Chasing New Tires

"Good morning!" Kevin called out as i went in to the shop with #1 Son.

"It's about time you came back!" Lenny said.  "It's been at least three days, and i was starting to get separation anxiety!"

As i laughed and got myself some coffee, Kevin asked, "What is it this time?"

It's Chase, the Chevy, i told him.  Time for that oil change and the tires you said it needed last time.

(Note:  Yes, we name our cars.  Yes, this one is the Chevy, Chase.  Yes, i know that's bad, but so is Jalopy!)

"Oh, yes.  And an alignment?" Kevin said.

Yes, i sighed.  We don't want uneven wear on the tires.

"I've noticed the steering wheel is pulling," #1 Son said.

"No, you sure don't want uneven wear!" Lenny said.  "It means you end up in here more often, although now that I think about it, it's not such a bad thing!"

More laughter ensued, and Kevin continued.

"We're figuring tires in the $80 range?"  The way Kevin said it, it was as much statement as question.

Yes, i answered.  We figured on $80-$100 per tire, and that we'd be spending in the $600-$650 range when it was all said and done.

"That sounds right," Kevin said.  "And be glad it's not the $300 tires!"

Those specialty tires are outrageous, i said.  You're right, i'm glad we don't opt for anything like that!

"One guy came in a few weeks ago, he had hit a curb and sliced both tired on that side," Kevin said.  "That was $1,200.  Then two weeks later, he did it again, and three weeks after that, he sliced the back tire on that same side!  He spent about $3,000 in tires in less than 6 months."

You'd think he'd learn to drive better, i noted drily.

"Yeah, you'd think!" Kevin said.  "We'll get on it, it will be this afternoon."

See you then, i said as i headed home.

A few hours later, i drove #1 Son back over there to pick up his Chevy, Chase, and Kevin greeted me with, "I got it all done for only $615!  That's tires, alignment, oil change, air filter and new wiper blades!"

Thank you!  You are a magician! i told him.

"Yeah, I'd been meaning to get to those wiper blades,"#1 Son said.  "I don't think I've changed them since I've owned the car!"

"Well, we got them now, you're good to go!" Kevin said.

"Come back soon," Lenny said.

Don't worry, i told him.  Cicero will need an oil change before we leave town.

"I'll be looking forward to it!" he said.  "You can have coffee!"

Of course i can.


Today is:

Day of Remembrance for Oleg the Prophet -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan

Four Chaplains Day -- US (by act of Congress, honoring the four chaplains of the Dorchester who gave their life jackets to others and went down with the ship on Feb. 3, 1943)

Fukuju no mai (Jimai) -- Sensouji Temple, Japan (dance of the seven gods of fortune)

Full Snow Moon -- sometimes also called the Full Hunger Moon, as the most snow falls this month and finding food is hardest
     Meaka Bochea -- Buddhist (celebration of the final sermon of Buddha)
     Navam Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Spring Lantern Festival -- China (final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations)
     Tabodwe Full Moon -- Myanmar (month of Hta-Ma-Ne Feast, the harvest festival of Thanksgiving)

Guru Ravidas Jayanti -- CH, HR, and PB, India

Halfway Point of Winter/Summer -- which it is depends, of course, on your hemisphere; enjoy that cold weather will warm soon, or that cooler temps will relieve your hot spells

Heroes' Day -- Mozambique

Magnolia and Fish Jubilee -- Fairy Calendar

Martyr's Day -- Sao Tome and Principe

National Carrot Cake Day

Nuestra Señora de Suyapa -- Honduras (Festival of the Virgin of Suyapa, Patroness of Honduras)

Setsubun-sai (Bean-Throwing Festival) -- Japan/Shinto (many fests throughout Japan) 

St. Anskar's Day (patron of Denmark, Scandinavia, Sweden; Bremen, Germany; Hamburg, Germany)

St. Blaise's Day/Blessing of Throats Day (Patron of animals, builders, carvers, healthy throats, stonecutters, veterinarians, wool-combers, wool weavers; Dalmatia; Anguillara Sabazia, Italy; Bovolone, Italy; Camastra, Sicily, Italy; Cassano allo Ionio, Italy; Castellania, Italy; Doues, Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Militello, Sicily, Italy; Montecatini Val di Cecina, Italy; Palombara Sabina, Italy; Pietrasanta, Italy; Revello, Italy; Sacrofano, Italy; against coughs, goiters, throat diseases, whooping cough, wild beasts)

Takisanji Oni Matsuri -- Takisan-ji Temple, Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

The Day the Music Died -- anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson)

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", begins at sunset)

Veterans' Day -- Thailand


Anniversaries Today:

Jean-Claude van Damme weds Darcy Lapier, 1994
Wake Forest University is established, 1834


Birthdays Today:

Isla Fisher, 1976
Maura Tierney, 1965
Keith Gordon, 1961
Thmas Calabro, 1959
Nathan Lane, 1956
Morgan Fairchild, 1950
Dave Davies, 1947
Blythe Danner, 1943
Fran Tarkenton, 1940
Shelley Berman, 1926
Joey Bishop, 1918
Simone Weil, 1909
James Michener, 1907
Norman Rockwell, 1894
Gertrude Stein, 1874
Elizabeth Blackwell, 1821
Horace Greeley, 1811


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Victor Borge Show"(TV), 1951
The Three Caballeros(Cartoon Film; US debut), 1945 
"Face the Music"(Musical), 1932
"Le carnaval romain"(Berlioz, Op. 9), 1844
"Semiramide"(Opera, Rossini), 1823

 
Today in History 

Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south, 1488
The first paper money in America is issued by the colony of Massachusetts, 1690
Philadelphia establishes a "pesthouse" to quarantine immigrants, 1743
The Dutch States-General forbid the export of windmills, 1752
Spain recognizes US independence, 1783
The world's first commercial cheese factory is established in Switzerland, 1815
The sovereignty of Greece is confirmed in a London Protocol, 1830
The Wisconsin Supreme Court declares the US Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional,1855
Emperor Meiji becomes the 122nd emperor of Japan, 1867
The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, guaranteeing Black suffrage, is passed, 1870
Albert Spalding, with only $800, starts a sporting goods company, which eventually manufactured the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, and football (American style football), 1876
Circus owner P.T. Barnum buys Jumbo the elephant, 1882
The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution, the income tax, is ratified, 1913
Canada's original Parliament building, in Ottowa, burns down, 1916
Percival Prattis becomes the first African-American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries, 1947
A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson and the incident becomes known as The Day the Music Died, 1959
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of the "a wind of change" of increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation, 1960
The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon, 1966
In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress, 1969
New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption, 1971
John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth, 1984
Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 1995
The New York Giants defeated the heavily favored and previously undefeated 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, 17-14, in what is known to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history, 2008