Hola, peeps. 🙂
The day started hard again today. I didn’t want to get up when my alarm went off. I found myself filled with discouragement and sadness. I just wanted to stay in bed, go back to sleep…. avoid the world.
But… I had a full schedule, and people waiting on me, so that was probably a good thing for me because it got me out of bed and on the road.
Grateful to my friend Cory for hanging with me a decent bit today trying to help me stay up.
I was also grateful that while I was headed to my first job, I got a call for a battery job not too far out of the way, so I stopped and did that job first before heading to the one that had previously been first. Battery jobs are a nice pick-me-up. Quick, easy money. Very very nice.
After that first job, I think I sort of just got back into the groove of working without thinking too much about life. Second job was a 2010 BMW 650i with a coolant leak that turned out to be a massive issue. Like a $12,000 repair bill (I’m not doing the repair… it’s huge. Huge. And what’s wrong? It just has a bad o-ring. That’s it. 😶 It just happens to be an o-ring in a place on the engine that requires the entire top end of the engine to be removed–intake, timing cover, all timing components, both heads.
Yeah. 😶
I did manage to find a company in California that makes a patented part that supposedly can fix the issue and cost about $1600 instead of $12k. It’s a pipe that can expand to fit into place, making it so that all that needs to be removed is the air intake and the water pump.
So… that’s something. Might save them $10k. Cross your fingers for them. Super crappy to have to tell someone that their car requires a 5-digit fix. I’ve never even bought a 5-digit car, I don’t think, let alone have had that kind of repair bill. I think the most I’ve ever paid for a car might be like… $7k? Not sure, honestly.
Anyway, that was job number 2. Numbers 3 and 4 were at the same place, an 07 Hyundai Santa Fe that wouldn’t start (bad fuel pump) and a 2006 Toyota Sequoia that the AC would only blow cold rolling down the road but not at stop lights (bad AC fan). Just did the diag today. Will do the repairs on Friday.
Fifth car was a Dodge Grand Caravan with a coolant leak. Turned out to be the water pump, and it also needed a belt, so I got that done for them. Sixth car was a 2006 Scion Xa that wouldn’t start and had been in a wreck. I replaced their battery, which was all it needed to start. I replaced the negative terminal and one of the negative cables. Then I figured I’d also help them with the wreck stuff since I was already there. I helped bend the fender back into a state where the passenger door could be opened. Then I disconnected everything so the passenger mirror could be removed (it was smashed and dangling from the electrical wire).
Last car was a 2016 Chevy Cruze that wouldn’t start. He’d stood me up earlier in the day, but he reconnected later, so I went back. Everything seemed like the starter, but at the very end, I decided to check one more thing, and I found that they must have jumped the car backwards or something because they’d blown the main fuse–the biggy, the 250 amp one. All the other fuses were fine, but that one was toast, and it supplied direct battery voltage to the starter, which being blown, it couldn’t do. That’s a special part, though, so they’ll need to get that from the dealer, I think. I showed them how to replace it themselves, so they don’t have to pay me to come back later.
That was the last one. I had another I could do… well… lots of others, but I was just beat. It was 7:30, I’d done 7 cars already. I could have broken records if I wanted to, but… I was done. Money ain’t always worth it. Was nice to have decent money day after a couple of really cruddy ones, though.
Anyway, home around 8:30 ish, I think. Really busy day tomorrow.
I’m grateful that something seems to have changed with my body? It’s like ever since the first migraine pill I took, my body has not gone full over the edge. I’ve even had days where I totally should have, but I’m able to recover on my own without even needing to take a migraine pill. It’s… super weird, but it’s really nice. I still start to feel on edge, but not as frequently, and I can pretty much always get myself back without a pill.
So… something has changed somehow, and I’m grateful.
True, I am taking better care of myself, but not so great during the last couple weeks. I should have had some bad days here and there, but I haven’t.
Grateful that a carburetor for the lawnmower is only $42. I was minorly stressing over having to rebuild it and figuring out rebuild kits and whatnot, and then I saw the price of the carburetor itself, and it was a complete no brainer.
I’m feeling better now, by far, than this morning (emotionally). I’m grateful. I’m about to make it two days without wasting my life in front of the big screen in my room. So that’s good. I did about 1000% better biting my tongue today. I did 1000% better not choosing to be angry with cars today (they did go mostly well, though, so my patience wasn’t tried that much. But still, it was much better.
My heart is a lot softer today and a lot more focused on others’ happiness. I’m grateful.
With that as my norm today, I tried to make a bit of amends. I had a friend I felt… slighted by? that’s not the right word, but had done some things without explaining why that stung a little. I’m sure it wasn’t intentionally hurtful, so it was awful of me to react as I did, but I reacted by doing the same things back. 😕
I undid those two things today. Hopefully, it will be meaningful, and my friend can forgive my pettiness.
Softer. That’s where I want it to be. Cross your fingers and let’s hope I can keep it there as my climate, and get this nasty weather gone for a good, long while.
Loves to all.
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Lift the World 