Karma Payment Plan

Wow, a lot has happened since I've last had the pleasure of addressing you all. First off, a shout out to Randy Eckman on his birthday; I wish him all the best. He's a talented and hardworking fellow with, mark my words, a bright future in engineering. I have no doubt he'll blow me out of the water someday. Another shout out to Jennifer Blincoe who has just returned to us from far away Korea. I don't think she reads this thing, but that isn't that point. Anyway, on with the show.

Life has been absolutely crazy lately. I've been trying to keep in touch with a great many people and let me tell you, it has been a grand time. My friends are really some of the best people in the world. There's been a lot of adventure in my life too...and a lot of thinking. This post intends to cover them both.

On the adventure side of thing I recently went on a weekend camping/Cedar Point trip with my friends Jeremy and James. It had been in works for a while and all parties involved were really looking forward to it. The night before I was set to leave I received a call from James finalizing plans. It was decided that due to our similar departure times, the trip there would be something of an informal "race". James, in the spirit of competition, declared that he would emerge the victor because I would blow a tire on the way up. I knew immediately that I was doomed. Through the day at work before the trip the thought lingered with me that James' proclamation might actually occur. I tried to think of ways to prevent it...but nothing made much sense, so I just went on with things.

As I left my apartment I felt optimistic about the coming weekend. I knew that grand times were ahead of me. However, as soon as I got on the highway I knew there was trouble. My driver's side front tire was vibrating badly at any significant speed. I stopped at a rest area to survey the situation and found nothing to justify immediate action, i.e. a puncture or flat. So, I continued on. Not 2 miles up the highway my tire physically explodes...a piece of it flying past my side window. I had been staying in the right lane just in case and pulled over as soon as I regained full control of my vehicle. I sounded bad.

I exited the car and finally understood how the strips of rubber come to lie on the side of the highway. The entire outer layer, the crucial belt of my tire was destroyed. I set about retrieving my port-o-jack and spare from the trunk compartment. One was flat and the other suspended in standing water, rusting. I had no option but to proceed. Unfortunately, the rusted state of the jack and its confusing design forced me to call my father for advice on its usage. However, my reception was terrible and after a snippet of advice I was on my own. After five more minutes working on that jack I was still lost and was about to call again when I looked down to find that my cell phone was no longer functional and would not even turn off.

Faced with the prospect of walking the 10 miles to the next town (I saw no logic in returning to the rest area because I did not even have the proper numbers to call the other co-ops for help...and I was not about to beg), I suddenly became aware that there was only two ways the jack could possibly work and any resistance to proper function was being caused by rust. My thought was this: work it or wreck it. Fortunately, I was able to do the former and after considerable effort put my spare on.

So now I'm driving down the highway at 40 mph on a flat spare tire going who knows where, with my emergency lights on waving cars past me. I finally got off the highway onto a long and winding "Deliverance"-esque road towards the same mystery location...again holding up traffic. After a good ten minutes of guesswork driving I ended up in a hole-in-the-wall store asking for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart. However, much to my surprise I was directed to a local store, "Henathorne's Tire and Gun", for my tire needs. On my way out, I was confronted by an aging hippie who lent me his portable air pump to fill my flat spare. I thanked him and was going to shake his hand when he surprised me with a full on hug. Well, I didn't mind; he was a good fellow. It caught me off guard though. I also figured out that by temporarily removing my phones battery I could restore it to proper function. The first person I called was James...it is doubtful he will ever he me curse that much again. Honestly folks, it had to be done, whether or not you believe in such silly things. The event would simply not be right if I didn't at least pretend to blame James. Fun times.

Anyway, after a 4 mile drive I finally arrived at the garage. Inside I encountered an old couple, a young boy, and a younger girl playing with a yellow dog. I explained the situation and the young boy was tasked with dealing with my tire. He was a decent fellow who commented on the terrible state of my blown tire and my shinai in the trunk. I took care of my spare, notified my parents of my survival, and went in to pay. $83.32 all in all. I planned to pay with my Visa. However, as luck would have it, the card machine was unable to communicate with the main server. This was bad. I was preparing to barter my sleeping bag when I checked my wallet to find that I had exactly $83...fortunately for me I hadn't bought that bag of M&M's from the vending machine at work. I returned to my car for exact change, paid in full, and was on my way. An adventure before the weekend had even truly began. But such is life. What mattered was that I was on my way...

More to come on the trip soon.