I Have Air!

[tarotgal]

For the first time ever today, I put air in my tires all by myself! No dad, no boyfriend, no one but me, myself, and I!

When the weather started getting colder, my car gave me a tire pressure alert... which has been on for more than a month now. So today I finally went during my lunch break and put air in my tires. My boss told me to take our part-timer (the only guy in our department). I told her I thought I could do it myself but she kept telling me to ask him to come along and help. But I decided just to try it myself and I'm glad I did.

I broke out the little meter that now ex-boyfriend gave me and read in the manual what it was supposed to be. And I didn't do a fantastic job, but I did all right for my first time. Didn't lose any caps or make the tires go flat or anything. When I pulled away afterwards, the alert was still on and I was frustrated and bummed. But halfway back to work (you can practically see the street my building is on from the gas station) the little orange (.!.) alert turned off and it's been off ever since! I'm so thrilled. I am the Queen of Tire Inflating! My Love now has air!

Okay, so this is a stupid little thing that probably everyone mastered years ago. But it's a big deal to me. I feel all girl power-y and independent.

First tire pressure, then changing tires, then taking over the world!

(Though, actually, you can scratch that last bit.)


On a completely unrelated note, I posted my Hufflepuff Halloween Challenge story over at hp_sickfics on Sunday. I don't think I mentioned that already. Warning: it's very Hufflepuffy. Yes, that IS an adjective, thank you very much.

Comments

[tinadp.livejournal.com]

Yay for you! The whole tire pressure thing makes me nervous. I try to have my husband do it. One of his many manly duties. But when I have to I'm always afraid I'll explode the tire.
Thought of you today - went to see the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science in Boston.
So many awesome props, etc. Made me long for more HP.

[tarotgal]

OMG OMG OMG Wasn't it amazing?!!! I'm SO glad I got to see the exhibition. I spent hours going through it, making notes in a notebook so I could get props/costumes right for fics. heehee Me = loser. But, seriously, I thought it was such a fantastic exhibition. Did you & the kids throw quaffles? I was told there was a thestral but I couldn't see it (as I've never seen anyone who died) ;-) I was particularly amazed by Buckbeak, and by Sirius' double-collar shirt and the star pattern on the Gryffindor bed hangings... walking in through the doorway by the Fat Lady's portrait actually brought tears to my eyes. Seriously, I teared up with happiness SO many times. I'm such a geek. LOL

I cannot WAIT until the theme park opens in a few months. I want to go back to Hogwarts!


Oh, and the tire pressure... OMG so I really could have over-inflated them and make them explode? *whimper* I did slightly over-inflate one but I let air out and got the pressure back to what it was supposed to be. And one of the tires is, like, at 32.5 instead of 33 but I figure it's close enough and my car isn't annoyed any more so it must be all right. But, still... OMG I really could have destroyed the tire? Now I feel less proud and more... lucky I didn't do damage!

[(Anonymous)]

Grrlpower is good! If you're particularly worried (after a week, is that what it's been?), you might want to Google "air pressure car tires" for some recommendations. What I found is that you should check the pressure after driving for one mile, if not checking right in your driveway -- that's the "cold" tire pressure. Then, look to see if there's a label on the driver's side door of your car -- it should have specific recommendations for how "full" or firm your tires should be inflated. (If there's no label there, check the owner's manual.) I goofed and read the number on the tire itself, but that range is the *maximum* pressure for that set of tires. Must take my own advice here and check/fix the pressure before I set out for Thanksgiving with the in-laws -- hubby will NOT do it, but he's not particularly handy and we've both adjusted to that.

I think it's rather unlikely that you're going to explode a tire while inflating it, they're tough things. Overinflating is bad, of course, but so is underinflating, so just go with the recs printed on the door or in the owner's manual, and you should be fine.

--Your friendly neighborhood "HandyAnn"