I had to change another tire yesterday.
I was at the studio, boxing up your adorable gifts and wrapping and generally enjoying the brief reprieve from the boxes in my own house, when a customer came in and said “The sweet-daddy HOTessy out there has a flat.”
Ok, so she didn’t actually say that about my minivan. But she did, sadly, inform me that I had a flat. Aaaah-gain.
I allowed myself a brief glance up into the heavens, counted to ten, and made a mental note of all of the expletives that I would let fly if there weren’t a customer there. Then I got my keys, went outside-in the rain, mind you-and got to work.
As you could imagine, it was much easier this time. I managed to get the lug nuts loose by myself despite an offer for help from a man walking his dog, and then bingo bango, the little bicycle tire was on. Again. I think I may sign up for Earnhardt Jr.’s pit crew.
Heather watched me for a bit, critiqued my technique, offered to bring me some coffee. Then went back inside, because, as I mentioned, it was raining. And cold.
When I got to H and A‘s house, their dad Jimmy was there, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t have a full-service auto shop right there in his garage. He got out the old tire, blew it up with the giant compressor he happened to have handy, rolled it in the baby pool full of water he also happened to have handy, found the nail, pulled it out, and patched it with the thingamajig that they use at garages to patch your tire. I swear. Then we got the bike tire off, put the big tire back on, tightened the lug nuts to the appropriate calibration with a huge torque wrench(80), pumped the tire up to the correct gauge, and I was on my way. Bob’s your uncle. Seriously. All free of charge.
His friends don’t call him Jimmy-pedia for nothing.
I did, fortuitously it seems, give him a pound cake earlier that morning when I picked the kids up for school, so I suppose in effect I paid in advance.
If you find yourself stranded with a flat, give me a call. Or better yet, call Jimmy.
Have a great Thursday!
And PS-A shout-out to AK, H and A’s mom and Jimmy’s wife, for running her second (really, really hot) Boston Marathon on Monday! And for raising money for Fred’s Team! And for generally being awesome!
Zen and the Art of Changing a Tire.
I was at the studio, boxing up your adorable gifts and wrapping and generally enjoying the brief reprieve from the boxes in my own house, when a customer came in and said “The sweet-daddy HOTessy out there has a flat.”
Ok, so she didn’t actually say that about my minivan. But she did, sadly, inform me that I had a flat. Aaaah-gain.
I allowed myself a brief glance up into the heavens, counted to ten, and made a mental note of all of the expletives that I would let fly if there weren’t a customer there. Then I got my keys, went outside-in the rain, mind you-and got to work.
As you could imagine, it was much easier this time. I managed to get the lug nuts loose by myself despite an offer for help from a man walking his dog, and then bingo bango, the little bicycle tire was on. Again. I think I may sign up for Earnhardt Jr.’s pit crew.
Heather watched me for a bit, critiqued my technique, offered to bring me some coffee. Then went back inside, because, as I mentioned, it was raining. And cold.
When I got to H and A‘s house, their dad Jimmy was there, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t have a full-service auto shop right there in his garage. He got out the old tire, blew it up with the giant compressor he happened to have handy, rolled it in the baby pool full of water he also happened to have handy, found the nail, pulled it out, and patched it with the thingamajig that they use at garages to patch your tire. I swear. Then we got the bike tire off, put the big tire back on, tightened the lug nuts to the appropriate calibration with a huge torque wrench(80), pumped the tire up to the correct gauge, and I was on my way. Bob’s your uncle. Seriously. All free of charge.
His friends don’t call him Jimmy-pedia for nothing.
I did, fortuitously it seems, give him a pound cake earlier that morning when I picked the kids up for school, so I suppose in effect I paid in advance.
If you find yourself stranded with a flat, give me a call. Or better yet, call Jimmy.
Have a great Thursday!
And PS-A shout-out to AK, H and A’s mom and Jimmy’s wife, for running her second (really, really hot) Boston Marathon on Monday! And for raising money for Fred’s Team! And for generally being awesome!