Where Everybody Knows Your Name . . .

First, a Jeep update.

When I went by our mechanic’s shop Thursday afternoon after he had closed, I was happy to see our Jeep in his lot where the tow truck driver had dropped it off. I left Joe a note telling him about the starter problem, and also asking him to take a look at a pesky oil leak around the engine that I’d known about since we bought the Jeep from our friend’s Debi and Ed Hurlburt last November. Well, when Joe called me back about 10:30 Friday morning, I found out the two problems were connected.

Turns out that the oil had been leaking down into the starter and had fried it. Now, since the starter is down on the bottom side of the engine, and is presumably waterproof, you would think it would be oil-proof too. But apparently not.

And it also turns out that both the leaking valve cover gaskets, source of the oil leak, and the starter are known problems with the 6 cylinder version of this engine, but not the 8 cylinder version we have in Ole Smokey.

Joe also said that there is a aftermarket fix for the leaking gaskets that’s better than the ones from the dealer. So that’s what we went with.

He said he’d try to get it all down by that afternoon, but probably not, just because of the time it would take to get the parts delivered. I told him to take his time, and that we had Old Smokey as a backup. So it should be ready Monday afternoon.

Several readers have asked about Uber and how it works. Well, it works great and it’s easy to use.

Just download the Uber app on your phone, create an account, and enter your credit card info. BTW supposedly this info stays on your phone and is only sent to Uber when needed, just as if you entered it manually.

Then when you need a ride, just open the app, and enter the address where you want to go. In this case, since the app saves recent addresses, our RV Park address was already entered. And when I selected it, told me how much the ride would be, and how long it would take. Then once I gave it the OK, it told me our ride was 8 minutes away, and gave a map tracking our driver as he came to pick us up.

For safety purposes, the app also gives you the driver’s name, the type and color of his car, and the tag number. And since we were inside Costco when I booked the ride, it told us we had to meet him outside at the entrance. The app also told us that we would arrive at our destination at 5pm. It was wrong.

Our driver dropped us off at our rig at 4:59pm.

At that point the app asks you to rate your ride, 1 to 5 stars, and then asks if you’d like to leave a tip, all strictly voluntary.

So no cash is necessary, just click and go. Very nice!

On the TV front, you fans of Murdoch Mysteries will be happy to know that season 15 kicks off tomorrow night on Acorn TV. The first one of a full 24 episode season, a big jump from last year’s abbreviated 11 episode season.

Really looking forward to it starting up again.

Jan and I are also looking forward to “Only Murders In The Building”, a new series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selma Gomez. The first 3 episodes showed up on Hulu August 31st, with the other 7 episodes in the series showing up every week afterwards.

We don’t have Hulu, so what we’ll probably do is to wait until the last episode drops and binge-watch all ten episodes during the 30 day free trial they offer.

And with Steve Martin and Martin Short it should be hilarious. And seems so from the trailer below.

Apparently even the Cloud is a place Where Everyone Knows Your Name, even Alexa. At least she now knows my name.

Often, before I get out of bed in the morning, I’ll ask Alexa what the weather is. She always starts off with, “The temperature in Santa Fe is . . .” and moves on, and since last week, ending up with “Have a nice day, GREG.”, instead of just “Have a nice day.”

So sometime in the last week, Alexa had cross-referenced my accounts and now has a name for my account. Not sure if I sure be proud or scared.

Or both.
  


Thought For The Day:


“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.” ― Yogi Berra