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| Blogs > Canus2011 > Adventure my ass! |
A whole bunch of randomness
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A whole bunch of randomness Yes, the Canus "reality blog" has a ton of randomness in it today. The Highlander-zit apparently lost out to a greater zit and it moved on to a somewhere in Peoria. I skipped the Christmas party anyway on Saturday, stayed home and did a suck-movie marathon instead (and I did some doozies: "Ghost Rider" "Fantastic Four" and sequels). I DID make plans for Christmas Day though ...I will be spending it with my next older brother and his wife's family. It's not really what I would tally up to my idea of a "fun Christmas" but it's better than staying home alone I guess. I really do miss my brother since he moved to Florida, so I need to take advantage of when he IS here. I'm not sure where all my motivation came from yesterday, but I guess I just decided that I had a little bit. The high for the day was supposed to be 61 degrees, and it was about 66; the sun was shining, the birds were singing ...and I've been procrastinating on a bunch of car work for a very long time. My old car had a battery that was no good, wiper blades that wouldn't pass an inspection, and a broken rear-view mirror mount. The new car ...well, lets just say that in the last ten years, auto shop guys haven't become any less full of shit. Back when AuntiE was still here, I took her to a doctor appointment and when in the parking garage I heard the brakes making some funny noises ("and not of the "...so a duck walks into a bar" variety). It wasn't the sound of metal on metal, but it wasn't a good sound either; just the squeaking/rubbing sound that usually means it's time to at least have a look at them. Last week I was driving by the place that put the tires on, so I stopped in to see if they could do a balance and rotate and let me have a look at the brakes; as luck had it, they were able to get me in at that very moment. I guess that it should have been a bit of a clue when they called me out to look at one of the rims that they told me it was bent. I went out and looked at it while he spun it ...and well ...it wasn't bent. At all (not even a LITTLE). At first, I thought maybe he had the wrong tire on the machine ...he asked if I wanted an estimate, and I told him no. I looked at the brakes and they looked fine as well, but the same guy said that the inner pads were worn really badly. The whole "this is the same guy that told me the rim was bent" didn't really occur to me since I already thought it probably needed brakes anyway. So back to yesterday, when I was getting the battery adjusted ...oh, and this is great! I hadn't driven my old car anywhere since well before Mom passed away (I jumped if off to move it once when I needed the spot it was parked in, but other than that, nada); I put it on the charger a few days ago and it wouldn't even light the lights the next morning. I took the thing in and it had exactly one week left on the "free replacement" period, so I got the battery for free. Given that it's been toast for months and I've just been lazy about it since I haven't actually needed it ...I'll just count myself fortunate. I also picked up the brakes for the other car. When I got back here to the house and jacked the car up and pulled the brakes off ...they were fine for the most part. Maybe 50% worn at the worst; already having the new brakes in hand, I figured I might as well just put them on and not worry about it later. Honestly, it took longer to take the tires on and off than it did to swap the brake pads, and like I said ....now I won't need to worry about it. Still a bit aggravating that I took the shithead at the tire place at his word though; I usually know better. The battery in the other car turned out to be a little bit more of a pain. Before I pulled the battery out the trunk of the other car, I noticed how bad of a shape one of the cables was in, so I decided to run back to the parts house and get a new cable end. Aggravating, but I got back, replaced the cable end, and when I went to put the battery in ...they had given me the WRONG ONE! So I had to turn around and go right back ...he didn't input the change into the computer, so I hope it won't come back and bite me in the ass later, but meh (it'll show the exchange, and it will be obvious from the numbers that it was the wrong one to anyone with half a brain ...which unfortunately rules out about half the employees there). I brought the correct one back, put it in and the car fired up on the first try; I didn't like the looks of the time, so I didn't mess with taking it in for an inspection ...that much can wait a few more days I guess. The last order of business still kills me. The mount for the rear view mirror has been broken on the old Nissan for ages. I had used epoxy on it and it held for a year or two, but it finally broke again a little while before I stopped driving it (it was actually in the heat of the summer and the epoxy literally melted out of it). For grins, I looked it up online ...and for the record, this particular car has a very unusual and model-specific mount. Most of the search results were for aftermarket replacements (that wouldn't have worked anyway), but the one that stood out was a picture of exactly what I needed on "Flea-bay" ...and was also exactly the reason I tell people to fucking avoid Flea-bay. They wanted $35 for it! ...this tiny little piece of plastic with four holes in it, and they wanted $35 for a USED piece of plastic. Some dummy apparently knew exactly how specific it was and wanted to make a buck or thirty. I called the dealer ...they'll have it in tomorrow and it cost less than eight bucks brand fucking new. There was a day when I hated the dealerships, but when it comes to parts I've become a bit of a convert over recent years for this very reason. You know the part will work when you get it from the dealer. Sometimes they are even cheaper depending on the part. So the car business is done for the most part ...I will have both cars able to be moved so I can park the old pickup in the garage next week and hopefully get it running soon. That's a story for another day and a point of angst, but I needed the other cars out of the way, and I had the perfect weather day to do it. Figures that it's been raining all morning, but tells me that I made an awesome call on getting it all done yesterday. Cheers all! |
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