17 May 2008

Economic stimulus, Tires, a broken window and the heat

When I got my economic stimlas money this past week, I knew what I needed to do. I've been putting it off for a while, if only becaue I knew it was going to be expensive.

Tires. I needed new tires. Well, really only one -the driver side. But I've had the car for 6 1/2 years, and have replaced two out of four tires, whbich left 2 from the original purchase. At 67,000 miles, one was in desperate need of replacement, and the other was still in fairly good condition.

Still, I though, why not replace all of them? I got the $600 and instead of saving it or spending on stupid things like bills, I went an got the tires. So, with the four tires and an alingment, it came to $274 and some change.

Then there was the broken window.

The story is that a few weeks ago my driver side car door just broke. It's the thingy that keeps the door from shutting. Now, the door just opens and I have to be careful, cause it's no longer attached to itself.

So, when the door is wide open, I can lower my window, but because of the broke hinge thingy, when I try to close it the door, the window interferes. So, I have to roll up the window to make sure the door shuts (thus making able only to roll down my window a 1/4 when driving, because it encounters the broken you-know-what.

So, as I was getting my car set for the tires, I thought about mentioning it, but that quickly passed, because I assumed the worker would notice this. Yes, I assumed wrong.

Apparently, they pulled the car in with the window rolled down (because, as mentioned, if the door is not shut all the way, it works). The guy got, and slammed the door, and shattered the glass. It pissed me off, but I knew it was my fault for not telling the guy about it. It cost $143 to get it fixed, so I spent about $515 of that $600.

Jebus, this is the story of my life, a cautionary tale of getting things fixed before something casues it to cost more. Which it still will, as I still need to get the door fixed.

The guy who owned the glass company came over -with his worker- and fixed the window at the Big O Tires. He was this really cute Asian, small and compact. You could tell he took care of his body. His T shirt nearly formed to his body. We talked, I explained my door problem as we watched his worker replace my window.

He said with his money, he woould be out buying clothes, which more or less confirmed to me he was gay. It was not obvious, but my gaydar is pretty good. Sure he was at least 15 years younger than me, but he was hot.

He gave me his buisness card, but I think its only because he wants my business to fix the door. I wonder if I'll go there.

BTW, the heat is on. Started on Thursday and Friday it was over 100 here, and when I got up at 7am this morning, it was already in the mid 70's. It should hit the century mark today again, and probably close to it tomorrow. Then, it should moderate to more easier temps, in the low 80's, which is still above normal.

The heat is early this year, and has already started some brush fires in the Angeles National Forest near here.


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