2001
| October 15, 2000 My son has been home from the hospital for two weeks after a three-month incarceration - they have another name for it - but he gets to go back - because they decided that the high-dosage stuff from one of the Leukemia research arms improves the chances of survival from 85% to somewhere in the 90's. Worth the risk. They have to take him back in because of the danger to the kidneys. He must be on intensive hydration for 48 hours to four days. He has a butterfly port (two-headed hydra) now. At this rate, he will have a lot of incompletes at Ohlone (he is in college). I now get him up early to go to work in the morning - where he has an office. I have a cubicle, he has an office. This thrills him. He rubs this in. He plays on my G3 laptop (Diablo II) so loudly that the director said he could hear it - and was jealous because he knew it was a game and knew he had a Mac. Synopsys went NT about two years ago - and regrets it. I regret it every time I wait 10 minutes for a shutdown or take 15 minutes to boot up the NT. I have double the RAM on this 400MHz time. Ha! Take a Mac any day. My 200MHz 3400 laptop beats it. The 300MHz G3 certainly does! While at work, I check on my son on and off until it is time for him to go to the Day Hospital. On days I teach we are trying a taxi - so I can stay with my students. I teach every other week - three 9-hour days in a row. He goes to the day hospital Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I teach Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I taught this week. Cross-eyed tired is a good description. Last week I tried to get the truck serviced - because it was time. I knew it was time because the blower motor failed - so I had no air-conditioner (and the temp hit 104) and no heater (and the temp dropped to the 40's) and no defroster (and I had frost on the windshield). This also means that it is time to start thinking about a new truck - because I now have three cars with 100,000+ miles on them. And one hasn't moved in years. (The 64 bug will be restored - except every time I have the money saved up, something comes up!) The van has no radio at the moment (probably a fuse since Toyota was "fixing" the windshield wipers). I had dropped the Truck off at the Toyota dealer on last Tuesday - and driven a Ford minivan loaner home that night. Neat van. I came back and picked up my truck the next morning (the part wasn't in yet) and was promised, PROMISED, that when the part came in I could come in and they would fix it in 1.5 hours, while I waited. The part arrived last Thursday AM but they were "too busy". So much for promises. I made an appointment for last Friday - 1:30, after I took the kid to the hospital for the 4-hour Ampho transfusion. I would have a short window since I was also checking on room set-up and labs for my class. I got to the garage on Friday, and stood around for 45 minutes and then was told it would be 2.5 hours. Not hardly! So I drove a disabled car for a week. Because on teaching days I have my hands full of the kid and the class. By Thursday on teaching weeks I am in a coma. So Thursday morning of this teaching week, tired of the run-around, I took my child, wheelchair and all, to Toyota - and I didn't even have to sign in! Probably something to do with my laying rubber in a temper tantrum all through their garage last week. I can squeal tires with the best of them. My son (in his rented wheelchair) and I went hunting Tacomas. We really had no choice with 1.5 hours to kill. We had actually intended doing that last week if time permitted but missed out. So now I rolled him merrily along. There is no disabled ramp into the waiting room. There is no disabled ramp into the sales room. There is no disabled ramp anywhere. We have become very conscious of these things. I park in disabled parking at work. We check out such parking elsewhere. Sometimes it makes no sense. Today we were observant. And while rolling his up a 45-degree incline, a salesman appeared instantly. I tried to let the guy down easy. I am not buying right this minute. My child, being in a wheelchair, is not capable of climbing into a truck and demanding that I "bring this home, Mommy" as he has done once or twice before, with the aid of his older brother. It's how I got the last Tercel station wagon. It's how I ended up with the van. Last time, I went truck shopping on my own. We test drove a red 2-wheel drive 2000 Tacoma on sale for $15,000 - it handles exactly the same as my 2-wheel drive 94 gray truck. And turns like a boat. Wallows. My son wants a high one - the prerunner package. About $6,000 more. I assure him that it will not turn any tighter. I am amazed that the salesman cannot tell me the turning radius. He keeps telling me about the CD changer. The color. The grill design. The wheel covers. We had just seen a wheel cover fly off a tight-turning car on the freeway. I want 0-60 stats, gas mileage, MTBF, towing weight, payload and turning radius. I want a stick shift. My son wants 4-wheel drive. Or at the least 4-wheel assist. Or whatever they call it. I want an extended cab. And I want dimensions. The prerunner has higher struts - where is the center of gravity? It also has bigger tires. The salesman has no specs. They have no brochures. The only 2000 Tacoma on the lot is the red one. Red cars are ticket magnets. I push the wheelchair down to the parts department (two blocks down) and they don't have a disabled ramp either. They do have a brochure on the 2001 Tacoma trucks. I leave my son in the driveway to run in and get one. The turning radius is 41.7 feet. Takes three lanes to do a U-turn. Worse than the gray truck! My truck ready, I check it out. No, they still didn't fix the windshield washer nozzle. Four trips and it still doesn't spray. On the driver's side too. Of course. They fix it while I wait. I'm too tired to spit - I hurry off to work (I am in the middle of an application note on clocking issues) - and I left my visa at the garage I was so out of it. So were they. They were fumbling the paper. I should have picked up on that. They did one other neat trick. They forgot to close the hood securely. So that afternoon, ooopps! The hood lifted at 60 MPH in the carpool lane - the safety catch held - I got the truck stopped before it flew off - then was stuck in traffic on the opposite side of the freeway. Grrrrr. After lifting a wheelchair in and out of a truck, wheeling a kid around (and helping him stand) and doing all the extra steps his disabled state has me doing (running to fetch lunch, running when he calls because he needs to be wheeled to the bathroom, etc.) I had an excuse. What was theirs? It took me 5-10 minutes to load him into the truck. They had all that time to catch on. (He was up and walking with a walker for two days but went back into the chair. We are making progress. Slowly. But I am tired. Always.) Toyota called me to tell me about the Visa card. After I was home in Fremont. I'll get it tomorrow. And tell them about the hood. And the lack of brochures. And the need for disabled ramps. I like my gray truck. I think I will wait awhile for a new one. Give them time to perfect taking care of the one I have. |
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