A New Crown and A New Tire

January 19, 2006

I realized that I only seem to post the good and fun things that I get to do and don't really talk about the crappy, "real-life" things that also pepper the day-to-day, so here goes...

Two days ago, I had to go to the dentist to get a permanent crown. My dentist is Dr. Stephen Henry, who I've been going to for five years and who is located in Foster City. I had gone in December for my usual cleaning right before the end of the year and they somehow convinced me to finally get a crown on one of my rear molars. I had avoided this for at least 3 years. After a painful visit a few weeks ago, I was not happy. I had a temporary molar that afforded all the issues of hot-cold temperature nerve pain and fear of sticky, gummy substances pulling it out.

So, I was on my way to Foster City when I noticed a strange sound from my car. It was coming from the rear passenger side of my car and it sounded like a flat tire. I stomached the awful flapping-whomping sounds and made it to the dentist, where I confirmed that I did, indeed, have a flat tire.

The permanent crown installation only took a half hour, I got to read the latest People Magazine (yes, Brad and Angelina are pregnant and they're sooo happy!), and the AAA dude came and replaced my tire with my spare at the same time. That AAA membership sure comes in handy sometimes. Turns out a nail had punctured my tire and pierced through the sidewall, so my tire had no chance of being saved.

The thought of driving a spare tire at less than 50 mph all the way back to the city and having to deal with it some other time was making me ill, so I rolled over to Costco, which was conveniently located only 5 minutes from my dentist. I love Costco, but their Tire Installation service is always a drag and takes forever. Sure enough, they tell me that it will take 4 hours to change the tire. Four hours!?! I'm supposed to be in the city eating Dine About Town at Frisson in 4 hours! Oh well.

A vente soy chai tea latte, a full reading of the SF Chronicle, a half-hearted stab at the crossword, a very brief attempt at the sudoku puzzle, and an hour of wandering around Costco later, my tire was done. Those tricky guys underpromised and overdelivered the new tire in only 2 hours.

At least my molar didn't hurt any more.