Alignment Issues!

So let me explain. The above is a diagram of our car's alignment. The green is good. The red, well, it isn't so good. I added the yellow "tire" to illustrate the problem. It is an over-exaggeration but it gets the point across. Let me start with when I took the car in.

I took our car to "Firestone" mainly for an oil change, and a general tune-up. Over $600 later I took it home. The tires were wearing funny. I noticed the outer edges of each tire were wearing out faster than than the rest on each tire. I knew we needed new ones soon but was planning on keeping them on a bit longer. The guy took me out and showed me the wear on them and explained why it was. Which was because of the alignment problem. I asked him how the alignment could be off so bad. He asked if we ran over a curb or something. It took me a while, a few minutes at least, and than I remembered...

The alignment problem started way back in September of 2008. We were going to visit Amanda's family in Royal City, WA when I decided it was fun to clobber a coyote. We turned off the highway and were less than a 20 minutes away from her parent's house. A coyote then thought it would be fun to jump out in front of us. What did I do? Well, I didn't swerve. No sir. Most animals decide to take a sharp left or maybe a sharp right but did this smart coyote do either? NO! He decided he would rather keep on a straight path and be BULLDOZED by a new 2007 Toyota Corolla! DEAD ON too! We hear a "clunk" and than a minute or two later, another "clonk" in the back passenger side of the car. It was late, around midnight or so. I kept on driving, thinking what good would it do to stop anyways.

That night I check it out. I didn't see anything but some hair underneath the car. The next morning Amanda's Dad noticed that the bumper was damaged. The damaged occurred under the bumper, where it is hard to see. (Thank-goodness.) With tape and some Gorilla Glue Amanda's Dad was able to fix it for us. (Thanks!)

Well, now I'll take you back to "Firestone". It is now April, just over half a year, when we discover the real extent of the damage the crazy coyote inflicted on our car. I asked how to correct the alignment problem and for how much. He said that they could put some shimmies into it to help straighten it out a bit, which would help but the number would still be in the red. (Refer back to the first paragraph.) This would cost around $75. Or, we could buy the whole part and fix the problem for a mere $400. The guy at "Firestone" said that if it was his car he would just shimmy it. Anybody care to put their 2 cents in? Please leave a comment.

We don't drive much anymore. Work here is close enough that I walk, now ride a bike thanks to Amanda's Papa. (Thanks!) So the car is usually just sitting. Because of this I decided to forgo both options for now and keep a close eye on things.

Quick up-date on becoming a Utard. Sadly, our Washington Tabs expire this month. This will force me to switch license plates and become a full fledged Utard. VERY SAD DAY! Well, let me show a little more optimism. It won't be too bad if I don't stay a Utard for long. I can experience being a Utard for a while, but hopefully only a very small handful of years.

"Utard"! Well, Not Quite.

Ok, so the other day I registered our Corolla here in Utah. (Here, you have to get a State Safety Test and an Emissions Test every other year.) Over $200 later, I am almost a full fledged Utard! I already have a Utah Driver's License from when I first arrived. (My Washington Driver's License expired within a month of moving here.) I haven't yet put on the license plates on because our Washington Tabs do not expire until the end of next month. I'm trying to put off becoming a "Utard" for as long as possible.

Thank-You!

I must type, I am a fan of how Apple packs their products! The small clear plastic box below contains a 1 GB iPod Shuffle, dock, earphones, directions to it, and the other paper product you get with all new purchases. It's not just the fact that Apple packs it in tight, but it is how they do it that impresses me. It makes me feel like I have a good quality, expensive product, (which it isn't cheap!), but still, I feel 'high class' in a way. Am I alone in my thinking?

Oh, and by the why, this is what you get in the mail when you agree for a 30-day free trial membership with... *Undisclosed Service*. Am I bad? I don't see why I would be, they offered, I took it. So to them I thank.

NBA

Tuesday night I went to my very first NBA game. President Chad Evans, of the Elder's Quorum was able to get tickets for cheap. I was able to get a ride with the Thomas's. There was a good number of us that went, 15+. We sat in two main groups. I actually was a deserter and never sat in my assigned seat. (Nobody was there when we arrived and I stuck with the Thomas's.

Aunt Pat has an add in the Jazz's Program that I showed the Thomas's. Pat was coming home from a business trip in Portland. The Thomas's were kind enough to go pick her up at the airport after the game and take her home.

The Utah Jazz played the Memphis Grizzlies. The Jazz won ofcourse. The arena, or whatever they call it, was impressive. They had a large remote blimp. They threw parachutes down from the ceiling, with small prizes. Streamers came down at the end of the game. The "Bear" mascot, for the Jazz, sling shot small basketballs way high. (If he aimed for me, he could have made it.) He was also a bowling ball and was slung across the court by three men. They were all on one end of the court, two of them were strapped to the ends of the bungee and ran as far and fast as they could while the third held onto the "Bear" mascot as long as he could. He would than let go and the Bear would fly across the court, on a slider.

I never really could understand the announcer, not because of the announcer himself but I couldn't understand what came out of the speakers. We had "aerial" view seats. (They were just a few rows from the very top.)

Looking down on the court and seeing the NBA players warm-up, play, stretch, etc. brought more a reality to the whole thing. I tried to put myself in their shoes, what would it be like to play a game for a living? Wierd! They get paid big bucks, even the "benchwarmers". CRAZY!

I have now been to a MLB and now an NBA game. Ofcourse they were not "big" games, but they were professional nonetheless.

NOTES: MLB team = Atlanta Braves NBA team = Utah Jazz

Have You Seen My Sole?

Who knew that participating in the Turkey Bowl could be so hard on the soul! (I mean, sole.) I was debating on even going to our Ward Turkey Bowl. It was a yes, no kind of thing. Obviously I did end up going. It was a good thing too. If I didn't go there would have been an odd number of players. There were 8 people that showed up. This was my first ever Turkey Bowl. It was a good experience.  It felt good, for the most part. I hadn't done anything real physical for about 3 years! I played without a sole for an hour or more. Afterwards we went to a friend's, the Thomas's, place for breakfast. Amanda has a picture of them on her blog.

We spent Thanksgiving at Aunt Julie's and Uncle Stuart's place. It was a tummy buster. Ella even ate some jell-o, mashed potatoes, and some yam/sweet potato. I also participated in their annual sport event. This year, though it could be every year, was soccer. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play because I was really sore from football. I played anyways and it hurt but was able to loosen up enough.

I hurt for a week afterwards. I had work the following day and luckily it wasn't too busy. I was able to stay sitting for the most part. 

There was a much better way to share this but I thought the need to post it, sooner than later, was more important. (Considering it was eons ago when this all happened. I apologize for that.)

I Showed IT Who was Boss!

I knew there was a reason for keeping the half ton slab of wood! Let's start at the beginning. (Please clarify this story with my wife.)

In preparation for our, my wife and I, life together (sorry about the grammatical errors) we bought a bed. The bed was a decent deal but it came with a very large, and HEAVY, slab of wood. We used it between the mattresses for a while, it made the bed more firm, although I didn't feel much of a difference except where it ended. My back would hurt when I woke up in the mornings.

When we moved to another apartment we decided to use it as a desktop. As you can see below we place it on top of a desk, file cabinet, and even some boxes, which you can not see. I wish I had a picture of just the slab of wood, it was impressive. (Emphasis on WAS!)

When we found out about the job here in Utah we didn't have much time to go through things like we wanted. We only had a few weeks and both Amanda and I were still working, and ofcourse we had Ella to worry about. Which there was no regrets, just when one of us were at work the other one would try to pack but Ella wanted some attention. Needless to type, we didn't get much done. My point, we took most everything with us instead of getting rid of things that we could, and should have.

(Thinking about it, you can ignore the above paragraph because I still would have brought the half ton slab of wood with us.)

When we arrived here in Utah we did not have our own place. Aunt Pat was kind enough to allow us to live with her until we found a place. She even provided storage space! (THANK-YOU Aunt Pat!) We were able to fit all our belongings in her garage. I do not like asking people for help much, among other things, so Amanda, Ella, Aunt Pat, and I unloaded the truck ourselves. (I would have done it all myself if it was possible.)

May I pose a question? Does anyone get the hint that I have rather ill feelings for this slab? Ok, now let me tell you why.

There was only a few things left to unload from the truck. One was the slab of wood, ofcourse. Another was a bedroom dresser, (THANK-YOU Sheri!). The slab of wood was leaning against the wall of the truck. I had one end of the dresser and Amanda had the other. Walking with the dresser created the truck to sway and the half ton slab of wood landed on my leg. (If only I had a better way with words to share this with you.) Amanda yelled out "Watch OUT!" I asked "What?" but it was too late. It slid down the lateral side of my left calf. BOY did it sting! Amanda felt really bad, although there was no reason for it. With the help of Amanda we finished. Except for the stinging I was fine, until I didn't continue using it. I iced it, at the demand of my wife, and took it easy afterwards. When I tried walking after that, I limped. It left a big bruise and it felt really cool too! (I'll have to ask my wife to expand on this story, she has a much better way with words.)

I'm making this entry too long, I apologize. Getting right to the point, I used a wedding gift (THANK-YOU Foresters!) to saw the slab of wood in pieces. I bought some Gorilla Glue and some screws and used my power drill, that came with the saw, to make a book/shoe shelf. Seen below.

We tried looking for a good sturdy bookshelf at a store but couldn't find a satisfactory candidate, that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I've always wanted to build things with wood and this is my "first" project. I still have all my fingers and the shelf looks half decent, pretty successful in my opinion.

The Move

This is the truck the Winston Family rented. This 16 foot truck was a 2008 model with 8662 miles on it. I enjoyed the experience of driving something big while towing something as well. With the help of my wife we were able to transverse the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Utah to get to our destination. 

I want to thank my wife for being the navigator and helping me watch our car being towed, and Ella, my baby for sleeping so much.