Project Black #4 — Tired

The last week before school dismissed for the summer, I found my car in the school parking lot with a flat tire from a nail puncture — the nail in plain view for me to see. I called road service and they changed my tire and had the car ready to run a full hour before quitting time.

After work I took the “nailed” tire straight to our local Goodyear Tire Service Center. I asked the guy at the front desk to fix the flat, and told him we’d been having trouble with a slow leak on another tire for a couple of weeks. I said I suspected the valve stem, and asked him to check it out.

When I returned to get my car the young man at the front desk told me that they’d patched my tire, but I shouldn’t expect it to hold. He said, “Your tires are old, bald, and no longer legal. You need to buy new ones.” I said, “These tires are only a year old, and if they’re in that bad of shape, I’ll be returning them to the place that holds their warranty.”

I asked about the second tire. He told me the valve stem was fine, and if I was losing air, I was losing it through the worn tread. He assured me that my life was in jeopardy driving home.

That evening when OC came home, I told him all this tire talk. He said, “There’s nothing wrong with your tires, but next week when you take it in to Mike (at the Chevy dealership) for the oil change, ask him to take a look.

Well, all week I worried about those dang tires. I fussed. I fumed. I put air in the rear tire three more times (it never went flat, just low), then finally came my Thursday appointment with Mike. “Oil change and check the tires,” I said. Then I left.

Twenty minutes later my phone rang, it was Mike. He said, “About your rear tire on the passenger side — no wonder it won’t hold air — did you know it has a big honkin’ nail in it?” I’d picked up nails in both tires, probably at the same time in the same place, but only one tire went flat. I asked Mike if the tire was worth patching. He responded, “Hell, these tires are almost brand new. Yes, patch it.” I told him what the Goodyear Sales guy had said, “See, that’s the thing about commission sales, they make people lie. You come in here, I can talk you into 20 extra things you don’t need, but why? They aren’t gonna pay me any more for it. Never go to commission shops if you want an honest answer.”

* * *

Anna, of Anna Carson’s Photography, hosts Project Black.

And this week, special thanks to Jeremiah of, My World in Pictures, for inspiring this shot.

Guess What I Heard About Your Doctor?

I just found this cool website online, CheckMD, that let me check out my personal doctor’s back ground. I checked on my Doctors in Vegas. I checked on a doctor I used long ago back home. I was surprised to find that they all came up. (They are all still practicing.)

There is a place on each Doctor’s webpage where you can read about any disciplinary actions taken against them. There’s a place where you can write and leave a review. AND there’s a place where the doc can set up his/her own webpage. None of my docs had done so yet, but this is a very new site.

I found it quite interesting. You might, too.

College Tuition

It’s that time of year. Will you soon be sending someone off to college? Are you wondering how on earth you are going to pay for it? Are you contemplating student loans? If you are then PLEASE first contemplate THIS.

This is NOT a paid post.  I truly believe in the value of the Simple Tuition website and wish it had been around before I took out my student loans and borrowed too much at too high an interest rate.  Here is the review I wrote about the site for Bzz Agent:

I wish this site had been around when I took out my student loans. Had I known the payback rate (monthly payment, length of terms), I would have worked more and borrowed less. Plus, the final payback price is an education in itself for the young and naive.

This shouldn’t just be a handy tool borrowers CAN use, it should be a requirement. There would be a whole lot less sticker shock when the first bill came in, and perhaps a fewer hardship defaults.

I would like to see this site add the prospective entry income of the borrower’s chosen career/field, and a projection of how much of their monthly expenditure would be repayment of student loans.

It will take a few moments of your life to look at this — and maybe save you thousands of dollars in interest fees. Check it out!.

(If you want to learn more about BzzAgent, click the frog on my sidebar.)

Face-Out!

I went to Barnes & Noble today at Ala Moana Mall and this is what I saw:

Eight books face out in the general inventory.

Seven books on display in the main isle!

They are within just a few feet of the front door on the

NEW In PAPERBACK

kiosk!

And here’s a close-up so you can be as excited as I was!

If you haven’t read this novel yet

all I can say is,

“What’s taking so long?”

(review and excerpt)

OC ‘n’ Quilly Shopkeepers!

A number of people approached me this week and told me I should try to sell my photos. This surprised me greatly, but I did some looking and discovered … I am a fairly talented amateur photographer, but there are plenty of other folks with cameras who are much, much better than I!

Still, it seemed I was being offered an opportunity. How best to take advantage of it? I began by having a chat with OC. Let me tell you something now, I love the man, but he does not bow to my vanities. He told me under no uncertain terms that while I might have the talent to compete with the pros, I didn’t have the education (neither formal nor experiential) or the equipment to enter the fray at any level above 10th sub-basement. Ouch.

Still, there are people who like my stuff, so there must be a market. All I had to do was find it. And I did! Yay! You can find it, too. Just click here.

If you don’t see what you want and have a suggestion, leave it in the comment box or click the email link to the left of the blog just under my photo. Thanks!

Oh! And thanks to Sauer Kraut, OC and I may soon be running a contest that will allow you to win store merchandise! Stay tuned for further developments!

[To my loyal readers: no purchase necessary to enjoy the same great blog content you’ve come to expect from, Just Another Day in … Paradise?]