Ambivalent One

Posted by Sean at 12/30/2007 03:52:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Sean at 12/30/2007 01:35:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Sean at 12/27/2007 07:36:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Don't go to Mr. Lube for anything except an oil change.

I ended up having to leave my car with them overnight so they could have it fixed this morning. I asked the manager what I would be responsible for before leaving. He told me that I would only be responsible for the oil change and the belt.

This morning at ten I get a call from someone telling me that I would need to contact their mechanic to see how much it would cost. I explained that his manager had told me that I wouldn't be responsible. He then tells me that he's the owner.

We argued.

He tried to tell me that the manager didn't know I had asked for a belt change and that because of that I am solely responsible for the repairs. I told him that I had clarified the situation with the manager before I left and that he was very much aware of the fact that I asked for a belt change. How else would he have known to tell me that I would be responsible for the price of the belt change? He was quiet for a moment and then tells me that I'm liable because I asked for it. The manager thought they had told me I needed it. I had asked if my belt needed changing. They told me it did. I even got a sales pitch about how awesome the new belts are. He tells me that the problem was with the belt tensioner and that it had stripped when they removed it. I know that's not true because she had removed the tensioner in the first ten minutes and was showing the trainee how to verify belt lengths. The next three hours was them trying to get it back on. They botched it so bad that they had a tool stuck at one point. The ratchet got stuck so badly that they had to use a hacksaw to cut the bit off the tool.

End result: I'm sitting here waiting for a call from a mechanic to find out what the cost is going to be.

I called a dealership to see how much they would charge and it looks like a fair amount more to get a belt changed. The guy at the dealership tells me that if they stripped a bolt on the tensioner they would cover the repairs. The owner of the Mr. Lube in question tells me it was broken before so I'm responsible.

Well, the mechanic tells me that I'm looking at a minimum of $300 for the repair and if it is more damaged than the initial assessment that it will cost even more. He said that it looked like it had been stripped.

The moral of the story? This particular location won't stand by it's word and will blame you if possible. I don't blame the employees. I blame the owner. To me it seemed like he assessed the damage and decided to offload it on to me. This is of course only my opinion based on how he handled it.

UPDATE:
I spoke to the mechanic again and they determined that the tensioner fine. They just bolted it back on. So I was subjected to all this for nothing at all. I don't think it was the employees. I think it came down to not having the best tool for the job. Now I get to talk to the owner again to see if he will re-imburse me for the labour charges I should never have been subjected to and the inconvenience of not having my car for a day.

Posted by Sean at 12/19/2007 12:14:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

It was supposed to just be an oil change but it turned in to four hours of waiting. After that it turned in to getting a ride home because they need to have a mechanic look at it.

I took this photo while wandering around the place. I think I might just make some Christmas cards with it.

Posted by Sean at 12/19/2007 12:14:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

This is the view from our back yard. On some nights you can see the lights glowing on the clouds. I think it's Cumberland... I took this in April but only found it the other day when I was sorting photos.

Posted by Sean at 12/13/2007 10:38:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Found this at Digg. Seems to be narrated by James Earl Jones. It's a very cool video about the weird property changes of superfluid helium-2. A super fluid is made by cooling a liquid to just two degrees above absolute zero. It goes from looking like it is boiling without bubbles to completely still. This is the point where helium turns to helium-2. The liquid has zero viscosity and zero entropy and will creep up the edges of the container. It will also pass through unglazed ceramic faster than water flows through a coffee filter.

This first video shows the cooling process, the fluid creep and passing through ceramic.

http://www.youtube.com/v/2Z6UJbwxBZI&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=0

This video shows a superfluid fountain. Essentially the superfluid creep causes the liquid to shoot itself out as it creeps up the edge of the nozzle. As long as there is a pool a superfluid to draw from this fountain would keep going forever.

http://www.youtube.com/v/kCJ24176enM&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=0

This last one is just a falling drop of superfluid.

http://www.youtube.com/v/w0z8fVrTyzg&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=0

Here is a quick read on the BBC site about superfluids
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A600968

Posted by Sean at 12/13/2007 11:31:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.youtube.com/v/_B_QA1nxSiA&rel=1

Posted by Sean at 12/12/2007 11:28:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Found this on Fark. It's cruel and funny at the same time. I'm sure peta is shitting its collective pants. They brought the cat up in the Vomit Comet (A jet that NASA uses for micro-gravity training). You get to see how the cat reacts to not knowing where down is.



http://www.youtube.com/v/OBGlm0Sye8Y&rel=1&border=0

Posted by Sean at 12/05/2007 11:24:00 AM | Permalink | Comments