Just another day with Tru J

I drive a 2005 black cherry Scion TC. His name is Truman James and he is my first car and in the world of cars, he's in the top percentile of cuteness. Except for one thing. . .his tires.

Apparently my car has tires like a race car. I blew out two tires in March 2007. This was very traumatic as I am not very car savvy. I remember going into my work place and crying, "There's something wrong with my car." It took about 5 seconds and being 50 yards away for every male in my office to explain to me what a flat tire looked like and that I had two. In the middle of this, my cell phone quit working. I can't make this up.

When I went to the tire place and gave him what tires I needed, they man looked at me and asked shockingly, "What do you drive?" That's when I realized that the car that sang Kelly Clarkson when he met me, really was going to be trouble for me.

From that day on, my car has been a nightmare for tires. In all, other than the original incident, I've only been stranded with him one time. But I'm the queen of finding nails. It is also impossible to figure out if they're flat because they're so narrow. Papi is so known at the tire place that when he actually goes in his own car, they ask him about the purple car. (BLACK CHERRY PEOPLE!)

On Friday, my sister asked me to pick up lunch for her coworkers. As I was driving, I felt the tell tale alignment issue that is my signal for a possible flat and dreaded parking. As mentioned, my tires are so narrow, it's hard for me to tell when it's flat. But today it was painfully obvious. Tru really outdid himself. The hubcap was sticking out and the tire was wedged underneath the car. These nice guys from Utah came in behind me to check in. And with 50/50 hindsight. . .20/20. . .you know what I mean, I should have taken them up on it.

There was lots of drama and tears that afternoon. It ended up with me in frigid temperatures with a guy changing my tire to Tru's very, very ugly donut. He actually stayed at Taco Bell until Snae got off work. And what was the first thing out of the tire changer's mouth? "I would never buy a car with these tires. They are a nightmare." Well thank you sir.

I kept his card. I'm sure I'll need his services again.

Yesterday, Tru went to visist Papi in Bedford to go to his beloved tire place. There was nothing wrong with my tire. It just came off the rim. $7 and a new valve stem and we were good to go.

Just another day with Tru J.

Why We're Saying No to Wal Mart

A few months ago, we learned about an Iphone app that scanned barcodes and told you where you could find the lowest price for that item. It started us thinking about shopping and if the lowest price was the most important. Are we bottom line people? Is that the most important thing to us?

The answer we came up with is no. I've never been a fan of Wal Mart. They're slogan is "Save money. Live Better." The heart of their business is if you save money than you live better. But are they going to make sure that I'm satisfied? Are they going to get to know me as a customer? Are they even going to ask me if I need help finding something? Honestly, no. I'm just going to save money. And yes, I might be a little needy but I'm okay with that.

Both Snae and I have worked in a retail environment that demanded customer service and I have to admit that we both have an eye for it. We're pretty regular at our local Tom Thumb (I know many of you grocery store savvy people are cringing because it's known to be a little more pricey. That's not the point.) Several months ago, I was sick. I picked up my sick kit: Double Noodle Soup, Saltines, Sprite, and orange juice. The woman who checked me out asked me if I was sick. I said yes. Later that week, I walked in the door and that same woman asked how I was feeling. That's customer service and quite honestly we would like to help keep that woman employed.

Is our plan for everyone?  Definitely not!  There are towns like Plainview and Stamford, where if you don't go to Wal Mart, your life would be much harder.

Will we always be on a Wal Mart soapbox? No, that would be boring!

Will we fail this year and walk into the store? Probably, that's why we included the countdown on our blog.

So we're trying an experiment in 2010. Let's see how it goes!