I bought my car in January and am slowing learning about it. I think that's a good thing. I would rather not learn about it when things go wrong, but I haven't actually made an effort to learn about it when there isn't a problem.
Last week, I decided to be a grownup and buy curtains. Because I'm crazy impulsive, I of course did not take my time to do this and bought the first ones that I really liked. I do not have a problem with this actually. I'm very happy with my purchases. The only problem I've had is that I'm lazy and not handy at all, so I hung them with Command hooks. They work perfect in my bedroom and in my dining room. Not so much in my living room or my bathroom. I finally gave up in my bathroom and stuck the curtain rod in the edges of where my blinds used to be (my blinds are currently in my closet). It doesn't look as pretty as it did when they were hung higher, but this will save me the nightly heart attack of when the rod falls after I've gone to bed. Which has happened every.single.night. The living room problem is because it basically covers the whole wall so I need a long rod. The rod I bought is just slightly too big for the hooks, so I bought a smaller one. It hasn't arrived yet, so currently those curtains are in a pile on my floor. Maybe I should find a better place for them....Anyway, here's a picture of the before and after of my living room, but the after is with the old rod as the new one hasn't come yet.
If you want to see the other curtains, you have to come visit me. The difference isn't quite as dramatic as this one.
I was on my way to Home Depot last Friday to get the beautiful curtain rod that is just barely too big when a light turned on on my dashboard. After consulting my handy owner's manual, the internet, and my father, I figured out that it was the tire pressure light (or Tire Pressure Monitoring System, or TPMS, for the car smart people. I am now one of those people. Um no.). I took my car to the dealership, where I've taken it a few times before. They very quickly checked my tires and filled the low one up with air. Easy. Done. I went to Home Depot and rewarded myself with tacos from the taco truck I discovered in their parking lot. (Amazing. Not East LA Amazing, but still taco Amazing. I kind of want to go there now, but I told myself I wasn't going to spend money today.)
Anyway, Saturday night was Eric's birthday and was social. We went to a bar in Santa Monica and it was fun.
I left at 1am and within 5 seconds of driving, that TPMS light came on again. I figured I would hope for the best and drive the 30-45 minutes home anyway because what was I going to do at 1am. THANKFULLY, I made it home without my tire exploding. I had to go downtown on Sunday for my Spanish lesson. I decided instead of driving the 20-25 minutes downtown, I would be adventurous and take the metro. Then I would only have to drive maybe 10 minutes total. That would have been great if I had known where there was parking. So instead, I drove around South Pasadena for probably a good 45 minutes trying to find parking that was longer than 3 hours. Again, win. My tire didn't explode (spoiler alert: my tire never explodes.) and I did find parking that I'm fairly certain was legal. I got to Spanish and I saw this very pretty ceiling at the 7th Street Metro Station.
I felt very smart and shall be taking the metro downtown again. That parking situation needs to be researched a little better though.
Now here was the big problem with my tires. I had a ticket to be in the audience for the Wil Wheaton Project on Monday. Kendra sent me the link and I figured that while I am a nerd, I don't think I am nearly nerdy enough for this show, but the ticket is free and it will make my sister jealous. Yes to all of those. I didn't want to miss the show, but also did not want to be stuck on the side (or the MIDDLE) of the road trying to get to this show. I was supposed to be there no later than 11. I wanted to be there around 10 because I really had no idea where I was going and I much prefer to be early. This tire thing was annoying though, so I woke up ridiculously (not really) early on Monday so I could be at the dealership when it opened at 7:30. I was ready! I was there at 7:25. Although the SIGN says they open at 7:30, and they supposedly do, the waiting room is not open then and no technicians come until 8. Whatever, fine. It's California. I can wait outside. I was super smart (really) and brought my book.
At 8:30ish, the guy came back and said that I had two nails in my back tire. They don't fix it there (really, service department?), so I had go to go a tire store. No charge and they were going to wash my car. Awesome, free car wash! While I was waiting for it, I searched tire stores on Yelp. Yelp is totally my best friend here. I found a place that had 100 reviews and practically all of them were good. I read through a bunch of them and I think I found 2 that were bad. Two. Out of a ton. This actually made me fairly suspicious, but none of the other places sounded very good and this place was the closest. All the good reviews said their prices were reasonable and they were honest. I asked the dealership guy for a recommendation and he didn't have one. Just go to the first place I saw.
It's 9:00 by this point and I've decided that I won't be making it to the show. I have no hope that my car will be done by ten, which is when I wanted to leave to get to the show. I found this place and talked to the guy a little bit. I'm completely exhausted because I didn't sleep well the night before and I got up about four hours earlier than I normally do now. They checked out my car while I walked to the closest Starbucks, which really wasn't that far. I talked to my dad on the way there and back. He agreed that I probably wouldn't make the show. I got back to the shop, waited for maybe 10 minutes, and then the guy came in to talk to me about my car.
He said that he should sell me a new tire, but except for the two nails in it, it was basically in perfect condition so he didn't want to sell me one (um, OK!). Plugs are cheaper, but patches will make it last a little longer and are safer, so he did that. Just remember not to rotate that tire to the front. He asked if I had found the place on Yelp and if I checked in there, he would give me one of the patches for free. So $25. DONE. We talked a little about Yelp and I told him I had been a little suspicious of all the good reviews, but that how he responded to the bad reviews helped. For those two, it seemed like miscommunication and he tried to explain that in a reply to them. He said that Yelp even called them earlier in the year, because most tire places get like 20 reviews and he had 100. Nope, they're all true. He made me feel really comfortable and not that I was being ripped off at all, like that other place I went to for my Honda (never again...). I will be going back to this place for sure!
Now it's 9:45 and I think I have time to get to the Wil Wheaton Project!!!! (Spoiler: I do.)
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