Yesterday was pretty eventful from a “lots of crap happening” standpoint.

I started off the day with a routine eye exam, which meant I did a little bit of work from home prior to the appointment. I also found the AK Rocker I was looking for at Circuit City. Ordered with a web special, it’s $8 less than it was at Costco and I can pick it up from the store to save on shipping. Ordered and done; planned on picking that up after work.

Went to the eye exam. My glasses prescription has changed in such a minor fashion that I don’t even have to worry about getting an update unless my glasses break (which just happened about four weeks ago) or get lost, so I’m good there. Also, no signs of iritis, so I’m good there, too. Two years to my next checkup.

Of course, they dilated my eyes so coming in and working was kind of a pain. Polarized sunglasses on polarized LCD monitor makes for some interesting contortions to be able to see the screen.

After work - haircut. Once every four weeks, baby.

On the way to the haircut, Jenn calls me. Guess who has a flat tire.

Okay, so the thing is, on Sunday I looked and told her that her front tires looked a little low. The bottoms were bulging out pretty bad and indicated some air could be had. She, of course, ignored it.

Sigh.

I was already halfway across town by the time I heard about it, so I told her to go back inside her work and stay warm (it’s been pretty cold out) and I’d come over right after my haircut and bail her out.

Finished up my haircut and stopped by Fred Meyer on the way to help Jenn and picked up some gloves. No need to get all dirty, right? My hairdresser even donated some old towels to the cause.

Got up to where Jenn was and she was cold because she had stayed in the car rather than going back into work and sitting in the warmth. Sorry, babe, got nothin’ for you. Got the tire iron out, stuck it on one of the bolts and…

Nothing. That sonofabitch wasn’t moving. I stood - full weight - on the handle of the wrench to try to get those things to move, but it just wasn’t happening. You have to love the impact wrenches tire stores use to put those things back on. Set the torque, guys, seriously.

Cranked on that for quite some time when a lady who was parked nearby provided a much larger cross-shaped lug wrench. That one gave me enough leverage to get the nuts unscrewed and get the wheel off. My arms were sort of shaking with the effort expended, and I’m not sure whether that’s a sign of my lame physique or something more legitimate. (Each nut made a loud cracking noise as I broke it free - that’s how tight they were. I wonder if maybe some WD-40 would have helped…)

Anyway, got the tire changed and sent Jenn on her way.

Made it back across town to Circuit City to pick up the chair I had ordered online that morning. Turns out the “pick it up from the store” process works pretty smoothly; I had anticipated problems. I may have to try that again.

Got everything back home and put my new chair together while watching TV. It’s really cool, and much more comfortable than the other two video rockers I have, so I think that’s my new favorite game chair.

All in all, not a bad day, but a lot more effort than I was hoping for. Jenn’s heading over to Les Schwab this morning to see what can be done with her tires, and I’m wallowing in the bajillion things I have to get done today. It’s kind of like when you have a big report to write - starting is the hardest part.