Automotive mania

Well, what's been up so far?  Not a whole lot. 
Went over to Dr.'s yesterday to monkey with some computer stuff and change the van to some winter tires.  First time dealing with run flat tires.  I used to think they were good.  Now I'm more of the opinion that if you have the money to not worry about it they might be.  But if it were my van I'd have normal tires and maybe a spare in the back.  Problem is that the run flats are at least $120 a piece from the tirerack.  If you have a blowout somewhere else and you're probably looking at $300-350 a piece.  And from what I can tell you're not supposed to repair them.  If it actually goes flat it's supposed to be replaced.  And of course if there's much of any difference in the tread you should replace at least the two on the same axle.  Now we're talking about an AWD vehicle so you really should replace all 4.  So a flat tire could conceivably cost you $1500...
But anyway, as far as I was concerned it just meant I couldn't get them the "good" Blizzaks with the multicell compound (microscopic suction cups are as near as I've come to figuring out what that means), but they still have a good winter tire compound and much better tread on them so it should be a huge improvement.
It also meant that I needed to read the manual for the van a bit so that I could figure out how to reset the tire pressure monitoring system.  Oh the interesting things I learn at the dentists office!  Up until about a week ago I thought the tire pressure monitoring systems all used sensors in the wheels.  Well apparently the ones like on the Sienna are a bit cheaper and easier to deal with different wheels as they just check how fast the wheel is turning.  If it gets flat, it gets smaller and therefore turns more than it would normally.  So you're supposed to reset the system any time you change anything.  Otherwise it might not notice when a tire is flat, and with the run flat tires YOU might not notice it's flat and then you might shred your tire and cause an accident or something.  Neat stuff.  (:

Also had a nice little chat with Mrs. Meyer afterwards about homeschooling and things.  It certainly seems like a lot of work.  And yet there seems to be a fair amount of people out there who seem to be homeschooling and don't want to put in the effort.  I'm not really sure I understand why they're doing it then?  Why would you bother to say "yes I want my child home with me so I can teach them" and then just act like you don't care and give them the minimum to do and just have them do it on their own?  If that's your attitude then why don't you just let them go to school so that the teachers can take care of your kids and you won't have to bother with it?
There was also mention of stupid males.  I just don't get it.  I know I'm a weird one myself but come on...  As I recall the situation was something to the effect of in a large group of people, a woman stood up to speak and this guy says "Miss, apparently you don't realize that when there's a man in the room a woman has no place to stand up and speak".  What the heck is up with that?  I am just completely baffled.  I mean I know that's the "old school" way of thinking(though I still can't fathom how I could possibly have believed it even back then).  I JUST DON'T GET IT...  I mean how can you possibly not put value on someone?  How can you possibly just think of yourself (or a race or gender or whatever) so high above others that you don't consider them worthy or that they can't do the same things?  It's probably better I not think about it cause I'd just want to smack those people.  I'm a rather strong believer in the thought that anyone can do anything.  Due to circumstances some might get there easier than others, but it's all possible.  Ahh, I suppose it's time to get off that rant.  (:

Oh yeah, then I get home to the farm and hear that there's been all sorts of excitement on the hill.  When Dad finally gets in I hear there's been even more excitement.  OK, maybe not that EXCITING, but interesting if nothing else.  Apparently dad went shopping in Rochester and on the way back as he's about on the thruway his truck starts acting like it's going lock up the rear end.  Which is just after Dick calls to say that the tractor died in the middle of the road.  So Dick's supposed to try and get the tractor started and Dad has to figure out what to do with his truck.  Luckily it's not QUITE been 3 years and only 20K miles on it so it's under warranty still.  So he calls up Maple City Dodge (I think that was it) and asks them and sure enough there is still some customer satisfaction left in places and they sent up a rolloff to pick up the truck and brought him back at no charge.  Of course, he JUST made it back about in time to start milking the cows.  And by then Dick had gotten the tractor to the top of the hill, but that was about it.  And apparently by then everyone else was coming home and trying to help get it started.  But by the time I got home about 7, everything had settled down. 

So, OK, not much happened, but I can still write a lot of words about it it seems!