Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Perils of Sunroofy Goodness

For years, I've said that the best part about living in Massachusetts is that you get to experience all the seasons. Sure, occasionally, it seems like we skip right the hell over spring, but not this year. This year we've had a string of great days that are just the kind of weather I like: mid-60's, light breeze and cloudless. Apparently that's everyday in San Diego, but I assume you would get spoiled by that weather all the time.

Well, yesterday was one of those days. It was gorgeous out. So, as I was out doing various errands, I really wanted to open the sunroof in my truck. The only problem is that it's high pollen season here in Massachusetts. As a result my truck has been covered in spores and looks like someone poured yellow chalk dusk all over my car. I figured that I shouldn't risk opening the sunroof just yet. Once I got home, however, I hosed down my car and got most of the pollen off. Then I took heavy-duty spray cleaner and cleaned the sunroof from both inside and outside of the truck. It worked great and the window was spotless. Next time I had to go out I was all set to open the sunroof and enjoy the nice day. Almost.

You see, I love my truck. It's got all the bells, whistles and stupid little extra features that a guy like me, who is not really a car guy, just loves. There is just one thing that I forgot to take into account: the sunroof deflector. This piece of plastic sits in the front of the sunroof and acts as a rain shield so that the window doesn't rust and leak on the edge. Also, it has movable slots in the middle so you could actually force wind into the car for extra circulation (fancy, I know). What I forgot is that the deflector actually has another function: pollen collector. I had only given the roof of the truck a token spray with the hose in an attempt to get the large clumps of pollen off. I hadn't thought to get in close and get under the deflector. As a result, there were lots of little pieces of pollen under the shield and when I opened the sunroof and started driving they all started raining into my car.

I got covered in this crap. Pollen, pieces of leaves - even a couple tiny bugs: they all started falling into my truck. Now, another thing you may not know about me is that I am pretty crazed about keeping the interior of my truck clean. It's not like I won't let people eat in my truck... they just can't eat anything that may cause crumbs. I just like to keep a clean vehicle; it's an extension of my neat-freakness. So, as you can imagine, I was not happy with this little storm of crap being kicked up into my driver's seat.

Let this serve as a lesson, boys and girls: make sure you clean all around your sunroof before you open it.

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