smacky and bucky

Been away for a while. Not having fun, don't worry. I've been going through a series of misadventures, coupled with illness.

Friday morning, 6:30 AM, I was happily on my way to work. Alas, it was not to be. Five blocks from my house I got a flat tire. No problem, I think, I can change a tire. I get the spare and jack out of the trunk and encounter my first snag: no lug wrench. You need the lug wrench to remove the lug nuts that hold the tire. Rats. I walk the five blocks back to the house and borrow the lug wrench out of my wife's car. Turned around and walked the five blocks back to the car. I started to remove the lug nuts when I hit snag number 2: One of the four lug nuts is a strange shape. The wrench doesn't fit on it. What the hell? It's now 7 AM. I call into work and leave a message on my supervisor's voicemail, telling her I'm calling in sick. (Don't tell, okay? I didn't have any more personal days, and I had over a month and a half of sick days after three years of never taking one.)

I walked back to the house and my wife was just starting to wake up. I got her sister's number from her and tried to reach her to talk to her husband (it's his car, you see.) The phone goes directly to voicemail without ringing. It continues to do that until 8, when she turns her phone on. I explain the situation and she hands the phone to her husband. He explains that they are lock nuts, and the dealership installed them about a month ago, and the "key" and the lug wrench are in the trunk, or perhaps the glovebox. I walk five blocks back again and check the car, removing everything and lifting up the carpet to check. Emptied the glovebox, checked under the seats. Nothing. Call him back and he says the dealership must have forgotten to put it in the trunk. I walk five blocks home again and check the internet for the nearest dealership. There's one about ten miles from the house. They say they can remove the lock nuts with the "master key" they have, but it might be an hour before they have time for someone to do it.

I walk six blocks to the nearest auto parts store and buy four regular lug nuts and a can of "fix-a-flat." Walk eight blocks total back to the car. I put the "fix-a-flat" stuff in the tire and it gets about 75% full. Enough to drive on, but not too far. I drive slowly to the dealership. It's about 9:45 AM now.

I explain that I had called and want them to remove all four lock nuts and replace them with the regular lug nuts I brought with me (this post might win an award for most uses of the word "nuts.") I wait about 20 minutes and someone comes out with a pneumatic drill and the master key, removes all four lock nuts and hands them to me. I put them in the center console. He also puts air in the formerly flat tire to get me home. I end up getting home a little before 11 AM.
And that was Friday.

Over the weekend I was sick. I caught a cold somewhere, somehow. Congested, runny nose, etc. The weather was beautiful, but I felt like crap and slept a lot.

This morning I drove to a tire place and got there when it opened at 7 AM. Left the car and walked fifteen blocks to my office. Worked through lunch, busting ass to finish a project and get it to production. Finished at 2:59 and left at three to walk fifteen blocks back to the tire place. The car now has four new tires.

So between work, illness, and tire trauma, I haven't had a moment to blog. Now I'm slightly less congested, $573.83 poorer (my brother-in-law has fancy sport tires in a weird size and a lot of places don't carry them. Isn't that nice?), and my hands are cramped from typing so much, both at work and this right here.

Hopefully a little calmer and happier this week.