Replacing the Bulb is About Thirty Seconds of Work
So, on Thursday one of my coworkers told me that one of my brakelights was out (left driver's side). So, when I got home, I jammed a snow brush on the brake and sure enough, he was right. The tail light still worked though, and that was part of the same 2-filament bulb. Since I wanted to wait until I had daylight to fix this, I waited until Saturday to do the work.

So, Saturday afternoon I undid the wingnuts and removed the rear driver side light cluster (since that's the only way to access the bulbs) and pulled out the offending bulb. I then took a walk to the local Autozone, where it turned out that carrying the bulb with me was unnecessary and not really helpful anyway. When I got back it was a bit dark and cloudy, so I sat in the car while I opened the package (just in case there were important notes on the packaging. There weren't.) and stuck the fresh bulb in the old bulb carrier. Then I got out of the car and habitually locked the door.

Then, when I went to open the trunk, I realized the keys were sitting on the passenger seat. After checking the doors on the off chance a passenger had forgotten to lock the door and I hadn't caught it, (nope) and checking the trunk in case it was down but not latched, like sometimes happens if I slam it (nope), I got out my AAA card. At which point I got nervious because the expiration date was in December (and I had been putting off sending in the next payment because there was no spot on the stub for change of address). Then I checked my watch and noticed I still had 5 days left on the old card. So, I called and told them my membership number, where I was, the make and model of the car, and they told me to wait for up to 45 minutes.

While I wait, I consider what I can do to pass the time. I could go sit in my apartment, except I locked my keys in my car. I could go check the mailbox, except I locked my keys in my car. I could top off the windshield washer fluid, except I locked my keys in my car. I decided to lean up against the support post for the carport.

An hour later, the flatbed tow-truck shows up, and after the formalities of giving him my membership information and a signature, he pulls out his tools from the back seat of his truck. After fishing one end of his fancy coathanger under the window and inside the car, he spent a few minutes trying to push the door latch to unlock the door (and I didn't remember until hours later that he could have just tried to pull the handle with the tool) he finally got the passenger door open and handed me my keys, which I immediately used to unlock the driver's side door. Then, when he tried to get his tool out, it got caught on something in the door, and there was a bit of jiggling and then the window shattered.

Using the snow brush from the trunk, and a dustpan and trashbag grabbed from my apartment (since I could get in it now), and a pair of gloves he had in his truck, he cleaned up most of the glass. It was another hour or so before the second truck from his company showed up with the roll of automobile-grade plastic wrap to cover up the window. I got a business card and gave the driver all of my contact information, but the office doesn't open until 8 am Monday, so I have to wait until then. The driver of the second truck also chastized the first driver for keeping his tools in the warm cab instead of the boxes on the outside, although I really doubt there was enough surface area on the tool or heat in the rubber tip to have caused the problem. I find it more likely that the natural springiness of the tool caused it to hit the window hard when it finally came unstuck.

Oh and yes, my brake lights work now.