92¢ and Time Spent

On New Year's Eve, whilst driving from a party to a fireworks viewing spot, I stopped at a stoplight, turn signal blinking. Suddenly, BUMP! A car hits us from behind.

I turn off my engine, get out, and walk to the back. The woman has reversed back and has her head out the window: "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

I look at the bumper. No dent. I say, "There's no damage. Don't worry about it," and get back in my car.

(I should've gotten her insurance information, I know, but I didn't want to deal with it then.)

A couple blocks later, Chunlin wants to see the bumper herself. I stop and we look. I notice that the license plate light is broken. A bit of black plastic comes off in my hand. The light doesn't come on. Darn it, I think. Electrical problem. $100 deductible!

But we find a spot above I-5 with a great view of the Space Needle and watch the fireworks from the car. Chunlin is great luck to have around when looking for parking spaces, apparently. She was even better the next day, actually.

(Side note: Traffic flows better on streets with a lane each direction than on two-way, one-lane streets.)

Today, I went to a car parts store, took the broken light fixture out, removed the burnt-out bulb. The little bit of bumper frame between the two lights was dented slightly, an eighth of an inch at most from straight, maybe less. The broken light came out fine, but the non-broken one is stuck. Maybe with a screwdriver, I could remove it. I buy two lightbulbs. $1.85. They don't sell the fixtures, of course.

I put the new bulb in the fixture, shove the broken fixture back up in its slot, and turn on the lights. Both lights work, even the one that I couldn't remove. So now I have one bulb too many and nary a good spot to store it.

This morning, I was upset that I'd have to spend $100. Now I'm upset that I wasted 92¢.