Car Break Down

Where's the worst place to have a car breakdown?

Way out in the woods, on a Boy Scout campout, when it's cold outside and the roads are covered in snow and you weren't smart enough to bring your tools, of course!

Last weekend was the Junior Leadership Training (JLT) campout for James, so on Friday evening we headed off to the woods and drove out across the snow-covered forest trails to the top of the hill where the cabin was situated, and it was a close call just getting up there. {The JLT is an indoor activity, with PowerPoint slides and stuff like that, so we weren't out in the tents. Thank the Lord.} The trails weren't really cleared off, and the ruts didn't help, nor did the ditches on the side of the trails; and the worst part was that we were all in a line like a caravan, so once we had parked, that's where we were going to be for the rest of the weekend, except for the last car in the line.

I'd made sure to be that "last car in line" because I was planning on leaving camp Saturday afternoon to catch a concert back at church and didn't want to get blocked in.

Well, something happened that night, and the power went out around eleven o'clock, and since my car was the last one in line, I was recruited to drive down to the Ranger Station to find out what had happened. Seems JLT doesn't work too well without power. So I hopped in the car and started up the car and -

Hey! What's that? The "Charge" light didn't go out. Is that right? Could that be a glitch? Maybe the snow got up under the car and shorted something out. Y'know, there was a 'pop' sound when the car started; I wonder if a fuse blew or something?

Made it down to the Ranger Station and back (and found out that power was out to the whole area, even the town nearby, so it wasn't just us). Thought perhaps - hoped, that is - that the Charge Light thing was just a glitch, maybe some water or snow got up inside the engine, maybe it'll dry out by morning and everything will be fine.

Next morning, after breakfast, and after the boys had gotten all busy with their training, I went out to the car and checked it out. Same problem. Charge light wouldn't go out. Which usually indicates that the voltage regulator has gone bad. Or the alternator.

Funny thing about these new-fangled alternators. Somebody figured out it was cheaper to build the voltage regulator right in to the alternator, so you get it all in one package. But the problem is that when the regulator goes bad, you have to replace the entire alternator - so instead of a $20 part, you gotta replace a $90 part.

But I wasn't sure. Yet. Needed to run a quick test with a voltmeter to see if the alternator was actually charging or not. But nobody there had a voltmeter, and mine was back at the house. So ... like any happy idiot, I called Cheryl and asked, "What're you doing today??"

Turns out she was planning on doing some shopping, so I just added something to her list. "Grab my voltmeter and bring it up." Which she did. An hour and a half drive later, she arrived with the voltmeter, I checked the voltage, and ... the alternator was definitely bad.



So then she drove me (and the alternator) to the nearest auto parts store (about half an hour away), we tested the alternator (just to be sure), they found out it was bad (duh!), we ordered another one, they didn't have it in stock - but another store in the next town did, so we put it on hold, drove to the other town, picked it up, paid for it, drove all the way back to camp, borrowed some tools to put it back in the car, and ... now it worked fine.

We left James in the capable hands of the Boy Scout leaders, jetted back home, then Adam and I went to the concert, then to the store (to do some shopping for Cheryl that she'd been unable to do because she was rescueing me!), then back home for bedtime.

And then the next day after Sunday School, I headed back to camp to pick up James and bring him home.

What a weekend!

A Day Off

It was a very long day at work yesterday. Fourteen hours. And so many things were happening, it's hard to remember it all in any kind of logical sequence.

The important accomplishment was, of course, the software shipped. So to speak. It was an in-house shipment, which means it was put out on the network for the "customer" to download and use.

It's hardly worth the effort, though. There are so many things wrong with it. It all needs to be completely re-written. And there was a bug found at the very last minute, which means there wasn't sufficient time to test it before delivery.

But meeting schedule (and budget) is the all-important goal here. Quality is right out the window.

At meetings, they never mention how the product is doing in regards to meeting its technical requirements. It is always questioned whether it will ship on time, and how much money (or time) has been used in getting it done.

At the beginning of a project, long before anyone knows anything about the challenges and problems that will be forthcoming, they (the customers, the managers, etc.) demand to know estimates of budget and time required. Any intelligent or experienced person would balk at such idiocy, especially when designing a project of such complexity, with new and untried technology. But it is required.

So we make our estimates, and then our managers say, It's too much. So they trim it by anywhere from 20 to 50 percent.

And then they wonder why we can't get the Quality built in??

It doesn't help when the Customer keeps changing the requirements. Or doesn't even provide us with clear requirements to begin with.

That's why I like small projects, little embedded systems that do just a few things, and do them well. Little projects that one person can understand in detail. Where I can say with complete confidence that it will take six weeks to design and test.

This current project began five years ago. Can you imagine the difficulty of planning the schedule and a budget for a program that will last five years? With technical milestones along the way?

I can't even plan a night out with any confidence of schedule or budget!

But now there is a day to rest, to think, to play guitar, to enjoy my family again, before jumping back into the fray again on Wednesday.

Jammin'.