Monday, why do you hate me?

If these are your keys, I have some words for you.

I was enjoying some Cyndi Lauper care of FM 100 during my usual morning commute and as I was about to pull into my parking lot at work, all of a sudden I heard this weird noise like someone is hitting my car. Obviously no one was because I was in the middle of state street going about 30 mph. Perplexed, I pull into the lot and got out to examine my tires to find these, or as I now refer to them--the bane of my existence.

The gold one was stuck right in the middle of the tread of my rear passenger-side tire. The noise was coming from the other key hitting my fender as the tire spun. fanstastic.

I called Brody (who said he would come down later in the afternoon to put the spare on) and went up to work as I was already running a little late. Annoyed, I went to the kitchen to get my morning hot chocolate, which I managed to spill all over my legs, not only burning my foot but soaking my shoes. Thus I got to enjoy damp shoes all day. Wait, it gets better.

Then I remembered I still had AAA so I called them and they guy came to my work and put my spare on in no less than 5 minutes. He also suggested I take the tire to Discount Tire company because they will patch it for free. Releif. Sweet relief washed over me as I hear the word "free". Finally something had gone right. Or so I thought...

I left work at about 4:15 to go get the tire fixed. The technician assured me that yes, they do patch tires free of charge and came to take a look at the keys. Then, the unthinkable happened. As he examined the tire, he said we might have a problem. If the tear is longer than a quarter of an inch, the tire cannot be repaired. Or at least, it isn't safe to drive on even if it is repaired. Needless to say, when he pulled the key out, the tear was about an inch long. Shiz.

Now this was the clincher.

The guy then went on to tell me that, because my car is all-wheel-drive, when I replace one tire, I have to replace all of them because it can cause major problems with the AWD system because of the different levels of wear on the tread, blah, blah, blah. I have always hated going to car places, because I feel like I have a big bullseye on my forehead; Look a stupid girl that knows nothing about cars, so lets take her for all she is worth. I called Brody and asked him to look up whether it was true, and was heartbroken he tolled me that, yes. I would have to replace all 4 tires. Did I mention that my tires were only a year and a half old?

The silver lining, was that the guy from Discount Tire company called the manufacturer, Yokohama, and after hearing my story they agreed to replace the tire free of charge. So, I got one tire for free. yipee.

After all was said and done I was about $400 poorer than when I had started the day, and much more annoyed.