It was a rough ride i.e. size matters especially in tires

It can be quite compelling how life can have its share of rough rides, you know?  If you take notice of my last blog post here on "Jaguar Julie Blog On and On ..." you might notice that my very last blog post was penned on July 26, 2010.  Perhaps you might think I was off on sabbatical or taking some sort of long-winded vacation?  Hmmm?  Nope!  That was really not the case.

On July 9th, my last unobserved birthday, my attorney served divorce papers on my ex-hubby!  Yeah, I was channeling the thought that Seth Godin infused in us Squidoo lensmasters ... we will celebrate NO more birthdays!  Make that "birthday" of yours a memorable occasion ... and don't be blowing out any birthday cake/cupcake candles.  Well, I didn't!  July 9th was just one of the first days of many included in my rough ride through the remainder of 2010 and into 2011.

You see, seriously ... my attorney was prepared to go to trial with the divorce.  I wasn't sure about that!  But, he did put a "gag order" on me.  So, I interpreted that to mean ... no more blog posts about my feelings, life, and other stuff ... possibly very random in nature.

So!  July 26th was my last blog post.  July 30th my attorney said, "go ahead and get those tires!"  And I did.  I went to Tire Kingdom on Philips Highway in beautiful Jacksonville, Florida.  I had an appointment too!  So, when I ended up waiting OVER 2 hours for two new back tires, I was a little rattled.  THEN, the guys come in to the waiting room to tell me something is wrong with my car!  You see, it wouldn't start!  Long story short, twenty minutes later, we figured out that the red button on my remote had been pushed by one of the guys working on my car.  So, we were all locked out from starting the car.  That was the beginning of my rough ride!

I drove out of Tire Kingdom that night, headed back home to finish the divorce discovery which was becoming hugely B-R-U-T-A-L ... 5 years of banking and personal financial records to be produced!  As I headed West on Philips and North on Southside, I thought, "MAN, this is one rough ride."  How about those NEW tires?  Never did I question the fact that there were two 245 Goodyear Eagle tires on the back of my car.

The bill for those two tires came to $400.  That was better than the 2 front Goodyear Eagle tires ... previously supplied by Tire Kingdom on Philips, but costing me some $550.  I've always paid just under $1000 for the 4 tires on my Mercedes-Benz 1999 SLK-230 roadster.  It's a classic, you know?

This past week, my classic M-B was at Brumos on Atlantic for 3 full days ... lots of preventative service which tabulated to nearly $2,100 in charges!  It was Brumos who told me, "Julie, you must seriously go back to your tire guy!"  It seems that on the driver back, the tire was NOT a 245, but a 215!

As of this writing, I had contacted Tire Kingdom, several different times, to resolve this issue.  My first appointment was cancelled since Brumos still had my car.  The next day I stopped by Tire Kingdom on time, only to be told that the tire had NOT been ordered ... you see, the guy had to validate that I indeed had a 215 wrong tire on my car!!!  Next, when I asked, can you then schedule me an appointment for after work and install the correct tire that I paid for in July 2010?  NOPE, he said ... I'd have to wait until the tire came in and he checked it out ... then he would set up the appointment.  Friday came and went ... NO tire.

Saturday morning I was waiting for a phone call ... "your tire should be here within one hour."  That one hour came and went; no phone call.  So, I drove to Tire Kingdom and learned the tire had just been delivered from Orlando, but it was warped.  Oh my!  The store manager was the FIRST Tire Kingdom employee who took ownership of this problem!!!  He ordered a "loaner" tire from a local store ... I waited for one of the employees to go pick it up.  I am now driving around Jacksonville, Florida, looking for a house to buy, with a 245 Sumitomo tire on my driver back.

Beep beep!  If you see me on the road today, honk please!

DIY becoming more complicated

Hmmm, ever notice that DIY is becoming more complicated these days? Yep, the next time you decide to tackle a so-called do-it-yourself [DIY] project around the house, you better have the yellow pages handy! We didn't need to resort to the yellow pages, but we did know better to call a friend of ours, Roy, who is a handyman of sorts freelancing since he retired from his normal programming job.

We have been debating for more than a few months about replacing our beat up front door. After shopping Home Depot online, we identified a few possible fiberglass doors that would work for our 36" x 80" wooden door. Before committing to that Home Depot door, we consulted with our next door neighbor Joe who happily offered to help us get a door through his construction company. When Joe came back with the initial figures, we opted for a so-called cheap fix with the Home Depot door.

On September 27th, we picked up the door and brought it home. It was too heavy for me to lift with hubby, so we engaged Joe's son to help put it in the garage. It wasn't until Saturday, October 11th, that Roy was able to schedule time in his busy schedule to help with the install. The idea was that we would take the new door out of the frame and simply swap out the hinges and install it where the old door was.

Well, that was until we got to the final step after measuring to confirm the hinge placements. Those were supposedly spot-on. But the other side of the door wasn't lining up. It looked like we would need to fill the holes where the deadlock was placed. Next thing I know, hubby is in my office reaching for my tape gun. "What are you doing?" I asked. "The door isn't going to fit." he says. "What?"

The Feather River fiberglass door is NOT a 36" x 80" door after all! It actually is more like 36" x 79-1/4". If you want to have that door, you will need to totally 'tear apart' your front door frame to put it in ... in the frame that it comes in! It will not work in the existing door frame.

Hmmm, I do recall the young man in Home Depot telling us that it is RARE, extremely rare, that a door, any door, will fit exactly. Now why is that I want to know? Isn't a front door standard? Shouldn't a front door be standard? Well, I guess after all, size does matter! Must have been a man who designed those doors. After all, 79-1/4" is 80".

By the way! You might have heard that I am one of the blondes that DIY. Oh, I have been doing it yourself, or myself, for so many years.