On the First Week of His New Job, Genius Was Contemplating Re-Tirement

You may recall that Genius moved to Pittsburgh last month, for a new job, working with... um...OOBER. Genius found a picture online, and sent it to show his location. Don't be stalking him!

His apartment building is on the far right bank, just above the second bridge. He marked the route he takes to work. He goes up to the third bridge to get on the highway. Genius returns via a different route, through the city, over one-way streets and the second bridge.

Anyhoo, Genius had a little over a week to get settled before he reported to work. On his first morning, a giant sinkhole swallowed the back half of a city bus. Good thing for Genius, he drove his car.

"I learned about the sinkhole as I was milling around waiting for orientation to start. People coming in would say, 'Did you hear about the sinkhole? Did you see the bus?' That area is between my apartment and work, but not on the route I take. Later in the day, I finally figured out what they were talking about.

As the week went on, I noticed that one of my tires was low. I must have picked up a nail during the move. I'd been watching it and putting air in it. At the end of the week, I asked the guys at work if they could recommend a good tire shop. Most of them said if it was just a nail, they'd fix it themselves, with a plug. I figured, 'I'm at least as smart as these guys.' So I got a kit to fix my tire.

Saturday, I went down to the parking garage. I don't know how much you know about tire plugs..."

"Only that when I take T-Hoe for a fix, they plug the tire while I wait. Even the big bolt hole."

"Well, there are assorted sizes of plugs, and you're supposed to use a tool to ream out the tire hole to make the plug fit right. I did that, but I couldn't get the plug to go all the way in. I pushed and pushed and it wasn't working. More air was leaking out of my tire. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to drive it to get it fixed. I called Friend down to the parking garage. He tried and tried, and couldn't get it either.

"While we were standing there looking at it, virtually scratching our heads trying to figure out what to do, a 30-something lady parked her car a few spaces over. She walked by on the way to the elevator, and asked how we were doing. When she saw what we were looking at, she said,

'Oh. I guess not so good. Let's see what a vet can do!'

Before we knew what was happening, she had slammed herself face-first onto the concrete floor of the parking garage! She shimmied under my car and started pushing on that plug. It was in a place you could get to without going under the car, but she gave it every effort. And still couldn't budge it. I don't know if she meant a VET as in a veterinarian, or a VET as in a military veteran. She was really nice, and when she crawled out from under my car, she said,

'How would you guys like to go to a bonfire tonight? My friends are having one right outside the city.'

I really like bonfires in the fall. I thanked her, but we already had plans to meet up with our buddy from college who just got a job up here with a steel company, and his girlfriend. People in my apartment building are really friendly.

Anyhow, by that time I knew I had to do something about my tire, so I called AAA. I told them they'd need a regular truck, because I was in a parking garage, with low clearance. Of course they sent a guy with a big flatbed truck, too high. So we had to walk all the way to the other end of the parking garage, to the lot, to bring in his jack. 

Good thing was, this AAA guy used to work in a tire shop. It took him a while, but he finally got that plug pounded in. I was relieved. If I get another flat tire, I'm taking my car to a tire shop to have it fixed! I spent four hours dealing with it!"

Another good thing for Genius, WE have AAA, and he's an add-on to our membership. It was mainly for The Pony, and for us in our multi-state travels to visit him. But once you pay the membership and two add-ons, you can include more for no charge.

Genius is welcome.