How Many College Degrees Does it Take to Change a Car Battery?!?!

Since my new car is scheduled to arrive on October 18 it's only natural that today, 8 days before its arrival, my car battery would die and I would have to buy a new one. I shouldn't even be shocked, it seems about right. This is not the funny part of the story, however, the funny part is Brian and I trying to change the battery ourselves!!!

While changing a car battery seems like a simple enough task it's kind of daunting if you've never done it yourself. We started with the idea that we would jumpstart my car and drive it over to the shop a few blocks away. We popped the hood on my car, located the battery, got out the jumper cables, popped the hood on Brian's car, and CRAP!! Where is the battery?!?! I realize that this seems ridiculous but we could not find the battery, dang German cars and their fancy motors. Everything under the hood is covered by a fancy plate-thing and we could figure out how to get underneath it to where the battery would logically be.

Without his battery we were left with the dilemma of changing the battery ourselves, which is truly hilarious because combined we have ZERO knowledge of the interworkings of a car. So we headed to Auto Zone used the book in the battery section to pick out the right battery, I picked out some tools, and we paid and headed home. When we got home we googled instructions for how to change a battery on a Jeep Liberty and got some pretty good instructions. Once we started taking out the old battery we realized that I bought the Standard measurement wrenches and we needed Metric measurement wrenches. Since when does anything American involve the metric system? So I headed back to Auto Zone for the metric tools and the necessary socket and rachet.

When I got back home we took out the fuse as directed in the instructions, it should be noted that my first fuse removal operation did not go well. I had to buy a new one because I broke it during the removal. Then Brian removed the old battery and installed the new one while I read him directions from my iPhone while wearing huge safety goggles for fear that the battery acid would spew all over me. Safety first, right? Then I headed back to Auto Zone to get my money back from the old battery and buy a new fuse. And, Voila, a new battery. It only took us 2 hours and 3 trips to Auto Zone. And the online tutorial said it could be done in 15-30 minutes:)

Reflecting on the things that I DIDN'T learn in college,