That annoying rattle sounded more on the passenger side of our 2013 Nissan Pathfinder.
In hindsight, maybe I should have put some personal effort into finding the source of the noise. But the car needed new tires. And the original shocks and struts still remained on the Nissan at 133,000 miles. These worn out parts were definitely the culprits behind that irritating front end noise. Did I mention that I’m not an automotive mechanic?
That didn’t really matter, though. I knew trusted automotive mechanics and they always shot me a fair price. More than once I’d run the car by their shop after a dealership quoted a litany of repair items. Almost always, my guys refuted their claims or could fix what needed repair for far less than the dealership’s inflated estimate. If it ain’t worn out or broke, don’t fix it.
Some broken things should remain broken, though. I have a pair of prescription sunglasses. Well, they used to be a pair until the right arm broke off the frame. They originally broke 14 months into a 12 month warranty. After that repair, they broke again 10 months later. Repair work is not warrantied. Not for 12 months, 12 days, or 12 minutes. Go figure. Walmart Vision is not too big on their handiwork. My eyes can just squint while I drive the Pathfinder.
Some things stay broken because people learned how to benefit from it. Too often this occurs with workplace policies and procedures. There’s nothing more inspiring than listening to a seasoned manager continue to instill a dysfunctional policy, solely based on the fact that they had to go through it. Perpetuating moronic procedures despite the idiocy of a flawed standard sounds more like mental illness than leadership. Way to be brave, think outside of the box, and effectuate positive change.
Sometimes people claim brokenness when in fact everything works fine.
Just ask Joe Rogan. His podcast is a simple format. He brings in one person and talks directly with them for 2-3 hours. The conversations can go all sorts of different directions. Nobody really tries to control it or force a specific narrative. It’s literally two people shooting the breeze about whatever comes to mind. Obviously the guest brings subject matter expertise to the conversation, but they’re never restricted to speaking about just that.
A December podcast guest, Dr. Peter McCullough, made controversial comments regarding Covid-19. As Peter spoke, I caught myself thinking, “well, I don’t know if I believe that.” This happened a few times during the podcast. I listened, nonetheless, because it was interesting and a good way to break up a long car ride, whether I agreed with him or not. Even Joe Rogan questioned some of the things he mentioned.
But that’s ok. Free speech grants people the ability to speak openly about a myriad of topics and express their opinions, thoughts, or professional beliefs. That’s America at its best. But then, the bad hippies came along. First Neil Young, not surprisingly followed by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, along with Joni Mitchell. They decided to collectively silence “The Joe Rogan Experience” through threats and coercion. What happened to make love, not war? Nothing was broke, but they were determined to fix it anyway.
Why do I call them bad hippies? Because they were the tip of the spear in the 1960’s counter culture movement. It was all about the ability to express one’s beliefs, no matter what “the man” said. They wrote and sang songs about freedom and rising above governmental bureaucracies and corporate America. Everybody’s voice mattered and counted.
And now these bad hippies want to censor a man for practicing free speech and open dialogue. Nobody got hurt on “The Joe Rogan Experience”, emotionally, physically, or otherwise. And Joe Rogan never insisted his listeners believe everything his guest proclaimed. He just wanted to have an interesting conversation. Nevertheless, the bad hippies wanted to use their questionable popularity to discontinue a specific podcast. Couldn’t they just change the channel?
Hello people, that’s called censorship.
Old Neil says he doesn’t want to censor Joe, but rather ban him from Spotify. Huh? Neil, Joni, David, Stephen, and Graham might as well follow up this attack with a book burning tour. I suppose if you’re an egotistically fragile celebrity, its unsettling to have someone more popular than you permeate the airwaves with differing ideas. Funny thing, Joe Rogan’s probably a lot more liberal than he is conservative. The left has gone so far from center that Rogan and Bill Maher sound like the right.
I understand, though, getting caught up in the moment and taking it too far. Back in the day, my oldest brother jacked around with me and one of my friends while we played on the Atari. That’s defined as stone age gaming. Being large, brutish teenagers, we took acceptation to his taunts and put a beat down on him. It was intended as good old fashioned rough housing, but we cracked a few ribs. When I say we, I believe it was mostly me. Oops. Fortunately some broken things heal.
It’s not like the aftermath of divorce and broken families. When my parents divorced in 1981, my father moved to California with his new wife. I suppose even back then, people ran away to the west coast when they wanted to escape reality and live a different life. Not that I’m bitter. I’m really not. I was the forgotten last kid and still a minor at home. My mother was traded in for a younger model. Hippies did it all the time.
Not everybody “fixes” a broken marriage or broken family. My mother remained stuck. She was not a fixer. She could have done something cathartic, like pour gasoline on her wedding dress and strike a match. That didn’t happen. She could have sold it and made a few bucks. That didn’t happen either. She never even took off her wedding ring. She wore that stupid rock on the same finger for the next 35+ years. She died with it on. Broken things can debilitate when they’re not fixed.
After a few days, I got the Nissan back.
New tires, new shocks, and new struts. Thanks to oil prices, Covid-19 (the great catch-all excuse), and supply chain issues (I like that one a lot too), tires are almost double what they were a year ago. I got a rebate for the old ones, but the final bill was not cheap. However, the fixes were necessary.
As I drove away from the repair shop, I heard that same familiar front end rattle. I thought of turning around, but I knew if there was a larger mechanical issue making this sound, my guys would have found it. I went home and parked the car in the garage, unwilling to deal with the noise.
A few days later I pulled the car out of the garage. I crawled underneath and looked for anything loose or flopping around. Nothing. I looked under the hood. Nothing. Then I crammed my head into the wheel well. A plastic shroud hung askew. Three plastic clips held it in place and one was missing.
I didn’t have a similar clip and there were no threads to run a screw through it. Having no other means of securing the loose plastic shroud, I decided to try a small zip tie. I easily slid the tie through the plastic and ratcheted it tight to the frame. Everything looked secured.
I drove the Pathfinder around the neighborhood for a couple of miles, intently listening for that annoying front end rattle. I heard nothing. After spending about $2300, the initial source of my automotive concern was repaired with a .03 cent zip tie. Some fixes are so obvious, we miss them while chasing after complicated answers.