Monday 070423 - Glasses repair; Lunch; Outdoor blinds for the carport; On to the cathedral of commerce - WalMart; Books from Amazon; Raking; "Heroes"; Changing flat tire for spare; Small tires and the Coelacanth

First on the agenda for Monday was to get my glasses repaired. I tried looking at them under a magnifying glass, and it looked like the temple had snapped off the tiny mechanism that fits to the frame.

My first choice was Eye Care Plus where I've bought several pairs in the past. But the nice counter lady said they didn't have anyone in the lab and suggested another place nearby Custom Optical.

Custom Optical is bundled in with an assortment of other small business, so I didn't see it at first. And I always feel guilty when I have to walk it on an optical place, because it means whoever is in the lab has to stop and fuzz around with my problem. (In - Monday - 20070423 - 1045: $17.00 - Cash)

And I seem to be really good at damaging my glasses. The first pair were over sized aviator glasses, but the lens kept popping out. And every time I put them back in, I bent the frames. Then one day, a lens snapped out and shattered into about a zillion places. The next pair had thicker frames, but my eyes changed, and the prescription was no longer useful. So on and so on. Screws came loose, frames bent, the nose piece snapped off. Then the day I moved mother to the nursing home, I lost a pair, so I had to resort to the previous pair. When I got around to having a new eye exam, my vision was messes up because of using the old pair.

Then in a moment of sheer brilliance, I decided to buy two pair: one for reading, the other for distance. I forgot the problem of looking up with the reading glasses: everything was blurry. And I rarely used the distance glasses except to watch things like diving and gymnastic competitions on TV. I may revisit Custom Optical and start anew.

At this point what can I say about lunch. They used to have skinless chicken breast at every serving, but no more. Which pushes me to the baked chicken, which I find too greasy. Chicken nuggets are not too bad. (In - Monday - 20070423 - 1114: $7.29 Bank card)

Months ago, I thought of trying to install trellis but quickly discovered that would be tiresome and expensive. Then I thought about using exterior blinds, so off to Lowe's I went. There are three steel poles on the car port and a four-foot space between the last pole and the wall. The distance from pole to pole was 88 inches. The closest item was 96 inches. So I thought I try a pair.

Putting them up will come tomorrow or Wednesday.

Also bought a bottle of herbicide for those pesky little plants that are in all the wrong places in the back yard close to the house. (Out - Monday - 20070423 - 1305: $40;30 - Bank Debit Card)

The most expensive item was a chocolate cake for $4.37. However, there were twelve 4-packs of canned cat food. Which as far as the felines are concerned, is the only reason I go out. (Out - Monday - 20070423 - 1406; $31.49 - Bank Debit card)

When I got home, there on the back steps was a package of books from Amazon, which I'd ordered about three weeks ago. If you're willing to wait, there's no shipping charge on anything above $25.I got two books about a gay detective - Dick Hardesty; another gay mystery with Detective Lane, two books about John Rain, the Japanese-American freelance assassin, And a couple of erotic thrillers. (Bank credit card)

I starting reading one of the erotic stories, "The Back Passage" which opens with two friends from Cambridge, one American and one English tangling with galoshes and umbrellas and rain wear in a small closet under the stair in pursuit of pleasures of the flesh. Just as zippers become unzipped and buttons unbuttoned, the Englishman fiancée screams, "MURDER!"

I vaguely remember raking up two trash containers of leaves and pine straw. For there four containers at the street.

In looking out the back window, this raking may take awhile.

"Heroes" returned Monday night, and I missed it. I simply did not check the "TV Guide" as I should.

I've been having trouble with a tire for a couple of weeks. I'd put air in, and about three days later, it would almost be flat. (Why does air cost 75 cents?)

Tire-changing is one of my least favorite experience. First off, I don't think, I'd ever changed a tire on this car. I opened the trunk and found the tire and the wrench, but nothing else. Then I noticed a pocket to the side which contained the jack. I hate jacks. I never know which way they are supposed to go. East-west or north-south. In this case, I didn't see the piece of metal that allows you to jack up the jack. (By the way, I've spent about 15 minutes on Google, trying to figure out what that piece is called: tire crank.) Well, the crank was no where to be seen.

I positioned the jack and used a heavy screwdriver to turn the jack handle. Next, I could not figure out how to get the plastic hub cap off. But finally by prying and pulling , it snapped off. Now I try to remove the lug nuts without success. I figured I needed to give the wrench a hard whack with something, but with what. I though of a hammer, but something about bothered me. So instead I used the blunt end of a hatchet. Excellent choice as long as you don't cut your ear off. (Note to self: buy a mallet, for Christ sake.)

Now the tire was too high to get a good grip on the wrench. So I spent time experimenting to get the height right. I should have just left it flat, that would have been the simplest option. Once the nuts are off, you have to raise the tire to get it off. Then you to tinker around until you can fit the spare on the studs. (Which reminds me that the Saturn I sold to the folks next door, has a tire with only three studs. I vaguely remember that in changing a tire, I stripped the stud. And even though they ordered me another, I never bothered to have it installed.)

Oh, as I was putting the tools back in the car, by chance I came across the crank. It was clipped to the underside of the cover that fits over the spare tire well. Since it was a Goodyear tire, I planned on taking it to a Goodyear store Tuesday.

While I'm on this subject, whose idea was it to go to small tires for spares. There's not that much damn difference in the weight. I don't trust the small spares. And the owner's manual states they are intended only for short periods of time. Is it the Infiniti that has a full-size spare? I remember the commercial in which the two mechanics open the trunk, and looked surprised and say, " You sure don't see many of those any more!" And then some type of comment is made about the Coelacanth, the very rare fish that was thought extinct for millions of years.

The BBC has an article on the fish at BBC News - Sci/Tech 'Extinct' fish found in second home. (Article dated October 2, 1998) I love the part about how it was discovered: "The fish, often described as a "living fossil", was discovered by a scientist's wife walking through a fish market in Sulawesi island, Indonesia." This was the second find of the fish. "Coelacanth were thought to have died out until some were found in 1938 in and around the Comoros Islands in the western Indian Ocean near Madagascar."