Oh my, I am a loser

I'm an envelope pusher.  We know this.  I like to know how far I can go - I like to know where my boundaries are.  So I have a newish car, and I thought I remembered that it wasn't as generous on the empty side as my BMW that seemed to run for 100 miles once it was on E (no exagerration).  As it turns out, my memory was correct, and the Mercedes means business when it hits E!

Now, in fairness to my new car, the E light probably went on 3 days ago, but it wasn't until yesterday that it actually hit the bottom line.  Still, I drove to and from work to my house, but it wasn't very far under that bottom line, so I thought I'd see if I could make it to work (today, my office was only 3 miles away) with the gas that I had, and I'd stop to refuel on the way home.

When I was 2 blocks from the office, I sat at a red light for what seemed like an eternity when my car stalled out.  I was also only 2 blocks from a gas station, so I put my hazards on, thanked my lucky stars I had cash with me b/c I didn't have any credit cards on me, and I had just spent my "emergency" car cash on the movies the other day.

It was cold, but not freezing, so I walked to the gas station, bought a gas container (I have about a thousand at the house) - it was just a one gallon one, and it may as well have been a rocket ship, because it was that confusing to use.  The very nice attendant showed me how to assemble it, and work all the gears (yes, there were gears on the thing!!), and I got my gallon of gas and headed back to my car.

I finally figured out how to pump the thing, and I released the lonely gallon of gas into my car.  While I was doing this, a few nice people asked if I needed help because NH is a nice state to live in.  With the gallon of gas in the tank, I climbed into the drivers' seat and turned the key....nothing.

It turned over, but it kept dying.  I called a friend who's a mechanic to ask him if perhaps I just hadn't put enough gas in, because it was *so* empty, that the one gallon wasn't enough for it to go vroom.  He said that was doubtful.

I have emergency roadside assistance that I could have used, but naturally, I didn't believe the mechanic.  Of course I know more about cars than someone who has worked on them his whole life.  After sitting in the car for a while to let it dry out (worried I'd flooded it with all the attempts to start it), it still wouldn't start.  Rather than calling my roadside assistance (still), I went back up the hill to the gas station, and bought another gallon of gas.

It was getting colder and windier out, and I was uncomfortable in my attire.  My suit looks perfectly fine, but our wonderful new dryer makes all of my shirts too short, so the shirt I had on underneath the suit was only acceptable under the best of conditions.  Hiking up hills and bending over to assemble a gas container on a windy day were not compatible conditions to this outfit.  I reminded myself how it's so important to wear nice, comfortable clothing that is not dependent upon perfect conditions.  LOL

I couldn't open the contraption, so I had to go back into the store (for a third time) to ask the attendant to help me with it.  I'm not a person who likes to ask for help, but I didn't suppose I could abandon my car and just go home, so I didn't have much of a choice.  I sucked it up, and he helped me.

I brought my second gallon of gas back to my car, emptied it into the tank, and voila - it worked.  I was right about this, at least. 

Now, this is how much of a loser I really am.  When I came back with the first gallon, I had thought to myself that I'd just go to work and fill the tank on my way home.  I was going to drive around with less than one gallon in a tank that I had already managed to empty this day.

I think it was karma slapping my face that the first gallon didn't work.  ;-)  By the time I emptied the second gallon in and it worked, I drove directly to the gas station and filled my tank to the brim.

I have learned my lesson.  The Mercedes likes to run on a full tank - you get better gas mileage that way anyway.

I will continue to push envelopes, but not with gas tanks, and not with shirts that need to be longer.

:)