I’m sitting at home, all alone right now. The hoard is out at Southpoint Mall, then heading over to the airport to pick up mirkowuff, then heading back here, to arrive around 5:30 or so. As I look around the living room, I see no less than three iBooks, numerous plushies, and the sundry remnants of people relaxing and having a good time.
Life is good.
By the way, for a great Rashomon-esque view of what’s going on this weekend, be sure to take a look at the other LiveJournals of the folks attending this weekend’s party. (Or you can just read my Friends Page). It’s a very cool thing.
I also want to say, here and now, that I take back any snarky remarks I ever might have made about our Mormon neighbors, here or anywhere else. Yeah, they stopped by during the snowstorm last January with a loaf of fresh-baked bread, but I figured that was kind of a fluke. When I got home today, though…well, first some background:
While I was out driving yesterday with partran, my Low Tire Pressure light came on. It’s done this from time to time, and usually it didn’t take more than a quick topping-up at the air pump to fix the problem. We were a bit rushed last night, so I figured takaza could stop by a gas station on his way out today. Well, he pulled out of the garage and realized that the back left tire was flat. They went ahead and took other party-folks’ cars, and I figured I’d come home, grab the tire, and run up to the local tire store to have it patched, barely squeaking in before their 5 PM closing time.
So I pulled up and walked over to take a look at the tire. As I was figuring out where to put it to jack it up, our neighbor (I really should know his name, but I’m bad about that) walked over and said he noticed we had a flat – would we like some help? I described my plans to have it patched and volunteered to help me out. I figured he had a can of Fix-A-Flat or something, but he rolls over his air compressor and pulls out a tire patch kit. Between the two of us, we jacked up the tire and pulled a sharp metal fragment, about 3/4″ long, out of the tire. He patched it right up and reinflated the tire, mentioning that someone had helped him similarly a while back, and he was just passing it on. He accepted my profuse thanks and headed back over to his house.
Wow. How cool is that? As Dan suggested, we definitely need to drop by and give them a nice loaf of banana bread or something sometime very soon.
I seem to recall my father or brother (who are both armchair mechanics– yet do little more than check their oil) telling me that Fix-a-flat will ruin your tire. Something about eventually corroding the insides… Is that not true? Have you ever used it before? Just curious….
tres cool
That is very cool- I love when you’re able to make contact with other people in a really positive way. The amazing thing is, you could still be at total loggerheads with them over other things, but if you both have the willingness to find a common ground, well- you can see the result. I daresay the guy felt great when he was done. 🙂
My understanding of the old story of the good samaritan is that samaritans were considered real lowlifes, no good- and the point of the story is to recognize kindness wherever it appears, even from an unexpected place. 🙂