Meh

The dealership I normally take my car to was on the list of 'people who can fix cars for emissions tests', but I called them and they said they didn't have anyone who'd gotten recertified with the new rules. So I randomly picked another mechanic from the list and made an appointment for later today. I'll probably have to sit there and wait while they fix it, or (more likely) come up with some reason that they can't fix it without spending $10,000. I suppose I could walk home, it's not *that* far away.

Been playing 'Tactics Ogre' on the GBA. It seems like a decent game, even though it's by Atlus. It's a final fantasy tactics clone, but isn't as stupidly difficult yet. And powering up is easier because instead of wandering the map searching for random enemies, you can have your own people fight against each other.

Arrrrgh!

So, I left work a little after lunch, and took the car to the garage to get the emissions fixed. I sat in the lobby waiting, playing Tactics Ogre...

They gave the car back a lot more quickly than I'd expected. I suspect this was because they hadn't actually done anything to it but push a button to make the light turn off, because the light turned itself back on on the way to the emissions test place. So I did a quick turnaround through a parking lot and went right back to the mechanic.

Note that this isn't much of a surprise -- the last time I had someone look at why the light was on (five years ago) the same thing happened, only back then the emissions testing place didn't care, so I didn't care.

Anyway, they fiddled with it some more, and told me to wait 'a few days' before checking to see if the light was on while the computer 're-learned' the engine. So I think they just glitched it to make it look like they'd done something, without actually fixing it. Again.

The annoying part is that they only charged me $60, which is less than $150, so I can't get a waiver if the car fails the test again.