For several weeks, I have been planning to go to BlogWalk Chicago. I spent the earlier part of this week clearing out tasks in preparation. And now I am not going. Because of my car.

The silly part of all this is that the car runs just fine. What happened is that Mister Boyfriend was being Nice and clearing the snow off my windshield and accidentally popped off the driver’s side windshield-washer-squirter thingie, which was decidedly Not Nice. I took it to the shop to have that and the back latch replaced, plus routine 75,000 mile maintenance. Minor, minor stuff. The Kia people now swear that they were mistaken about getting it back to me today because it appears that there is no 99-model squirter thingie and or latch anywhere in the Twin Cities. Grrrrr. (And frankly, not quite believable.) They might get it back to me late tomorrow, and I was planning on leaving in the morning. But demanding it back now isn't going to do me any good, because this weather makes squirting the windshield quite necessary. Can’t drive if I can’t see. I’d just shanghai Mister Boyfriend’s car instead, except it’s scheduled to get new tires and new brakes next week, with good reason. So possibly that’s a bad idea.

For want of a squirter thingie, Chicago was lost. And I shall have to live yet another 9 months without meeting AKMA, until I make it to Chicago for AoIR. Life is certainly incomplete.

I am going to take a hot hot hot bath and go to sleep. And I will take some comfort, I guess, in the fact that I am sleeping in Minneapolis, which the AARP says is the very best place in the U.S. to sleep. Chicago did not make the list.