This isn't my week...

As wonderful as last week was with Thanksgiving and my birthday, this week is horrific. It started with my computer crashing. I reached out to the one person I knew could help me - ConocoPhillips IT Support. My co-worker took a look at the computer and gave me the worst news. It was a mechanically failed hard drive which can only be recovered with a forensic machine in a clean room.

UGH.

I got the contact information for data recovery services that ConocoPhillips uses. There is a $65 diagnostic fee and they will tell you what they even can recover and a cost estimate. It will range from $700-$2000 depending on the damage to the hard drive (not the amount of data on it).

A system restore will not work on a mechanically broken hard drive. And even if it did, I still wouldn't have July-November of pictures, documents, etc. There is a possibility that I could buy a new hard drive and run the system restore on it, but again - still won't have July-November. I think at minimum Jason and I will send the hard drive in for diagnostic and then evaluate after that the path forward, but I know that if we are able to get everything up through July recovered somehow that we probably won't be able to justify the expense for the data recovery, even at the low end of $700. Now is EVERYTHING is gone, that a horse of a different color.

Add to that disaster Tuesday night I get a call from Jason that his battery is dead, he's stuck at work, and he's got class and a group project he needs to get to. This my friends is an example of the different ways men and women think. As I drive over to his office I am thinking of possible solutions to this problem - could my friend Leah give me a ride home or to church or drop me off near church so I don't miss Bible study, or can my friend Erica do the same, could Jason drop me close on his way to school and someone from church pick me up, etc.

I arrive and ask Jason what he wants to do. His ideas do not coincide with mine. He wants to go get a new battery. So we drive over to a place and I ask him, "Did you call ahead, make sure they have it, and ask them to pull it off the shelves so we can grab and go?" "Um, no I didn't." "Do you need the old battery?" "Um, I should be fine without it."

We go there and buy a battery, drive back to Jason's office, and attempt to install the battery. I say attempt because the battery did not fit. It was too long to rest inside the hood. Epic fail.

On to plan B - Jason drops me off on his way to class somewhat close to our church and a friend comes and picks me up. The following day I catch a ride with a co-worker and Jason is able to get his battery repaired and so after dinner with some friends we head to his office to retrieve the car.

We get the car and as we head home, I hit a pothole that I didn't even see and become fearful as the check tire light comes on and I can tell the car is pulling to the right...I continue on home, pull into the garage and tell Jason we need to check the tires.

Sure enough the front right tire is flat and the garage now smells of burning rubber. He goes to put the spare on and checks the back tire. It's ripping at the seams between the hub cap and tire. Awesome.

We check the road hazard warranty (because they are still pretty new tires) and see that if the treads are worn only 8-30's (??) then we are good. We measure them. They are 7-30's. Still, we need to do something. So this morning my co-worker follow me while I drop the car off at Discount Tire driving 20 mph with my hazards on and almost getting run over (Houston is not kind to slow drivers...) They agree, the warranty at Tire Rack wouldn't hold and there's no point in shipping the tires to them.

We were also afraid that we would have to buy ANOTHER back tire because it's not good to have a new one and an older one on the back. Why don't we just rotate the tires you say? Because Lexus rear tires are not interchangeable with front tires. Discount Tire checked and said that they weren't worn too badly and it wouldn't be a big concern. Phew - the first good news of the week.

Discount Tire was incredibly nice and helpful - we will be using them from now and and never using Tire Rack again. Discount will match the Tire Rack price AND they will cover warranty on-site rather than having to ship the tires to Tire Rack for warranty. They have one tire on-site and should be able to get the other tire at their store today before lunch meaning I might be able to get the car back today. The second good news of the week! (Houston is NOT compatible to carpooling or public transportation.)

They say bad things come in 3's. We should be covered then so here's hoping the rest of the week is less eventful and that we are able to enjoy ourselves at our church retreat this weekend!