blah blah blah: my first flat

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

my first flat

Last night my sister & I went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. It was OK. We get back in my car so I can drop her off at home but hear this noise. I pull over thinking I just need to restart my car - that the gears weren't lined up. But, that didn't help. We drive another half a mile or so and I say "hmm..I wonder if it is a flat tire" so my sister hops out of the car at a red light and was like 'yeah it is really flat' and gets back in. I continue to drive wondering if I can make it to her house but she said no, it was like the rim was on the ground...'super flat'.

I pull over and take everything out of the trunk. I am trying to remember the lesson my dad gave me when I turned 16 since I owned a car - I needed to learn how to change a tire. I open the secret floor to get the donut. It takes us like 3 minutes to figure out how to get it out. We try to get the jack out - but I couldn't. I didn't know who my local phone a friend would be..so I call my parents house and my Dad said he'd be there in a few minutes (thank goodness we were close). I didn't want to just wait for my father - I wanted to do most of this by myself, so we continue. We find this little bag with two tools in it...so I get started on taking off the hub cap. My sister starts reading the owner's manual/floor panel for directions on removing the jack. I am wondering the logic behind man's design - surely some lunatic out there decided that its a 'man's job' to do something like this, and if a woman wanted to attempt it she'd pay the price. So they make it difficult to remove the jack, so some strange man will ask if they need help. They take it because, well - having a stranger help you is less costly than a tow truck or whatever. The woman then falls prey to the man that will attack her somehow (rape, murder, assault, robbery). I have quite an imagination and I don't trust strangers...anyway back to what happened.

Next I'm trying to get the bolts off. Holy crapola were those stuck on. It took a lot of work, but I got finally got one off. I tell my sister to get my camera and to take pictures since this is the first time we are doing this. I am building up a sweat getting those little bolts off, but I manage to get another three off. One left and my Dad pulled up. He took over and got the jack out (I forgot to watch to see how he did it) and put it under the car and lifted it up. He also showed us a way to get the bolts off without killing our backs by using our foot. We changed the tire, and I lower the jack. I wanted a group picture of us near my tire...but sister didn't get the angle right and my Dad was getting a little cranky.

My sister and I had a lot of fun with this. Sure it was like 9:15 - 9:50 pm...but what else can you do when something like this happens? I've learned just to go with it. No point in getting all upset or annoyed; it is what it is. As we were leaving my dad said I could cross this off my bucket list (he thinks its funny I have one)...this wasn't on there...but I am happy I actually had the opportunity to do it.