Gimme a Brake!

A working brake, please.

On the family van, for heaven's sake.  The one i've got the kids in most of the time.  The work horse, that takes the brunt of the punishment.

Last Friday, the thumping said "Brakes" and i took it in.  Almost $800 later, i brought it home and heard the thumps again.  After a weekend of using it very little Monday morning saw it go back to the shop with the ABS light on.

When i walked in and told them, "The brakes are out," Mr. L was in shock.  A few minutes with the computer, both the car computer and their own records, we had it.

"Front left ABS sensor is out.  It's the one we replaced last August, so it's still under warranty.  We will change it out, no charge.  Oh, and by the way, occasionally on a GM car -- but never before on a Saturn, but that's not to say it can't happen -- some GM cars have trouble with the wires going to these sensors.  If it goes out again, or the other one does, we will see if it's that wire, that's not a big expense."

Gotta love the honest mechanics who stand by their work and their word, and will tell you straight.

All these holidays i find on the internet, well, i want to invent one myself.  Hug an honest mechanic day.  Or, if you are a guy and don't want to hug him, buy him and the shop a dozen doughnuts.  They are worth it.


Today is

Abolition Day -- Martinique

Bear Waking Day -- Norway (traditionally said to be the day the bears awaken from their hibernation, at least according to many sites)

Buy a Musical Instrument Day -- even just a kazoo, and have some fun making music

Independence Day -- Montenegro

International Day for Biological Diversity

National Geographic Geography Bee -- National Geographic Society Headquarters, Washington, D.C., US (through Thursday, with the finals aired then)

National Maritime Day -- US (commemorating the first transoceanic voyage under steam power)

National Sovereignty Day -- Haiti

National Vanilla Pudding Day

Republic Day -- Sri Lanka

RHS Chelsea Flower Show -- Chelsea, London, England (through the 26th)
St. Julia's Day (Patron of Corsica, Portugal)

St. Rita of Cascia's Day/La Abodada de Impossibles (Patron of desperate cases; against bleeding, infertility, loneliness, tumors, unhappy marriages)

Toad-Pinching Day -- Fairy Calendar (Pixies)

Unity Day -- Republic of Yemen


Birthdays Today:

Apollo Anton Ohno, 1982
Ginnifer Goodwin, 1978
Morrissey, 1959
Paul Winfield, 1941
Richard Benjamin, 1938
Susan Strasberg, 1938
Peter Nero, 1934
Sir Laurence Olivier, 1907
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859
Mary Cassatt, 1844
Richard Wagner, 1813


Today in History:

The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus, BC334
The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo, 1176
Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe, 1377
Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England, 1455
A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason, 1807
On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time, 1809
The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; the ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20, 1819
HMS Beagle  departs on its first voyage, 1826
The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished, 1840
Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns, 1842
The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened, 1897
The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine", 1906
Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century, 1915
The most powerful earthquake ever documented, the Great Chilean Quake, measures 9.5 and strikes southern Chile, 1960
The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores, 1968
Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man, 1980
Microsoft  releases the Windows 3.0 operating system, 1990
Johnny Carson retires from The Tonight Show after 30 years, 1992
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations, 1992
A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, 2002