy jobs. Kinda cool. The scary part would be seeing something that bad and not having the customer buy the brake job. I'm sure my day will come.

Then there is my new-old car. My subaru wagon is stuck in a weird political limbo that I didn't know existed. The transmission class says it's not the axle that's bad but the wheel bearing (my class's domain). My teacher says it's not the wheel bearing but the CV joint (transmission's domain). So, this calls for a confrontation. Who is right? Who will fix it? Right now it is sitting on jack stands in the shop quietly waiting a decision. Who knew that even cars could be caught up in office politics.

Observation: The boys in class are moody. They have bad days and it's apparent to everyone around them. But the refuse to talk about it. Instead they sulk. There is absolutely no telling when a bad day is going to hit. No cycle.

I have a huge interview coming up in about a week. The day has finally come when I'm interviewing for my ranking for the electrician's apprenticeship. I've been stressing about it for awhile and am really hoping it goes well. Mostly about the image i portray. I know that most people look at my experience and schooling and think: no way is she going to do manual labor and get dirty. The way I dress is important, what I say is important, the evidence of the work i'm doing now is important. Sweat beads are forming on my forehead just thinking about it. I'll keep you posted on the outcome....

g'night.