First task was to get up early--same time as during the week. Blech. But, I had to get Oldest to school so they could go to Tuscaloosa for the honor choir performance. This turned out to be a much bigger deal than I thought.
Anyway, they were going down early because they had two separate three-hour rehearsals at the venue prior to the show, so I had to get her there. Early. Did I mention that? It was very early.
BUT, to her credit, she was ready to go and we weren't late.
Dropped her off, then went Wal-Mart shopping! Hooray! I was looking for car stuff, since the rest of the day was going to be spend playing with the Swede. Got myself a nice collapsible lug wrench--it has one, but it looks to be of dubious utility--some windshield washer fluid, some spray paint for the rear parcel tray that's faded to something of a non-photo blue color, and a visor organizer so my visor will be organized, and some vinyl repair stuff so I can see about fixing that little hole in my armrest.
Then back to home, where Reba and the kids had awoken and had begun eating breakfast.
After greeting everyone, I told Reba that I was going to install my new dashboard.
"You're going to work on the car?"
Hmm. I thought that's what I said.
"I'm going to work on the car."
"Well, if you want to work on something, would you PLEASE do me a favor and check the brakes on the Focus because it sounds like it's dying."
::sigh::
There is no "just check." There is only "tear the thing apart in the driveway and take up the entire bleeding day doing boring work on the Focus when I could be doing exciting things with an old hunk of junk."
"Hmm. Well. Okay. I'm going to have to take it somewhere, because it'll take me forever to do here."
::sigh::
Looked through the phone book--ever since Alignment by Ingram went tango uniform, I haven't been able to find any place I really trust. Figured I'd take it to one of the mid-sized chain places over by Lowe's.
Onward.
Got almost there, and decided at the last minute to try one of the local shops in the same area. My theory being it's hard to have a nice building if all you do is alienate customers. They either are really good, or have a way of covering up their ineptitude with a satisfactory layer of prevarication.
Two hours to diagnose.
::sigh::
Maybe I can get Reba to come get me, and I can go ahead and get started on my dashboard replacement!
Call, and she's on her way.
One hour later, after I have looked at every single wheel, every single tire, and every single gospel tract in the waiting room, and drank two Diet Cokes, I thought it might be good to call and see if she was any closer to coming and getting me.
Call, she's just gotten out of the shower.
::sigh::
Wait some more. Watched Jack Hannah bother animals. Watched some guy in a short-sleeved jacket and turtleneck bother animals. Looked at all the tires and wheels again. OH, look--they're taking the car around to be looked at!
Wait.
Finally the guy has the verdict--nothing wrong with the brakes. Huhwha? I describe the sound of the noise--something of a low-pitched groaning, and ending graunch. I was slightly self-conscious of myself, being that there was a very attractive older lady standing beside me who needed to get the key to the restroom, and there I was taking up time with my picayune concerns and making car voices.
No matter--they were able to solve both of our problems. Seems mine wasn't the brakes, but rather the effect of having two tires nearly worn to tatters and a mis-aligned rear end. And the car was in bad shape, too! (Badump-bump-tsheee!) So, replace the tires, right?
"Well, let's see...hmm, well, we just got one in that size."
::shakes fist at Murphy::
"Uh, hmm. Well, I guess I could run up to Sam's and get a couple and then come back."
First rule of business--never let the customer walk.
"We can get one in just a little while, and that way you won't have to take it anywhere else."
Despite the fact that I could have gotten some pretty black tires from Sam's for about the same price as his single tire, I relented. I was tired of tires, and just wanted to go home and work on my Volvo. This dashboard thing, after all, wasn't something I had ever done before, and I knew it was going to take some time, and we were going to have to break things up early anyway so we could get ready and drive down to Tuscaloosa for the concert.
"Well, okay, fine, go ahead and get them."
Still no Reba, by the way. It was now fully two hours since I had called her.
I waited some more, and decided to go out into the shop to see the tires that came off. Sure enough, they were in bad shape. One side was all cupped up, the other sporting a shiny steel strip showing through the tread. The phone in my pocket rang.
"I'm here!"
I looked up through the glass door to see the Odyssey parked out on the other side. Thank heavens. Maybe some time to play.
"You want to go up to the store with Catherine and me? We've got some CHRISTMAS shopping to do, right Cat!"
"RIGHT, MOM!"
Me, being a moron, figured this would take about ten minutes, and then we'd go home. I got them to drop me at the bookstore, where I purchased a calendar of drawings of classical architecture for myself for one of the kids to give me for Christmas, then walked down to TJ Maxx.
More than an hour later, we were finally ready to go. I have never been so miserable waiting for something--Cat was wandering all over the store, Reba was buying things that cost money, and all the while, I could have been doing SOMEthing. ANYthing! Even if it was LAUNDRY! As it was, I was just there.
Back to the car place, where the car was all ready. Reba went on back home, I paid more money that I don't have, then went and filled up the gas tank, then ran to the library to check to see if that video I talked about earlier would play, then on to home.
Next: VOLVO TIME! Yay.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 7, 2005 11:08 AM