Monday, November 05, 2007

Stick shifts and safety belts and bucket seats have all got to go

The first time I used the heater in my car was when I was mountain biking at Brian Head about a month ago (no, it wasn't this sort of trip either). Until that point, I'd been running the air conditioner instead. It turns out that's what people do during the summer here in Sin City. Anyway, once the hot air was blowing, I was very displeased to detect an odor not much different from poor people smell.

"Great!" I thought to myself. "My car's heater stinks. How am I going to make it through the winter if I have to smell that for three months?"

"Wait," another part of my brain interjected. "It's probably just because the heater hasn't been used for so long. Maybe there was just some stale air in the vents."

Well, that wasn't it. I've smelled it every time I've even turned the air conditioner off and just had the vent blowing. It seems that the second part of my brain is stupid. The problem is, when I ask anybody else who rides in my car about it, they claim that they don't smell anything.

Initially I chalked this up to my super sensory abilities (Now would be a good time to tell you that I have extraordinary senses: I can smell things no one else can smell, and I once heard a bat fly into a mist net from approximately thirty yards away), or my turbo nose, as Flieswithoutwings used to call it.

Well, I haven't had to use the heater yet (our temperatures are still in the 80s), but I know the time is getting close, and I've been dreading it. I spent the last few weeks trying to figure out what I was going to do with my smelly car. I've purchased different kinds of air fresheners, all to no avail. I've been thinking about taking it in and having all the filters replaced to see if that helped. If it didn't, I was going to either have to gut the car and replace everything, or trade it in on something different.

So, you can imagine my relief when I realized that the smell was coming from my sunglasses. Or rather, my sunglass case. Apparently the case got a lot of sweat on it during the mountain biking trip, and the stale sweat has been permeating the air in my car for the last several weeks. Understandably, the smell is especially strong when I first take my sunglasses out of the case and put them on. Hence the reason I'm the only one who can smell it. (But I do still have a turbo nose.)

I'm just glad I can wash the sunglass case rather than having to go out and buy a new car.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can send you a car 'bomb' with a new car scent...or one that is just neutral. It takes out everything...including smoke.
We used to have to do that all the time. Also, turn off your ac before you turn your car off. I heard that can make it smell when the heater/ac is on.

Jenny said...

See, I would have replaced the car AND the sunglasses.

AnoMALIE said...

Turbo nose?
Man... I'd consider that a curse in this city... or a bus... or any crowded room for that matter.

You poor soul.

mindy said...

hahahaha!! That is a fabulous story. Maybe if your nose were less turbo, the glasses wouldn't have gotten so sweaty in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where the parking attendant parks Jerry's car for him and leaves a B.O smell that permeates the car? Not only that, but it takes on a life of it's own, and each time they get in the car, the smell is worse. See..now if you could just write a sitcom to go with your life. My mind is whirring with possible names for it. :)
Delirious

Native Minnow said...

Delirious, I linked to that episode's summary - that's why you need to follow the links ;-)

Anonymous said...

LOL!! That's kinda gross. Hehe!