13 October 2007

New Tires Were NOT On The Birthday Wishlist

Friday morning I woke up to a flat tire. Not the way I wanted to start the day. It didn't help that I was already running a bit late to work. Additionally, my father had left two hours earlier to go camping with the Boy Scouts and wouldn't be back until Saturday evening. I managed to get him on his cell phone just long enough to find out where his air compressor was located but not long enough to find out how the tire attachment went on. And from then on he was out of the coverage area. Well, after spending 40 minutes fighting with the air compressor and getting nowhere, and another twenty minutes finding my mini air compressor that runs out of the cigarette lighter and realizing it was in no way up to the job, I decided to just put on the spare and go to Les Schwab. After getting everything I needed from my trunk, I went to work. I didn't get very far because the lug nuts had apparently been screwed on by a Titan. I stood on the wrench and couldn't get the lug nuts to move one little bit. At this point I indulged in a minor temper tantrum that might have included any combination of the following: screams of rage, tears, jumping up and down on the air compressor's tubing, and generally behaving like Catherine Earnshaw-Linton. Also, every adolescent male in the neighborhood, having the day off from school, was not at home. Finally I had to call some friends of my parents and the wife tracked down her husband at work and he came over. While he magically made the air compressor and attachment work, we discovered that a hole had been ripped in the sidewall, so the tire wouldn't hold aire. Back to the tire-changing plan. He also could not get the lug nuts to move until he bounced on the wrench, reinforced with a steel pipe, for a few minutes. It is quite an image to see a middle-aged man in loafers balance on wrench. So finally we got the tire changed and I was on my way to Les Schwab. But not before checking the other tires and realizing all of them were in some state of near-baldness. Les Schwab confirmed that the tire could not be repaired. Also, they didn't have a tire that was the same size as mine, so I couldn't just buy one. I had to buy four new, slightly larger, tires. Which took up all of the money I was saving for my California shopping-spree in two weeks. I could be bitter, but I decided to just think of it as buying new shoes for my car. My car deserves new shoes, right?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least yours didn't go flat as you were driving. That's how I realized I needed to change my front tires. Then the same thing happened to the back tires a few months later. Sorry about the savings. At least you had something to fall back on!

Anonymous said...

And I had to use half my Christmas bonus last year to fix all the brakes. At least it's like new now ;)

Heather said...

What a great attitude you have! Yes.. new shoes for your car.. the ultimate gift from the girl who LOVES shoes. So nice of you. Now you will be stylin' together :)

I giggled at the description of your tamtrum.. hmmm.. I would have done EXACTLY the same thing.. only I'm possitive there would have been some swearing from me.. (maybe you left that out? :)

maybe daddy #2 (your dad) will give you that allowance you deserve? it's never too late to start getting an allowance right?

ZB said...

Oh sista! totally been there. More times than I'd like to count. In highschool, my dad used to make me rotate the tires on my honda on a regular basis so that if and WHEN I got a flat tire, I'd have the system down. He probably timed me as well. Of course, I never did it in work clothes! So, you got me there. As for getting new "shoes" for your car...I say, next time get the red ones with sparkles.

Treat Queen said...

I like the new shoes for your car. Everyone deserves new shoes. Next time you can't get your tires off, try beating them with something. One time, I couldn't get my tire off and I smacked it with a cinder block. Worked like a charm. And makes you feel better too ;-)

Scully said...

Heather, you were right about my dad. Today when I was balancing my check book and looking at my account online, he had put money in it. He told me he wanted me to have fun in CA. How awesome is my dad? Also, there was suprisingly little profanity in the temper tantrum. I think I was too mad to verbalize the rage, you know.

Luckily, ZB, I noticed my flat pulling out of the driveway, so I managed to get back to my garage. And I definitely changed clothes before doing anything else. Plus, 'work clothes' at my office equal jeans and t-shirts. I think I was the only one all summer who didn't wear flip flops. There are some definite perks to my job.

Missy said...

Wow, you should pitch your "tires are shoes" to (Brand Name Tire) company!!! And bravo on the minimum use of profanity. I am pretty sure that one would have put me over my quota for the day. ;)

Heather said...

Wow.. that is awesome that your dad did that! He's such a good dad...for more reasons than that of course. My dad only takes money out of my account :) Good thing he doesn't have access to my accounts now! He'd probably make me pay him back for all those diapers he bought me 28 years ago!

I'm kidding. I shouldn't tease him so.

Your trip to CA will be so fun!