Stop, In the Name of Love

It amazes me how cheep people are. Cheep and stupid. STUPID. In the last 2 days Ive worked on 2 cars that were unsafe to drive due to the condition of their brakes. One car came in with all 4 of its tires slashed and while I was putting new ones on for them I noticed that the front brakes were wearing unevenly. Curious as to why, I took the drums off the rear and discovered that they were completely destroyed. I wrote up an evaluation and let the CSA know. He called the customer and explained the danger involved in driving the car without work being done. The customer didnt seem to care about his or other drivers safety and declined the work.

Today a woman came in to have a battery put in. When the tech pulled the car in I could hear the brakes from across the shop. I looked at the rotors through the rims and saw that they were seriously mangled. I convinced the customer to at least let me do an evaluation of the brakes. Once again the brakes were fried and could cause serious injury to either the passengers of the car or others on the road. I had to personally show this woman the problem with her brakes and explain that she could die if she drove her car out of the shop. It wasnt until I pointed out that her kids could die that she finally decided to get the work done.

Let me tell you, you may not trust mechanics, but most of them are honest and are just looking out for your best interest and the well being of your car. There are two things that you should never go cheep on and those are brakes and tires. The brakes are what make you stop. They do not get better through time. If your brakes are making noise then you need to have them checked. The sooner you have them checked the less it will cost you to have them fixed.

March of the Penguins

Watch it?

Misty Mountain Hop

Sunday I went for a hike up Shadow Mountain. We didnt make it to the top. Today we did. here are the pictures. Youll have to excuse the quality on some of them. My camera phone couldnt handle the Phoenix sun.

Rainy Days and Mondays

I woke up at 640 when my alarm went off. It was ridiculously dark in the apartment. Other then a small night light in the bathroom, we dont keep any lights on while were sleeping but usually by the time my alarm goes off the sun is thinking about rising and in Phoenix that means that its bright out side. Well Im pretty sure the sun was thinking about rising but the sky was covered by clouds and it was raining. Jaime was at work already and I had to bike to work in one hour.

The dogs and I went for a nice wet walk and then I got ready for my ride. Well the ride was uneventful. The rain had cleared for a little while and I got wetter from the road then I did from the sky. This city isnt made for rain, and understandably so. Why would they put money into the infrastructure to handle an event that doesnt happen but a couple times a year and really doesnt have any devastating consequences.

At work we were dead. People dont go out in the rain here. They dont know what to do when it rains. The few who do venture out wind up crashing their cars. Its worse then getting a blizzard in MI. One of the things I appreciated the most about our trip home was the ability of other people to drive in adverse weather. Here you cant get anywhere because theres an accident on every road. And the few roads that dont have an accident are flooded, not because it rained a lot but because it cant drain anywhere.

It was nice to have a rainy day. Clouds filled the sky for the entire day. The sun did peek through a couple times but it was covered up quickly. I think this is the end of it for the next six months but thats OK. At least I know whats coming.

The Stairs of Cirith Ungol

I woke up and it was a "chilly" 57 degrees out. The sun was blocked by clouds and I had the day off. Jaime wasnt feeling well and stayed in bed. I decided it was time to quit bitchin about the lack of winter and get out and enjoy it. So I leashed up Samwise and Gollum and we headed off to Shadow Mountain. We climbed the first peak and I was completely out of breath. The dogs however were having the time of their lives. We rested for a little bit and then I got a second wind. The nice thing about hiking up a mountain is that the trip back is the easy part. The next part was the real challenge. It wasnt hiking anymore, it was use your hands climbing. Nothing that youd need ropes or equipment for of course, but still, it was much easier being on all four. Having been higher then Id ever been by my own power I was satisfied for the day. Theres still at least one peak higher in this nature preserve. Perhaps well come back Tuesday with water and a couple granola bars.