Good Weekend, Friend Hang, No Hot Water…And Tunes

It was a good weekend. Even if it wasn’t great it still would have been great since I only work two days this week and I’m off for my own little fall break. I’ll clock in and out Monday and Tuesday, then after that I’m off the rest of the week. Wednesday my wife and I will head to Indianapolis late afternoon to see The Beat Tour at the Murat Theater. If you don’t know, The Beat Tour is Adrian Belew and Tony Levin performing the 80s run of King Crimson albums live. In lieu of Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford being there, Steve Vai and Tool’s Danny Carey are fill in for them.

I think this is the concert I’ve been looking forward to most this year. Maybe it’s the anticipation of it since I’ve had the tickets since spring, and that it’s the last concert I will see this year that has me so excited. But honestly, I think it’s just that the 80s iteration of King Crimson is my favorite era of the prog rock titans. I was a huge Adrian Belew fan in high school, so once I’d found out about him being in King Crimson of course I bought up all three albums not long after I’d graduated from high school. At the time I was more of a fan of Belew’s pop-oriented albums like Mr. Music Head, Young Lions, Inner Revolution, and Here, so while there were songs that immediately stood out to me(like “Frame By Frame”, “Matte Kudasai”, “Three Of A Perfect Pair”, and “Neal, Jack, and Me”), my brain still hadn’t been wired correctly for the more intricate, proggy fare.

Of course that was 30 years ago and since then I’ve come to love both the old KC stuff as well as Belew’s art rock era. And really, to see one of my biggest guitar influences Steve Vai performing the great Robert Fripp’s guitar parts is going to be so amazing. And the clips I’ve seen of Danny Carey have got me really excited to see his work as well.

And besides the concert, it’s going to be great just to be home on Halloween week and hanging out working on music, spinning vinyl, watching horror movies, and just enjoying the spookiest week of the year at home and not at work. I’m even heading over to my friend’s house Wednesday morning and we’re getting a walk in, so that will be nice. My wife is leaving Friday morning and going back down to Indianapolis to stay our our oldest’s place. They’re going to see Taylor Swift Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, so it’ll be just me and the old pooch enjoying a couple beers and watching movies together.

So yeah, fall break. I’m ready.

So on Thursday I dropped my car off at a new to me Auto Repair shop called Fido’s Auto Repair in town. I was looking for a place to take my 2008 Honda Accord to get the timing belt replaced. They recommend replacing it between 60,000 to 100,000 miles. I’ve replaced the timing belt twice on our 2004 Honda Odyssey, as well as the 1998 Honda Accord I bought back in 2005 once. I bought my current Accord back in 2021 used at almost 150,000 miles. I had no idea if the timing belt had been replaced on it, so three years in to owning it it started making odd noises and had developed a small oil leak. I could also smell something really hot when I’d get home from driving it. Thought I better get it in for that expensive repair.

I’d called some of my usual subjects around town for that fix but seemed to be getting the runaround. I did a Google search for local auto repair shops and Fido’s popped up with a nearly perfect 5-star rating. Nothing but praise for this place, so I called and talked to Fido about the situation. Not only did he say he could do it but it’d be done in a day, where as most of the places would take a couple days and it would be nearly a couple weeks before they could even do it. So Fido’s was where the car was going.

We dropped it off Thursday afternoon. He did ask me to get the parts, which is a first for me. But Napa had the timing belt kit as well as the drive belt I needed. Friday afternoon Fido called and said it was done. I asked if everything went okay and he said there was an oil leak in the solenoid, which was the burning smell I was smelling. So I asked if he could fix that as well and after he checked if he had the parts he said sure. So by Saturday afternoon the car was done and seemingly like new. Plus, I’ve found a new mechanic to take our vehicles to.

Friday night was the usual; clean the house, prepare dinner, enjoy some beers, and watch a horror movie. I watched Azrael on Shudder. A post-apocalyptic movie starring Samara Weaving as a survivor of the Rapture. It was a pretty good flick, so if you have Shudder give it a whirl.

Saturday I had coffee with my dad, then headed out to yet again clean up pine needles in the yard. Afterwards I got cleaned up and my wife and I went to pick up the car. One of my oldest friends came over Saturday afternoon and we hung out. We hadn’t gotten together since the end of June, so a hang was long overdue. We listened to some music and I made chicken tacos for dinner. We watched Sinister. I’ve seen it a few times but he never had so it was nice checking it out again with a newbie. A horror classic, for sure.

Oh, and I discovered Saturday that our water heater wasn’t working. Ran some dishwater and noticed it was cold. No hot water out of any of the faucets. Turns out the pilot light went out and we couldn’t get it to re-light. So yeah, more money for a repair. They say those come in threes I think. Or maybe that’s deaths.

Sunday is up in the air. Our son and his girlfriend are spending the night at her parents house. They’re leaving Monday morning for Indianapolis so she can take her math placement test for college. Yep, this seems to be happening. If all goes according to plan they are moving to Indy in January so she can start college. Our son will just be working I guess. School and rent assistance will take a lot of the financial burden off of them, but I’m still kind of whirling at the thought that we will be empty nesters come January. Still processing that.

With them being gone both Monday and Tuesday I’m not sure what the wife and I will do. Maybe absolutely nothing. I’ll probably head out in a bit for a nice long walk to get my steps in, and to clear my brain a bit. And hopefully someone will be over to fix our water heater. Cold showers are like torture. No good.

How was your weekend?