Busy day it was. Only now, at 5 in the afternoon (or evening, or whatever your religious beliefs tell you to call it), is it slowing down. I’ve wrapped up pretty much all the big stuff on my plate today, and let me tell you…after all I’ve done, I am not going to start another big project now, at the end of the day. Instead I think I’m going to write some kind of long-overdue update on this site, then boogie on outta here!

Big news of the moment: The Detroit Pistons, NBA champions! It’s been 14 years since that happened, which was back during the Bad Boys era of 1989-1990. During those years, my dad and I went to a lot of Pistons games at the Palace, and it was kinda cool because the Pistons would win almost every single game we went to—and it seemed like whenever we caught the score of a game in progress that we weren’t attending, the Pistons were losing. We considered our presence to be good luck to the team! Well, those days may be gone, but I had an eerie sense of that same charm coming back as I watched all of the games in the NBA Finals this year. It was like the Pistons couldn’t lose as long as I was tuned in. I even predicted the Pistons would win in 5 back when people were still giving the trophy to the Lakers, and sure enough, it was Pistons in 5. (Unfortunate that I didn’t put money on it, heh heh.)

So, now that the NBA Finals are over at Detroit is basking in it (and not burning the city down; take that Mr. Jimmy Smartass Kimmel), I no longer feel compelled to sit in front of the TV for several hours three times a week. Instead I will probably go back to Wolfy levels, assuming I can come up with anything good. The last couple of times I sat down at the map editor, I wasn’t able to design anything worth playing. I may also go back to some creative writing.

Tomorrow morning, it’ll be time to get up at 6:30 a.m. again and drag on down to the Pontiac dealer. Again. The warranty on the Trans Am is gone forever on Saturday the 26th, and of course, the car has thrown another malfunction to test my patience as the coverage is set to expire. My fuel gauge has rendered itself essentially useless by never reading the same value twice. You turn the key to “Run” (but don’t start the engine), and your eyes are dazzled by the needle on the gas gauge scissoring back and forth, jerkily, like some neurotic duck that can’t remember which way the water is.

Eventually it will settle down somewhere within a quarter tank of where it read last time, so then you’ll start the engine and drive. As you drive, the gauge will move upwards imperceptibly, until by the time you arrive at your destination, it appears that you have a quarter tank MORE fuel than you had when you left. The starting point and ending point of the gauge’s little journey is always different every time. And yes, it always does this, each time you get behind the wheel.

So, unlike the “mystery noise” from the car’s tail end which will never get solved, I figured that now I finally had something tangible that I could take to the dealer and have them fix. I mean, it’s impossible to miss this—even the service advisor saw the gauge kicking around with his own two eyes when I took the car in last Monday. But when the technician got a scan tool on it, what did he find? That the computer and the gauge were both reading the same level—73% full—and that therefore, there appeared to be no problem that they could diagnose. They advised me to come pick up the car. Drive it around, they said. See if I can figure out a guaranteed way to reproduce the problem.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!

As I drove around yesterday, watching the gauge go trippy as usual, I wondered why these dealers are always putting the burden of proof on the customer when an issue arises. Why do I have to prove that something is wrong? Why don’t they take the car and fuck with it until they can prove it to themselves, or prove me wrong? Why do I have to waste my life babying this car, watching it like a hawk until it screws up and then rushing it over to the dealer that very instant?

Not only that, the fact that the tech saw matching readings on the gauge and on his scan tool means nothing. What if the sending unit in the tank is bad? The computer gets its numbers from the sending unit, same as the gauge does. Obviously, if the sender is borked, then those numbers are still going to match—they just won’t be accurate. That’s what I believe is going on anyway. And if that’s the case, what kind of supposedly qualified tech would take ONE reading and say it’s fine? A fucking moron of a tech, that’s what kind!

So I called the dealer back today, told them what was going on with the gauge and said I was bring it to them again tomorrow. At which point I said they may have to drive it, idle it, leave it in the sun, whatever—but they can’t just look at it once and proclaim nothing is wrong. They need to observe trends, test it several times, drive it with a scan tool attached, whatever. If they check it and it reads 73%, then they check it again five minutes later and it shows like 85% (which would be in line with what I’m witnessing), then something is obviously wrong! I flat-out told them to keep the car for a few days if that’s what it takes, but there IS a problem with the gauge and I want it corrected.

All of this has renewed my interest in the new Mustang, the news surrounding which I got caught up on in the last couple of days. Ford’s taking orders for the 2005 now, and I’ve seen the complete options list. I also hear from one of the chief Ford engineers on the S195 platform that the first “special edition” variant Mustang will be unveiled next spring. This gets me excited, because 2006 looks like the year in which I’ll be buying one of these things (which, at that point, will either be a MY2006 on closeout, or an advance order for an MY2007). Which year I pick will depend on what’s available—for instance, if there’s a hot new Boss or Shelby variant within my budget coming out in 2007, I’ll wait for it. I also hear that some studio is talking about filming a modern-day sequel to Bullitt, and if that happens, there will probably be another special edition Bullitt Mustang.

Anyway, it’s 5:30, which means it’s time for me to pack up and leave. See you guys later.

Oh, yeah: DEEEEE-TROIIIIIT BASKET-BAAAAALLLLL! Heh heh.