Web Log Entry #0072, Monday, June 2, 2003: Day 196

Anchorage Sunrise: 4:34am Sunset: 11:20pm High Temp: 60° Low Temp: 43° I don't mean to obsess about transportation, but lately my thoughts have been very car-oriented. At the end of last week, the front left tire on my car had been slowly losing air. I topped it off a couple times, hoping that it would make it to Monday, when I'd take it back to Fleet Services. Well, when I tried to run errands on Sunday, the tire was flat. So I opened the trunk to discover a brackish pool of water surrounding the spare, and a moldy smell. Great. So I clean out the trunk and change the tire (which I know how to do because I grew up in Arizona, but I'm a programmer, so I hate getting my hands dirty), and finally see the well-worn head of the screw that is embedded in the tire. Naturally, the spare tire isn't full size. It's about the size of a pizza, and it ALSO is dangerously underinflated. Stan is gone for the weekend, and I don't relish having the spare fail somewhere across Anchorage, so I stayed home. First thing Monday morning, I made the call, and a very nice but taciturn Fleet Services mechanic came out. He had a floor jack and an air wrench, and he removed the spare and put on the replacement tire in a fraction of the time I spent (precious minutes I could have been watching TV, for example). Ironic that it happened on the weekend before it had to go back. Still, it's great to be able to call someone to come make it all better, so I'll take back some of the bad things I've said about Fleet Services.

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© 2003 Evan M. Nichols