I had a flat tire today. There was a big old screw in it. At first I thought it was vandalism, but the woman at the local tire garage said stuff goes into tires in all kinds of unbelievable ways at random. That, and I think the people where I work are too fancy to do stuff like that.
Despite the 90 degree temperature and access to roadside assistance that came with the car, I opted to just change the tire myself. Like the dude in A Christmas Story, I timed myself. Twelve minutes, thanks. Mind you, the tires come off pretty easily with a relatively new car and recent rotation.
When I was getting the tire plugged, I realized that there aren't many things I could really do these days with a car. I mean, oil changes and tire rotation, I suppose, but the car even tells me when I have low tire pressure. Not only that, but everything is exotic and electronic these days. The stuff under the hood of a Prius is already foreign, but what would you do with an electric car?
Having a beater that blew its engine in the first week I had it as my first car forced my hand to understand how cars work, and despite the pain and mental anguish that caused at the time, I'm grateful for the knowledge my dad had to pass along to me. Since owning that piece of shit, I've changed many brake pads, replaced belts, alternators, starter motors and radiators.
I think I'm done with all of that now. I don't know what I'm looking at with cars anymore.
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