replacing the prius battery

I've been exceptionally crazy recently:

• I haven't heard back on a job I applied for (and I didn't know how much I wanted it until after the interview was over);
  
• My mother, recently widowed, is moving away from all her friends, and a life she loves, in North Carolina, to live closer to my sister in Buffalo, NY. She's going to be in a supported-living apartment, but I don't think she's going to have anything like the life she is leaving... but it's also not my decision to make;
  
• Our kitchen, which has been without countertop, sink, or dishwasher for a week while we've been having new cabinets installed, is expected to continue in this condition for another two weeks. I've been not drinking enough (because it's hard to filter our bad-tasting water) and eating junk (because I've got to wash any dishes in the bathtub);
  
• And I just have this general sense of malaise, for no reason I can figure out.

So I've got to take achievement where I can.

Last week, I was at work early, and left the radio on in the Prius until the office doors opened at 7:30 am. The radio clicked off unexpectedly, and I had a hard time getting the car's computer to work properly again (although after it sat for a bit, the car started OK). The auxiliary battery test was inconclusive, but I decided that the inconclusive-ness of the test was reason enough to change the auxiliary battery. The OEM battery was $196, and the recommended after-market battery was $180 plus shipping, so I went with the OEM battery, which came in today.

The auxiliary battery in the Prius is under the back hatch (there's a 600-volt battery under the back seat that runs the electric engine, but that one doesn't go bad for over 200,000 miles). To replace it, you remove one of the wires, unplugging the wire from the brake booster at the same time. Then you remove a duct, followed by the removal of the other wire, and the battery harness... after which you can lift out the battery. Then you reverse the process (it takes about nine nuts and bolts). When you start the car again, presuming it's all hooked up, you've got to reset your radio stations, and fill up with gas again to reset the gauge. It's a gazillion-step process.

But it made me feel competent at something for the first time in days. I'm the Thomas Alva Edison of my condo association.