Feb. 8th, 2007
i clearly shouldn't have left my bed today
Feb. 8th, 2007 10:44 pmI woke up this morning at 0645 feeling like utter crap. But I still dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. Shower did nothing to make me feel better, so I went back to bed. Did not pass go, did not go to my 8am discussion, did not collect $200.
Eventually left the house intending to go take some stuff still at Dave's to a donation center. As I was getting into my car, a flashlight on a lanyard attached to my bag swung up and hit me in the face. Fortunately, there was still some snow piled on my motorcycle; I got back out of the car and grabbed a handful and put it on the bridge of my nose, which was swelling rapidly.
Now I have a small cut and a swollen red spot on my nose.
Still not taking any hints from the universe, I went on my merry way.
Got the bags of stuff, put them in the car, only to discover that the donation box that used to be on Seneca Road near Dave's is no longer there, *sigh*.
On the other hand, it was still late afternoon, it wasn't as bitterly cold as it had been, and my snow tires were helpfully Right There. I decided to put them on.
Loosened the lug nuts on the wheels, discovered that I'd forgotten to chock the wheels and that I have an anemic ebrake- then, having chocked the wheels and yanked on the brake again, jacked up the left side of the car. Swapped the front, good. Took the rear tire off, went to get the winter rear. Came back, and cocked my head a bit.
Um. Was it my imagination, or was the rotor lower than it had been?
I moved closer. Hunh. Definitely... fucking hell.
The car- gently, gently, like a whisper of a butterfly wing, like the sigh of a contented lover, like a cloud settling on a rainbow- came to rest on its rear rotor.
Fortunately, dave owns two jacks, and a couple of jackstands.
Left side complete, I moved to the right. And discovered that I'd apparently forgotten to loosen the lug nuts on the right rear. Got the breaker bar out again, and pushed. And pulled. And stood on the breaker bar. And bounced up and down while standing with both feet on the breaker bar.
And repeated all of the above for all of the fucking lug nuts on that wheel. (I really want to know which gorilla tightened the lug nuts on that wheel. Did they mix up foot-pounds and newton-meters, perhaps?)
I finally got the wheels on the car.
Then a good 20 minutes was wasted looking for the item dave handed me when he helped me access the other jack. It seems I left it in a snowbank.
Clearly, we needed to leave the house and get some food.
And so we did, and it was tasty, and good time was had by all.
I declined a ride back to my car and walked the half block to the parking garage in Silver Spring. Two boys got to the door before me, and after stumbling into each other, stood back and opened the door for me. I thanked them and walked past into the vestibule and over towards the pay-to-park machines.
Whereupon one of them says "Right. Let's get her."
( ... )
Eventually left the house intending to go take some stuff still at Dave's to a donation center. As I was getting into my car, a flashlight on a lanyard attached to my bag swung up and hit me in the face. Fortunately, there was still some snow piled on my motorcycle; I got back out of the car and grabbed a handful and put it on the bridge of my nose, which was swelling rapidly.
Now I have a small cut and a swollen red spot on my nose.
Still not taking any hints from the universe, I went on my merry way.
Got the bags of stuff, put them in the car, only to discover that the donation box that used to be on Seneca Road near Dave's is no longer there, *sigh*.
On the other hand, it was still late afternoon, it wasn't as bitterly cold as it had been, and my snow tires were helpfully Right There. I decided to put them on.
Loosened the lug nuts on the wheels, discovered that I'd forgotten to chock the wheels and that I have an anemic ebrake- then, having chocked the wheels and yanked on the brake again, jacked up the left side of the car. Swapped the front, good. Took the rear tire off, went to get the winter rear. Came back, and cocked my head a bit.
Um. Was it my imagination, or was the rotor lower than it had been?
I moved closer. Hunh. Definitely... fucking hell.
The car- gently, gently, like a whisper of a butterfly wing, like the sigh of a contented lover, like a cloud settling on a rainbow- came to rest on its rear rotor.
Fortunately, dave owns two jacks, and a couple of jackstands.
Left side complete, I moved to the right. And discovered that I'd apparently forgotten to loosen the lug nuts on the right rear. Got the breaker bar out again, and pushed. And pulled. And stood on the breaker bar. And bounced up and down while standing with both feet on the breaker bar.
And repeated all of the above for all of the fucking lug nuts on that wheel. (I really want to know which gorilla tightened the lug nuts on that wheel. Did they mix up foot-pounds and newton-meters, perhaps?)
I finally got the wheels on the car.
Then a good 20 minutes was wasted looking for the item dave handed me when he helped me access the other jack. It seems I left it in a snowbank.
Clearly, we needed to leave the house and get some food.
And so we did, and it was tasty, and good time was had by all.
I declined a ride back to my car and walked the half block to the parking garage in Silver Spring. Two boys got to the door before me, and after stumbling into each other, stood back and opened the door for me. I thanked them and walked past into the vestibule and over towards the pay-to-park machines.
Whereupon one of them says "Right. Let's get her."
( ... )