Saturday, June 24, 2006

Could be a good or bad day. Stay tuned

6/24/06 Saturday
I am not doing well this morning. Getting confused easily. Just tried to Look up Bruce’s address and had to ask Cherie for help. This slowed me down further. Today is Bruce’s “Back from Iraq” barbeque. Cherie does not want to go because of the deep deep hurt from our divorce 21 years ago. She doesn’t want to see Barb and I can’t blame her. Me, I want to rub it in to my ex, Barb (Not the same Barb I help) that Cherie and I are back together despite Barb’s seduction and marriage with me. I know it is kind of gloating and that’s not good but I still want to make that point. I told Cherie she did not have to go. She was getting pretty worked up as memories of those days returned with the thought of her meeting Barb.

Actually the thought of me seeing Barb is somewhat bothersome. We have talked only sporadically since I woke up from the coma and pretty much every conversation was filled with her venom. She is a bitter woman and I am partly at blame for that. She always had a bitterness at her core. With me she literally made her bed and has to sleep in it. I am going for Bruce and will avoid any confrontation. We will see how that works. I hope I speed up and will be able to handle all this. I don’t do well in active situations where things are unfamiliar. Can’t process the info fast enough. Add to that stress and it has the potential of a freeze up. No problem, I can excuse myself and go if I need to. I’ll be fine cause I will be prepared for this. Bruce said he would supply the beer so that I must stay away from. It’s pop for me. Don’t drink anymore, except maybe a glass of wine with a nice dinner, so it won’t take much to give me a buzz. That and the fact that alcohol can trigger seizures means I won’t touch it. With everyone else drinking and my ex along with her ex, the man she was married to when she was messing around with me, will be there leaves the potential for problems out there. Of course Bruce is a cop and lots of the people who will be there are cops also. Wonder if any will recognize me. It will be interesting.

Got to prepare myself but also need to look for a trailer. Should call Nate to see if he has a name or address for the guy he knows in Monroe who sells trailers. Be back later.
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I went and got a paper to see if there are any trailers for sale. There was only one and it was way too nice and too pricey. That won’t work. Then I dug up the number of Eileen’s daughter’s boyfriend who is a scrapper and gets around the East Side allot. He said he could find one but it might take a few days. “I could probably get one for $200” he told me with confidence. That’s got a grand beat all to hell.

Next I called Nate to see if he had the name of the guy who sells trailers in Monroe, Michigan. He not only had the name but found the guys website. I haven’t looked at it yet but will soon. When he heard that I was having a friend on the East Side looking for a trailer he warned me to be careful. I’m an East Sider so I know there’s lots of hot stuff to be found there but I have no interest in buying a stolen trailer. Got enough problems and the last felony I had was for “Receiving stolen goods”. That was a frame up which I may have written about earlier in this blog but can’t be certain.

Nate had read in the blog about the service engine light and let me know that his neighbors across the street had a Snap-on electronic diagnostic tool and they could pinpoint what is wrong. Fact is I can’t really trust Firestone, especially after seeing how they cranked me on the truck inspection, during which they failed to notice this issue. He will call me back after he figures out a good time for me to come over. Nate thinks that it may just be my oxygen sensor. “That would cause some bad gas mileage” he told me. I just filled up yesterday and the truck is only getting sixteen miles to the gallon. Not good at all. Nate said the O2 sensor only costs around $40 and is easy to put in. I used to know this kind of stuff but it’s part of what I lost from this brain of mine.

12:05 – My ears are ringing and I’m kind of dizzy. Not a good sign. The barbeque at Bruce’s starts at 2:00. Cherie is making her bean dish and came up with the idea of baking it in a nice baking dish which Bruce can keep as a housewarming gift. She is out buying that as well as some groceries.

I hope I clear up before the barbeque. If not I may show up later. Probably won’t stay too long. I doubt I will be comfortable there.

Nate just called so I’m running now to have the truck hooked up to the scope.

That worked well. Nate and Jeremy were both there. Nate’s friend put the scope on the truck and went through things much more thoroughly that the Firestone tech had. There were several small things he found and came to the conclusion that there is a good chance it is the catalytic converter. Both Jeremy and Nate crawled under the truck and checked out everything from oil to spying an ABS sensor that is an aftermarket improvement. Hey, these guys know tons more than I do about today’s cars. Give me a 66 Dodge and I can do some stuff but I’m lost on today’s vehicles.

Jeremy got right on the phone looking for the best deal on catalytic converters and the installation. He worked hard on that phone, calling several numbers. Nate gave me some good advise on something but I can’t remember it now. It’ll come back later, maybe. Anyway Jeremy got a hold of a shop owner who could do these for maybe $186 each. Nate wrote the address down and made a map for me. I asked him to do this because I know I can forget verbal directions by the time I pull out of the drive.

Hey guys, Thanks, big help.

I took the truck to the shop and talked with Billy. He said he couldn’t get to it today but next week would be better. However he won’t be there because he’s going on vacation or something. He said it could just be the O2 sensors which are much cheaper. I think I will try putting those on first and then will know if I must replace the catalytic’s.

Cherie got the bean casserole done and bought a nice casserole dish she made it in. I’m going over to Bruce’s as soon as I post this.

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