A stitch in time, saves nine. An ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure. Mark Arum is a procrastinating hypocrite, don’t be like him.
I think eventually, that third phrase will take it’s place amongst the most well-known sayings about being prepared. What happened to me on Thursday was just another prime example of how true that saying is.
Let me start by saying that I love my car. It’s a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport, five-speed. It’s a beast. It’s tough as nails. I wouldn’t sell it for $100,000. I love my Jeep. That being said, I don’t always take the best care of it. Sure, I get regular oil changes, I make sure I have good tires and windshield wipers on it. But, often times my procrastinating ways get the best of me.
Three weeks ago I noticed it was struggling a bit when I tried to start it. Interesting, I thought. I should probably get that checked out. For the next couple of days, everything was fine, no issues. Then, I had trouble starting it again. After a couple of tries the engine finally turned over and I was on my way. In fact, that night, I warned my wife that there was a chance that my car wouldn’t start in the morning and if that happened, she would have to take me to work. At 4am. She wasn’t happy about the prospect. Thankfully the Jeep started fine, and I didn’t have to wake my wife up. I thought to myself, I need to get this checked out. But of course, after it started fine when I left work, I didn’t get it checked out.
Fast-forward to Thursday afternoon. I made appointment to get my tri-weekly haircut. After getting my ears properly lowered, I went to start my car. Nothing. I tried again. Nada. Attempts three through 15 proved fruitless as well. This puppy wasn’t going to start. I called AAA and requested assistance. The tow truck driver showed up but couldn’t get his rig into the parking lot because the entrance was extremely narrow and had a low hanging roof.
The helpful AAA driver quickly surmised that my starter was the problem. Despite his best efforts to get it started, we determined that I needed to get it towed. Since the tow truck wouldn’t fit in the parking lot, we had to push my Jeep into the street. It was not fun.
At the end of the adventure, I missed dinner plans, lost a whole afternoon and had to scramble to find a way to work the next morning. Getting a new starter is an easy problem to fix. A problem that I should have arranged to get checked out three weeks ago when I first noticed when something was wrong.
What makes everything worse of course, is my relentless hounding of people to keep their cars in good driving shape. I hammer this home to my wife, my friends, my co-workers, even you dear reader. I’m the Gridlock Guy for Pete’s sake!
So when you tuck your kids in bed tonight, don’t forget the soon to be famous saying: Mark Arum is a procrastinating hypocrite, don’t be like him.
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