2021-06-12 — Needling Around

I’m ready for a Sabbath. 😊

It’s been quite the crazy week. Seems like so much has happened. Good good week. 😊

Let’s see… today… up, a few dailies, then off to work. My first job was a nightmare, but she stopped me in the middle, so that was a bit of an escape. She only paid me for an hour, even though I was over two hours, but whatever. I didn’t push it. I replaced the battery, but it was a crank, no start after that, and went to replace the crank sensor, but it broke off inside (which they do… awful GM products. Seriously. Anyway… Was a perfect moment, and I didn’t pass the test very well. I got so frustrated. Oh well. Tomorrow just came, so it’s a new day [it’s 12:02]).

Second job… what was it…? …uh… Oh! It was a weird sound… probably a wheel bearing, but it wasn’t reproducible off the ground (jacked up), and I haven’t yet figured out how to get the real life Honey I Shrunk the Kids gadget to work, so… I did my best but had to send them out to another shop for another diagnostic. Oh well. They were happy. It was a 2015 Altima, so it was either a wheel bearing, CV axle, or it was one of the inboard tranny bearings. I’m thinking it’s probably the wheel bearing, but it could be the tranny. 😬

Third job… 2004 Honda Pilot… just a screw in a tire, so I pulled the screw out, plugged the tire, and boom. Done.

Fourth job was an alternator on a 2005 PT Cruiser. It took a good little while, but it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t get it finished all the way, though. Someone in the past way over tightened one of the strut bolts (one of the two that bolts to the knuckle), and so it wouldn’t tighten properly. Just kept turning. So… he paid me anyway, but I’ll need to go back to finish it Monday or Tuesday.

After the fourth job, I was super low on fuel, and with an CNG vehicle, if you run out of fuel, you don’t just go get a gas can: You need a tow to the station. 🙃 Gratefully, I made it from Bentonville to Springdale to fill up.

After that, it was back to Rogers where I did a relatively quick diagnosis for a young guy who’s car wouldn’t start (bad fuel pump. It was coming on, but it was a bad pump all the way.

Then it was home and here I am. 😊

#1. I’m grateful that Marty and Carl were able to get the track back on my mini ex. They accidentally popped it off. Fortunately, they’re used to working with heavy equipment, so they were able to get it back on without any issues. I’ve popped tracks off before, but I was always able to get it back on without having to take it all the way off. But they let the grease out, got a grease gun, put it back on, and got it going again.

#2. I’m grateful that the super hard shifting of the transmission, as well as the code for fuel being too lean was because I was getting low on fuel. Apparently, you don’t want to let your natural gas vehicle get very low, or it runs lean (and with new vehicles that are all tied together with sensors, the tranny shifts super hard, too. It was bad by the time I got to the fill station. Super hard clunking into each gear.

All sensors… nothing wrong with the tranny, just… not timing things correctly because the fuel combustion isn’t as expected, I guess.

#3. I’m grateful I was able to get my headlight assemblies back on today (I did that after filling up tonight). They’re not perfect, but the adapter cables worked, and now I have regular lights and brights, so… wahoo!

#4. I’m grateful that the last job didn’t turn out to be a big deal. I thought it was going to be a quickie, but it wasn’t, but I was able to diagnose it really fast.

#5. I’m grateful that I was able to stay on top of my hydration today. I don’t know how much I drank, but it was a lot. It was another super hot, sweat dripping all over, face red but not from sunburn as much as wiping the sweat off my face until I rubbed a layer of skin off, too? (sounds worse than it is… pretty standard. Slightly chaffed, back to normal by morning, kind of thing.

#5. I’m grateful for the Excedrin Migraine medicine. I don’t know if it’s working or if I’ve just been better at staying on top of things, but I have been taking a half a pill here and there, and I haven’t gone over the edge. I felt myself this morning already on edge (headache starting by my brain stem), but that was banished, either by hydration or pill or both.

#6. I’m grateful that I was able to aspirate my knee effectively. At least I think it was? 🙃 I poked a hole in it with the honker #18 needle, and I got out probably 12-15 CCs of fluid. So that was good. I think. We’ll see how it goes. But it’s drained now. It was starting to hurt a little today for the first time? Something, anyway. Not so nice. Cross your fingers that it’s gonna get better now and not fill with fluid again.

Daily Accountability:

The Positive

1. 19 days. Closing in on 3 weeks. 😊
2. I’m able to remember more frequently what’s most important to me (learning and growing and becoming). Which makes the various experiences of life, including the challenging ones, so… useful! Bring it all on.
3. Had the opportunity to try to lift a friend this morning. Not sure how successful I was, but hopefully, I was helpful.
4. I did really well, I think, when things didn’t go so well with the PT Cruiser (troubles getting the alternator past the oil filter housing, damaged bolt issue, etc. There was one part (tightening the belt) that I was starting to get pretty frustrated because it took probably 30-45 minutes just to tighten the belt because the initial tension was so wildly different from the final torqued tension, I had to loosen and tighten and readjust probably 8-10 times. But… overall, I noticed improvement there, especially after a rough one with car number 1 and I having lost my cool with that one. I turned it around and was pretty decent by the end of the day.

The Needs Improvement:

1. 1.2.2.9. Ugh.
2. Though I’ve been better at remembering what I want most, which is to become full of love and unflappable by the daily circumstances of life (among other things), I got really frustrated with the 1st car. Room for improvement. For sure.

My love to all of you. 😊

Lift the World.

~ stephen