Inflation, you know?
I was feeling so proud of myself when I went to the doctor yesterday, because my sugar that morning was only 198--which was half what I started out a week ago, but he was not happy.
"You should be at 150-160 on medication," says he. "So I want you to double your dose."
ACK! I exclaimed from inside. But I dutifully did what he told me to do, even though my before dinner level was at 167--and then fretted all night that I would drop too low, go into a coma and die--but sadly, this morning, I am back at 198, with a small stabbing/jabbing feeling just under my rib cage that says "you're hungry, EAT SOMETHING!" So I rose from bed for the second time this morning and ate breakfast and had a cup of coofee, which is how I say "coffee" when I'm overtired and just dragging trying to wake up this early in the morning.
However, now that I've had a couple of sips, let the dog out to potty and eaten my cereal, I still feel like crawling back into bed, but I don't want to be late for work--I've had so much time off for doctor visits, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.
I suppose I need to get dressed first, though--right?
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Last night, I drove over to Discount Tire after work/doctor visit, because one of my tires has a bulge in it. This is not supposed to happen, obviously, and they gave me a new tire to replace it. The trouble with that is that I have to have "even" tires, so I had to buy the other one. Then, I had them put the "good" front tire on the rim of the bad front tire for use as a spare, and put a new rim on the new tire--well you get the picture. What I really hate about this type of thing, and I think I will never do it again, is that mechanics think that because you're a woman, you don't know the first thing about cars, and what you really need, and so they try to pull the freaking wool over your eyes and try to sell you stuff you really don't need.
Here's how the conversation went:
"I've got a little problem." Says I. You see, I find that if I play "dumb", it makes them think they've got a marker.
So we go out to my car and he takes a look.
"Ah, yes, then we'll replace that tire for free and you'll probably want another one, so you have even tread on the front."
"Yes, that would be appropriate, I think, but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a tire--It's Christmas, after all, and I still have presents to buy."
So we go inside to talk turkey.
He's got a tire for me, $168 mounted, balanced, all the tires switched around...etcetera.
Then he says this:
"I recommend you put the old tires from the rear end on the front. You'll get better traction in the back that way."
"I'm sorry, what was that?" So he repeats himself, indicating that it's safer because if I don't, the back wheels could spin me out of control in a quick stop situation.
"On a front wheel drive car?" He assures me that his methodology is sound. I ask for a moment while I call my regular mechanic....
"Maiville," I say into the phone, "this guy is telling me to put the old tires on the front and the new ones in back. I don't think I can get up my driveway with the new tires in back with no drive to the axle there--would you mind talking to this fellow to get his "take" on the situation, and advise me?"
Now, mechanics hate it when you offer the phone to them to speak to your regular mechanic. They also hate to find out that they've been "had" by a woman who actually does know her stuff about cars, and have to sheepishly speak with the person who knows a little more about cars than they do--but he talked to my regular mechanic, and when I got the phone back, my regular mechanic told me that he understood what the guy was talking about but that he didn't necessarily subscribe to that belief, and that I should have the new tires on the front, just like I thought.
So I told the guy to put them on the front, as requested. He made a note on the work order. I also asked him to swap out the hubcap from the old rim to the new rim.
When the job was done and he brought the car to me, I saw that he'd forgotten to switch out the hubcap--so I told him "it's not 'done'." Which of course, he didn't understand--but as soon as he looked at the wheel, he realized that he had indeed forgotten to swap out the little center cap so that my wheels were all uniform, and so he handled that on the fly, and I was off to the races.
Even so, I feel that I paid too much for that one tire. Somehow, I think that they have you coming and going, know what I mean?
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