Transportation

Ugh. It's been 24 hours, and the mechanics are still diagnosing my car. At least, I have my mom's car to drive. They finally got back to me. The car needs a new suspension and new tires and some odds and ends. (I believe them because of the way that it's been driving.) I also ordered a new key fob because my old one fell out in the rain and got ruined. So I'm wincing a little, but it should drive like a whole new car! The mechanics offered a payment program, but I have the money, so I should just pay it.

My Mom's car, a Honda Fit, should be easy to sell. I've gotten fond of that car, but I don't need two cars.

It's funny what will trigger grief. I was getting something out of the refrigerator, and I saw my mom's almost empty bottle of orange juice, and I realized that she drank it, and felt a pang.

seattlejo on DW made a comment about my sudden interest in plane crashes. It's not sudden. When I was a kid, my dad worked for United Airlines, and we flew a lot. I got interested in plane crashes, and somewhere along the line discovered that there were books written about them, so I read them. I was interested in the chain of events leading to an accident, especially the human factors. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was showing an interest in Human Factors Psychology, which I was going to major in during college until I took my first statistics class and fell in love with statistics. A while ago, I discovered that people were making videos about plane crashes, so I started watching them. Now I'm reading books about them again. But then I realized that I could apply some of what I learned to my travel, so that's why I switched my seats on the upcoming trips. No big deal, and it could help in case of an accident. Kind of like wearing seat belts.

I've been scared on a plane only twice. One was on a flight where we took a steep dive coming into O'Hare, and I never found out what had happened. The other was after 9/11. I remember looking at the other passengers and wondering what I would do if we were hijacked. My mom had a business trip two weeks after 9/11, and I thought that she had guts going on it.

Took a nap and slept through until morning. Got up early to prepare for the plumber.

Adventures in Plumbing

I found the car key. It had fallen into a container of magazines in the bathroom. So yay. I got the bathrooms ready for the plumbers and got some cobwebs cleared out in the basement.

The first guy came and went way above and beyond the call of duty moving Mom's stuff in the basement and vacuuming out more cobwebs. I told him that I'd give them a great review for going above and beyond. Nice guys. Urgh. The plumber said that the hot water heater needs to be replaced and some of the gas lines aren't up to code. I trust these guys and the house is old. He's going to give me a new estimate. They've got the hot water heater in and ran a line upstairs. They also installed the new toilet. It's a fancy one in which you can choose the amount of water in the flush. I tried the new toilet out. It's awesome. And now we have hot water in the kitchen sink.

They fixed the pipe in the downstairs bathroom sink, only to find that the sink itself is leaking. They're coming back on Tuesday to replace the sink and change the cartridges in the bathtub faucet.

Whew.

The guys did not take the old hot water heater and toilet, so I'll have to ask the junk guys to take them, plus the boxes that they came in and some ceiling tiles.

I had planned to go get Zara's meds tonight, but I have a headache and am tired. I'm going to lie down for a little while after work, and then gather clothes together to donate tomorrow. Oh, and move the stuff that the guys shoved in the center of the breezeway. I couldn't sleep.

I'm winding down now, so I'm going to go to bed early. I'll deal with the stuff when I get up.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the YMCA called me and told me that I could go month-to-month with them. Awesome. I'm mainly interested in their yoga classes, but I might use their pool. Oh crud, the yoga class is on Wednesday, when I have meditation class. But they have a reciprocity agreement with other Michigan Ys, so I could go to another Y and take yoga on Monday. I thought that I had seen tai chi too, but I don't see it now.