jeriendhal | Well, that's not good

Went to my car to drive home after work ended, turned my key in the ignition, and got dead silence aside from the usual ding ding and a few flashing indicator lights. Which worried me, since I hadn't gotten any warning about a dying battery from a hard start this morning, and the starter wasn't turning over at all.
The AAA first responder did get the car to start with a jump (the battery is seven years old and definitely dead), but his test of the electrical system led to a lot of flashing dash indicators and an asthmatic A/C. So rather than risk stalling out on I-95 he called a tow truck and I had it hauled to CarMax in Laurel. By the time Tracy picked me up from there and we got home it was 8:30. And that's how a 40 minute commute took 3 1/2 hours.

If the electrical system is borked I'm not worrying too much about it. The van is still under it's 60 month, 60,000 mile warranty, so if it does need repairs it's only going to cost me $50 plus the cost of a new battery. Still, I'm going to have to a sick day and stay by the phone to wait for the word from CarMax.