Misreading Dials and Other Nonsense

Yesterday at work I was finishing a repair. Specifically, I was reinstalling a pulley on a motor. But darn it all, I couldn't find the set screw which was necessary to secure the pulley to the motor shaft. I finally gave up and got another screw, which promptly would not start at the threaded place designed especially for it. 

It wouldn't start because the original set screw was in the way. It had already been started. By me. How am I supposed to find things when they're already where they should be?

As if that wasn't enough, as I drove out to Ferndale to make a delivery I noticed the tiny sliver of a red arm on a gauge on the dashboard had approached the high mark. Just what I need, methinks, the motor is running hot or some such debacle. Yet closer inspection showed it was the gas gauge, doing its job by letting me know I had 7/8 of a tank of gas. No overheating, no low oil pressure, no engine issue at all. You've got gas, Marty, exactly as you should. 

Some days...

 

The polar opposite

As I related yesterday, I took my van to my mechanic. He tuned it up and it's running great. Yet there's still something wrong.
Driving home, I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't quite right. It drove smoothly and accelerated well. It did better than it's done in a long time in fact. I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem though.
That's when I noticed this blank spot on the dashboard. That blank spot didn't look right at all. I wondered what it could be. I began to worry about what it could be.
Then I realized that my service engine soon light was not on. My mechanic had tuned up the van, and that apparently caused the warning light to stay off. So today, right after stating that I did not worry about idiot lights begin on, I'm concerned about the fact that one particular idiot light, one that I'm very used to being on, is off.
It'll be weeks now before I'm really comfortable driving the thing. Maybe I should have left well enough alone.