Snapita

sna·pi·ta [snæˈ pee tuh]

–noun
1. a needlessly complex or complicated situation. Similar to snafu, except that it means "Situation normal: a pain in the ass."

[Origin: February 9, 2008. David R. Gamble]


Given the reverse chronological order of blog postings, you may not yet know that I ended the preceding post thusly:

At least the weather is good enough to get the Miata out for some much needed exercise, so I'm taking a break.

As is normal for my lot in life, that turned out to be not as easy as could have been hoped. I moved the tractor out of the way, which ironically enough started quite easily. The tractor moves from the outdoor shed to the garage in the winter to keep the battery from dying, and that is where the irony comes in: the Miata battery was deader than the hopes and dreams of the typical first round American Idol contestant.

Badly in need of a jump start, in other words.

Co-pilot Egg was in attendance, and in one of the multitudinous ways in which she has exhibited accelerated development, she completed the transition from "Daddy knows everything" to "Daddy could replace the village idiot in any domicile of his choosing" quite awhile ago.

"Ah," I thought, "here's an opportunity to elevate my standing in her eyes. Surely I can jump start a car quite easily, an act which must indeed impress even such a mentally acute specimen as Ms. Egg."

Well, here's the deal: if you're counting on impressing a young woman with your automotive acumen by reinvigorating a dead motor, you should probably ascertain the precise location of the battery before commencing. Because, as it turns out, the battery in a Miata is in the trunk. And no amount of searching about under the hood is going to find it, at least not in the brief window of opportunity allowed by today's impatient youth.

Alas. Snapita.