Coffee at the P-era
It’s a Saturday following the first week of training for my new job. The first morning to sleep in my own bed. My living-elsewhere-wife (whom I love) was nice enough to take care of my pets while I was gone as well as to clean up the house a bit. I used to be much cleaner, but I’ve lost motivation this past year and a half with the separation. While we were living together, it was the opposite. She would seldom, if ever, clean. It seemed that I was doing almost all of it. Lately, I’m of the attitude, “what’s the point?”
In any case, I’m writing some of this at the Panera Bread while having two buttered bagels, chocolate-filled croissant and coffee in a mug. The mug part is nice when you’re out and about. I do this at Starbucks as well. They even discount my coffee by ten cents (from what I remember) when I have it this way. It’s so much more satisfying and it tastes so much better in a mug. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s the heat retention, the feeling of the ceramic against my lips, or the subtle taste or sensation difference when sipping out of it. Regardless, I highly recommend it. All you need to append to an order of a Venti Vanilla Latte is , “in a mug,” and they’ll do it.
A footnote to the $0.10 mug discount at Starbucks is that there isn’t one unless you bring in your own cup. They must have been giving me the discount anyway. I’m not complaining though. It’s still a good idea.
In my home life, my intense irritation from the dogs’ noises is back. They were very glad to see me when I came back home though. After awhile, the constant demand for attention was starting to get on my nerves. There seems to be nothing worse than not being allowed to let yourself concentrate on something because you’re expecting to be jarringly interrupted. I emphasis jarringly because that is exactly what it feels like. It’s like someone slapping you hard in the face while you’re in the hard, REM phase of sleep. I can’t take the abrupt switch between modes. It’s very upsetting to me. Fortunately, they didn’t make any noises during sleeping hours. For the record, the interruptions are really getting on my nerves. I love the dogs, but they are having somewhat of a toll on my sanity. I’m don’t think that I’m exaggerating.
I feel guilty because they’re so sweet. It’s obvious that they’re not intending to cause me pain. They’re just dogs doing dog things. If I could train them differently, I would try.
Regarding my current mode of transportation, I’m thinking that my brakes may need to be replaced. The pedal doesn’t feel right. The only problem with this is that I don’t have a lug wrench, which is supposed to come with the car, to take the wheels off to do the job. I have no idea how much they cost. $50? $100? I don’t have this kind of money right now. At it is, my wife is trying to help monetarily at least until I get my first paycheck. I barely have enough to buy food, pet food, and gas. I can’t even pay my mortgage.
In any case, I need to get going and try to fix this car. I’ve looked up the cost of a lug wrench and it’s only $15 – $30 at O’Reilly’s. Harbor Freight has them for $10, but I’m not positive that they have them in stock. Take care.
UPDATE
It turns out that my right inner pad was pretty bad on the S-10. It’s interesting that the other caliper’s pads were in much better shape. However, I didn’t notice any pulling to one side when braking. It’s also interesting that I didn’t hear any pre-warning that the pads were getting low. Hmm. Is one of them not working? I don’t know.
In any case, I did the poor man’s brake job this time since I qualify for that status. I tested it and all was good. I have rear brake pads that I intended to use for the Extreme that had the major bridge accident, but I didn’t put them on today. I was thinking that it may be the fronts and I was correct in thinking that. I had no idea they were that bad though. Based on the picture, I definitely need a new rotor, but I’ll have to wait until I can afford to fix it.
I also purchased a lug wrench. It was only $20 from O’Reilly, so I’m finally have something to take my wheel off when I need to do so.
Realivanation 