Ready, Go!

After finding out that Kitson had a blow out between Austin and College Station and had to wait hours for AAA we vowed to teach her how to change a tire before Thanksgiving. Tonight Kitson came over for dinner and changed Ross's flattened tire before dinner. Then after dinner she reinflated the the tire, inflated the spare to the correct pressure, and swapped them out. She had a great technique for loosening the lug nuts and did a great job overall. We bought her a jumper box/air pump so that she's more prepared next time she's on the road.

Real Women (Can) Drive Stick + Super Excitement

I'm driving Ross's car today. Remembering how to drive stick shift is like riding a bike. It comes back fairly quickly. As I've said before, I feel very strongly that everyone should learn to drive stick shift. I think only 8% of cars sold in the US now are manual transmission, but we have a lot of older cars on the road that are the old fashioned stick-shift. I mean, what happens if we are in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse and you come across an old truck, but you can't get away from the brain-hungry zombies because you can't drive stick?

Despite my strong feelings on the matter I have never taught anyone to drive stick. Tiffany wasn't interested at all. Oh well.

I'm super excited because today I see my mom. For the first time since Thanksgiving. I'm picking my parents up at the airport this afternoon (why I'm driving Ross's car), and I just can't wait to see my incredible shrinking mom. She's lost some weight since I last saw her, but I haven't seen any photos, so I have no idea what to expect. I'll take a photo and post it soon!

Back in the Black

Over a month ago Ross swung a little too wide when pulling into the garage and scraped the bumper and front fender against the edge of the garage door. Ooops. I wasn't mad because it was truly an accident. He wasn't screwing around at all. Still, he hurt, mangled, damaged, defiled, injured, defaced, crumpled, dented, scraped, and scratched my precious car. It didn't bother me too much. It was on the passenger side, so I didn't see it when getting into and out of the car. Still, I wanted it fixed. At the drive in I felt like people were staring at my poor car's booboo. We dropped off the car last week, and picked it up this morning. My car is back to its beautiful black self. I took it to the car wash, then straight home to dry it, and make sure it was really clean. It is all sparkly now. I love my car. Ross is no longer allowed to drive it.

You know how they say you should switch up your routine to challenge your brain? Like brush your teeth with your left hand? I felt like my brain was being challenged this week when I was driving Ross's car. Ross's car is a stick shift. Real women (can) drive stick. My first (and only other car besides my black beauty) was a stick shift, but I hadn't driven stick in a while. I had to wake up my left foot. I kept forgetting to downshift. Luckily I can go from a stop in second gear, and I didn't stall it when I tried to go from a stop in third. Teehee.

I feel very strongly about being able to drive stick. I feel that it is a skill everyone should learn.

How Could I Forget?

One of my recurrent nightmares involves driving. In the most common one I am driving from the passenger seat or back seat. Then, something happens (usually involving flashing lights) and I'm desperately trying to get into the front driver's seat. Sometimes I can't reach the brake pedal from the back seat. I haven't had this one in a while, so maybe that's why I forgot to list it. The funny thing is that I'm usually doing just fine until I see the lights in the rear view mirror.

Codriving

In high school I knew a set of twins who would drive together as a team. The one in the driver's seat did all the driving except actually shifting the gears. Her sister would sit in the passenger seat and shift with her left hand. She just knew when to shift, her sister didn't have to tell her. I was fascinated.

Today Ross was driving and I started shifting for him because he was eating ice cream. Codriving is fun. Shifting with my left hand isn't as natural, but I get the job done. If I get that Lexus SC 430 I'm really going to miss driving stick shift. Ah, but I think all the luxury amenities will make up for it.