2020-05-16 — Slowing Down

There was a period of time today when I got I think something like 10 calls in a single hour from people wanting help with their cars. And twice during that hour I had people on hold on one line, while talking to a second person on the other line, when a third call came ringing in–all at the same time.

And do you know what I did? Maybe you’ll be proud of me. I said, sorry, not today, gonna have to be Monday. Sorry, not today, gonna have to be Monday. Sorry, not today, gonna have to be Monday. (over and over and over again).

I’ve not been good at saying no lately, but I did a pretty good job of it today, and it’s important that I get better at it. Otherwise, I’ll just keep working and working, and I won’t have time for these things that I keep saying I want to do but am too chicken to just go do.

Anyway, as part of today’s intentional slow down, I got the lawn mostly mowed, trying to beat the rain. I spent some time pondering/writing my Who Am I post. I’m still working on it… lots to meditate on. I had lunch with a friend. I did do some work helping out my tech David on a car, but not much really. I mostly just hung out with my friend at his shop.

At the end of the day, I did end up doing two quick cars. I had a gentleman from Kansas City call. He had purchased a truck in Van Buren, Arkansas, and was trying to drive it home to Kansas City, but it was giving him a low coolant warning with coolant all over. He begged for my help, as he was in for a long trip and was in a crappy situation, so I did relent on that one, and he had the vehicle towed to AutoZone in Bentonville (where I told him to take it).

I’m glad I helped him because it looks like he might have bought a dud–a $7,000 dud–and I told him to take it back. Fortunately, the dealer was willing to take it back. There were signs of possible head gasket issues or attempted head gasket repairs, and I was like… get this back to the dealer and get your other truck back. I talked to the dealer for him and was basically like, look, I’m gonna be straight with you. Had I inspected this truck before he bought it, I would have told him not to by it, and I’m recommending that he take it back to you and get his other truck back.

Fortunately, it appears the dealer is going to take care of him, swap the truck back out, and even put him up in a hotel tonight, so that’s good of them. Good business. The gentleman who bought the truck will have wasted a day of his life and will have lost maybe $400, but it’s better than being stuck with a $7000 lawn ornament that could cost another $5-$10k to fix.

Anyway, he was grateful, and he gave me a $50 tip, so that was really nice of him. While I was working on his truck in the AutoZone parking lot, I had another one of my repeat customers ask for help. She’d pushed her emergency flashers button so hard that it got jammed in the dashboard and was stuck on, so I told her to come to AutoZone, and I got her taken care of.

That was pretty much it for my day today.

After that, I went home and grabbed my nephew, and we went out to eat, picking up some Taco Bell, and heading home for a good meal and good conversation, and now here I am. It’s the end of the work week, and I’m happy for it to be over and to have my Sunday.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it just dawned on me that it’s 10:30 ish, and I haven’t exercised at all today, 😬 so… give me about 17 minutes, and I’ll be back…

…

Well… (heavy breathing heard here)… if anyone asks you if hedge clipper exercise stacks up comparably with jogging, well, just let them know that they’re probably going to need do a full on jog with the hedge clippers in hand (same warning as running with scissors?) to get to the same level of expended energy. 🙃

Wow.

Out. Of. Breath.

I’m soooooo out of shape. My lungs were burning 3 minutes in.

I decided to jog on the trails I’ve made and around the property in general instead of doing the regular hedge clipper servicise because I think the latter is aggravating my ulnar nerve issues, and I’m starting to get really concerned about those issues. This could be a big deal already, and almost certainly if I don’t get it taken care of soon. That’s gonna be on my docket for tomorrow–research good orthopedic doctors.

(sigh)🙁

Anyway, I’m home. I’m in my recliner (which I think might also be bad for my ulnar nerves). But enough of that unhappy stuff…

#1. I’m grateful for the strength to say no.

#2. I’m grateful that I could help the two peeps at the end of the day today.

#3. I’m grateful for memories of happy times long past. I had a good friend of mine who I spent quite a bit of time with a handful of years back. She later actually ended up teaching at the same private school that I did. I met her while swimming in the Provo River up Provo Canyon with a friend of mine. She was walking on the trail next to the river, and I called to her and invited her to join us, and she did! I think it was actually maybe a year or two later that we became super close friends, but we’d go all over together, long talks, adventures, and whatnot. I miss her. She’s married with a couple of kids now, I think. Sometimes I wish life could just pause in place or perhaps rewind. It’s sad how connections can change so much–especially when good friends of the opposite sex get married. The same super close friendships just… don’t work so well. But I’m grateful for the memories and the good times, and there’s a song she wrote that’s about the day we met and the good times we had together, and it can be a pick-me-up for me, so I’m grateful for that, too. I’ve listened to it several times over the last couple of days. I wish I had a copy of it, but it’s still up on a music-sharing site, and hopefully it will be for a long time to come.

#4. I’m grateful that you can mute cell phone ringers. (I’m gonna sleep in tomorrow! 😁)

#5. I’m grateful to be moving forward. I feel today like I have more patience, like I’m less stressed, like I’m a little more grounded, and I think it has something to do with writing my anger/frustration post and starting working on my Who I Am post.

Well, folks, it’s time to say goodnight. So… goodnight. May you sleep peacefully and deeply, and may you have happy dreams.

Lift the World.

~ stephen

Oh… 41, 49, 40, 14, 8.