I may bitch and moan about K sometimes, but he truly is a fantastic guy. He’s sensitive but strong, manly but not overly so. Funny but he has his serious side too. He ogles over Kiera Knightly but he’s loyal to me to the end. He enjoys high culture but yet, when it comes to the more mechanical side of life, he’s no slouch.
Case in point: My minivan. I love my van. Most anyone who knows me knows how much I love my van. It is the perfect van. The right size, the right color, very comfortable…my only complaint could ever be that it doesn’t have a cd player, but hopefully someday I’ll be able to remedy that. And in the light of things, its a minor detail. Because everything else about that car? I *love*.
So it was with great distress that last week I started to notice some troubles with the brakes. First it was shuddering. Then it was a scraping noise. Not being very mechanically inclined, I had no idea, only that I didn’t like it. But I had to keep taking my son to kindergarten, and that required the van. And each day the grinding noise got worse and worse. And then I could hear it not only when stopping but when going as well.
Seeing as how we’re planning on a car trip to Elko next weekend, I wanted to get this looked at asap. Easier said than done, as I know K would be reluctant to take the van in anywhere. Because we know most mechanics have no qualms about charging extra for other problems they find on the vehicle. So I told K and, predictably, he didn’t want to take it in. He was fairly sure it was the brake pads, though it could be the disc as well. Then, today, when he took it for a spin around the block, he knew one thing: something had to be done asap, before we drove it again.
So what does he do? He slips off the wheel to have a look. Indeed, it is the brake pads. In fact, there is no “pad” left. And the disc has many grooves in it from the scraping. But the good news is the disc is intact for the most part. Plenty of wear space left. So of to Kragen for new brake pads and an hour later…BOOM! My van is working good as new once again. We took a test drive around the block and not a peep was to be heard when we hit the brakes (which K did often and liberally).
So my husband rocks my socks. Instead of having to take the van into the dealer or someplace else to get this fixed he was able to do this (with no small amount of grease on his hands, arms and legs) in one day…when he already had to go into work for four hours! And at minimal cost, to boot. I love this man. I may just keep him around yet.
