A rational decision by a rational man.

I

imported_Yosemite Dan

New member
We went to a friends house tonite to have dinner. We finish eating and I have to go get something from the car and to my horror there are about 10 kids playing in the vicinity of my car parked in their driveway.:scared



I give the car the once over and no scratches. I get back inside and find myself constantly looking out the window to see what's going on. There are beads of sweat on my forehead and I think I'm gonna start hyperventilating soon with no paper bags in sight. The conversation after dinner is a distraction as I'm trying to figure out how the hell I'm gonna get out of here and save my car as the kids circle like vultures around my defenceless vehicle waiting to run into it with their bikes and scooters.



After much consultation with myself I decide to feign sickness which is beleivable as I'm pretty quiet the whole time and have this look on my face that a 1st year Med student just gave me a prostate exam.



I go to the washroom and pretend to throw up, wouldn't have to pretend if I had to stay there another hour. It works with the wife and we get out of there. Gave my car another once over and it seemed OK. As soon as we pulled

out this wave of relief came over me and I was in a happy place again even though it started raining as we left and the kids started going inside. Felt a little silly then. The worst part though is I had to fake being sick the rest of the night and that's why I'm up right now posting this at 2 A.M. I'm sick and I can't sleep. ;)



I think I was rational about this and that may be the scary part because I thought this was normal behavoir. An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure I always say.



Has anybody else here had to think really fast to get your car out of a high risk situation? Were you proud of yourself or did you realize you were 5 cans short of a six pack? Thank you all for your understanding of my brush with disaster.
 
The same thing happened to me. My car was parked in my driveway, I was inside and heard a loud bangs coming from the garage. I look outside and it seems all the neighborhood kids are gathering and having a huge game of basket ball, right across the street. I was constantly on the look out, debating if I should park the car at the other end of the block where it would be safe and just walk back. I finally decided to go somewhere and when I walked out, a kid was running towards my car as fast as he could to stop the ball from hitting my car. Grrrrr



Oh and my other neighbors play baseball in the street! They just hit it down the street without thinking of the other cars parked along the side of the street. I hate my neighbors....
 
Well, I'm new to detailing , so I don't have any wild stories to tell (unlike Yosemite -- whoa belly! :eek: ).



But I'll still toss a couple of pennies in.



First, I know my kids think I've gone a little haywire (well, at least I hope they think it's only a little). The whole thing's new to them too, of course. Drive around with their dad for a dozen years, then one day he gets a new car and -- zap -- life as they knew it is no more. Poor kids. I wonder who needs counselling -- them, me, or both.:confused: (Hey maybe us Vancouver area Autopians could get together on a group conselling rate!) The kids are coming 'round though. I'm sure I saw signs of it (I admit I squinted a little, though). ;)



As to my second cent, I say that in our defense we need look no further than any other groups who share passion for something. Stamp collectors, china collectors, music collectors, Middle-Ages play acting groups -- the list goes on and on and on.



I bet some of those other guys are way weirder than us.

~3W
 
I now have a pager linked to my alarm to let me know if anyones hits it,I was getting really fed up with door dings,so now I should get a warning that something has happened and make the perp pay up.
 
I'm laying down a conductive pad this week. Once it's done, that's where I park. It'll have various electric current levels -- none lethal (unless things really got out of hand), but none pleasant by any means, either. Step on it, and you will be jolted. The voltage increases the longer you stay on the pad.



Now, the pad’s going to need a perimeter of some sort, to warn the intruder(s) of being shocked by electricity if they proceed. The perimeter's design is almost done, just a couple more things to finish with. Here’re some of the o/s issues, for example.



How close to the intruder should we aim the automated perimeter weaponry’s warning fire? Should it too adjust (like the pad) the longer the culprits persist with their proximity?



Should we sell footage of the Intruders being repelled? I was thinking of selling only to members at first, then just playing it by ear after that.



So, I guess that’s that. Oh, by the way, it’d sure be great if there were any volunteers to help me test the pad. We need to dial-in the parking pad juice. Email me if you're interested. ;)
 
Yosemite Dan said:
We went to a friends house tonite to have dinner. We finish eating and I have to go get something from the car and to my horror there are about 10 kids playing in the vicinity of my car parked in their driveway.:scared



I give the car the once over and no scratches. I get back inside and find myself constantly looking out the window to see what's going on. There are beads of sweat on my forehead and I think I'm gonna start hyperventilating soon with no paper bags in sight. The conversation after dinner is a distraction as I'm trying to figure out how the hell I'm gonna get out of here and save my car as the kids circle like vultures around my defenceless vehicle waiting to run into it with their bikes and scooters.



After much consultation with myself I decide to feign sickness which is beleivable as I'm pretty quiet the whole time and have this look on my face that a 1st year Med student just gave me a prostate exam.



I go to the washroom and pretend to throw up, wouldn't have to pretend if I had to stay there another hour. It works with the wife and we get out of there. Gave my car another once over and it seemed OK. As soon as we pulled

out this wave of relief came over me and I was in a happy place again even though it started raining as we left and the kids started going inside. Felt a little silly then. The worst part though is I had to fake being sick the rest of the night and that's why I'm up right now posting this at 2 A.M. I'm sick and I can't sleep. ;)



I think I was rational about this and that may be the scary part because I thought this was normal behavoir. An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure I always say.



Has anybody else here had to think really fast to get your car out of a high risk situation? Were you proud of yourself or did you realize you were 5 cans short of a six pack? Thank you all for your understanding of my brush with disaster.
Click to expand...





:lol - this is hilarious !



but i can relate ;) and you did the right thing ! :xyxthumbs



Bob
 
Yosemite Dan said:
You make that sound like a bad thing.:p



In case anybody cares I'm feeling much better today,
Click to expand...



Yosemite, I might be wrong, but I think 04BlackAV was just responding to Fleet's suggestions. I would hope that any decent lady would not get upset at her husband for getting sick while visiting friends (even if it WAS fake). :D



I'm just glad my wife is as compulsive about our cars as I am. In fact, I often call her to the garage to do the 'final-inspection' after a wash or wax.



Glad to hear you're feeling better...hehe
 
I had a simialr situaiton and my wife knew it was bothering me and told me to stop and let it be....well, i did just that and 5 minutes later a football bounced off the hood of my old truck leaving a nice ding and scratch...you did the right thing~
 
Is this my husband posting?.......everytime we go to his dad's house (loads of kids playing in the cul de sac), he is a wreck worrying about the car. Doesn't matter if it is the Cherokee or my Passat, he can't stand it. Of course he would never fake illness in these situations. I worry about accidents but they can usually be fixed and kids need to play, now adults and dings are another story.



Quick one.....our neighbors directly across the street from us are constantly out playing baseball in the front yard, oh, it isn't really their yard either it is the neighbor's next to them side yard [on the corner]. Anyway, they'll hit the ball and it'll bounce up in our garage or the yard on occassion. Several times the ball bounces in our garage and they just walk in and help themselves. I may be strange but these people are not neighbors that we visit with and really don't know them that well, but I don't just walk into somebody's garage without notifying them first. Now when we see them out we just close the door to protect the cars. The kicker is, there is a school directly down the street not 500 feet away with a backstop and huge field to play in! They could go crazy and nobody would care. [side note: When they first moved in, my husband saw the guy carrying in some drywall and went over to help, my husband helped with a couple of guys and the new neighbor never once said "Thank you" to any of them.]
 
As the title suggests I think I was being totally rational. Yeah I'm anal about my car but so is everybody here or they wouldn't be here. It's not pitiful it's just about protecting a loved one. ;)



These kids were riding thier scooters around the car just waiting to ram into it. Try telling a bunch of 8 year olds to please move elsewhere. That'll work for about 10 minutes.



If I let them be and something happened I would of felt alot worse than trying to act normal and let the chips fall where they may. It's much more fun being mentally warped.



My wife was very understanding with my sudden illness and didn't suspect a thing. Although I did feel legitimately light headed with fear. So I was sick in a paranoid I love my car kind of way.
 
My kids are well trained now, but I came out once and my son and 2 of his friends were playing in the back of my truck, but I have no rear bumper....they climbed into it over the rails and I blew a cork. So that and the writing on the dusty cars have come to a stop because "dad gets cranky"
 
The long term psychological damage to an Autopian watching his car get violated outweighs the psychological damage of kids not being able to play around the car. In a weird sort of way I was not only saving money on repairs but also on future therapy sessions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top