The Great Tire Change @ Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2004

I got a flat on my way home. Just as I was turning onto the on ramp I ran over one of those things that holds your trunk closed when you're bringing home something unweldy. Of course, one of the S hooks buried itself in the rubber.

I pulled over, traffic flying by, and pulled it out to hear immediate hissing. Within seconds my tire was flat. Hindsight being 20/20 and all I realize that I should have ripped the band off the hook, left in in the tire and drove to a gas station. But nooooo...I took it out.

I'm good a changing tires and have done it a million times but had never changed a tire on this car. But I pulled the jack and my spare out of the trunk, cursed a lot and went to work on the bolts. Which wouldn't move. I paused to look at the jack and it made no sense to me.

I called Curtis because he lives closest and he and Rush showed up a few minutes later.

It took over an hour.

I was parked in the grass on the berm and, due to all of the rain, the ground was soft and my jack didn't have enough surface area so it kept tipping over. They got the tire off but couldn't get the new one on. Curtis wanted to call a tow truck but I didn't really want to shell out fifty or sixty bucks to have my tire changed. Rush cut that down as well - for the same reason. Plus I think he felt a little guilty for not realizing that my car was in the grass and asking me to move it before the took the flat off. Luckily there was a Tire Kingdom a few yards away. I called and introduced myself as the one witht he flat in front of their store. The guy said, had there not been a fence between him and highway, he would've already been over to help which was nice. Anyway, he met us out at the fence and I told him what the problem was. Then he went back into the shop for a loooong time. We stood around the car smoking and mostly not talking about how the hell we were going to get the tire back on.

The guy, Jonathan, came back out and offered his industrial jack which he and another guy carried and lifted over the fence. Ten minutes later I was driving away.

Curtis, sexist pig that he is, said I owed him two blow jobs. "I was thinking more like a six pack of beer on your desk in the morning," I replied. The bastard moaned and compained throughout the whole tire changing event. Rush, who I have a new respect for, never said a word and sluffed it off every time I thanked them. He didn't even worry about getting dirt on his clean, white work shirt.

And I didn't even have to deal with getting it plugged tonight because, luckily, VWs come with a full sized spare. But I won't procrastinate. I'll actually get it plugged tomorrow. But I think I'll keep it for my spare rather than putting the new tire back in the trunk.

I was so tired when I got home. Not that I did a whole lot but standing in the sun, with itchy allergy ridden eyes, really wore me out. Of course now, when I'd like to go to bed and get a good night's sleep, now I'm not tired at all.

Surprise surprise.

But I don't think I'll say that things are boring anymore. Karma gave me something to do since I'd complained and I'm not too happy about it.