Today's activity:

[randomness]

Yak Shaving

The passenger side front tire on my car blew out on I-91 yesterday afternoon. I must say that modern suspension systems make this a remarkably uneventful occurrence, even though I had to weave over to the shoulder from the number two lane through Memorial Day traffic moving at full speed. (I left a visible trail of rubber.)

Unfortunately, my donut spare doesn't hold air anymore, as it appears to be leaking from the bead. (The tire is, I believe, as old as the car, which means it's seventeen years old.)

Time to go find another tire or two. So I can replace it, and have four tires on the car. So I can take the car in to have the air conditioning fixed. So I can actually drive it in reasonable comfort this summer...

Comments

[muffyjo]

Ugh, that's a lot all at once. On the other hand, it's all bundled together at the same time, that's kind of convenient. Still, more busywork than I bet you were expecting.

And yeah, I like the term "Yak Shaving" that's a keeper.

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

Does that mean you're back? :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

More or less. :)

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

So we should have dinner!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Of course!

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

I don't have your number. :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I think I have yours, if it hasn't changed...more details by email.

[irielle.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I'm so glad you're okay.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was never in danger, really, except of overheating by the side of the road. (overheating me personally, not the car. :) )

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

Eeek! That sounds really scary - I'm glad you're OK!

And good luck with the tires, and the yaks :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

It is a lot less scary than it sounds. Seriously, I thought I'd run over something and it was stuck, flapping underneath the car. I didn't realize I'd lost a tire until after I'd gotten out to look.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

You endured one of my nightmares and lived to tell the tale. You so rock.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Really, this is no big deal. Modern cars handle quite well, even with a flat tire.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

And modest to boot;)

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yeah, my donut shredded the first time I tried to use it, too. I wound up getting a 5th rim from a junkyard and adding a 5th full-service tire to it. It's a wonderful thing to have. :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yah, that it is.

Long story is that I have that, too, except the 5th full-service tire had a tread separation on 128 a while back and I was waiting to wear down the other tires enough to justify getting five new full-size tires. Which I guess I'm going to do tomorrow or something, and keep the best of the remaining tires.

Amusingly, the tire that blew was the "new" one. I got that one as a replacement in central California when I blew two tires in about as many seconds clipping a curb on the onramp to 101 north. It's five years and maybe 60,000 miles old, which will give you an idea how old the other tires are. But they still have tread!

Off to find a T115/70D14 at the junkyard.

[karakara98.livejournal.com]

Glad you're safe, but man, buying new tires is a pain.

Thank you for reminding me that I need to have my tires rotated!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'm actually having a look at www.tirerack.com, which has a lot of useful information. I don't know that I'm going to buy from them, but they're good for research.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

esrblog was amused by the "yak shaving" post. He was tempted to put it in the Jargon File, but the poster's remark that it hasn't even caught on yet at the AI lab at MIT stopped him. (The Jargon File is meant to memorialize actual usage, after all.)

However, it's a great term that serves a real purpose. We just need to popularize it.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I've heard yak shaving being used on many an occasion. And even know (and have done business with) Yakshaving Inc.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I shudder to think what the business model of Yakshaving, Inc. might be.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

As far as my interaction with them is concerned, they do DNS service reselling (OpenSRS), and do it very well.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

While DNS service reselling doesn't sound much like yak shaving, at least it shows they appreciate the significance of the term. :-)