Um. Yeah. Right.
As there wasn't enough stress and drama around here, yesterday was enough drive a person to drink. And, NO, I am not talking football.
I had plans to knock out a few chores yesterday taking advantage of the fantabulous weather. Was going to trim the bushes in the back yard, caulk the tub, reseal the toilet, clean the carpets, and wax SIL's car (yeah, I know, I like to live on the edge down here). On top of that, I was coordinating a shipment of material from California that was supposed to be delivered to the plant on Saturday. Had people scheduled to be in to work on the receipt and everything was planned out. But, as they say, life has a way of messing with your plans. I was tracking the shipment so that I could arrange some the receiving clerk to be on site when the truck arrived. Everything was looking good in the morning and we were expecting it to arrive around 1030 so I was starting my yard work. Before I got too far, I checked back in to verify and noticed that the deliver was not made and the tracking status indicated that "Business was closed". My receiving clerk had tried to call the local FedEx office to get a status only to be told that the delivery was scheduled for Monday, not Saturday (not true). Needless to say, this was not what I needed to hear. I jumped on the phone and started calling FedEx to get the shipment resolved. Took all of my patience, tact and finesse to finally get the package picked up. Even after I had the receiving clerk drive up to the station to pick it up and they told her that she was not approved to pick up the package (another round of terse calls with my friends from FedEx). In the end, the material made it to the plant, people got what they needed, everyone was happy (well, almost everyone).
In the meanwhile, I was working on SIL's care to clean it up. I've had it for a few weeks doing some of the overdue maintenance. State inspection, oil change, new battery, etc. The car has been sitting since her surgery and the battery had died. I wanted to take care of the maintenance issues so this is one less thing she has to deal with. It was covered in pine sap and almost black from the dirt so it has taken several washings to get back to the original color. SIL hasn't been religious about following a regular maintenance schedules so it was lacking a few things. I had my service shop do a full flush of the system just a preventive measure. One thing I noted while driving the car is that the door locks had something jammed in them and anyone with a screwdriver could open the locks. Turns out that the key had been broken off in the lock. And not just the door lock but the trunk lock as well. The service guys told me they could replace the lock cylinders ($$) but I thought I could clear the locks using some redneck ingenuity. Pulled out all of my tools and tweezers and forceps and was able to tease the broken key out of each lock and clear the cylinders. Applied a goodly amount of WD40 to each lock to loosen them up and was working the keys in the locks to make sure they were not jammed. Door lock was doing well but the trunk lock was a bit "stiff". While working the lock, I broke the only other key I had off in the lock. Now, it is Saturday afternoon, the car is unlocked, all windows down, sitting on the driveway, and I have no way to move or secure the car (BTW - this was going on while I was dealing with the FedEx saga). I was calling the dealership to see if I could get new keys made and they could but I needed the original paperwork and proof of ownership (remember this is NOT my car) to get new keys made. Ran back over to SIL's house in the hopes she had one spare key and turns out she did so crisis averted. I was able to clear the lock again and get all of the locks lubed and working. I plan to have three sets of keys made today (just in case). Three hours of stress and panic that really added to weekend fun. Time to sit back and enjoy watch some football. Oh, wait, I said I wasn't going to talk football...
I began to quote Lloyd Bridges...
