2025-05
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2025/06/01/2025-05/
2025-05-20 Tuesday
I took three days of PTO, starting last Thursday. Grandma was is town because this weekend was the older son’s Second Degree black belt testing and graduation ceremony. We are all very proud of him.
The first flat tire was on Friday. The Wife got one on the newer EV on her way to work, so Grandma and I went down in the older EV to help out. Along the route, some guys were in the street picking things up. I slowed down and drove wide around. One guy looked at me, leaned forward a bit, and yelled “NAILS!!”
It only occurred to us later that these were likely the same nails that caused the wife’s flat tire. Good on these guys for cleaning up.
Modern cars don’t ship with spare tires. The new EV doesn’t even have a donut. Instead, there is a kit with an air compressor and a bottle of goo. You plug the goo into the compressor, plug the compressor into the cigarette lighter port under the center console, power on, and wait 5 minutes. The theory is the goo will seal a small puncture, you drive a few miles to circulate the goo, then re-inflate, and then drive a few miles more to the tire shop, perhaps. In our case, the tire was off the rim. I later moved the car for the tow truck and that caused the tire to pop back on to the rim. So, next time, I will check if the tire is on the rim and move it to get it back on the rim before I try the goo inflator. At any rate, a tow truck eventually took me to the tire shop, which confirmed that the tire had been properly lacerated in such a way that goo would not have worked. They sold me one tire, which they had to order, and then re-order because they had misordered. The good news is that shipping consisted of sending a guy down to San Jose, and I had towed to a place near the house so I was able to walk home and then have lunch at the taqueria across the street, and then pay $220 plus tax. The tow truck was an $8 line item for roadside assistance on our auto insurance, who I believe will charge us a $50 fee.
Monday I snuck in a short ride on the cargo bike before school pickup. While filling in a bit of my Wandrer, I looped over to Lawrence Expressway for all of one block, and found the rear tire was suddenly flat. I pushed over to a gym which had a bike rack out front, then got a Lyft to school, and the younger son and I rode the bus back home. I later fetched the cargo bike in the minivan. And, given that the rear wheel is an unusual size and I am pretty sure I do not have the right inner tube I’ll probably just take the bucket off and bring the bike down to the shop to mend the flat. I’ll likely attempt a patch in the driveway first, because I’m somewhat handy and thrifty.
2025-05-22 Thursday
The conversation about cameras turned to flashes, and one guy shared that when he was as kid, the flash on the camera made a neat high-pitched noise as it recharged. Everyone agreed that was a neat memory.
I remember as a kid, touching the wall outlet and getting electrocuted. It was a weird sensation. Not pleasant but not exactly painful. I did it again. Yup. I cataloged the experience and moved on with the business of growing up.
We weren’t big on going outdoors. Our generation was the first with Cable TV and the strict admonition that the most dangerous thing a kid could do was speak to a stranger. We weren’t big on sunscreen either. I just took it for granted that whenever we visited the beach I could enjoy peeling dead skin for the week after.
A lot of us died in 2020. In 2025, a great many of us struggle yet to really be alive.
Everything in life is temporary. Except temporary fixes. Those are usually permanent.
