Customer Relations

I’m standing near an old Toyota Cressida this morning I was doing a diagnostic check on, when a guy storms in the big shop door, who looks like he probably played linebacker for one of the NFL teams this past Sunday. He was upset. Names will be anonymous for the protection of innocents… like me. He deserves a classic name for this blog though. He will be Tyro Rex.

Let me explain something about owning an auto repair shop in the East Oakland demilitarized zone for three decades. I’ve seen, interacted with, and traded witticisms with some very scary looking people. I’m never belligerent, nor do I go through any facial tics or voice inflections guaranteed to annoy or provoke. I listen very well, and condescension is not a part of my make-up. Tyro was about to test me.

“Hey, anybody here?!” Tyro shouts out as I’m walking toward him.

“Hi, can I help you?”

To describe what Tyro Rex looked me over with as a glower would be doing a disservice to the barely contained rage his features spiked at me. “I need you to come with me! Bring some transmission oil!”

This was a first, so I may have smiled just a little.

“Well?!” Tyro only had one volume level tone: loud and annoyed.

“Maybe we better start over, Sir. Hi, how may I help you here in my shop?”

Tyro’s face twisted into a mask of horror Freddy Kruger would have been proud of. “I’m tryin’ to tell you! My Ford is stuck down at the store on the corner! It’s revving but not moving, (insert street lingo for someone who has immoral and illegal relations with the matriarch of his family)! I need you to put some transmission oil in it!”

Second aside here for the folks unacquainted with costs in vehicle repair. Transmission oil cost is expensive. It runs anywhere from $6 to $18 a quart – the reason being in a professional garage we have to carry synthetic blend or full synthetic transmission oil of different varieties that will mix with whatever is in the vehicle we add it too. The days of running down to the store and buying a quart of Ford/Mercon tranny oil for 50 cents passed into the annals of history decades ago. I decided to try for some facts first.

“What year and make do you have, Sir?”

“What the… it’s a damn 2003 Explorer! I just need some transmission oil!”

Tyro and I were going to be stymied here by an unfortunate fact concerning his vehicle: the 2003 Ford Explorer has no dipstick tube, and therefore no way to add fluid easily. It is a sealed unit. I won’t go into that here because no one in their right mind should be doing it in the backyard. Secondly, I only stock Mobile 1 synthetic trans oil for Fords requiring Mercon V fluid. It runs $12 a quart on sale. There wasn’t any use in getting into the price with Tyro because neither he nor I could put any in it down the street anyway.

“Okay, here’s the thing. You have a sealed transmission. There’s no way to add fluid to it. When it needs fluid, it is a very complicated ordeal done from under the vehicle. The other problem with…”

“What?! That can’t be true! No $#%&*^@ way!”

“Hold on. Let me finish what I’m saying. If you don’t want an explanation, walk away. I don’t plan on spending the day listening to you shout at me. If you’d like an explanation, calm down and lower your voice.”

Tyro Rex stared at me like he was a grizzly bear and I was a bag of chicken MacNuggets. When he remained silent, I took that as a cue to go on.

“The 2003 Explorer transmission is sealed. You can’t add fluid to it on the street. If yours is slipping, that is trouble… big trouble. Ford had all kinds of problems with the tranny in that one. Have you been noticing a flashing overdrive light coming on?”

“Yeah… so what? I don’t care about the damn overdrive!”

“Unfortunately, on your vehicle it usually means the transmission is shot. I can give you a recommendation for a transmission shop nearby, but I’ll warn you right now, it will be expensive to fix. The other thing is you’ll have to tone down your approach. We didn’t build your vehicle, nor did we wreck it. Screaming at repair people will not get your Explorer fixed. Would you like the information for the transmission shop?”

Tyro appeared to be getting ready to get himself some, but then he spun around with a long expletive filled goodbye. Yep, there’s nothing like the automotive repair business to get the blood pumping. I bet now that I have this blog written my blood pressure is probably back to only coronary level.   :)

I do remember, and I won't ever forget, but a hell of a lot more scary for the Islamo Nazi's still terrorizing the world is the fact these guys never forget and they live by the feud!

HARD CASE in BTS E-Mag

My full page ad is out in the great Book Trailer's Showcase E-Mag. They have everything, articles, stories, and new books. It's the best on-line publication I've seen. I think the job they did on my ad was exceptional. If anything can generate some interest in my novel HARD CASE, that ad will do it. Take a look at it when you get a chance here: BTS E-Mag. I know you'll enjoy it. Oh... and don't forget to take a good look at my HARD CASE ad, and let me know what you think of it.  :)

Review

I got a great Review on Amazon for ‘THE PROTECTORS’. As all writers know, it’s difficult to garner reviews from readers. There is a new thing out there drawing the ire of mainstream publishing – paid reviews. Book Trailers Showcase offers a ‘Review Tour’ which is the same in some ways as a ‘Blog Tour’. I’m looking forward to seeing if it works to generate sales. I’m pretty much resigned to the fact that unless ‘Fifty Shades’ lightning hits, the publishing business is going to be a crap shoot. I followed a thread on Linked-In about paid reviews which I thought was very entertaining. Half of the participants are aghast at the nefarious notion of paid reviewers, while the other half understand it’s been going on in New York since the beginning of publishing. Anyway, as a caveat, if you check out the review link above, it was not bought.  :)

Labor Day weekend turned out to be a great writing weekend for me. I’m almost to 60,000 words on my last book in the YA Trilogy I’ve been working on. This one has been the most fun to write. It would be nice if my full page ad in the next Book Trailers Showcase e-mag this month for HARD CASE works. I’ll be posting the link as soon as it comes out.

FB Interaction

I’ve mentioned before about having my family spread out all over the country, and sharing pictures, videos, and notes on Facebook. As many people have pointed out, FB has become a marketing tool, or curse, depending on your point of view. I’ve always been able to scroll and ignore what I don’t like, so I haven’t had any moments of outrage or angst because someone pushes a book or product on FB. There’s a tool on it when you get nothing but spam from a source that enables you to block their stuff. I’ve blocked a couple of friends’ posts because they write their posts in complete four letter word rants which are neither funny nor impressive. I can still go on their page and see how they’re doing. It’s kind of funny in a way because they’re both women writers with families, who I know probably don’t speak like they post… at least I hope they don’t.  :)

The reason for this post is a neat comment posted on my partner RJ Parker’s ad on Facebook for THE PROTECTORS from a reader named Jeanie. He has a much wider range of friends and followers than I do, and his marketing skills far surpass mine. Since I’m not a household name yet, any comments I get from readers are a thrill. If an author can handle the inevitable bad with the good, Facebook allows interaction with readers on a personal level I really like. Anyway, I just wanted to mention FB is not the devil it’s portrayed as. One thing on it I stay away from is apps and invitations to their extracurricular games. That opens you up to spam central. I passed 50,000 words in the third book of my YA trilogy. They’ll be titled DEMON, DEMON INC, and DEMON AT WAR. I already have the pictures picked out I want to use for each of the covers. I just need to work on the lettering. I’m releasing the PG rated LANCELOT at the beginning of September, and then LAYLA around Christmas. The DEMON trilogy will be released in March through August. I’ll also be blogging the link to my full page ad in Book Trailers Showcase E-mag in September for HARD CASE. They did a great job on it. Not much money on the horizon, but there’s at least some excitement.

Progress and Reviews

On the writing front, I passed 43,000 words on my third book in my YA novel trilogy – DEMON, DEMON INC & DEMON AT WAR. They will all be in the 77,000 to 79,000 word area. I decided in addition to getting my rights back for LANCELOT, I would return it to the original format I wrote it - as a straight up Paranormal/Fantasy, and get rid of the pen-name along with the erotica. That in addition to a new cover may make it possible to revisit my updating of the legend later. I only added the erotica to it after over thirty rejections. It did garner a contract on my first submission with added erotic scenes, but it never went anywhere, possibly due to a horrible cover. I think I’ll leave the erotica to Ms. James and the ‘Fifty Shades’ golden calf’ from now on.  :)

I found a couple more ads looking for a short screenplay much like what I wrote, so I submitted again. Haven’t heard back, but I did start making the notes for converting HARD CASE into a screenplay, breaking down the novel into scenes, which is not for the faint of heart. The one thing many of the ads mention is keeping costs down due to locale. With HARD CASE, I only have one foreign scene which wouldn’t necessarily have to be shot overseas. The rest of it takes place right in Oakland, CA.

A very nice reader gave my YA novel STORM the best REVIEW I think I’ve ever gotten. She perceived everything I had intended when writing it – if you’d like to take a look and give her a YES for helpful as a reviewer I'd appreciate it. 

My good friend Charles Gramlich read THE PROTECTORS and wrote a great REVIEW for me. He and I are in the trenches, fighting for the elusive ‘Fifty Shades’ of fame and fortune with our humble offerings, competing with the growing legion of authors increasing exponentially each passing day. We fight the good fight against superior numbers.  :)

To end this post, here’s a picture of my Grandson Colin with his Superman cape at Magic Mountain’s Superman ride, my daughter posted. That boy has flair.  :)

2007 Yukon Denali Throttle Problems

I met a multi-tasking accident waiting for a place to happen yesterday. I’ve written about the texters out there before humorously, such as texting Tina one cold morning blocking my shop entrance with her little thumbs moving at light-speed. Tina had nothing on my stop in. A 2007 GMC Yukon Denali pulled into the shop. No one beeped, which is a nice change. I left the Toyota I was working on to go over and greet my prospective arrival. The lady driver did not even look up at me. I saw her complete riveted concentration focused on attempting to wear the skin off her thumbs. She will be Yukon Lil for my blog. In these lean blog subject days, I have a sixth sense for prime blogging material, so I waited for a few minutes until I knew for sure she was not going to look up without prompting. I said a few silent prayers for the unaware motorists on the road with Yukon Lil while I waited.

I cleared my throat finally. “Hi, may I help you?”

Yukon Lil looked up at me, startled, as if she had to wait a moment before recognizing where she was. “Oh… hi… sorry about that. My check engine light came on, and my truck started hesitating and running weird.”

Lil had shifted to glancing down every few seconds, and reduced her output to one thumb. I decided to do a quick check with my scanner, because I was figuring with a 2007, it might be a pattern failure.

“How about letting me do a quick scanner check and see what set off the light?”

“Uh…” Yukon Lil did an extended one thumb SOS or something on the gizmo in her lap. “Sure… that would be fine. Can I wait?”

“You can wait. It’ll only take a few minutes.” I opened the door for her so she could dance text her way over to the side. I went and retrieved my scanner for a reading. It turned out she had multiple throttle codes – PO121 (throttle position sensor malfunction) PO2119 (throttle closed performance) and a PO2135 (throttle position sensors 1-2 correlation).

I knew I would have to research this one for Tech Service Bulletins and do a thorough inspection of the wiring, ground connections, and sensor connections around the electronic throttle body. Lil was in a texting trance again, so I unhooked and walked over in front of her. I thought of waving a hand in between her furrowed brow and the gizmo, but I didn’t want to cause a stroke or anything, so I simply started addressing her in a louder than normal voice.

“I believe your electronic throttle body is acting up. If you’d like, you can leave the GMC off with me while I do a few more checks.”

“Huh?”

Yep, that’s what I thought, but I had her attention again, so I repeated my offer. Yukon Lil accepted and we filled out her invoice for the estimate. I also confirmed with her there was no extended warranty on it, and she already had over 85,000 miles which took her out of the regular warranty period. It turned out she only lived half a mile from the shop so she walked home. I of course peeked around the shop corner to watch her trek down the sidewalk, thumbs flying. I closed my eyes as she walked right through the 4 stop sign intersection without even glancing. I then went to work. Wiring, grounds, and connections were all good, as was all other data related to everything else but the throttle. GM was having trouble with multiple throttle codes, which I scanned through on my Tech network. Like Ford’s Expedition problems with electronic throttles, Yukon Lil’s GMC was going to need an electronic throttle body replacement.

After she okayed the estimate, I ordered the part, which they had in stock (always a sure indicator Lil wasn’t the only one having throttle problems). After the replacement and test drive I called Lil. She arrived, stopping just inside the shop, where my motion detector didn’t pick her up. I have no idea how long Yukon Lil stood there in the middle of another texting Armageddon, but I hurried over once I noticed her. She paid the bill, and believe me folks, I made sure I put her GMC on the street for her. A few more silent prayers for motorists sharing the road with Yukon Lil, and I had to go back to work.

Anyone else frightened by this use of technology? :)

Screenplay Attempt

I submitted my first short screenplay to an ad looking for ten page screenplays this morning. I'm looking forward to finding out how they handle queries. It would be a change to get something other than a 'not for me' form letter. As to screenplay writing with my new software, I can only say I'm glad I'll be helping my daughter with her interest in it with some experience. Whatever anyone says about using Word to do it - forget about it. After doing this ten page screenplay I can tell you this much concerning the difficulty doing it. I would never do it on any other program, and having stated that, the learning curve is steep. Once you get the hang of it, and the visualizations are flowing in your head, the rest comes with repetition. It is without doubt a whole other ballgame compared to novel writing.

On the marketing front, I'll be giving out the link for the next Book Trailers Showcase e-mag. It will be carrying my full page ad for HARD CASE. They did a wonderful job on it. A real selling point for it is they archive the copies with the ads, so any readers perusing the back issues will always see the listing. Although my marketing partner, RJ Parker is doing incredibly well with his non-fiction series in both literary and audio sales, he's found that the fiction world is a really tough nut to crack. I have retrieved my rights back for my erotic/paranormal LANCELOT. I'm going to replace that sissy cover they stuck me with and try releasing it again.  :)

The Protectors and a HARD CASE Review

Just wanted to add this addendum to my post. My action novel HARD CASE garnered another 5 start review on Amazon

By 

veinarmor
here: Reviews

"The definition of Noir - This is how you do hard boiled. I've read 10,000 books and written 20. This is how you do it. Relentless action. Terse sentences. A protag who is believable if only because he never breaks character. If you enjoy action, and a character who stays true to form, this WILL satisfy."

The new cover for my novel 'THE PROTECTORS' is above. My marketing partner, Publisher/Author RJ Parker, and Graphic Artist/Author William Cook, are helping me launch the next novel. THE PROTECTORS was released this morning. Some of you may remember my story about the Oakland cops, Connor and Ellie. They'll finally be out in full novel form. Here's a small blurb:

Two wise cracking Oakland, California cops run headlong into a career changing crossroads. When Ellie James and her partner, Connor Bradwick, drive into the middle of a monstrous kidnapping ring while on everyday patrol, the kid gloves come off. Bradwick executes three adults holding four kidnapped children. After coldly setting up a scene of self defense for the investigation that follows, Bradwick and his stunned partner embark on a stepped up course of law enforcement. When an Alameda County staff psychologist takes more than a passing interest after Bradwick’s department ordered post shooting examination, the two partners begin a convoluted relationship with Dr. Julie Morrison. When Ellie James wounds a suspect in a sting operation, her interaction with the psychologist reveals a dependent relationship between Ellie and Connor the two officers are forced to confront. Budding romantic entanglements between the three begin to compromise Dr. Morrison’s position.

Here's an excerpt of a domestic violence incident the two partners handle with Dr. Morrison in their squad car for a ride-along:

They rode in silence for a time. As they neared Ransom Avenue, Ellie added a danger they could not rule out.

“Connor thinks one of these days we’ll get to their house and there’ll be a gun battle going on. You can’t trust them not to turn the guns on us so we’re real careful around them. Okay, here we go.”

Ellie turned left on Ransom Avenue, coming to a screeching halt as she passed a telephone pole on the left. The largest woman Julie had ever seen, wearing a huge pink tank top and shorts had a small in comparison man pinned to the pole. Sweat poured down the woman’s pale face. Her lank brown hair lay plastered wetly around her cheeks. The man clung gamely to the woman’s wrists, his knees bent slightly under the pressure. Ransom Avenue was deserted as if the inhabitants were in hiding. Julie cringed back against the seat, all thought of leaving the squad car’s safety fleeing in the face of Fanny Camacho’s rage. Ellie left the driver’s seat with stun gun and mace in hand while Connor jogged around behind the combatants to the right.

“Let him go, Fanny!” Ellie yelled at the woman from three feet away. “I will zap your ass if you don’t let Jorge go right now! I’ll put so much damn juice through your ass you’ll smell like barbeque for a week!”

Fanny’s arms lost some of their rigidity. She glanced at Ellie. Jorge took advantage of the reprieve, twisting down to his right and out of Fanny’s grasp. Connor pulled the gasping man over behind him.

“What’s the problem, Fanny?” Ellie asked, watching Fanny’s heaving form closely as she bent over at the waist, hands on knees, her pendulous breasts nearly tearing free of the tank top.

“I…I put on my new outfit… and…and the bastard told me I looked like… one of the pink elephants in ‘Dumbo’.”

A tortured laugh broke free of Ellie’s clenched lips as she struggled to hold it in. Fanny’s head jerked up. With a low growl she charged Ellie. Ellie let off an arc into the charging woman but had to let go of the trigger or get zapped herself. Fanny bore her down to the yard. Fanny’s body jerked reflexively from the shock while all breath exploded out from Ellie’s mouth in a huge grunting bark. Connor ran over and pulled the massive woman off Ellie - but not before Julie watched in horror as Ellie’s hands and feet twitched helplessly under Fanny, nearly her whole body obscured from sight. Julie got out and ran over to Ellie as Connor released Fanny into Jorge’s arms. Julie grabbed Ellie’s hand in both hers.

“Ellie! Ellie… are you okay?”

Ellie gasped for air in weak ragged breaths, her arms and legs moving spasmodically. Jason Ladd and Luis Arvizo ran up onto the lawn, having just arrived on scene, hands on their weapon grips. Arvizo slipped the cell-phone he had been holding after arriving into his jacket.

“Holy shit, Connor! What happened to Ellie?” Jason asked. “All we saw was Fanny spread-eagled over her. Should I call for an ambulance?”

“No…” Ellie gasped, fumbling around with her left hand for the stun gun she’d dropped.

“Lie still, El,” Connor told his partner. He was reluctant to leave Fanny. The big woman was on her hands and knees, already shaking off the stun gun charge, while Jorge had his hand comfortingly on her back.

“The… hell… I… will,” Ellie snarled, tearing free of Julie’s hands and pin-wheeling toward Fanny. Her left hand shot forward before Connor could react. Ellie triggered an extended crackling burst into Fanny’s exposed arm, dropping the woman to her stomach. The burst launched a startled Jorge into a sprawling heap, his concerned contact with his wife proving inadvertently painful when Ellie zapped her.

Connor caught Ellie’s wrist in time to prevent a third burst.

“Let me go, Connor! I’m going to do her until smoke comes out her damn ears!”

Arvizo cuffed the still twitching Fanny, struggling with every fiber of his being not to start howling in laughter. Jason Ladd turned away, small hissing grunts of restrained amusement escaping every few seconds as he helped Jorge Camacho into a seated position. Connor easily lifted Ellie to her feet. He slapped the dirt off his partner’s uniform with his right hand while warily holding onto Ellie’s stun gun armed left wrist.

“Are…are you okay, Ellie?” Julie asked hesitantly as she helped Connor dust Ellie off. “I thought she killed you for a moment there.”

“I’m okay.” Ellie allowed Connor to take the stun gun. “Another second under Fanny and I would have looked like the coyote after the roadrunner drops a boulder on him.”

“Sorry, El, I didn’t see it coming.”

“Me either! It was the damn pink elephant remark.” Ellie shook her head. “She does look like a damn pink elephant.”

“Don’t arrest her… please,” Jorge called out. “She’ll kill me when she gets out.”

“Fanny’s going into lockup while I make up my mind whether to charge her for assault,” Ellie told him. “Pack your things and get the hell out of there, you moron.”

“I…I can’t. I love her,” Jorge said, looking down at his feet.

“Let’s wrap this up before I throw another shot into both of them,” Ellie said through clenched teeth. “Want us to put Fanny in with you, Jules, so you can ask her a few questions?”

“No!” Julie yelped.

Ellie smiled for the first time. “Good choice.”

“Jas, can you take Fanny in for us?” Connor asked.

“Sure, but you’ll have to help get her into the car.”

“Let’s ease her up into a seated position.” Connor supported Fanny’s shoulders while Ladd and Arvizo rolled her over. Connor propped the woman up until she started to moan. “C’mon, Fanny, wake up. We need to get you onto your feet.”

“Wha…what happened?” Fanny asked groggily, her head swaying.

“You attacked me!” Ellie shouted, heading over with determination. “Get your fat ass up before I get Mr. Sparky out to help!”

“Don’t…” Fanny pleaded, twisting with Connor’s help so she could get on her knees and then to her feet. She looked down at Ellie’s face in fear. “Don’t let her zap me again!”

“You’re riding with Officers Ladd and Arvizo,” Connor told her as he corralled Jorge Camacho with one arm.

“I’m sorry, honey… I didn’t mean to-”

“Oh shut up!” Ellie ordered Jorge. “Not another word out of you! Get the hell in your house!”

The startled Jorge did as he was told. Jason and Luis helped Fanny into the backseat of their squad car.

“Damn Connor,” Ellie complained, tentatively prodding her chest area gingerly, “I think she cracked one of my ribs.”

“We better get you an x-ray, El. Can you guys read Fanny her rights and put her in holding until we get back from the hospital?”

“Sure,” Luis agreed. “Take care, Ellie.”

“I hope it’s not cracked, Ellie,” Jason added with a wave. “Don’t worry. We won’t say a word about what happened.”

“Mum’s the word,” Luis called out, driving away after Jason was inside the car.

“Shit, it’ll be all over the East Bay before we get back from the hospital,” Ellie muttered, glaring at the squad car speeding away.

“I think I’m done on the ride-alongs,” Julie said.

“We’ll help you with your paper, Julie.” Connor helped Ellie into the passenger side seat.

“Yeah, Jules, we’ll give you enough stories to sour you on the sacrament of marriage for the rest of your life,” Ellie added as Julie entered the backseat area.

“Oh wonderful,” Julie replied without enthusiasm.

2008 Honda Accord 2.4L Stalls

I looked up from the Buick I was working on to see a tow truck backing a late model Honda Accord into the shop. Since I hadn’t had a call or any hint of a tow in, I’m hoping I at least know the owner. That hope was dashed a moment later when a man in a business suit, complete with earpiece, briefcase, and a you’re wasting my time look on his face strode in. He was of course busily talking on his invisible cell-phone gizmo. I recognized in a flash he was going to finish his important business before deigning to converse with me. I hurried instead to the tow truck driver. He was getting ready to unload the Honda on me.

“Can you wait until this guy talks to me before you unload? I had no clue anyone was coming in and I don’t know this guy.”

The TT driver stopped immediately. He grinned over at the suit. “He talked like he was your long lost son. I’ll wait.”

“Thank you.” I returned to the waiting line for Sonny Honda to talk with me. After a long moment making eye contact, I could tell he didn’t quite understand how things worked down here in blue collar land. I moved closer. “Sir! Either get off the phone and talk to me or I’ll have your tow truck driver haul the Honda out of here without a conversation.”

He looked surprised, but ended the call. “That was very rude.”

“No, you towing your Honda in here without notice, then ignoring me and the man doing the towing is rude. Why don’t you let me know what you did come in for, and we can decide whether you can leave the Honda or not.”

More surprise. Yeah, Sonny probably has that look down pat. He points at the Honda. “It won’t keep running. It starts and dies every time. Can I wait for it?”

“No.” I give him the figure for diagnosing a no run problem and explain he’ll have to leave it until I finish the appointments I’d made.

Sonny smiles at me. “The diagnostic fee is fine, but you don’t understand. This is an emergency. I’m-”

“I understand your problem, but this is a one man shop, and I don’t push back scheduled appointments for emergencies. If you can’t leave it, you’ll have to tow it elsewhere.”

Sonny blanks out on me, mouth open in a little cute O. He’s rapidly dropping down the list of my favorite relatives. I wave. “Hello. Can you leave it or not?”

“I...I guess I’ll have to.”

Not really. I had a feeling I should boot this guy, but informative and humorous blog encounters are hard to come by lately. This 2008 Honda Accord might have something wrong that could help me and others in the future. I give the TT driver the okay to land it, fill out Sonny’s estimate, get a signature, and give him a copy before bidding him adios. It took me a little over three hours to get to it. By that time I was blessing wireless phones a shop owner can hook to his belt for quick ‘no comment’ answers to estranged fake relatives who called every half hour.

I opened the hood on the Honda. The 2.4L engine in it was a solid performer, even with the near hundred thousand miles Sonny had logged. I looked for obvious signs before starting it up with my scanner hooked into the system, like loose ground wires, or power leads, connectors burned through, etc. – nothing out of the ordinary. The oil looked clean, air filter dirty – yes, people still do drive their cars until the air filter becomes so clogged the car won’t run. The scanner data doesn’t turn up anything.

I decide since I’ve found a dirty air filter to see if it has allowed debris to screw up the down the line Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor. I first start it to confirm the issue. It stalls. I next unplug the MAF, which will send the computer into limp in mode. The Honda starts and runs even with the dirty air filter. I price the MAF and air filter, call my fake son, and all is well. Sonny seemed pleased to get his Honda back in the same day so we parted amicably. The lesson here is don’t neglect those little maintenance items like air filters. They can screw up more expensive parts.

On a writing note, I’m hitting the 20,000 word point in my third book of my YA trilogy DEMON. It’s been so entertaining for me writing it, I’ve practically given up reading except for a few pages of a novel at night.  :)