Thing that happened to me today #22

So I am trying to learn how to do some work on my car to save a little money and make sure it is done correctly (and also to not get hosed for the extra things they say you always need at repair shops). So I went to do my rear brakes yesterday, and it didn't turn out so easy. I have changed pads on cars 3-4 times before, but have never done the rotors. Apparently it is actually pretty easy, most of the time they just slide off when you get the caliper off, sometimes they have two screws holding them on that you need to get out.

Now rear brakes only actually do about 20% of the braking on your car, the fronts do the brunt of the work. So they don't need to get changed nearly as often. In fact my car was bought brand new and now has 106,000 miles on it, and the rear brakes had never been changed. Recently they started to make some noise and I knew it was time.

So once I got the wheel off and took a look at it I realized that after 106,000 miles, things can get a bit rusty in there. So rusty that I could not get the two little screws out for the life of me. I was told by several car people that they are useless, only put on there during the car building process to hold the rotor in place, but that they really serve no purpose (the lug nuts actually do the holding on, not the two screws). So the advice I got was to try to drill them out, just past the head of the screw, then the rotor would pop off and no need to worry about replacing them. This was much easier said then done. I actually tried an impact hammer first, which uses the force of a hammer blow to torque the screw out, which didn't budge it. So I went for the drill. After toying with it on one side for about a half-hour, I gave up. So I just figured I would put the pads on the old rotors and see what happened. After installing the pads on both sides I took it for a test drive and boy was it horrible sounding. Rotors definitely had to be changed (I could tell they were in bad shape before I even did it but had no choice but to take a chance).

So I took it to a place this morning and watched what the guy did, he took a welding torch and melted those screws out of there, neat stuff, but no way I could have done it. So in the end, I paid $20 for the pads, which they said would have been around $80 installed, and $177 for the rotors installed, which would have cost me $60 from the auto parts store. In other words, it cost me $117 to have a couple screws torched out (talk about getting screwed, literally).

So is it worth it to try yourself? Depends if you are the curious type who likes to know how things work like myself, and also, of course, the value of your time. For me, saving $60 to do the pads myself, which only takes an hour, less if you are good, is worth it because I learned something while doing it. Would have been even more worth it if I could have gotten the darn rotors off, but oh well. I'd say for most people though, just pay for it!

Thing that happened to me today #21

The mice must be breeding like mice this time of year (or do they breed like rabbits?). At least my house must have some appeal to the few that are out there, because they keep coming in. I caught one recently, and now we have two more. It has been two days of waking up to things having been eaten in the kitchen during the night. First it was a half-eaten tomato on the counter, then the next day they ran off with an ENTIRE BAG OF NUTS. That's right, Sandy left a ziplock bag of nuts on the counter that was to be her snack yesterday at work, and when she got up in the morning it was gone, the whole thing, bag and all. Not to mention a large chunk of a banana eaten out, surprised they didn't take the whole thing with them, or the refrigerator for that matter. I did put a trap out last night, but it was empty this morning. They probably have enough stashed to feed themselves for a month. After I went to work though, Sandy called me frantically, said a mouse jumped on her foot when she turned the oven on, then ran back under it. She said she freaked and the cake batter went flying. I told her to try and pull the stove out. She did a little and said she saw two mice huddling in the corner. I guess I know what I have to do when I get home. The beastmaster is back! I will never buy an 83 year old house again.

Thing that happened to me today #20

In Minnesota you only get a few months a year of really nice weather, so when it rains for 5 STRAIGHT DAYS like it has, you start to get a little pissy. Everything has greened up nice which is good, now if we could only see some sun, we could enjoy it a bit. Hopefully this weekend will be nice. Otherwise I will begin construction on the ark.

Thing that happened to me today #19

Went to the doctor this morning, my eye was itching and irritated for a few days, I knew it was pink eye before I had even called for the appointment. It was clarified by a professional. What is with it being called pink eye anyway? I think it should be called itchy eye, or irritated eye syndrome, or just plain eye infection. Pink eye just doesn't cut it in my book, it's not flashy enough. It doesn't quite describe the symptoms enough, at least the ones that annoy you about having it. Pink eye should just be what you get when you partake in the use of natures number one plant. I have seen this in people before. Doctors should take some notes from newer conditions that are more properly named such as irritable bowel syndrome, genital warts, or acid reflux disease, which, by the way, I was also diagnosed with today (the latter one, not the former two, whew!). Been having acid reflux for awhile, finally decided to ask about it while there, and sure enough, I've got it. On some meds now for both, and apparently they are both curable. Obviously not surprising for itchy eye, but it is for acid reflux disease. They say you can be on the meds for two months and never have problems with it again. I am, as usual, a skeptic. I sure hope so though, I'll see I guess.

Thing that happened to me today #18

My son Sagan, who will be 2 years old in October, has started to string a few words together. His first sentences. The other night when I was hanging out with him on our bed, about to put him to bed, I asked him if he wanted to go to his bed. His response, "No, daddy bed". It was awesome. Watching the development of a child is a remarkable thing. It is the little things like this that not only make your day, but make you appreciate the wonders of human development.

Thing that happened to me today #17

Frank: I told my wife I wouldn't drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. You guys have a great time.
College Student: A big day? Doing what?
Frank: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.


Sunday we went to Home Depot, bought a storm door, looked at some flooring. We didn't actually have time for Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I suppose I need something exciting to happen for this blog to work.

Sorry about all the movie references, I guess I can't stop myself.

Thing that happened to me today #16

Yesterday I officially began writing my first research article to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. I only wrote about two paragraphs of the materials and methods section, which is the easiest part to write, but you have to start somewhere. Hopefully I can crank through this. It is daunting, but I will push on through...

Thing that happened to me today #15

This is what you get in my house when you spill paint in the garage. About the size of a cigar. Do I stutter?


Ok. It's actually what you get when you have a grill engulfed in flames and at the very moment that you reach under it to turn off the propane (before it explodes) a large splotch of the burning grease drips out onto the back of your hand. It was actually not as painful as it might seem to be, but now I have what looks to be a golf divot on the back of my hand. Hopefully you got the reference above.

Thing that happened to me today #14

I went around calling myself the beastmaster Sunday afternoon. First thing that happened to make me do this occurred while watering the plants in the backyard. From about 15 feet away I could see a little pink thing writhing around on the ground near the base of our big silver maple. It was this:


It was a baby squirrel. Disgustingly adorable. It was so helpless, eyes not even open yet, must have been just born. This is the day after a big storm so the nest must have been damaged. By the way, the nest is about 20-30 feet off the ground, so this little guy (like 2 inches long) survived quite a tumble. I couldn't believe it was still alive (lucky the dogs hadn't been out too). It was just wriggling around helpless and I didn't know what to do, so I coddled it in my shirt keeping it warm until Sandy got back. Then I made her take it to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (which St. Paul is very fortunate to have) where it will be raised until it is old enough to live on its own, then released back into the wild.

Ten minutes after Sandy left with the squirrel, I went down in our basement. While I was there I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, it was a rodent of some sort (mouse I'm pretty sure, but it had a bit of a rattish look). Anyway, the thing had jumped right up near me and was just sitting there looking at me. So I slowly walked towards it. All the while thinking about what the hell I would do if it didn't dash off and hide in all our junk as I expected it to. Sure enough it just sat there and did nothing, so I figured I'd give grabbing it by the tip of the tail with my bare hands a shot. Damn if I didn't grab it:


I kind of thought it wouldn't be able to pull itself up while dangling from its tail, but sure enough it could, and did. So there was that instant moment of panic where I thought I probably shouldn't get bit or scratched by a wild rodent, but I held my ground and didn't drop it. It certainly did try to bite and scratch a little, but it was so small I felt nothing and it did nothing to me. Then it calmed down right away and was actually kind of cool. I put it in a box with some nuts and considered letting Solana keep it as a pet, then let it go outside - in my neighbors yard (:

So, after these two incidents (not to mention the earlier raccoon incident), I was indeed the beastmaster.

Thing that happened to me today #13

Crazy thunderstorm last night. The kind where you get woken up at 3am because a bolt of lightning might as well have struck your house (It didn't) because it was so loud and crashing that I flew three feet out of the bed. I was already having a hard time sleeping because I was stuck to the sheets with sweat because of the broken AC, this didn't help. The kids were up a ton too, just a bad night. When I got up and went to work our power was out and there were trees down everywhere, luckily none of mine and the power was only out a couple hours, it was nasty though. It reminded me of a storm that hit when I was young where a bolt of lightning actually did hit our house. I still distinctly remember a seeing the vinyl siding on part of our house missing and scattered all over the yard, not to mention several broken windows. Scary stuff. AC was fixed today, only $250, was extremely relieved about this, I was certain it was done for altogether. Whew!

Thing that happened to me today #12

Actually posting about what happened to me today when it is actually still today. Ok, I've totally screwed up this blog, but this post means I am trying again (wish me luck). I totally missed the month of July so here is a quick recap. Went to Baltimore with Sandy and the kids to spend a couple weeks with family and friends, which was great. I very much needed to relax and have some time off of work and this trip was very satisfying in that regard, although trips home are always hectic with trying to fit in visits to a million different people, but still refreshing. I was fortunate to get to see my brother Gwydion's play Abstract Nude which was performed at the Source Theatre during the Capitol Fringe Festival in D.C. while I was in town. It was such a great time. The play was hysterical. My brother is a genius. Mad props to him. Just got back from a three day work trip to northern Minnesota (Crookston) to harvest some barley lines. Today, I awoke to a broken air conditioner and 95 degrees. Can't wait to see the bill to fix it.

Thing that happened to me today #11

Sunday July 1st, 2007. My birthday, 33 years old. Still have 10 fingers.