Done yesterday (20110824 We)

[mdlbear]

0824 We
  * up 6:35; W=197.8; drugs, nose, teeth, hair
  . work on River: values-and-goals
  * Colleen: humira
  * Bring car in to Frontier Ford to get headlight worked on
    Another $500 for a headlight bucket.  There's some body damage, too, which
    may keep it from seating properly.  Available tomorrow.  We'll see.
  * more work on River: values-and-goals during lunch
  & 1:25pm: (try to) print what I have; still a WIP.
    printer failing, so put it on tablet instead.
  % sleepy during the 2pm meeting
  * 5pm: Avoid Avoiding
    A woman I don't know sat down across from me in the waiting room and asked
    if I could help her like herself more.  I tried, suggesting "be a friend
    to yourself".  Is Middle-Sized Bear-ness that noticable?
  : very small crowd tonight
  @ Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? - NYTimes.com (gmcdavid)
  * showed off the eQuill's pen-tracking speed.
  * transcode practice session recording
  * bed ~11:30

An interesting day. I took the van back to the Ford dealer to have the dead headlight (which they'd missed last week at the 60K-mile service) replaced, and showed how the assembly (they called it a "headlight bucket") appeared to be loose, as Callie noticed over the weekend.

It came right out. Not attached at all. The bulb wasn't burned out -- the leads were broken off at the connector.

When they called back, they said a new bucket would be a little under $500 with the 15% discount for my trouble. And that there had been some body damage in that area. WTF? We never had any body damage on the right front... Of course, the dealer we bought the van from (used) is no longer in business, and that was over 5 years ago in any case.

So... grump.

I spent much of my lunch hour (and some time in the morning) continuing to work on the values and goal-setting section of The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook; I definitely want to do more writing of that sort.

While waiting for my "Avoid Avoiding" group to start, a woman I didn't know sat down across from me in the waiting room and asked if she could tell me her problem. "I don't like myself much," she said. "Can you tell me how to like myself more?" WTF? Does my Middle-Sized Bear aspect really show that much? Weird.

After the usual disclaimer, I told her she should be a friend to herself. Treat herself like a friend, talk to herself the way a friend would. Encourage herself and praise herself for her accomplishments. Told her about How to Be Your Own Best Friend, which I read years ago. I hope it helped. I think it did.

So... interesting. Not all in the Chinese sense, but...

Only one link, to NYTimes.com on decision fatigue. So will-power is proportional to your brain's glucose level, and making decisions uses energy and lowers it. Helps explain why dieting is so hard, doesn't it?

Comments

[callibr8]

the dealer we bought the van from (used) is no longer in business, and that was over 5 years ago in any case.

I did not know this. If I had, I'd've been agitating vigorously to find a decent local repair shop to take the van to. Any time a repair (or oil change) doesn't fall under warranty you need someone whose job is focused on keeping cars running. That's never, ever a dealership.

The dealership you've been taking the van to failed to report the state of the headlight assembly when they did a supposedly thorough 60,000 mile service and returned the vehicle to you earlier this month. Whether they noticed but didn't report, or didn't even notice, it's a safety violation and it's gross incompetence. Now they want to charge you premium rates to fix it? No way. They are ripping you off! Please, don't let them continue to do it! You need someone like N who can leverage their negligence into getting them to agree to fix the problem for free, or at least for parts-only cost, and with OEM or aftermarket parts at that. Once that's accomplished, you drive away and never return.

You folks have a good network of contacts - use it to find a real repair shop. There's also Consumers Checkbook, Angie's List, the BBB, even Google searches for "$CompanyName complaint". Please, please do this. You'll save a lot of time, money, and hassle in the long run.

Okay... I'll go take my meds and calm down now. :-)

[mdlbear]

I'll see what I can do.

[mdlbear]

There's a nice repair place that I've been using for smog checks, walking distance from the house. Must do some research.

Meanwhile the part apparently came in sometime after 4pm, so with luck I'll have the van tomorrow, at which point I get to argue over the labor charges if any, and politely but firmly mention small claims court.

[elf]

So will-power is proportional to your brain's glucose level, and making decisions uses energy and lowers it. Helps explain why dieting is so hard, doesn't it?

I was surprised the article didn't go into what immediately came to my mind--the "epidemic of obesity" being potentially tied to decision fatigue, especially among the poor, as people snack on sweets late in the day in order to cope with the next four hours of concentration & decision-making. (This goes all the way down to school ages; when I attended grade school, homework was intermittent--certainly, back-to-school night didn't announce that we'd be expected to have 1-3 hours/homework per night.)

[mdlbear]

The article mentions that on one of the later pages; poor people have to make lots of trade-offs, and go to high-sugar, prepared foods because they're worn out and not thinking clearly, but need the calories.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

I wonder about the decisons always causing fatigue, though. I know a lot of women who get totally energized about making all sorts of design decisions between paint chips, fabric swatches and decor, or making color choices for a quilt, and businessmen who pride themselves on the many decisions they make during a day.

Would window shopping, wanting things you can't have have an effect?

[mdlbear]

Less so, apparently. It's the act of actually deciding -- putting something in the shopping cart and leaving something else behind -- that does it.

[idea-fairy.livejournal.com]

The bulb wasn't burned out -- the leads were broken off at the connector.

Is it possible that the leads broke sometime after you'd had the van serviced? In that case the bulb would have lit when they tested the lights. I'm still a little surprised nobody noticed it was loose.

[mdlbear]

The bulb's been out for several weeks; if they'd tested it at all they would at least have seen the dashboard light that indicates a dead bulb.