Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Filling Tires: A Learning Experience

     When I got back from my trip last week (that'll be a separate post) my dad reminded me to check my tire pressure. My front left tire has a leak in it, and needs filled up every so often. I haven't been home for a while, so I haven't had the opportunity to fill it up at home. I knew this day would come, but I had hoped to put it off indefinitely. I knelt down to check the pressure, and my knee went right in a puddle of mud. This should have told me that I was about to have a bad time. It didn't. I checked my tire, and it was low. Really low. Scarily low. I So, I hopped in the car and drove off to the gas station across the street from campus. I went inside to buy a red bull and get some quarters for the air pump machine thing.

     I came outside and it was raining. Hard. I had only been inside for a minute, but it was pouring. I should have seen this as an omen for the upcoming events, but I'm dumb and decided to proceed onward. I put my $1.50 in quarters into the machine, and it started making noise, so I connected it to my tire. The pump had a pressure gauge on it, so I periodically took a look at that to make sure I didn't inflate it too much. I noticed something odd though. Every time I looked, it showed less pressure.

     I'm no mechanic, but I had a hunch that something wasn't working. The pump was making sound, so it couldn't be that. I knew I had to act fast, because I had a limited amount of time. I took a quick look at the label to see how long I had. "CAR VACUUM. $1.50 FOR THREE MINUTES." Oh. That's probably the issue.

     Sure enough, I had definitely put money in the vacuum. Remember, it's pouring rain, and I am now soaked. I looked around hastily and found where to put money in for the pump. It needed $1.00 in quarters. I emptied my pockets and found $.50. I got lucky and found a quarter on the ground, so I only needed one more. I checked in my cupholder, where I keep all of my loose change. There was probably $50 in pennies and dimes, but not a single quarter. I checked under the seats. Not a single quarter. I checked under the pedals, not a single quarter. Finally, I looked in the side of my door. One single quarter.

     I put the money in the machine and filled my tire, and I went on my merry way. I learned a lot of things that day. I learned to read labels before putting money in things. I learned to keep better track of the change in my car. I learned to fill my tire with air. But most importantly, I learned that you WILL get a cold if you leave your jacket in your dorm and spend 30 minutes kneeling down in the rain.

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