I’m a sucker for sappy stories, so I have enjoyed reading the Voices of Katrina blog set up by the Houston Chronicle. My favorite today? The boys who raised $1,005.20 for Katrina survivors with a lemonaide stand in their neighborhood.
(By the way, The Oprah said I can not call them refugees. They are survivors. Not victims, not refugees.)
I had a physical therapy appointment today and as I was leaving I looked at my front tire and thought it looked strange. I went to check the tread to see if it was time to get them replaced, only to discover a cut in my tire. I went straight to the tire shop – I have yet to have a tire go out on me while driving, and I was definitely not going to wait and give it a chance.
While waiting to have two new tires put on my car, one of the servicemen came out to talk to me. I figured it was going to be the usual we’re almost done, blah blah blah speach – instead, he tells me that while taking off a lug nut, the stem (?) broke and, uh, yeah, my tire is basically attached with three bolts instead of four right now. But they are ordering the part and it should be in tomorrow. (Of course, tomorrow morning is the class that is further from home. Getting there involves highway driving normally. I guess I’ll take the backroads tomorrow.)
He then tells me that once they get the part in, I can take it to this other shop down the road to have the part put on – they are only a tire shop, so they can’t do it. He hands me the information sheet for Ultra. While Ultra used to be right down the street from the tire shop, it is now several miles down the road. I cringed, since I am doing my best to keep driving to an absolute minimum these days – $2.95 a gallon is a good motivator for no driving.
I asked him how much it was going to cost me to fix – I wanted to make sure they were covering the bill – and he says, “Oh, it should only be about $100.”
*Gasp*
He then says he is just joking – they will foot the bill, they have an account with that shop which is why they are sending me there. I tell him, really, when it comes to money that is NOT a funny joke. The lady across from me in the waiting area even chimes in that you shouldn’t joke about $100.
I go back to waiting, a bit annoyed about this whole bolt thing, but ok since they will fix it. A different guy brings my car out and comes to tell me that it is ready. As I’m gathering up my things, he starts the “let me tell you what we did…” speech. I cut him off and say, “Yeah, I know, you broke my car.” (referencing the bolt situation.) He responds, “Yes, there is a big crack in your windshield and we took the windshield out.”
What?!?
“Oh, I’m sorry, I was just joking.”
Someone needs to tell these asshats to get a clue – telling a customer that they have done further damage to their car which will cost them more money is not a joke. Not to people that have already had to pay for tires that they probably didn’t want to buy today to begin with. Really, it is never a joke. So not funny. I’ve been know to bust people before … tomorrow, I think I will have to do it again. Asshats.
Love to knit socks instead of baby booties? There is a free pattern at Elann.com for adorable baby socks! I have some of the Lion Brand sock yarn that can go in the washing machine & dryer, so it should work perfectly! Yeah!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that has contacted me about Knitting for Katrina Victims. I believe I have now e-mailed everyone that had contacted me to this point. If you didn’t hear from me, I am truly sorry – please leave me a comment and let me know. I wrote everyone tonight, as I had to take a break from the Internet. First, I had to force myself to get away from the news. It was consuming me. Second, I had to study for my Biology class – I find the reading a bit bland (I would rather read my Chemistry book), and I was going to fall behind if I didn’t spend some time with it. Third, I had to spend some time knitting myself!
Oh, what a fun experience that was. I did my first gauge swatch for my booties. Size 6 US needles, the yarn band matches up to the pattern, 22 stitches = 4 inches. Except my I had 18 stitches = 4 inches. *sigh* Gauge swatch with the Size 5 US needles. 20 stitches = 4 inches. Augh! I need 22 stitches = 4 inches! I finally had to head over to Hobby Lobby, buy some size 4 DPNs and put stitch holders on the ends to make them straight needles. (All of the needles jumped from a 3 US to a 5 US. What is up with that?) Guage swatch with them? 21 stitches = 4 inches. I called it close enough and knit my first baby bootie. I’m halfway through the second one, and then I will stitch it together. I hate sewing my knitting projects, so I am going to have to find some that don’t require it. I think I have a sock pattern in my pattern folder that will work nicely. It is a Ann Norling pattern that allows you to calculate the yarn size and shoe size to get the sock size you want for babies, children and adults.
More updates to follow – thank you again for your help! And whether you knit or not, please help to spread the word. I truly appreciate it!
(I need a cute button, and I have no image software on this Linux laptop. Can anyone hook me up? Pretty please? “Knitters for Katrina” would be great!)
Thanks to Mike’s parents, we have finally seen the photos of Mike’s Aunt Yvonne’s House, which I posted to Flickr along with the full story. It is the one with the red dot. The photo is a cropped version of one that they were able to pull off of the NOAA site. The site is hard to navigate if you don’t know the layout of New Orleans very well; I found the one on CNN easier to use, although not nearly as detailed.