To-Do List

You may have seen my weekend to-do list on my twitter feed over there <---- If not, it went something exactly like this: Weekend to-do list: buy tires, hang with super models and starlets, install starter, cut grass. Hopefully in that order!!!

For this post, I think I'll likely be focusing on the one part that didn't fully come through!!!



Getting the tires was pretty straightforward. A bit of back story, though, on that. On the junkyard post, I made mention that the tire on the Maverick AKA Ol' Bessie had gone flat. My wife managed to get her over to the tire place to see if they could fix it up. They made her wait an hour, then looked at it and told her they couldn't do it because it had belts poking out. Granted, I'd changed it in the dark, but I don't recall seeing any belts poking out. Anyway, I knew they were getting worn anyway, so I called 'em up and asked for a price for a pair, as well as a quote for a set for baby. I've used this place because they are close, have competitive pricing, and they offer a lifetime alignment. Last two times I'd needed to get the alignment done on the Maverick, first was after I'd swapped disc brakes onto the front end and replaced one worn ball joint (which they'd told me was worn) and a couple of days later when I'd hit a sand patch and slammed the front tire broadside into a curb. Upon seeing that it had new components, the guy starts saying that it's like a whole different car, the lifetime alignment deal doesn't apply, but he'll do it this one time anyway. Funny thing, not only did they tell me that the ball joint needed replaced, but the contract doesn't say a thing about that. Go ahead and don't do it, I'll take your asses to small claims for rescission, and claim for all the cars that I've gotten aligned there, and aim to get the cost for all the alignments I may future do on them!!! I doubt I'd prevail on the latter, but I don't think I'd have a problem on the former. Anyway, long story short, I get the feeling that they are trying to weasel on their deal. When I changed the tire for another I had around, I noticed that the hub cap was missing from the trunk. After I got prices for tires from them, I asked the guy if he'd seen it while he was getting the tire from the trunk. Of course he hadn't. No one else had been in the trunk. You want to lose my paying business over a chicken shit hub cap, not even in particularly good condition??? Go ahead. SO, when one of the back tires on Baby started getting some tread separation and the timeline for getting new tires moved from three to six more months to now, I took my business elsewhere. The fact that I got a price $30 less was a bonus.



The second item on the list: Supermodels and starlets!!! Ever since I bought some items online from Victoria's Secret for Christmas, I get a couple of E-mail messages from them a week. Usually it's for an offer or sale, but towards the end of last week, I got one that Marrisa Miller, one of their models, was going to be doing an in store appearance and autograph session at The Grove Farmer's Market not too far from here. Also in attendance were to be Shannon Doherty and another actress from the new 90210. Cool, sounds like an interesting, fun diversion for a Saturday afternoon. Also, my wife has always loved Shannen Doherty. We got there about 10 minutes before the announced time, and located the store. There's a line already a line, but not too bad. The attendant informs us that we have to buy some of their newest lotion, then we can get in to get autographed photos. Shocking that they are using this promotion to try and make money!!! We asked about Shannen, and were told that she had been there, but had already left. Oh well. We did end up buying a bra, so their fiendish ploy worked. Just doing my part for the economy!!!



It was the first time we'd ever been to this place. The older boy said it reminded him of a theme park, and it did rather have that feel. They have a cool dancing fountain, and a trolley from one end to the other. We didn't stay that long, managing to get out just before the free one hour parking was up.

The starter on the Falcon was pretty easy to install. I remember it being more difficult, but that was before dealing with the one on Janis. However, the lower mounting hole is almost completely stripped out. I'm thinking it should be fairly easy to get a repair insert in there from the back, but I was also thinking that I could easily just use a small C clamp instead!!! I could even likely put a nut on the back side, if I were to grind it around halfway around for clearance. In related news, the bolt was fairly loose on the old one, that may have been all it needed to work. I've probably got a perfectly viable starter in storage now!!!

Cut a few more branches from the pepper tree, then cut most of the grass. It was full dark by the time I was done.

Today I managed to get Baby washed, she was looking really bad. The previous rain hadn't done an effective job cleaning her off, and the wheels had some clean spots in the brake dust from the tire installation. It rained last night quite a bit, and it looked like it might some more even as I was washing her, but quite a breeze has picked up tonight, and the skies were very clear.