Plano: Day 4
I spent most of the day laying around and watching TV. It’s a good thing it took me a few days to figure out that I could watch the tube with my computer, or I wouldn’t have gotten anything done since I moved here.
Anyway, the major thing I accomplished was getting my car an oil change and a “state inspection”, which is apparently a way that Texas gets lots of annual revenue from everyone who wants to drive a car in the state. The whole deal shoulda’ taken about a half hour, but there was a little misunderstanding that cost me about an hour-and-a-half more: After they’d finished the oil change and had begun the inspection, the guy came inside and said, “You know, one of your wiper blades–I guess it’s a refill or something–is leaving a couple little streaks on the windshield ’cause it’s not making contact or something. Do you want us to put a new one on the driver’s side for ya’?” And, thinking they’d charge me ten bucks or so to install a one-dollar part, I said, “Naw, that’s ok. I’ll just do it myself.” So, a few minutes later, the guy comes in and says, “It’ll be…dollars for the oil change and the inspection, which you failed.” “Failed?”, I said. “Yeah, ’cause of that wiper blade.” And, of course, if I’d known I was going to fail the stupid inspection because of the “little streaks” the wiper blade was leaving, I’d have gone ahead and gotten gouged for the stupid wiper blade. But, because he didn’t explain that I was gonna’ fail the inspection if they didn’t replace that blade, I had to go to Wal-Mart, get blade refills, change the blades in the parking lot, drive back over and wait an hour-and-a-half for the jokers to look at the new blade, give it a test run and decide my car passed.
But, at least I got the oil change and inspection done, so I don’t have to knock off work to get it done later. Tomorrow, I’m going with some friends (who lived in Gainesville and moved out here a little over a year ago) to try to make a final decision on the furniture I’ve been trying to buy.
The Magician’s Nephew is coming along nicely and I’m really enjoying the adventure. C.S. Lewis has a super knack for telling a great, vivid story with very few words. I’ve only read about 100 pages and I feel like I�ve been part of the kids’ adventure for months.
