I would have rather been writing stories (part 1 of 2)

But as it turned out, I was down in Fuquay taking 2 separate classes. That in itself should have been fine. Should have been. The idea was that the second class was short and that then I could take the rest of the day off and play disc golf. I mean, the class was scheduled from 1-3 and then I was home free.

I left there at 5:15. Dammit. So just how did I manage to screw all of this up? I don’t know, it just seems to be a recurring theme in my life – take a good, sure thing, and ruin it. Yep, that’s how I operate. Damn, I’m smooth.

Well, the class schedule wasn’t my fault. The first class ran over and when they were trying to setup for the second class they realized some software wasn’t installed. They estimated this would delay the start of the next class until 2pm. 1 hr already wasted. Ugh. But this did give me a chance to go out and grab some lunch, so that was good. Or not.

Once again it seems Kimmy doesn’t like to go to school when school’s not actually in session. Slack ass. Still, I had my Wendy’s so I was happy. At least until I got a flat tire right there in the drive through line. Dammit.

So now I’m walking up to the pay window. And then the pick-up window. I had pulled into a parking spot and just ate my lunch there. Having broken down so many times before (not to mention the accidents), I was calm and fine with this. I finished lunch and got out all the tools.

Except the one I needed. A shotgun. This would be used on the overpaid greased up son-of-a-bitch that insists on showing his ignorance and tightening the lugnuts with an airwrench instead of using a torque wrench. So there I am, with no options. Ugh.

The manager is looking out and trying to help me from the pick-up window. He comes out and gets some WD40, which alone did not solve the problem. Nice guy though. And of course there is no Lowes or Home Depot nearby. Which I find odd since I’m in backwoods country. I ask him where I might find a pipe and he comes up with Wal-Mart or Stevens (a hardware store). So I start walking.
Me: Well, I guess I better get on with it then.
Him: Whoa, that’s a lotta walking.

So it was. First the Advanced Auto. Nothing. Then Wal-Mart. Almost. They had a weight bench bar, but it was not hollow. Ugh. Luckily I stopped into the AutoZone before making the half mile trek down to Stevens. In there I was able to find sturdy muffler pipe. Actually tail pipe sections (shorter and thicker). Now they only had 2 small sections and I figured this wouldn’t be enough lever arm. So I had to get the turn down section as well, which actually worked as a nice smooth handle. The salesguy was nice and helpful actually.