A Night Of Epic Proportions

In an automotive sense, yes... Otherwise it wasn't that epic to anyone other than myself and Collin...

Okay, so if you are current with my posts you should be aware of the awesome time I had Saturday replacing Collin's alternator in the Toyota (and if you aren't current, now you know... And knowing is half the battle... GI JOE!!!.... Sorry I can't resist that.... Even if someone says, "Now you know" at work I have to finish it....). Anywhozit, Collin calls me at work yesterday around 9:15 (when he was on his way to work) and tells me that the three lights came on again on the dash to signal the alternator is having issues. GREAT!! I started stressing, because seriously what are the odds we would get a bad alternator... I called a couple shops for help and estimates in case it was something beyond the alternator. One (P&M Automotive) was no effing help whatsoever; all he could tell me is they would have to do a diagnostic check which could run up to $90... The other place I called (Advanced Automotive) was awesome! The chick on the phone was so helpful, and she actually listened to what I was saying and was rather confident we did just manage to get a bad alternator (this actually happens often on refurb parts). That made me feel a little bit better for the rest of the day.

Collin's boss let him off at four so he could get home before it got too dark (we really didn't want to fork out the cash for another tow.) so by the time I got home from work he was starting to pull the alternator out of the car. I went in the house and worked out after asking that he text me to let me know what the dealio was.... I waited.... And waited.... AND WAITED.....AND WAITED!!! But heard not a peep from him... Over an hour after he left he finally walks through the door (at this point I was starting to really worry, not just about the status of the part but more so about Collin; especially after hearing tons of sirens almost the entire time he was gone.) and natural scared reaction after assessing that a loved one is okay, I started yelling at him... Natural reaction when someone is attacking you? Yell back... This lasted all of fifteen seconds before we were both too startled by the other one's yelling to continue...  Then we talked, he told me he had forgot his cell in the back seat of the truck and didn't get my texts until he got home (originally he though he had left it in the Toyota), and I explained that I was just worried since I hadn't heard anything from him. Then he told me what I had been waiting so anxiously to hear, the alternator was bad, so they gave us yet another one that Collin had to go out to the Silverton Road Autozone to get (we go to the one on Lancaster just south of State). We ate dinner and then went out to put the alternator in the car.

Collin had left the flashlight in the truck so I went over to get it. As the garage door opened, I quickly realized something was horribly wrong with the picture I was looking at.... My beautiful truck was angling badly, like some violent sinkhole had opened up in my garage.... I walked into the garage and turned on the light to find my front passenger tire completely flat.... o.O ... This was shaping up to be a shitty mother effing evening... Turns out Collin had hit something when he got to the Autozone on Silverton Road... Thankfully, Collin had left the flashlight in the truck or we wouldn't have found out about the tire until this morning which would have been way worse. (Shit happens for a reason and all that mumbo jumbo psycho babble) So we get the spare out (full size spares are a more than wise investment) and take the flat off, put the spare on and realize it is way too effing low on air. We opt to get the alternator in so Collin can then take the spare off and take it to the Shell on Park and Market to put air in it. Finally all was said and done at about 9:15pm... The alternator was in, the car runs great, and I have a full size spare on the truck until Collin can take the truck and flat tire into Schwab's tomorrow or Thursday.

Oh, what a night it was....