Random Fodder

Sebastian gets on the bus at home

Sebastian is early in the pick-up route, so hopefully the pick-up time will remain fairly consistent throughout the year. Since he is early in the route, he gets picked up along with several "swimmers" who are dropped off at the middle school. This means that Sebastian gets to watch other kids get picked up and dropped off before the majority of the other elementary school children are picked up. In order to maintain the schedule, the bus driver waits at the middle school until the appropriate time to continue the route.

The "first day of school jitters" started to take hold of my wife (though I'm sure she'll deny that as a factor here), and she got nervous about Sebastian's ride to school. She offered to walk him to school and to let him ride the bus home. As I mentioned previously, I think the school bus ride is one of the coolest parts about starting school. Pre-school kids just don't get to ride on buses a whole lot, particularly without parents and with thirty to fifty other kids their age. Sebastian had been excited about riding the bus and he didn't want to give that up.

After some "discussion" between me and my wife over any last-minute changes to Sebastian riding the bus to school, we decided that, at least for the first day of school, we would stick with the plan. Sebastian and I headed out to the front lawn to wait.

When we got to the front lawn, our neighbor was out front taking pictures of her daughter. Sebastian was happy to see his neighbor friend and he posed for a couple pictures with her. They were both visibly excited about school. My wife came out with our camera and took several pictures as well.

The bus arrived and Sebastian got on without any trouble. He stopped on the steps to turn around for a few pictures, though I think his mind was more on the excitement of school than anything else. Once in his seat, he happily waved out the window and smiled.

Sebastian gets off the bus at school

My wife drove up to the school to take another picture of Sebastian as he got off the bus and entered school. I like this picture because of Sebastian's body language. He's leaning forward, which is a sign of confidence, plus it looks like he's hiking his pants up as if to say, "All right, I'm here. Let's get to work!" My wife gave Sebastian a quick kiss and he headed into school without hesitation. When my wife described it, she sounded proud of him for not being too attached, but I could also detect that hint of sadness that her son has gained yet another level of independence. To my knowledge, she got through the entire ordeal today without shedding a tear.

According to our paperwork, Sebastian was to be dropped off six minutes after school let out. My wife called the transportation department a few days earlier, and they revised the pick-up time by a substantial amount. They changed the drop-off time to one minute earlier. After orientation, my wife says that the bus driver confirmed with her that he would be one of the first to be dropped off.

Five minutes before dismissal time (ten minutes before Sebastian's scheduled drop-off time), I took Dylan out to the front sidewalk and let him play with sidewalk chalk while we waited for the bus. My wife came out with the camera closer to the scheduled drop-off time and took some pictures of Dylan while we waited. Dylan had a fun time playing with the chalk, though he's still too young to do much more than repeatedly rub it across the same three-inch square of sidewalk. Surprisingly, he only put the chalk in his mouth once the entire time.

Sebastian gets off the bus at home

By the time Dylan was done playing with his chalk, I knew that we had been waiting a while longer than I expected, but we were warned that during the first couple weeks of school that the times would fluctuate as the schedules were set into place. Fortunately, when you're one of the first to be dropped off, there shouldn't be much of a delay. Since I didn't expect to be outside for much more than twenty minutes, I had not put sunscreen on Dylan or myself. (Keep in mind that the sun and I have not been on speaking terms for ten years now due to irreconcilable differences.) Dylan does relatively well with the sun, however I and my skin are less than impressed with the extended exposure.

I decided to get out of the sun briefly by grabbing the mail and running it inside. I was shocked when I looked at the clock and noticed that it was forty minutes past Sebastian's scheduled drop-off time. My first thought was that the bus had come even earlier than anticipated, we had missed it, and Sebastian would be returned to school for pick-up.

Thankfully, the bus came just a few minutes later. The bus driver acknowledged that we had not missed him previously. Judging by the number of kids on the bus and reports from Sebastian, they dropped plenty of other kids off before Sebastian. We'll have to call the transportation office again to find out if this was a one-time deal, or if Sebastian will be dropped off that late during the entire year.

Of course, Sebastian was so much in awe of the bus-riding experience that he didn't mind or notice at all.

Sebastian is increasingly excited about heading to Kindergarten, and today we went to school for his Kindergarten orientation.

Originally, we were told that Sebastian would have to walk to school, but it turns out that he is able to take the bus. This will obviously be advantageous during the winter — especially for me and my wife, who would have to walk (or drive) to and from the school. Now, we get to stand out in the freezing cold during the winter and run back into the warmth of our house after the bus picks him up.

On the way to orientation, I rode the bus with Sebastian. He will be one of the (if not the) first ones to be picked up in the morning. A couple kids who went to pre-K with him also ride his bus, but they are picked up much later in the route. He noted this rather casually, so I don't think he really knows these kids too well.

Sebastian was excited to find out last week that his best friend from pre-school will be in his class. The teacher who gave him his Kindergarten entrance test will be his teacher this year. He got along with her well during the testing, and he seemed comforted that he "knows" his teacher already.

Orientation only lasted about an hour and a half, most of which we spent in a parents' meeting, filling out forms and listening to people talking about the forms we were filling out. I did convince my wife to apply for a newly created "Health and Wellness" committee . . . and by "convince," I mean "place the application sheet in front of and point out one particular committee." I'm apprehensive about the PTO, but the admission is cheap, and they have plenty of fun-sounding activities. We'll see how this pans out.

Tomorrow is the big day. Pictures will hopefully be posted then! I'm glad that Sebastian gets to ride the bus instead of walking. After all, what is a first day of school without getting on the bus?

Tired of Tires

For some time now, I have been well aware that my original tires have been on the road for many miles and need to be replaced. They had enough tread to pass inspection a few months ago, but it was evident that replacement tires would soon be necessary. I had hoped to wait until fall to replace the tires so that I would have full tread during the winter months. A rainy week in July made it clear that traction was an easily overlooked luxury when you had it and a much desired necessity when you didn't.

I really do hate shopping for tires, particularly with my current vehicle and its apparently odd tire size. Most places don't carry my size, and those that do rarely have four in stock. Add to that the standard frustration of choosing between performance, touring, and passenger tires.

By the way: What's up with speed ratings on SUV tires? The lowest speed rating is P, rated at 93 mph. Am I ever going to drive my 4-cylinder SUV at 93 mph? If I can even get it going that fast (downhill with the wind at my back), I'd be getting about 4 miles per gallon at that point.

Anyway, fate hastened my tire-purchasing decision this week. The other morning, one of the tires went flat. Further inspection showed that a largish screw practically turned my bald tire into a studded tire. So, my wife and I meandered out to put the spare on the vehicle. The first obstacle was finding the elusive, well-hidden jack. After typing in the code that revealed the secret door, we eventually found the jack and managed to wrestle it out of its super-secret nook. I am not technically inclined when it comes to automobiles, but I know enough to realize that tires are fairly essential to the operation of the vehicle. For this reason, I use the manual even for changing tires, because I don't want the tire to roll off the car on the highway just because I missed a step that was clearly outlined in the manual right in my glove compartment. I can, however, tell you with certainty that the tire blocks were not up to OSHA regulations.

My wife and I had a difference of opinion regarding the manual's instructions:

11. Lower the vehicle by turning the jack handle counterclockwise.
12. Tighten the wheel nuts firmly in a crisscross sequence, as shown.
13. Lower the jack all the way and remove the jack from under the vehicle.

If you can figure out (without uncertainty) precisely what these instructions mean, please let me know. If I lower the vehicle in step 11, why am I lowering it again in step 13? Should I have lowered it only halfway in step 11? Or should I just lower it enough in step 11 so that the vehicle won't come crashing down on my foot when I'm trying to tighten the bolts in the next step? What's awful is that the person who put these instructions together likely went to school specifically for Technical Writing. Still, I don't think it made much difference.

Did I mention that I hate shopping for tires? I called around to find a place to buy a new set of tires. Wal-Mart doesn't carry them in my size. BJ's had them only through special order (and a one week wait). Goodyear only had one in stock. Dunn Tire had only three tires. All in all, I called four Wal-Marts, two BJ's, two Goodyear locations, and two Dunn Tire locations. Finally, the second Dunn Tire I called happened to have four tires in my size — Imagine that!

The Plot Thickens, World Shatters

Once the spare tire was fitted and secured, I went ahead and started installing the windshield wiper blades. Sometimes, installation can be tricky as I get confused regarding the proper orientation of the blade and wiper arm. I started with the driver side blade, and I just couldn't get it to click into place. My wife easily fitted the passenger side blade without any problem. (I would like to note that at this point, she asked me, "Why are you making it so difficult for yourself?" after she easily snapped her blade in.) After several minutes, I sighed and let my wife take over on that blade. I headed to the rear window to install that blade. I clicked that blade into place without much trouble. As I rounded the car to check on my wife's progress, I heard a loud CRACK! I could tell by my wife's expression that this was not the good kind of cracking sound like I hoped it might be. Sure enough, the bare metal wiper arm had slammed down in the middle of the windshield, leaving behind a few large cracks. (I should also note that the problematic blade was defective and simply wouldn't snap into place.)

One Last Vehicular Insult

While driving to work tonight, it started raining. I figured that rain wouldn't be a problem with my brand new tires, brand new windshield, brand new wipers, and even brand new wiper fluid. I turned on my wipers and they worked like a charm. I then flicked on the rear window wiper and halfway through the first wipe, it got stuck on the window fluid nozzle because the blade is too large. Apparently the random Wal-Mart shopper standing next to you in the wiper aisle doesn't know the exact size of every wiper on every vehicle.

C'est la vie. My car hates me this month, and I have no idea why. I haven't even been driving any other vehicles!