It's been one of those years

Well, I'm still waiting for the New Year to stop shitting on me. Really, any time now would be nice.



Tuesday night I went to my Erin and Travis' place for some delicious soup and beer and fun board games (isn't that redundant? I've rarely played any un-fun board games) and some PS2. Good times, with some good people. I stayed there, since they live in North Liberty, and I was meeting up with my mom the next day in Iowa City (for those of you unfamiliar with the area, North Liberty is between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, closer to IC than CR by about 10 miles, so instead of backtracking to CR and then back to IC, I just made it easier on myself. So I thought). Plus, I was a little drunk. The plan was that I would get up the next day, hang out a little bit, then meet up with my mom.

Here's the thing about plans: they're nice to have and all, but when one little thing throws everything off, I get pissy. That one little thing yesterday was a flat tire. Flat flat.

Travis was kind enough to drive me to Iowa City where he joined us for the lunch buffet at Old Chicago. Then he took me back, helped me take my tire off (since he had coveralls, I wasn't going to get my jeans and sweater dirty!) in the snow (did I mention it was snowing and balls cold?? It was) and then drove me to the tire shop. They said that they'd call me if there was a problem with the tire that they couldn't repair, otherwise I could pick it up sometime before 5.

Of course you know they called me about 20 minutes later. We had barely finished the front 9 on our game. Tire ruined. Bad. They could get a new one, but it wouldn't be there until the next morning. Plus, there's the whole thing about paying for it ($100 for the tire alone), and, as some of you more dedicated readers may know, I have no job, just moved, and ergo, have no money. Like none.

After some calls were made, the plan was to put on the spare, drive to Muscatine where my mom would help me out with a tire, and I would stay for the weekend. I was going to be coming down anyways to help watch the dogs, so it kind of worked out.

Apparently I should stop making plans, because they just give me flat tires.

As I was leaving North Liberty, after picking up my rim and old tire, I noticed that my car was feeling a little funny as I was driving. I pulled off into a shopping center, and wouldn't you know it, my spare was a little low on air. Since there were a few gas stations in the area, I figured I'd try to make it to on and then air it up. After 3 gas stations with no air pumps, I found one in working order, and started pumping. With no results. My spare was absolutely flat by this time, and not taking any air. Yeah.

More calls were made, this time I found a place that had one of my tires in stock (p205/55 R 16 tires aren't easily accessible, I guess, and expensive. Also, I will not say the name of the place that I got them, because I don't want to admit to spending money there. But it was cheap, so I don't feel too bad. And it wasn't my money). Then I called upon my gracious, amazing sister to pick me up, take me to the place, pay for the tire until she can be paid back, drive me back to my car, then stand outside with a flashlight while I changed out the flat spare with the brand new tire. At least it wasn't 0 degrees out. It was 6. And dark.

Finally back on the road, I head towards Muscatine, to sort of collect myself and lick my wounds. While driving, I realized that I didn't really have anything with me for my weekend. No phone charger, no clothes, no toothbrush, no deodorant. I had picked a car charger for my phone when I was waiting for the tire, but it was missing a part, and was useless. Did you expect any different?

Today, though, I'm a little bit back on track. Still in Muscatine (I'll give you a call soon, KP), I got a new car charger so my phone is functional after dying last night at a very inopportune moment, my tires are looking good, I'm warm, I'm well-fed, and only a little stinky. It turns out I had some clothes in my car, so those are being washed and soon enough, I'll have something to change into after a shower. I even had a pair of underwear in there! Don't ask me why.

Thanks for putting up with all of this bitching. I promise I'll be back soon, this time with some interesting and entertaining posts. A couple of landmark posts will be coming in the near future, so don't miss out on those!