2-21-12 (Hey, if I wrote this as Germans do (21-2-12), it would be a palindrome. Yay.)
of me and my truck, Grune. (And when I'm not lazy, Grune is spelled Grun with a ^ over the u.)
I'm going to be a bridesmaid in May, and the bride's asked me if it was okay if I left my truck (with my stuff in it) at someone's house down here over the few days that I'm in Virginia for the wedding. This is because she and the groom can't pay for me to fly from Indiana, so they want me to catch a ride with people from here and then drive back to Indiana after riding back from Virginia.
This is all right with me, except that I've had a busted window on my truck, and if I have valuable things in my truck, I didn't want an all-access panel made of duct tape and plastic. So last week, I prayed during my devotions that God would provide the money for fixing my truck window. Immediately, I heard You have a credit on your bill in a tone of voice that clearly said, "I was just waiting for you to ask."
So I investigated and I did have a credit on my bill--plenty, it turns out. So I withdrew money and looked for good auto glass shops. Only one that's in the area gave an online quote, so I followed up with that and discovered that the price that looked too good to be true was actually true (not counting tax). So, time to put the plan in motion.
I had to get a new battery and terminals in order to drive to the glass shop; I planned to do it on Sunday, but it poured and I figured electricity plus water was stupid, so I held off until yesterday. I got a jumpstart from Campus Safety and went to Wal-Mart. God ended up saving me about $30 because the previous owners of my truck had bought a Wal-Mart battery, so they exchanged it instead of making me pay full price. So, new battery and terminals, approximately $55 for an hour and ten minutes of work.
After that was all finished, I called the glass shop and set up an appointment for today. After Mass Media Law and Ethics, I took my truck and went out to Glass Masters, which is over by the airport. I've never driven out there, nor gone there by myself, and I did pretty well. I did turn left instead of right when coming off the highway, but I realized my error and still ended up at the shop fifteen minutes early. No one else was there, and so they got started early. 50 minutes and $278 later, I had a new back window.
Praise God! It's something that's been bugging me since April. Although it's pretty weird to look over my shoulder and see the road instead of duct tape and plastic, I'm sure I'll quickly get used to having a vehicle that has the windows it's supposed to have. This makes me very excited and I also felt very grown-up, taking care of my truck by myself like that. More later.
Showing posts with label preventive maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preventive maintenance. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Beginning of the End of Break
1-6-12
Well, it was a record 10.5 hour trip down here to Tennessee on Wednesday (after a few days of weather delays). No, I didn't speed. The traffic was really light--I made it through Indiana in only five hours, but that may be because of the route I took--and the weather stayed nice and clear. So, I arrived in town at like 7:30 PM or so, EST (I left at 8:00 AM CST), and decided to check my P.O. Box (yay! mail!) and get dinner at the Village Market (just because I COULD because it was still OPEN--it was an exciting feeling).
On Thursday, I got an oil change for Grune and also chose to replace one of my high-mount brake lights (apparently it was out). I went grocery-shopping and practiced on my bass clarinet. Today, I slept in longer than I had expected (one, I'd stayed up late talking about writing with a friend who's teaching in China, and two, I was warm and comfortable in bed and kept re-setting my alarm). Still, I made it to the credit union, the campus shop (I picked up my last textbook, the one that hadn't been available before break), the post office (no mail), and the VM (an onion--better than Wal-Mart's produce) before they all closed up shop, seeing as it was Friday afternoon. I even chatted with the cashier at the VM about today being a busy day, and she said, "Not as busy as when the kids come back." (She thought I lived around here. Weird! But good!)
I practiced some more on the bass clarinet; I really suck at practicing before we sight-read together as a group (which I'm sure we'll do on Wednesday). I can learn the notes and kinda learn the rhythms but it won't come together until I get a feel for how fast we'll be playing the pieces. Yes, I own the tracks for the one piece (different pieces from the original Star Wars trilogy), but listening to them does not usually translate into me playing awesomely. Especially in this case, seeing as I'm not a brass player, a percussionist, or some high-pitched instrument that usually gets melody. You can't always distinctly hear my parts on the tracks because they're foundational--heard but not seen, if that makes any sense. (It does to me, anyway.) So listening to the tracks doesn't completely help. We'll see on Wednesday. At least I know I've done some practicing. Not as much as I would have liked (see: weather delayed my return), but at least some.
Yes, I've got some resolutions, but I don't know if I'd call them resolutions or something else. I don't know if I'm up for posting them either, seeing as they're only partially formed in my mind as yet. :D
More later.
Well, it was a record 10.5 hour trip down here to Tennessee on Wednesday (after a few days of weather delays). No, I didn't speed. The traffic was really light--I made it through Indiana in only five hours, but that may be because of the route I took--and the weather stayed nice and clear. So, I arrived in town at like 7:30 PM or so, EST (I left at 8:00 AM CST), and decided to check my P.O. Box (yay! mail!) and get dinner at the Village Market (just because I COULD because it was still OPEN--it was an exciting feeling).
On Thursday, I got an oil change for Grune and also chose to replace one of my high-mount brake lights (apparently it was out). I went grocery-shopping and practiced on my bass clarinet. Today, I slept in longer than I had expected (one, I'd stayed up late talking about writing with a friend who's teaching in China, and two, I was warm and comfortable in bed and kept re-setting my alarm). Still, I made it to the credit union, the campus shop (I picked up my last textbook, the one that hadn't been available before break), the post office (no mail), and the VM (an onion--better than Wal-Mart's produce) before they all closed up shop, seeing as it was Friday afternoon. I even chatted with the cashier at the VM about today being a busy day, and she said, "Not as busy as when the kids come back." (She thought I lived around here. Weird! But good!)
I practiced some more on the bass clarinet; I really suck at practicing before we sight-read together as a group (which I'm sure we'll do on Wednesday). I can learn the notes and kinda learn the rhythms but it won't come together until I get a feel for how fast we'll be playing the pieces. Yes, I own the tracks for the one piece (different pieces from the original Star Wars trilogy), but listening to them does not usually translate into me playing awesomely. Especially in this case, seeing as I'm not a brass player, a percussionist, or some high-pitched instrument that usually gets melody. You can't always distinctly hear my parts on the tracks because they're foundational--heard but not seen, if that makes any sense. (It does to me, anyway.) So listening to the tracks doesn't completely help. We'll see on Wednesday. At least I know I've done some practicing. Not as much as I would have liked (see: weather delayed my return), but at least some.
Yes, I've got some resolutions, but I don't know if I'd call them resolutions or something else. I don't know if I'm up for posting them either, seeing as they're only partially formed in my mind as yet. :D
More later.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Truck Adventures
10-21-11
Today I had lots of adventures! I actually had most of the adventures with Brooke, since she texted me right before I was ready to go and asked me for my plans and I said, "Why don't you come along?" and she did.
We went to Great Clips and we both got haircuts, and I'm pretty pleased with mine, enough so that I think I'll add myself to their database when I go back for another haircut while I'm here in Collegedale. When I take pictures of how I look now, I just might post some. Both of the housemates who are here freaked a tiny bit; one said, "You chopped it all off!" (Which is untrue and exaggerated on several levels. I did nothing to my hair; the stylist did. Also, it was not chopped, it was cut, and I still have plenty left.)
I went and got The Green Machine an oil change, which it apparently REALLY needed, since the Vavoline data sheet I got back indicates that it had been over 100,000 miles since it had had an oil change. (So I was pretty proud of the fact that I took that $20 coupon and took the initiative and got the oil changed. The next thing on my list is probably going to be that back window. Even though the duct tape and plastic make it distinctive in a parking list, it's not super secure. That'll be more expensive to fix, however.) Changing the oil made the truck work SO MUCH BETTER.
Brooke and I then went to Panera, ate lunch, and then "surprised" Alan at work. (He'd told me his hours and suggested that I come by because he'd be bored.) Would you believe that he actually tagged me? (Tagging does not involve paint in this case; it involves throwing me a tag line when I walked into the store.) Brooke and I walked in the side opposite of where he was, and walked around the store because he was talking to someone who I found out later is his manager. When he saw me, he was like, "Ashlee! When did you come in?" and I was like, "We've been here for a bit. You talked to us when we walked in." He said, "Oh, I tagged you, didn't I?" I thought it was pretty funny, anyway.
Then Brooke and I went to Barnes and Noble (since it's right around the corner from where Alan works and since we're both English majors), and then we went to McKay, where I had my cheapest haul yet (I was very good). I got a copy of Death of A Salesman and Eats, Shoots, & Leaves for like $4. Awesome.
Brooke and I went back to my apartment and watched satiric videos and then I went back to the mall and met up with Alan when he got off work. We ate at Red Robin and then chilled in Barnes and Noble for about half an hour before he drove back to his grandma's in Calhoun and I to Southern Village.
I'm glad to announce that the replaced lightbulbs work! Also, I connected a few more roads in my mental map of the area, since the only time I took the highway was when I was driving back after dark tonight (it's the route I actually know the best, so I took it instead of the curvy backroads).
All in all, it's been a great day. I was remembered by friends, had good truck adventures (which is way more preferred than bad vehicle adventures), and ended the day with a phone call to my mom and writing this blog post. GREAT DAY OF BREAK. And I still haven't worked on my Pirates, Captives, and Slavery paper. (If I had regrets of my day, that would probably be it. But I don't.)
Now to bed, since it's almost midnight and I do plan to go to church tomorrow. More later.
Today I had lots of adventures! I actually had most of the adventures with Brooke, since she texted me right before I was ready to go and asked me for my plans and I said, "Why don't you come along?" and she did.
We went to Great Clips and we both got haircuts, and I'm pretty pleased with mine, enough so that I think I'll add myself to their database when I go back for another haircut while I'm here in Collegedale. When I take pictures of how I look now, I just might post some. Both of the housemates who are here freaked a tiny bit; one said, "You chopped it all off!" (Which is untrue and exaggerated on several levels. I did nothing to my hair; the stylist did. Also, it was not chopped, it was cut, and I still have plenty left.)
I went and got The Green Machine an oil change, which it apparently REALLY needed, since the Vavoline data sheet I got back indicates that it had been over 100,000 miles since it had had an oil change. (So I was pretty proud of the fact that I took that $20 coupon and took the initiative and got the oil changed. The next thing on my list is probably going to be that back window. Even though the duct tape and plastic make it distinctive in a parking list, it's not super secure. That'll be more expensive to fix, however.) Changing the oil made the truck work SO MUCH BETTER.
Brooke and I then went to Panera, ate lunch, and then "surprised" Alan at work. (He'd told me his hours and suggested that I come by because he'd be bored.) Would you believe that he actually tagged me? (Tagging does not involve paint in this case; it involves throwing me a tag line when I walked into the store.) Brooke and I walked in the side opposite of where he was, and walked around the store because he was talking to someone who I found out later is his manager. When he saw me, he was like, "Ashlee! When did you come in?" and I was like, "We've been here for a bit. You talked to us when we walked in." He said, "Oh, I tagged you, didn't I?" I thought it was pretty funny, anyway.
Then Brooke and I went to Barnes and Noble (since it's right around the corner from where Alan works and since we're both English majors), and then we went to McKay, where I had my cheapest haul yet (I was very good). I got a copy of Death of A Salesman and Eats, Shoots, & Leaves for like $4. Awesome.
Brooke and I went back to my apartment and watched satiric videos and then I went back to the mall and met up with Alan when he got off work. We ate at Red Robin and then chilled in Barnes and Noble for about half an hour before he drove back to his grandma's in Calhoun and I to Southern Village.
I'm glad to announce that the replaced lightbulbs work! Also, I connected a few more roads in my mental map of the area, since the only time I took the highway was when I was driving back after dark tonight (it's the route I actually know the best, so I took it instead of the curvy backroads).
All in all, it's been a great day. I was remembered by friends, had good truck adventures (which is way more preferred than bad vehicle adventures), and ended the day with a phone call to my mom and writing this blog post. GREAT DAY OF BREAK. And I still haven't worked on my Pirates, Captives, and Slavery paper. (If I had regrets of my day, that would probably be it. But I don't.)
Now to bed, since it's almost midnight and I do plan to go to church tomorrow. More later.
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