2022-05-30 — Positive Progress on Day 2

Hiya, folks! 🙂

Been a relatively leisurely day today. I got up at… I don’t remember… maybe 7 something? Gosh, my memory is failing me. I can’t remember what I did this morning. 🙃

Whatever I did, I left for work a little early (about 9:30) because I had someone stranded at Walmart down in Springdale, so I headed down to help him out. Someone had tried to help him put a new battery cable connector on yesterday, but they didn’t realize that the way they set it up put the cable directly against thick paint, so the ground cable couldn’t actually ground. So I fixed that for him. I also noticed that his belt was all cracked and needed to be replaced. I didn’t want to put a new belt on for him because he’d called me out for the no-start issue, and it would take another 30 minutes or so to get the belt and install it for him, and it wouldn’t be any extra money for me because it would all be within the one-hour service call, but I’d have felt bad if I didn’t offer to do that as well, since I “had time.”

Anyway, so I followed him to AutoZone, and he bought a belt, and I installed it for him.

After that, since I’d driven all the way down to Springdale just for that one job, I stopped off and got gas at my CNG station. Then I went to U Pull It auto parts and got a rim for my van (one of the items on my transition list). I was grateful they had one (and they only had one). It’s a little rusty, but it’s just going to be used as a spare. I’ve been driving my van for like a year without a spare tire, so… yeah. I’ll take it to get a used tire put on the rim tomorrow, and then I’ll be all set.

After getting the rim, I went over to Junk Yard Dog (another junk yard), and I was able to get a fender ordered for my van for a really really good price ($65). They’ll pull it off tomorrow, so I’ll go by and pick it up. That’s another item on my transition list. The fender has a big red stripe on it, but I’m guessing I’ll be able to get it off reasonably simply. I hope.

I was able to get in touch with the body work guy that Miguel used to do the work on his truck. I’ll bring him my Z4 tomorrow to see what he thinks it’ll cost to get the paint and dings fixed. I also ordered a new AC suction line for my Z4. Once that comes in, and once the AC bracket comes in (eBay purchase), and once the bolt I already ordered from the BMW dealer comes, I’ll be able to reinstall the AC compressor and have functional AC in my Z4. All that is on my transition list as well.

After the junkyard visits, I went to Walmart to take back some pants I bought that were not labeled properly. They were on 32-34 size hanger, but they were actually extra large, so when I put them on, they pretty much would just fall right back off of me. So I returned those for store credit and then turned around and, per my transition list item, I bought another pair of shoes–not super nice ones, sort of lower end but not junk, if that makes sense.

Given how quality has been going down so much lately in what used to be high-quality shoe makers, I don’t really know who to trust. I just bought two pair of Keens, and they both of… lost their… uh… souls. 🙃

Anyway, it’s a pair of shoes, and they’re new and nice looking. I’ll use my Keens just as work shoes to be banged up and ruined even further.

Anyway, so it was Walmart, then it was Harbor Freight to exchange a socket that was part of a set I bought that was labeled a 14 mm but was actually a 13 mm. Then I decided that since it was lunch time, and since I’d be passing Chik-Fil-A, and since I’d had a $10 gift card that I’d had for… who knows how long, I figured I’d get lunch there.

Go figure, but they don’t sell any meal options that don’t have chicken in them. 🙃 So if figured, well, if I give the gift card to someone else, the critters are gonna be dead anyway, and I don’t have any dietary restrictions toward meat: It’s a personal choice because I don’t like killing things, and I don’t like the way the industries operate that raise animals for food.

So anyway, I just went ahead and used the card for myself and ate lunch there.

After that, I drove up to Bentonville to put a spare tire on for a lady who had realized that her tire had gone flat overnight or something (I found a big screw in it). It was slightly uncomfortable being there, but not bad. She was a really nice lady, but she was hovering and talking a lot and seemed like she was wanting me to ask her out. Which, is a compliment, but it’s not as enjoyable when you’re not interested. 🙃

Finished that job up and headed home. I don’t know what happened, but I hit an absolute wall energy wise. I couldn’t think really at all, dead to the useful world, so I decided to take a 25-minute power nap and to head up to Liz’s up the hill for the Memorial Day get together they were having. But my 25-minute nap turned into almost an hour and a half, I think, and I was super groggy when I finally pried myself out of bed.

Spent only a little while up the hill with everyone. Ended up coming back because mom was gonna mow the rest of the lawn, and after what happened yesterday, I suggested that we check the oil every time we go to mow, and oddly, it was already low again? I’d driven it all of 40 feet since I filled it last, and there’s no leak, so… 🤔

Mom ran and got oil, and I drained the oil and checked for metal shavings in it (I might have seen one, but nothing majorly obvious, so… I’m hopeful that the mower might survive what happened yesterday. We’ll see. I guess we’ve been running it low on oil for a little while now. Weird.

Changed the oil and filter and drove it over to Stevie’s to let him use it.

Ate dinner with my mom. She experimented and made a super tasty rice and veggie coconut milk dish. Mmmm good.

And here I am now, late to bed, but not 3 a.m. late. It’s 9:57. It’s been really hard to lay off my various escapes–really hard. The habits are so strong, and the desire to check out so strong…

But we’re climbing out of the pit. It’s been a relatively quiet day, but more progress today, so we’ll call day 2 of this transition process a success.

Onward.

Lift the World

~ stephen