Auto Maniacal

Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. Today was one of those days.

I woke up this morning and was feeling rather chipper. I mean, I took the weekend off from some of my less desirous activities so I was well rested and ready to attack the workweek. Sure, there wasn’t the happy walking music going on in the background but things were fine. To put it nicely, while I didn’t get dressed thinking “My life is perfect” I was definitely thinking “My life doesn’t suck.”

Got to my car and did my usual Monday morning ritual. Throw the five random CDs on the passenger seat. Throw my briefcase on the backseat. Pulled onto my driveway and I had a feeling that something was amiss. The first idea was the fact that it sounded like I was dragging a large object behind me. The second thing to catch my attention was the fact that my car was listing to the left much more than normal. Stopped the car, got out, and discovered my left front tire was flat. (Full disclosure, it had looked low for three months and I never bothered to get it checked out. Like I’ve always said, a lot of people have called me smart over the years but no one has ever called me intelligent.)

So, I pull back into my garage, go back to my apartment and change from dress casual to shorts and a t-shirt, and start pulling out the spare and the jack. Then the following thoughts enter my mind: 1) I’m an engineer, I can handle this, 2) Actually, I’m an electrical engineer and have no training in this side of the field, 3) I’ve never changed a tire by myself before, 4) There is a very high probability that I will injure either myself or the car in the process, and 5) There is an auto shop three blocks from my apartment that can help me out. I decide that step 5 is the prudent course of action and walk down to the shop, talk to the owner, and figure that there is enough air in the tire to be able to drive it to the shop. Which I do and they patch it up while I go and get a cup of coffee across the street from a barista with dyed red hair wearing a Rainbow Brite t-shirt. Talking to her was easily the highlight of my day.

I get the tire patched and I figure that I’m late for work but not that late. I’m pretty proud of myself, as I figured out the quickest solution to the problem. Get to the office, park my car and tell myself that I’ll go and check on the car over lunch just to make sure that everything is ok. Of course, get caught up in a project and don’t make it back to my car until six o’clock as I’m leaving work. From about thirty yards away I look at my car and I get that feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when you realize that you have walked into a bad situation and every step is only going to make things worse.

Left front tire: flat. Left rear tire: flat. On the plus side, at least this time I don’t need to worry about mucking about with the spare. After swearing up a storm I make the executive decision that there is just enough air in the tires to get me across the street to a Goodyear shop. Which when I get there I was stunned to find was still open for an hour (it is one of maybe three places in Johnson County that does not close at six in the evening). They check it over and figure out that my left front has a puncture in the sidewall and can’t be patched (a fact that I should probably tell the first shop) and the left rear has a leak all around and could be patched but probably shouldn’t be. I figure that three flats in one day is enough and pick up two new tires.

(They weren’t sure why both left sides failed at the same time. I’m pretty sure it is a sympathetic failure. When the front failed it put a lot more pressure on the rear, which probably already had a problem but got exasperated when I decided to drive with a flat tire. Oh well, both needed to be fixed anyway.)

Anyway, I was able to get my car fixed before the shop closed and everything appears to be all right. I checked a few minutes ago and all four tires are still inflated and I can only hope that they will stay that way in the morning. As much as I might complain, I’m just happy about where the problem occurred. I can deal with things from home or from work. It would be much worse if this happened last week and I was at the airport. Sometimes you should be happy that bad things happen at good times.