Money Out, and More Money Out.

With an appointment for scheduled maintenance on the car for today I took the entire day off. Figuring it would be wise to get it out of the way before the tourist season begins. Since it's a rather long drive - more than I usually drive, anyway - so I loaded the CD changer and hit the road. The appointment was at 8 am, and the dealership is about 30 miles away, so I relaxed setting the cruise control and listening to a few discs on the way.

The maintenance took an hour longer than usual, because they needed to do an alignment as the tires were beginning to 'feather' on the outer edges. Otherwise the tires, and everything else is in perfect condition. The alignment bumped up the charges to over $300.00 but I figured with all the road work and other obstructions experienced over the past 2 years, it was worth it. This was the 15K mile assessment - checking wear on everything, including the health of all fluids; tire wear, etc. - and the vehicle passed with flying colours.

So with a slight whimper, I paid the bill and headed back to the beach to run a few errands, then back to the apartment for some rest.

All that changed about 10 miles down the road when the CD player, attempting to change from disc 5 to disc 6, stopped completely and reverted to the radio. Puzzled, I hit the CD play button again to be greeted with an "error 3" message and immediately pulled off the road to investigate. Scanning the owners manual I discovered that error 3 meant that there was an internal mechanical problem which also meant that the discs could not be ejected from the changer. Great! Just GREAT!!!

Getting back to town I drove to the dealership of the friend who sold me the car. He came out and tried to figure out what, if anything, he could decipher.

Verdict: a visit to an Auto Audio guru he knows, and off I went. Said guru assessed the situation and said that he was surprised that the unit lasted as long as it had. Options were, 1.) remove the unit and send to a licensed Toyota repair specialist, which would take 2 weeks for an evaluation and disc removal with the clock ticking at $300.00 or, 2.) replace the unit with a new single disc player, but with iPod and USB ports which he could install for about $200.00. I chose the latter. It took about an hour after I chose the right unit for my simple needs and I was on my way again with new and better sound.

I skipped the errands and drove directly to the apartment; reevaluated these decisions (second guess myself) and had some lunch. By this time is was after 2 pm and I had only toast before setting out this morning. I didn't hyperventilate, but had serious concerns about having done the right thing. I did. No doubt about it. Music is a important part of my life and I couldn't bear listening to the jabber and BS on commercial music stations.

Having spent a little over $500.00 of someone else's money I will be spending my days off in relative seclusion for the next 2 or 3 months, which is fine because the tourist season begins in May and I will (hopefully) be working my butt off all summer. Please, G*d!

More later.
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