Ooops!

About a week ago, while trying to put the car in the garage after arriving home from work, I slightly miscalculated, and got a smidge too close to the right side of the garage, and this was the result.


Tore off the whole frame on the right, and bent the weather stripping.

I drive a pretty wide SUV, and I even have to fold in the side mirrors to have any hope of getting the car in the garage in the first place, but have never actually miscalculated.

I was fine until the right rear wheel entered - it seems that the fender over the right rear wheel well sticks out about 2 inches more than the rest of the car (does that make sense? - I'm saying the car is about 4 inches wider over the rear wheels - 2 inches on each side) - and when the rear wheel well fender hit the garage wall, I quickly stopped, and backed up, and re-centered the car, and pulled on in.


It was dark at the time, and I couldn't really inspect the car for damage, but since the garage door wouldn't close, I had to go over and fiddle with the structural damage to the garage so that I could get the damn door to close.

I had to break off a small piece of wood, and manipulate the weather stripping, and then the door went up and down without any problem - fortunately, the garage door track was not involved in the little "incident".

And the next day, I inspected the car, and other than a paint scrape over the wheel well, there isn't even a scratch on the car.

So I called a repair company, and explained what had happened, and told the guy that Monday was my only day off, and asked for an appointment the following Monday (Dec 21) - and the guy refused to give me an appointment. He said, "Just call me first thing Monday morning, and I'll come on by and take care of it".

I had no prior dealings with this "company", but this IS the South after all, and things tend to be pretty laid back, so I agreed.

And I called him first thing Monday morning, and got his voice mail, and left a message.

And 2 hours later, I gave up, and called HouseDoctors, simply based on their ad in the Yellow Pages. The owner's wife said that the owner was on a job at the time, but could come by the house around 3:30 to "take a look".

And he arrived at exactly 3:30, and gave me a professional, written estimate, but naturally couldn't do the job right then, because he didn't have the materials, and it would be dark soon anyway. I told him that Mondays are my only available day, but that I would be out of town for the holidays the following Monday - and then I sort of jokingly asked if he'd consider doing the job on Christmas Eve, since I would be off work that day.

And he said, "No problem - I have a guy who can do it that day."

So we set 11 AM as the time, and the guy showed up at 10:50 AM this morning, and by 12:30 PM the job was done and I was back in my jammies, chillin' with some cappuccino and watching TV.

So I am really, really thrilled with HouseDoctors - and thanks, Scott! Great Job!

Bailey and I are going to just generally laze around the house for a couple of days, and then on Saturday we are driving up to the mountains to stay with Kathy and her pups (oh yeah, and her husband, too - Hi, John!) - and we are really hoping to find some snow when we get there.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Oh yeah - some of you have asked: my little injection was somewhat successful last week - it relieved all of my arm pain, and reduced my neck pain by maybe 40%. The pain management doctor called me yesterday for an update, and wanted me to come in this Monday for a second shot, but since I'll be out of town, we have to put it off until the following Monday. I'm still having a good bit of neck pain - and he says we'll see how the next injection does, but we may be looking at some surgery in the new year...