Earlier this week, I brought my Infiniti I30 in for service at the Infiniti dealer. My car, purchased on my birthday in October 1999, now has over 145,000 miles on it.  It has performed very well over the years.  Outside of normal maintenance issues, I have had little concern that when I turned the ignition key, the engine would start.  When I pressed on the gas pedal, the car moved; and when I pressed on the brake, the car stopped – pretty simple and straightforward.

Everything was okay … until just a few weeks ago.       

“There are a trumpet player and a trombone player just checking in,” he said, placing an internal phone call to a colleague in the second-floor hotel executive offices during what is called “the shoulder season.”

The periods between ski seasons and summer seasons are called the “mud” or “shoulder seasons.”  Usually, local vendors close their enterprises and use these periods to rest, recuperate and renew for the following busy seasons leaving little to do for tourists who aren’t interested in golf, hiking or fly-fishing.