The eye exam and the tow truck driver

No, this is not the name of some very bizarre fable, it is rather the notable events (other than the power outage) from the past week. I've mentioned before that I love going to the eye doctor. This week's appointment did not disappoint. My prescription didn't change, which I love, and this was actually the easiest it's been to answer the series of "one or two, three or four" questions. Usually I have her go back and forth several times, but this time it was always obvious. I do not need yet another pair of glasses, and still somehow found myself perusing the shelves of frames, selecting my favorite 5, and weeding 4 of them out until I decided on a two-tone green pair. You know, since I wear glasses like once a month. I clearly need to have at least 3 different pairs to choose from.

And then Friday on the way to work, my car died. Of course it was at an intersection, of course I was the first car in line, of course it was pouring rain outside, and of course AAA's systems were down when I called, causing it to take an hour and fifteen minutes before they showed up. But even in my mucho-stressed-out-ness, my spirits were lifted by the nice man in the Mercedes who pulled up next to me and offered to push me into the nearby gas station. Turns out he couldn't do it, and even when another man ran over to join him, they still couldn't get the car up the curb. It ended up being a woman who pushed me in with the bumper of her Chevy Astro. (Are you picturing this? Traffic blocked, multiple parties involved, rain pouring.) Bottom line: there are still good people in the world. Even in a busy commute in the pouring rain. There are still good people.

The tow truck driver on the other hand, I'm not convinced he's one of the good ones. As soon as we started driving he asked if he could smoke. Obviously, I'm not a fan, but whatever. It's his truck, his job, if he wants to smoke, fine. A few minutes later he asked, "Do you have a cell phone?" Paranoia set in. Was he trying to figure out if I would be able to call for help? I figured it was better he know I have one, so I told him I did. "Can I use it for a minute?" Paranoia returned. Was he trying to get the phone away from me? Nothing else made sense, because there were two phones sitting on the seat next to him. "What about these?" I asked and gestured to the phones on the seat. "Them's my work phones." Um. Seriously? You're asking to use my cell phone to make a personal call? There was no way I would've said yes to that.

Honda is fixing the malfunctioning valve this weekend (and I'm driving around one of their complimentary loaners) while I've been stewing about my car plan. My car has been around the block, about 200K blocks actually, so every time this happens, I freak out. Part of me takes great satisfaction in keeping it going, in driving a car that costs me nothing. But the other part of me fears I may actually be spending more money maintaining this one than I would pay in payments if I had a new one. There would be peace of mind in a new car, but there is also the economy to consider, and I don't want to part with $20K right now and buy myself a car. I can argue both sides of this very well, and it's exhausting. Literally.