As penance for my excitement over shoe shopping I decided it was necessary to replace my serpentine belt today. For those that don't know, it's the rubber belt that drives all the accessories in your car, like the power steering pump, water pump, alternator, and air conditioner compressor, among other things (varies by car). Tommy and I did it once upon a time on a back road in Fairfax when my belt snapped after church one day. Well, actually, we said "to hell with it," went to see a movie, then called AAA, but managed to fix it ourselves with an ice scraper and a squeegee (I do not recommend doing it this way) before the AAA guy showed up. So I figured, if the two of us could do it with the wrong tools, I could do it myself with the proper tools. Naturally, it took longer than I expected, but it's all fixed. The only problem I really encountered was trying to see the idler pulley tension indicator because they put the indicator behind the power steering pulley where you need something like a dentist's mirror to see it. So I borrowed a makeup compact from my cousin. Problem solved. And I got quite dirty in the process. I feel like a man again. No more shoe excitement.
