A cold hotdog at 1:00 a.m.

I'm eating a cold hotdog. It's one o'clock in the morning. The hotdog was truly hot seven hours ago... .

Yesterday--technically now two days ago--on my way to work, the oil light came on in the van. Not being the best around mechanical issues, I simply stopped at a gas station and put in two quarts of oil. The light did not turn off, and the "check engine soon" light came on. I drove the last mile to work, figuring I could get it checked out, if necessary, at the end of my workday.

When I left work I had to go to the bank, and then, since I had not eaten lunch yet, I bought a burger and small drink from the BK drive-thru. By that time, the "click-click-click-click-click" of the engine told me something was wrong. I headed for my regular garage. The owner, Tom, was in the parking lot when I arrived. "Somethin's not right!" he helpfully commented. "That just ain't right."
No kidding.

I understood the problem when it was explained to me, but I wouldn't be able to repeat it here intelligently. The bottom line is that the van needs a new engine, and I don't want to spend three grand on a twelve-year old car when I've got friends who could probably find me a decent beater for that price that'd get better gas mileage till I can afford something more permanent. Anyway, Tom graciously gave me (and all the camping stuff still in the van from two weeks ago) a ride home, offering suggestions (drive it home and sell it for as much as someone'll give you for a car that needs a new motor; wait and see what the next few weeks bring in your job search--you can park the van at the garage for up to a month). He also offered a name and number of someone that might be able to employ me. I've known Tom a long time, and I really appreciate him.

As a result of having just one car now, I took the wife's car to work this morning. Then I drove home at 11:30 to take elder son to school. I spent the afternoon sitting in the nearby Tim Horton's, eating a sandwich and some sweets and drinking a huge iced coffee while using the free WiFi to do work for the school and for my grad school assignments. Then I picked up said son and went to Bangor to run a couple of errands, one for the school and one to clean the rest of anything I really wanted or could use out of the van. The garage will park it in a less conspicuous place while I decide what to do with it. C and I were both pretty weary upon arrival home. He played a while, then he woke up his brother and mother from their afternoon naps.

Lacking his own afternoon nap, and having had a very full day that included playing with friends in the morning, he got pretty cranky and ornery and ended up sitting in the rocking chair in his room with me. I talked quietly with him and prayed with him. He fell asleep. I tried to wake him when the hotdogs were grilled, but he would have none of it. Now it's 1:00 a.m. and his hotdog was sitting on a paper plate in the kitchen, begging to be eaten. So I ate it. It was cold. Waste not, want not.