Bocce Ball Shenanigans and Otherwise

My team at work had a little outing today, a very odd one at that: We went to a bocce ball hall. Who knew those things even existed? 70-year-old-men?

If so, that makes me all set to be one: Where's the sign-up sheet? Do I get a complimentary box of Depends?



In any case, I can't believe how much I drank today over the course of a few hours. It all started to go downhill when my friend when decided to crack open a bottle of Chimay at least 80 ounces in size. 80 fucking ounces!

Long after we sobered, we had a little get-together at my friend Jason's place. I had worked up the nerve to drive my Datsun 510 over there to get a taste of driving a stick on hills. Everything went well; I didn't even stall it!

Well, everything went well until I decided to leave near midnight. Jason lives on a giant, windy hill in Daly City, so I was able to coast the car down it for the most part. Much to my surprise when I reached the bottom, the engine had stalled. Restarting the engine didn't help, because the starter wasn't getting significant electricity. Luckily I was able to push-start the car, similar to how done in this video:



After one minute of driving, however, this was clearly not enough: The car kept stalling. It became clear that either an electrical short circuit exists or the alternator failed. Thankfully I could still push-start it, so I did; but tragically I would never be able to reach home from there. I ended up driving the car up the hill again, not stopping at any stop signs, parked it out front, and stayed at Jason's for the night.

Much to my chagrin, I attempted to replace the alternator in the morning, but that didn't work: The previous owner had gutted and redid the car's electrical system and replaced the original alternator with a internally-regulated one, one from a 1988 Eagle Medallion, which is really a rebadged French car. None of the replacements integrated with the electrical system properly!

This situation left me with no choice but to take my chances: I charged the battery for the day and drove it home with no alternator, something I would dissuade others from. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't scared of having the battery drain completely resulting in the car's stalling somewhere inopportune. Thankfully I made it home. The car's in the driveway, awaiting a new alternator. We'll see what happens next.

Ugh. :-/