Being a grown up is no fun.
May. 4th, 2012 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
corrielleSo, I've recently had to do two very grown up things.
First of all, since I finally got vision benefits from School #2, I made myself an eye appointment. I've known for a while that I need new glasses. I've felt my vision shifting for a while now, and it's been getting harder for my eyes to focus on long drives or when I grade for a long time. This second one is really scary, because I need to be able to grade and read in order to do my job, and I'm nearsighted. My eyes should have any trouble focusing on things that are near me, but I think that because my vision has changed, the lenses that help me to see far away are starting to interfere with my up close vision. (I hope this doesn't mean it's time for bifocals...) Anyway, I'd noticed the problem for a while, but the on Tuesday, I got an awful stress headache, accompanied by a weird blurry patch in my vision that moved as my head moved and was rimmed by bright, sharp shards of light. It was NOT COOL. It was a good thing I had already canceled class for other reasons, because if I had been at school, I would have been scared to drive home. So... eye doctor tomorrow. I looked up a good one here in town, and he takes my insurance, and hopefully he'll be able to get the process of new glasses for me rolling. Hurrah for school sponsored vision benefits...
Second, my alternator on my car died on Thursday. The battery light came on while I was driving to School #2, but since I was on the freeway, I didn't think it was a good idea to pull over and check it out while cars whizzed by at 90 miles an hour. My car wasn't making any weird noises, and it seemed to be running smoothly. So, I continued on to my destination, parked, taught class, and came back to my car. When I tried to start it, all I got were clicks. I called AAA, and they sent a very nice guy out, who told me what he was doing as he did it and explained to me that the machine that was supposed to charge the battery wasn't doing anything because the alternator wasn't working. This meant I had to find a repair place in Simi that would still be open so late in the afternoon and choose to take it there. Luckily, my brand of AAA membership has a decent tow radius, because School #2 is about 30 miles from my house. The tow truck driver was a super nice guy too... we chatted about his brilliant physicist son and his old cars and motorcycles.
I got to Pep Boys, and they told me that in order to tell if the alternator was the problem (which was only a suspicion, but a fairly likely one at this point) they had to replace the battery. I talked to my dad today, and he seems to think that I might have gotten taken for a bit of a ride there, but who knows. I need to find a mechanic I trust who isn't a big chain and who won't try to sell me a company line. (And who might be a little more reasonable price-wise than Pep Boys. Honestly, this is my first time paying for my car repairs myself, and I picked them because I knew where they were and I knew they'd be open.) I was supposed to get the car back tonight, but apparently, the part that Pep Boys ordered that was supposed to be shipped overnight didn't arrive today, and so they didn't have it back for me. This SUCKS, as my eye appointment is tomorrow, the doctor is an HOUR AND FORTY MINUTE WALK AWAY (yes, I looked up walking directions on google), and it's right in the middle of Rae's class.
Luckily, a friend was able to come over tonight, and she's going to take me to my appointment while Rae is in class. Crisis averted.
First of all, since I finally got vision benefits from School #2, I made myself an eye appointment. I've known for a while that I need new glasses. I've felt my vision shifting for a while now, and it's been getting harder for my eyes to focus on long drives or when I grade for a long time. This second one is really scary, because I need to be able to grade and read in order to do my job, and I'm nearsighted. My eyes should have any trouble focusing on things that are near me, but I think that because my vision has changed, the lenses that help me to see far away are starting to interfere with my up close vision. (I hope this doesn't mean it's time for bifocals...) Anyway, I'd noticed the problem for a while, but the on Tuesday, I got an awful stress headache, accompanied by a weird blurry patch in my vision that moved as my head moved and was rimmed by bright, sharp shards of light. It was NOT COOL. It was a good thing I had already canceled class for other reasons, because if I had been at school, I would have been scared to drive home. So... eye doctor tomorrow. I looked up a good one here in town, and he takes my insurance, and hopefully he'll be able to get the process of new glasses for me rolling. Hurrah for school sponsored vision benefits...
Second, my alternator on my car died on Thursday. The battery light came on while I was driving to School #2, but since I was on the freeway, I didn't think it was a good idea to pull over and check it out while cars whizzed by at 90 miles an hour. My car wasn't making any weird noises, and it seemed to be running smoothly. So, I continued on to my destination, parked, taught class, and came back to my car. When I tried to start it, all I got were clicks. I called AAA, and they sent a very nice guy out, who told me what he was doing as he did it and explained to me that the machine that was supposed to charge the battery wasn't doing anything because the alternator wasn't working. This meant I had to find a repair place in Simi that would still be open so late in the afternoon and choose to take it there. Luckily, my brand of AAA membership has a decent tow radius, because School #2 is about 30 miles from my house. The tow truck driver was a super nice guy too... we chatted about his brilliant physicist son and his old cars and motorcycles.
I got to Pep Boys, and they told me that in order to tell if the alternator was the problem (which was only a suspicion, but a fairly likely one at this point) they had to replace the battery. I talked to my dad today, and he seems to think that I might have gotten taken for a bit of a ride there, but who knows. I need to find a mechanic I trust who isn't a big chain and who won't try to sell me a company line. (And who might be a little more reasonable price-wise than Pep Boys. Honestly, this is my first time paying for my car repairs myself, and I picked them because I knew where they were and I knew they'd be open.) I was supposed to get the car back tonight, but apparently, the part that Pep Boys ordered that was supposed to be shipped overnight didn't arrive today, and so they didn't have it back for me. This SUCKS, as my eye appointment is tomorrow, the doctor is an HOUR AND FORTY MINUTE WALK AWAY (yes, I looked up walking directions on google), and it's right in the middle of Rae's class.
Luckily, a friend was able to come over tonight, and she's going to take me to my appointment while Rae is in class. Crisis averted.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-05 05:26 pm (UTC)Don't know about the price of a new alternator; when my car wouldn't start recently I wondered if it was the alternator but came to the conclusion that the battery was Ancient History (probably had helped power Julius Caesar's chariot or something. Well. It was at least 15 years old - the original battery that came with the car). New battery has solved that.
Ask family or friends if they can recommend a small garage near you that they trust? And if necessary, take a male friend with you (garages are less likely to rip men off for some reason, sexist though that be.)
*hugs*
Hope the eyes aren't too bad!