When the humidity reaches ­101° ...

 ... you don't want to go out. 

Especially if you're a fat kid with no working air conditioning in your car.

Yup. I said it. 

I have no AC in my car and haven't had any in almost two weeks. 

What seems to trivial is the simple fact that the turn knob on the AC / Heat control unit broke.

The knob currently spins like a roulette wheel, and the push button doesn't even turn on the AC when you press it. 

I thought it would be one of those "quick fixes"; the kind where it's a maximum $500 charge to replace the knob and pay for labor. The kind of thing where maybe even the wiring mechanisms detached somehow. 

Well, it's not that easy. 

I took my 2013 Hyundai Accent over to the local car repair shop (because good luck trying to get in touch with the Hyundai dealership. They're under new ownership and between both my mother and I, neither one of us got to talk to anyone for 2 whole days when we tried contacting them about this issue). 

Almost two hours in the waiting room, I was told it's the whole module that needs to be replaced. 

Wait; what?

The insides - the computer and module need to be replaced. It's not just the knob that's broken. The whole panel has to be taken out and a new one put in. 

It's due to the computer parts in the car and everything has to play nicely, so I'm told. 

Problem is, because my car is 11 years old and Hyundai has discontinued making the Accent, the part isn't a stocked model. 

So, it has to be special ordered and won't arrive for seven days. 

I did ask if the guy thinks the dealership would have the part and he said it's highly doubtful. They'd have to order it as well and charge me the same amount of money. The only difference between this place and the dealership is the labor charge. 

Labor at the repair shop is significantly less than what the dealership charges. I don't remember the exact figure, but it was more than fifty dollars an hour, different. 

My other concern is the fact that I "got rid" of my Volkswagen Golf at 11 years old. Things were super failing on that car. I had researched some of the problems it was having, and found out that they were common issues around the 10 year mark. Well, off I need to go to find a new car because it would become way too unreliable to continue driving. It already was starting to become challenging. After a few set backs, I traded it in and got the Accent. 

Now that I've reached the age where anything is possible regardless of how well you maintain it, the car could go sideways at any point now. So my worry is that if I replace this module, "what's next?". I don't want to have to worry about getting a new car right now; it's not in the cards. As much as I don't have the money to replace the panel, it's significantly cheaper than figuring out how I'm going to magically find "new car money". 

So quick squirrel panic decision made and I put a down payment on the part. Once it comes in, I'll get a phone call and schedule an appointment. Until that happens, I've been riding around the city with my windows down in the 100° heat. 

And this is not a dry heat. 

This is a "I hate the feel of needing to change my clothes just by looking outside the window" type of heat and humidity. The same kind you laugh at other people over when they have noticeable swamp ass. 

Uh huh. I went there. Because it's true. 

Even going out to my car to take photos of the console as I write this... it's damn well hot. And I've been in the house now for an hour. 

I joked to a few people that it's this kind of weather where it's not only hazardous to leave children in a hot car, it's hazardous to leave fat kids in the car as well. Someone I told that to, laughed, and said "it's fat everyone! Adults included!". Which is true.

There's got to be something better and easier. Make life more manageable. 

Maybe a high winner of a lottery ticket, perhaps?

Oh... and the posts about the Indigo Girls Concert last week and having a "ride or die poultry" in my car... 

Meet Chickenman:

He don't cluck around... but he will shake his (lack of) tail feathers at your service! 😁

Again, he's not totally tied up like the one on Amazon, but he gets the job done. 

I think that's about it right now. It looked like there might be some storm clouds rolling around outside, so I better be making this post end soon so I can shut my computer off. 

I'll update the car situation when it happens.

Until then, stay out of the sun. 

Unless it's pretty chill where you are. Then go outside and enjoy it.

Cheers;