So my car died this morning...

Yeah, fun times. It's something battery or alternator related (or both).

I got to work OK, and then at lunch, my friend Katie and I decided to try to jump it and then she would follow me to an autoparts store to try installing a new battery. I got as far as the left-turn lane at a major intersection when it died, refused to restart, refused to hold a charge, refused to go into neutral so we could not push it off the road (even if we had wanted to, and we didn't since it's pretty huge).

Standing on the median with my friend, Katie, for half an hour proved quite illuminating. We carried out a bit of an impromptu sociological experiment. Here's what we learned:

- Most people ignored us and just maneuvered on around us.
- 2 people flipped off (yes, really! I guess they take breakdowns a little personally).
- One guy in a BMW gave major attitude, sighing heavily and resting his head on his hands on steering wheel in frustration when we explained the car was not moving because it was disabled (the raised hood, open door and two women standing next to it on the median had apparently not alerted him to the situation).
- Only four people of the dozens of cars that passed us even bothered to ask if we needed help. One was a woman on her own, one was a teenager, one was a young 20-ish guy (who parked his car in a nearby parking lot and ran out to the median to talk to us!), and one was a guy in a truck.
- Many, many men and groups of men that looked like they could have handled pushing the car out of traffic drove by and ignored us.
- Katie is willing to pretend to talk on her cellphone for significant periods of time in order to look like she is doing something proactive in a crisis.
- I, on the other hand, am willing to stand there looking helpless, perhaps even whimpering. My brain stops functioning in this kind of situation and I cannot be relied on to make simple decisions and must therefore have Katie with me at all times.
- And the tow truck driver who eventually showed up to help us (after telling us he was right around the corner then taking 1/2 hour to show up) is a member of the Hells Angel, according to his jacket.

We think we'll write it up as a master's thesis, but first, we need to go out and do it again and see what the results are like if we flash a little boob...