Tires and Mattresses

(written Monday PM)

Izzy and I sleep on a Tempur-Pedic bed. This means, as I'm sure you know, that we are free to set a wine glass on the corner of the bed and jump up and down in the mattress--secure in knowing that the glass will not spill. In case we'd forgotten, the maneuver was demonstrated several times during an infomercial at the tire store today. I hadn't realized that so many people wanted or needed to jump on their mattresses without spilling glasses of wine, but the Tempurpedic market research must have shown a real need for this capability. Why else show it so many times?

We also learned from the TV that yelling at a comatose patient might wake him up, but only partially, and only at the very end of the program, right before the sands ran out of the hourglass. Also, you can fill more air time (3-4 minutes!) discussing how to get medical attention for said patient when none of the "family" members realizes that help can be summoned via the nurse call button.

I worked on my PNP recertification test and Izzy worked on a webpage with tix, itineraries, etc. for our Italy & Spain trip. Had we stayed longer or paid more attention, we might have learned how to buy real estate with no money down or sell stuff without having to have inventories.

Why were we at a tire store? We have been in the mountains, at our favorite little cabin on the Blue Ridge Parkway this past weekend. On the drive up Friday evening, just outside of Martinsville, VA, I had a flat tire. For those of you keeping score, that's two flats inside 600 miles (15 days) of the purchase of a set of 4. Same cause -- torn valve stem. This time, a hot (as in overheated) sheriff's deputy came along and assisted me with putting on the donut, and I started calling the warranty people. Given the late hour, I was unable to find someone (1) open, and (2) who had the same brand of tires. Cut to Saturday morning, lots more calls, and we finally found a place in NC that would be open Memorial Day.

I'll skip the lovely dinner after Mass Saturday, and the quiet, peaceful Sunday--more in another post.

Monday, we drove to Mt. Airy, NC. All looked well; they did not have our same tire in stock, but they had something comparable and they called the warranty people to arrange payment/authorization for the tire.

Except, the 24/7 emergency tire warranty people aren't there on Memorial Day. Not. At. All. It wasn't just that the phone went unanswered; the recording said they were observing the holiday. A holiday on which many, many people exercise their hard-won freedom to travel, I might add.

So, we bought a tire and called the people at the local tire store in SC to arrange to exchange it on Thursday. We'll see how that goes.

We came back to the cabin just before the rain and lightning started. I finished my test; Izzy finished his project and writing final exams. We had a lovely stroll after dinner and I'm typing this (Monday PM) while he's reading one of our Rome guidebooks, Neither of us will be trying the mattress maneuver here in the cabin -- the overhead beams seem a bit dangerous and we'd just end up spilling the wine.

Maybe when we get home...