Ready, Steady, Go...
After dealing with my car these past couple of weeks, I am more than ready for a vacation of any sort. So I'm thankful that I just happen to have a trip to Chicago planned for this weekend, starting tomorrow. It's another family wedding--this time for my cousin Shawn. If I wasn't so ready to go, I'd question the logic in having a wedding in December in the Chicagoland area. Ah well, I'll just have to take the impending cold like a man (layer up!) and try to enjoy myself. Life can be so tough sometimes...
After years of putting it off and convincing myself that I didn't need one, I now own a cellular phone. It's a tiny thing that I picked up at Best Buy--it's maybe a quarter the size of my Palm when it's folded. And so far, I haven't managed to lose it! It's fun to play with, too, though I always enjoy playing with my new toys.
So what was it that convinced me to get a cell phone? My car, of course. I was on 540 driving to my folks' place to take a good look at the car when the left front tire blew out. Of course I was in the right-hand lane when it blew so I rolled one lane over to the shoulder without disrupting traffic. That's when the fun began. Did you know that when the tire company puts new tires on, they use some sort of pnuematic lug wrench to screw them tight? I found out when I tried to loosen them on the highway. So, for the next 30 minutes there I was, butt sticking out too close to traffic for my tastes, jumping up and down on the L-wrench that came with the car as a part of its tire changing package in a mostly vain effort to loosen those nuts. I had gotten 3 loosened up when help arrived. The guy that showed up (a wiry fellow) worked at one of the local shops, so it was child's play to finish the job. So, roughly 5 minutes (and one prayer as "payment") later, the donut was installed and I was back on the road.
To make a long story short, my parents decided to pay for new tires (Merry Christmas!), and my car is currently fixed and in good shape. Now I just need to figure out the warranty situation, and things will be back to normal!