Lucky Day

Actually today was kind of crappy. I spent today cleaning doing laundry and fixing things in anticipation of the big trip to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. And as I was doing, um, whatever it was I was doing, I kept finding out that I needed something from the store. So, I headed to the store, got the thing, and headed back home. Only to discover 20 minutes later, that I needed something else from another store.

I think I took one last trip to the store to buy one last thing seventeen times.

The garbage disposal was broken. I'm very proud of that "was" in the previous sentence, since I'm the cause of it not being broken. Every time I fix something around the house I feel like a two year old who did dooty all by himself. It feels like a heroic accomplishment to me at the time, but I know in my heart it's all stuff I should probably already know how to do.

Anyway, I tracked down instructions for how to fix a garbage disposal. I got to step 3, which said, "Insert a 1/4 inch Allen wrench in the bottom of the disposal and manually move the motor shaft to dislodge the jam". I don't have Allen wrenches. I don't have a whole lot of things, in fact. Basically what I do is when I need some tool, I'll go to Lowes and buy one. If I do that for the next five years, I should have a pretty well stocked toolbox, and have actually found a use for each tool in there. The Allen wrench thing has never come up.

First, though, I tried skipping to step 4, which was, "Wedge a broomstick or some such against the flywheel and turn the thing until it breaks loose." No dice on that.

So, it was off to Lowes for what actually ended up being my very last trip of the night. I couldn't remember if they said U.S. Allen wrenches or Metric Allen wrenches. But the gods of domestic repairs smiled upon me, since, through what was no doubt a horrible pricing mistake, the combination U.S. and Metric Allen Wrench set cost less than getting the one or the other by itself. Disco!

Okay, finally we're getting to the good part of the story. As I walked out to the Car that Needs a Name, there, parked next to me, was a purple Saturn. As though that weren't offensive enough, on the back was the bumper sticker "I'd Rather Be at a John Mellencamp Concert".

My hand instinctively starting moving toward the car to key it. Well, okay, maybe I wasn't going to key it, but the thought did cross my mind how much he/she would deserve it. And that's when I noticed that the car already had been keyed!

So, the cosmos were already in balance, and I didn't have to put my neck out to get them that way.

And so, despite the fact that this was a fairly crappy day, it was also my lucky day.