A Busy and Expensive Afternoon

Right after lunch Rachel and I went to Bealls to use my 25% off coupon so she could buy a pair of blue jeans. Total price was under $15, so that was good--and that was her money, not mine, making it even better.

Then I had a nice little chat with Andrew over Skype, except that my voice kept fading, while his was strong--usually it is the other way round.

Then I started doing errands--first to Sears to pick up a lawnmower that Gary bought over the internet. Some assembly required.

Next, a stop at Sherwin-Williams and their color matching computer. This was to buy exterior paint that matches the Sears siding we had installed 15 years. The Sears "15-year" matching paint is no longer manufactured, but the Sherwin Williams computer made a perfect match using a chunk of that 15-year paint which has recently realized its time is up and is flaking all over the place. This time I bought "25-year" paint--I do not plan for us to ever paint again. We'll either be dead or in a retirement home and somebody else can do the painting.

Last stop was at Goodyear. Two new tires on the front and an alignment. He said it was badly out of alignment which made the tires wear on the edges. The nail in one didn't help, either. Inspection is due this month, so at least the tires will pass.

I'm off to DFW in an hour to get Gary. He's got a long day tomorrow with a speech to the board of directors in the morning, then a drive to Austin in the afternoon. He presents a linguistics paper on Friday morning. There was a press release to the Charlotte Observer about his (and others') speech on Monday. Maybe I'll post it later if I can't find a link to it.