Today with Patty

Today With Patty: Competition, Coffee And Cars

by Patty

I am still recovering from my trip to Phoenix and I am heading out tomorrow to Orlando. There is no rest for me. I went to the WorldQuest for Business last night, where I competed with three of my fellow Women President’s Organization members to compete for the top prize for the most knowledge about world affairs. We sucked.

The only bright spot was that we kicked VisionPoint’s arse. They brought ringers – the two brilliant David’s – both of whom are amazingly bright and knowledgeable but we still managed to squeak past them by one point. Age and deviousness will always out beauty and youth. The folks at VisionPoint are trying to float that the score was wrong but I’m not buying it.

The Downside of Multitasking

I did not blog yesterday because I was too stressed out about what had happened to my car. I was rushing out of the house because I was late and I had a mondo gigantic cup of coffee that did not fit in my coffee holder. “No problem”, I say, “I can certainly hold onto it”. So, I am driving down my street trying to dial my phone, hold the coffee and drive with my feet when I spill the coffee into the center console of my car. I flipped. Why, you ask? It is because all of the electronics for the car are on that center console – the gear stick, the windows, the mirrors, the trunk, the hood, everything.

So, the cup of coffee spills and it does not pool up, it is immediately sucked into the console like some science fiction movie. I try to stop the car so I could back up and the gear shift will not go into reverse. This is not looking so good. I manage to turn around in the middle of the street without backing up, drive it back home and get it partway into the garage and it dies. I still cannot get it into park and I cannot get the key out because it is still in drive. The windows do not work and several buttons are now flashing red. Not a good sign.

I really enjoyed making the telephone call to my husband, John, to explain what happened. I finally left it and took the Sebring for the rest of the day. I keep saying I am going to sell that car, but it sure has come in handy in emergencies, for visitors and the office. My husband came home and somehow got it started and then let it run for three or four hours with the heat on full blast. This must have done the trick, as it sort of dried the console out and the car is working, although the gear shift is still a little sluggish. That might have been because I spilled decaf rather than regular coffee.

I will keep you posted.

Permalink |  Save on del.ico.us

Commenting is closed for this article.