I Suck At Getting An Oil Change

last night, karen and i had a grocery bill come to $0.45. it only seems fitting that today, i get a bill for considerably more. i suppose the term is known as "the law of averages".

this morning, i dropped karen off at the train station so that she could get to work. as i was heading home, i decided to get an oil change. now, i suck at getting an oil change. our car was actually due for an oil change because the mileage had already reached 3000 miles since the last oil change. so i figured that i would get it out of the way.

naturally, i brought the car to firestone located in hingham. firestone offers an environmentally friendly oil for an oil change. as i am a big proponent for the environment, i try to do what i can for mother nature.

in addition to the oil change, i figured i would ask the mechanics at firestone to see if they could find out the cause of a certain rattling that the car has been recently making while driving. silly me. mental note: remember that ignorance is bliss lest you open up a can of worms. i'm just kidding.

it's actually good that i had them look into the car's problems because it would have been a driving hazard otherwise. as it turned out, one of the springs above the wheel had completely snapped off. one of the struts was damaged. a stabilizer bar was damaged. the front wheel bearing was damaged. fluid was leaking out of the axle. and a heat shield was loose.

the mechanics think the cause of the problem was a pot hole... which i tend to agree with because 1) i am technically an asian driver; and 2) every street i seem to drive by on my daily route is littered with potholes... whether it is in marblehead, in boston, in quincy... wherever.

sad to say, the cost for all of the repairs to the car was close to $1600. i am definitely thinking that it is time to start looking for a new car now. needless to say, hearing the cost of the repairs put a little damper on things today. the only thing that was even somewhat of a bright spot was that i had a firestone coupon... or two... that brought the total down to $1450. sure, it's not that great, but $150 is better than nothing.

nonetheless, it was frustrating. the cost of repairs to the car makes the grocery bill of $0.45 from yesterday all that much more enjoyable.