And then there was dumb… (or, an ode to the beauty and wonder that is AAA)

Last night had everything going for it.  I had plans to see a concert with Alicia and even though I didn’t know the band, she generally has good taste and I enjoy live shows.  I also had plans to meet Ferdinand, the newest member of a friend’s family, a 104 lbs Ridgeback/Mastiff mix.  A carefully choreographed drive around downtown allowed all of these things to happen, and they were lovely. 

Ferdinand was, as promised, the most loveable 104 lbs you can possibly imagine.  The best adjective I can think of to describe him is lumbering, but will post pictures at some point so that you can judge for yourselves how gigantic and mellow this dog is. 

The concert was also great.  It was a little late for me, but that is sort of par for the course at this point for most things that don’t also cater to little kids or the elderly.  The opener was pretty good, which I consider to be nothing short of a miracle, and the band itself was a lot of fun.  I’d never heard of the Local Natives until the day before the show, but they had some good songs and the crazy hipster clothes (including a huge sweatshirt-material poncho) were fabulous.

And then there was dumb…  I feel a little like I was misled, as I did, in fact, click the lights in the car from completely on to not-entirely-on, but also did not click them to not-entirely-off.  For those of you who have known me for a long time, you may recognize that this feels a bit like a regression to my younger days of locking my keys in the car with the radio on, simultaneously killing the battery and preventing me from getting into the car.  Even for those of you who haven’t, you will recognize this as a departure from my usual responsible self, and understand the outrage I experience when I realize I’ve done something like this, particularly at 11:30pm on a weekday.  After the amazing Ruti came downtown and we attempted to jump my car, we concluded that my jumper cables are not heavy-duty enough for my weak old battery.  We definitely charged the battery a little, but not enough to start the car.  I called AAA around midnight, and by 12:20, there was the happy Brewer’s Towing truck with the crazy jumper cables that could probably be used as a defibrillator, and we were set. 

What a night…