2020-04-15 — Too Much Social Distancing

Hey hey, and happy Wednesday! 😊

(or Thursday, to you peeps on the other side of the world 😁)

Today has been a bit more relaxing than yesterday, which is really nice because yesterday was a 20-hour work day for me. I still got up pretty early today, but I didn’t have to do all that much, which is really really really really nice.

I did only did one and 3/4 jobs today, and my tech did two and a half jobs, and we called it good. Yay!

I’m so tired 😴.

Soooooooooo tired.

Moving on… for those of you who don’t know, local auto parts stores offer the service of reading your check engine light codes for free. Unfortunately, many of the workers at those stores are not very well trained in the service they provide, and so they tend to see a code, read what their system says, and tell the customer that x thing is wrong with the car, and they need to buy x part to fix it. The problem with that is that the vast majority of the time, the codes that a car’s computer sets only nail down a symptom but do not tell you exactly what the issue is. For example let’s say my check engine light comes on and I have code p0302 (that’s actually what’s happened with my first customer’s car today). p0302 is a misfire code, meaning that cylinder number 2 in the engine has a misfire, (explosions aren’t happening like they should). The person at O’Reilly’s told them that the misfire was caused by a fuel injector being bad. So the person took their car to the dealer, and the dealer proceeded to quote them something like $1,500 to replace the injectors. My customer then called me asking what I would charge to replace the injectors. I asked him why he wanted me to replace the injectors, and he sent me the sheet that O’reilly’s had given him showing the p0302 code. I proceeded to tell him that yes, a fuel injector could cause a misfire issue, but that the vast majority of the time fuel injectors are not the cause of misfires–that something else is. Fortunately, I convinced him to let me diagnose the car first instead of just replacing the injectors, which would have been several hundred dollars to do, even with me doing it and not the dealer.

After all was said and done, I think he was very glad that I was able to convince him to let me diagnose the car?

Why?

It didn’t need injectors.

He would have spent $1,500 at the dealer and still had the same misfire because the problem was just a single coil on plug that was bad.

$60 part, my diagnostic fee, and done.

It’s not that the people at AutoZone and O’Reilly’s and similar stores don’t mean well. ‘s just that only a small handful of them actually know what they are talking about. They see a misfire code and their system says the problem is probably a bad injector. Well, there probably a couple dozen different possible reasons for misfires, and injectors is one of the least likely. The most common are coils and spark plugs.

Anyway, just so you know if you didn’t already 😊.

The service that those stores provide in reading the codes for free is invaluable, but once you get the printout of what the code is, go directly to Google and Google the codes and what the possible causes there are for each code. Do not just follow the suggestion of the auto parts store cashier and buy x part. It’s often a waste of money.

Anyway… after my relatively short day of work, I went and hung out with Miguel at his shop for a bit. His business is starting to go really really well, which is great. He has sold some cars, had a billion cars come in today to be fixed (probably because everybody got their stimulus money today), and he’s just doing well. He’s even pulling a me from years ago–buying cars out of state and flying out to drive them home. 

Fun!

Soooooo… I really need some social interaction. My life is generally just work eat sleep work eat sleep work eat sleep, and today I was totally jonesing for some good old-fashioned social interaction. Nearly all the social interaction that I get outside of conversations with family is related to fixing or selling cars.

I need to spend more time developing friendships. Since I got to Arkansas, I haven’t really done anything with friends.

That’s four years!

It’s just been work work work work work. It’s like I’ve even forgotten how to have fun. I used to have a lot of fun, go on adventures, spend time trying to help people. I don’t know if this whole work work work thing is part of my escape from reality or just trying to make up for everything I lost financially four years ago. Who knows. But I need to branch out. I need to go out and do things with people socially instead of just work related.

yeah, I’ve literally forgotten how to have fun. It’s so weird. It’s not that I don’t sometimes do fun things… I think the issue is that I’ve been so focused on getting back to where I was financially, and then going beyond so that I can get to a place where I’m financially self-sustaining and can help change the world like I want to, that I feel guilty and can’t fully enjoy myself during strictly entertainment endeavors. I feel like I’m losing opportunities to get where I’m trying to go faster.

That’s totally crappy 😬.

I need to fix that.

I need the social interaction. That’s why when work ended earlier today than usual, about 5:30, I went up to Miguel’s shop to at least hang out for a bit. I also reached out to a couple of old friends. One back in Utah and one in Virginia.

After spending time with the peeps at Miguel’s shop, I went home, and I spent probably an hour or so talking to my sister about cars to buy. She’s looking to buy a car for somebody as a gift 😊, so we talked about places to get good deals on cars.

Well… my brain is mush. Time for gratitude 😊.

#1. 17 straight days of journal entries, eight days of being clean from sex addiction, the former being a massive contributor to the accomplishing of the latter. For years, I toyed with the idea of being accountable for my addiction recovery to an online audience. I figured it would probably help me in my efforts to abstain by providing a little bit of social pressure. Not the purest of motivations for overcoming, as it’s still based in pride, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I’ve failed at this for so long, I’ll take the the motivation that fear of public embarrassment and humiliation provide if it’s what finally gets me permanently sober.

#2. I’m grateful that even on a day when I didn’t work very much personally, I still made nearly twice what I would have made at my old job.

#3. I’m grateful for the conveniences in comfortability as it relates to the temperature of my surroundings that I am blessed to enjoy. Portable heater in my room, a fan to blow on my face well I sleep, etcetera. I have so many luxuries that people all over the world don’t enjoy.

#4. I am grateful that the Durango has been running well since I replaced the throttle position sensor. Cross your fingers… Perhaps I will have a reliable vehicle in this Durango until I can find another one. Thanks to my mother for letting me use it!

5. I’m immensely grateful that right now I can just close my eyes and go to sleep. 😴

Which I am going to do.

Right….

😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

g’night 😴

~ s