Monday, May 04, 2009

"Gettin' my Groove on"

I'm getting back "in the groove". I jumped up on that Southwest Freeway this morning in my car as though I did it every day. Now, to get on that freeway, one must almost go from 0 to 60 in three seconds to prevent being either hit from behind, or either side, as they have the entrance and exit ramps almost simultaneous. It is a death wish, I promise. It definitely makes your heart race.


My mission - to get one tire to replace the blown out tire and to get a new cell phone to replace the 8 year old one. The battery was not charging well any more. Now, that's only two things so that seems doable. Heck, I can do three things in San Miguel in a day without losing my mind.


Oh brother! They have a "hand off" system at AT&T. The person who greets you and asks your needs, he hands you off to the second person who asks the same question who hands you off to the young, newly hired person who has no clue or personality to deal with much of anything. And, I'm being kind. It is not within their mental grasp that you don't want the fanciest, most expensive or complicated phone. It wasn't til I finally said, "I want a replacement that doesn't cost anything", twice, that dawn struck. So now I have a cell phone with hot air balloons swimming around on the screen that does more stuff then the Space Station that NASA has. It can even check my emails , if I knew how to do that............(I need not even mention, to those of you that read this blog often, that that will happen the day hell freezes over). To be honest, I couldn't even figure out (a) how to call a number, or (b) how to answer a call and had to ask a man at my next stop to help me. What ever happened to "plain vanilla" stuff? Although I was assured that my plan had NOT been changed because I have no roaming charges in Mexico or the USA , my new charge is $20 US less per month then it used to be........I give up.


Then on to the Discount Tire place where the good news was that the blown tire was worth $100 and a new one is $121. The bad news was the right front had 4/23rds tread left, which in my mathematical but unknowing brain, sounded not so good. So, two tires later for almost the price of one and waiting one and one half hours for the completion of that deal, I moved on.


The car was covered with road crud, beach sand, and assorted bugs. I wish you could have seen the haughty look on the guy's face when I told him I wanted a "basic" car wash. Total disbelief.


Ahh ,but the saving grace was the guys cleaning the cars. All Mexicans. One noticed my holographic sticker and in Spanish wanted to know where I was from. When I told him Estado de Guanajuato and then San Miguel, he rolled his eyes and appeared to swoon. It made me laugh out loud and made my day.


I jumped back on the freeway, just a little bit slower and a with a bit of a smile left on my face.


Get ready for a big laugh. Tomorrow I'm dragging my brother to Fry's to help me buy "electronic stuff". Of course, being a "girly girl", I'd much rather it be Victoria Secret, but last I checked, they don't sell computer speakers or DVD burners or all the other unknown stuff I need to buy. This WILL turn out to be a hysterically funny chapter in this Houston saga. Stay tuned.



9 comments:

Michael Dickson said...

A plain vanilla phone is readily available in Mexico, my dear. Mine cost 300 pesos, but included 200 pesos of air time. For those who do not know pesos, that means I ended up paying less than ten bucks. I´ve had it about a year, and it works great. Recharge the air time with cards available everywhere and no contract. Go, TelCel. True, it does not check my email, take photos or have GPS. I don´t care.

Regarding tires, you should never buy just one. Two minimum.

Islagringo said...

Nice to hear that stupid beauracracy is alive and well in the States. Have to agree with Felipe about the phone. We probably have the same phone! All I want is to be able to call and/or text. Good luck with the electronics!

Babs said...

Ah Felipe but I have always had one with no roaming charges for calling the USA and/or within Mexico. So I got one for $18 with the "plan" I have had forever, hopefully. Since i'm on the hwy so often alone I need one for both countries.........

Didn't know about buying two tires at a time....i'll file that with all the other info I need to know but wish I didn't have to know.

Anonymous said...

You are a brave woman out in the big city.

Glad you ran into some nice Mexicans to keep you grounded.

Have fun!

Steve Cotton said...

Nice to hear a certain lilt in that southern charm.

Anonymous said...

Steve, she DOES sound rather happy.
Must have been a sand & surf remedy.

Charley

Billie Mercer said...

Babs, you are helping me get geared up for Texas. Getting on and off the freeways always gives you a little rush. I was so use to it back when we lived there that I didn't think much about it. Now when we go back and I get on the SW Freeway, I know what you are saying. However, if I were a Mexican catholic, I'd say a few hail Mary's before I tried to exit into the feeder traffic lanes in Queretaro.

1st Mate said...

Maybe your brother can give you some tips on the new phone. It would be really cool to know how to use some of those bells and whistles.

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

Ken and I both had to rant a bit to get a plain vanilla phone with letters big enough for us to see and text (though I need lessons in texting)and rings loud enough for us to hear...Verizon didn't want to know that we weren't interested in one that would get e-mail, play music, take pictures and feed the cat.
We have however had good experiences with Discount Tires and glad you got some good wheels under you now. I'm with Felipe...two at a time, you'll get a better ride and rotation.