Ugh (but really Yay)

I sorta hate myself for liking this song.  Go ahead, look up the lyrics.  I dare you.

The eyes didn’t lie.

Over the weekend, I headed down to the coast for a weekend retreat. I always forget how much I enjoy road trips. There’s just something about cranking up the radio and getting lost in thought as you cruise down the highway.

Something that you don’t want to hear though, is a pop as you cruise toward your destination. What you really don’t want to hear is a series of pops and clanks as you cruise down the road. Nothing will snap you back to reality faster than hearing that noise. It’s unsettling, especially once you realize that you are far from your home mechanic and familiar resources.

I was only about three miles or so from the resort where I’d be staying, so I continued. It was disturbing to see the amount of exhaust trailing my Jeep. The amount of exhaust kept increasing, and I knew I couldn’t pull past the guard without embarrassing myself, so I just pulled off to the side of the long driveway leading into the resort.

After collecting myself, I opened up the hood. A cloud of what seemed like smoke left my engine. I found what had been burning. It was radiator fluid. The green liquid was all over the engine!

After a few minutes, I decided to start walking toward the entrance of the resort. The guard stopped me and asked if I needed some help with the Jeep. He quickly explained that he also worked at a mechanic shop, and told me that if I could get it towed there, that the mechanic would most likely get it fixed the next morning. This was key, because if I didn’t get it back on Saturday, I would most likely be taking an extended stay at the resort through Tuesday because of the holiday.

I was skeptical of a scam, so I looked the guard in the eye and asked him if the mechanic was a good guy. He looked right back at me and said, “Oh yeah. Luis will treat you right.” I took him at his word.

The next morning, I called the towing company the guard suggested. Turns out they were closed until that evening for some sort of towing training. They reluctantly suggested another company that wasn’t on the training list, which made me a bit nervous. After a few phone calls, I found another towing company that could get the Jeep to the mechanic. That afternoon, my Jeep was fixed, for a reasonable price. (It was a busted water pump that needed to be replaced.)

One of the things that I struggle with understanding is auto mechanics. It’s not something that I’ve been around enough to know what needs to be done and what is just suggested. (I even bought the book “Auto Repair for Dummies” last Fall.) When something breaks, I never know what really has to be taken care of, and I’m often questioning whether or not I got what needed to be done for a good price.

What I am better at understanding (at least I think) are people. The guard (whose name is Brian) looked me right in the eye and assured me that I was dealing with an honest mechanic. I am so grateful. So, thanks Luis and thank you Brian. It’s good to know that there are good people out there.

And I helped

So tonight for dinner one half of stn made fish and pasta with a garlic butter sauce and corn on the cob.  Good dinner.  In the middle of making it I decided that it would be good to have something for dessert, so I found a new recipe for peanut butter oatmeal bars with choc. chips.  My wife helped and we had it in the oven while we ate dinner.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t quite work right.  The crumbly stuff just wouldn’t stick together (probably some mistake we made when we halved the recipe).  No problem, I thought, I’ll just do what any good cook would do-add butter.  As it so happened we even had some melted butter left over from dinner, so I reached in the fridge, grabbed it and poured it on top.  Worked like a charm.  Everything started coming together.

Wait, did I mention that we had GARLIC butter sauce for dinner?  Yeah.  Not so good for dessert.  Oh well, now we’re making cookies.

WTTW: VII

Word to the Wise: If you’re ever teaching a class about how people overstate the effects of the media and you use the example of violence by asking everyone in class to raise their hand if they’ve seen a violent film and then asking the students to keep their hands raised if they’ve ever killed someone, you need to be prepared for someone to keep their hand raised…especially if you teach near a military base.