11/25/2003
A while ago, I had posted about a dream I had, about a girl,.. now, some of you know who I was talking about, some dont,.. doesnt really matter, cause Ill tell you now, that I met her online many months ago, through the common interest we both had being Ford Taurus SHO owners. over the last half a year we have gotten rather close, and would speak daily online, through e-mail, or on the phone. but we never met, and always wanted to.. about a month ago I decided to plan a trip to go visit her and surprise her. this past saturday, I did just that. I knew where she lived, and worked, and my idea was to park outside her second job near her car so that she would see me when she came out to her car for break or to go home. I knew she was like me and that if she saw another SHO in the lot, that she would have to go inspect it or at the very least, say something about it.
So saturday I begin my journey to go meet one of the most perfect girls on the face of the planet. It took me about 3 Hours and 15 minutes to get to her area, but the streets right IN her area were so confusing that it took me almost 45 minutes to find the damn parking lot of the place she worked. Finally I saw the store, and drove to the other side of the block to find the entrance. I went in to the lot and saw an SHO which I was certain was hers. I parked and ran over and peeked inside, and saw the little gift I had sent her in the mail the week before, hanging from the mirror. I then moved spots a few times till I finally ended up parked right next to her car. 2 beautiful SHOs right next to each other. I shut mine off and sat. about 3 minutes go by and I see her walking towards me with her cousin. I knew it was her,.. I could just tell. I had no doubts. suddenly she starts hitting her cousin on the arm and saying "look look look look! sho! sho! next to my sho!" and then she saw that it wasnt empty, and she quickly covered her face and said "oh shit, theres someone in it" hehehe, I found this funny. I honestly thought she would see my custom license plates and know it was me right away, but no such luck.... so they get to her car, and I open my door. her cousin just says to me.. "Im sorry sir, shes just a little facinated by your car" and I just pick up the flower I brought her, and handed it to the cousin, and said "can you please give this to her?".. the 2 confused looks I got were priceless. she hands her the flower over the roof, and suddenly my friends jaw drops, and she points to me and says "THATS SHO FRIEND JIM!" she quickly walks over to the side of the car Im on and says "YOU..... GET OVER HERE!" lol. we just spent the next 8 hours hanging out, talking, and riding in each others SHOs, driving around, looking at other SHOs along the roads. it was a great time, shes a great person, and Im sho glad I met her online and now in person. she truely is one of the best people I know, and she was everything I knew she would be.
now while Im there, go figure, my battery light comes on. I check the voltage coming form the alternator, and its 12.1 Volts. when it was new, it was around 12.6, which is actually low. and the one before it, which had died only about 4 months ago, also was around 12.6, and that one only lasted 2 months. these things should actually put out around 14.5 all the time. now the first replacement, I had about 20 minutes run time, and it was completely dead.. no charge ability left at all. but I was only 20 mins from home, and with a few jump charges, and some rather creative driving, keeping the RPMs up, not stopping, etc.. I was able to get home... this one, which I was hoping would last a little longer out of the box than the first replacement,.. by the time I was ready to go home, was only charging at 11.8 Volts. the problem here was that I was 230 miles from home, and it was 3 in the morning. I decided to just take a chance and see how far I could nurse this thing home.. luckilly this one did a gradual die, rather than a full shit. I had pretty much no light form the headlights, after 20 mins I had no heat, the lights in the car on the dash and every other place were flashing like christmas bulbs cause all the stuff in the car kept trying to reinitialize. I was going about 90, 4:30AM, down 84, with no lights on, and I passed a cop.. he came out. I ducked off the road, didnt have to really try to hide, since I had no lights anyway, and sat a minute. I got back on the road, put my headlights on while I could, and eventually passed the cop, who by this time, had pulled someone else over instead. I couldnt see signs, I couldnt feel my toes, and I couldnt relax with the thought of not making it much farther. it was a very rough, nerve wracking drive, but I got home. the first sign on sunlight, around 6AM, I had the parking lights off too, trying to save as much as I could for the fuel pump and engine. got home around 6:30 or so, checked the alternator which at this piint was now only putting out 9.3 volts, went inside, called my SHO friend to tell her I made it, and I got under my blanket with Ariel, turned on my electric blanket to help me thaw out, and slept till 1:30 when my SHO friend called me back to tell me she got my message from earlier. I found a place that had an alternator in stock, my buddy who worked there got my a nice discount, and also gave me a free ford keychain that was "damaged" hehe, and in 30 mins of work, I had the new one in, and its charging at 14.6... thats much better, so hopefully this one lasts. Ive decided Im gonna get one off a parts car or something and keep it in the trunk with the tools needed to change it just incase this shit happens again. Im so good at taking the alts out of these cars now cause of the 3 times Ive changed it, plus you gotta remove it to do ANY other work anyway... I could fix myself on the side of the road in 45 minutes. This new one has a great warranty too.. as long as Im not the one smashing it with a hammer or something, they will replace it for free for the life of the car. so it could have been worse, at least I made it home, got a better part, and the car is running great. plus I can help my SHO friend fix some of her problems now too with all this experience Ive recently aquired (recently did rear struts, AC Compressor, O-Rings, and door locks,... will post about that fun another time). anyway, I met some great people, her firends are really nice, one of which, her best friend, who I only started talking to 2 weeks ago online, was the one trying to help me with the surprise to make sure she would be around when I got there. best part was, I was taking to my SHO Friend online a few minutes before I left to go see her. I said I had to go, and she asked where I was headed.. I was like... "Im going to go for a ride and bring some stuff to a friend", lol, which is what I did! I went for a 3 hour ride, and brought a flower and a couple other things to my friend! however, I was still called a liar when I got there. lol. but thats ok, it was worth it. so that was my SHO filled weekend.
11/20/2003
well how funnilly appropriate is that?
what number are you?
11/17/2003
If youre bored and you know it,
carve your arm!
