One of our toilets started leaking a few weeks ago; it’s a Toto, so I got the Korky 2023 adjustable flapper and set to work. My particular toilet needs the “flapper plug” to be inserted in the flapper, but it wouldn’t stay in place. I installed the flapper without the plug and it helped, but it wasn’t a real fix.

I called Korky to complain, and they sent me a complete replacement flapper kit. This time, the plug stayed in place in the flapper. I installed the new flapper today and…the toilet still leaked.

A web search on “toilet leaks after replacing flapper” took me to an article at I’ll Just Fix It Myself with six possible causes and fixes. The toilet is a one-piece model, so I didn’t have to worry about t-bolts, and tightening the flange bolts didn’t help. The drain didn’t seem clogged, but I decided to try to unclog it anyway. I followed the instructions at Mr. Rooter, and it worked!

I don’t understand the physics of toilets; in particular, I don’t understand how the toilet can flush with a clogged drain, nor how a clogged drain can keep the flapper from sealing properly. But I guess it’s like magic – if you perform the invocation properly, you get the right result whether you understand it or not!

I got new glasses a few months ago, and I took advantage of Costco’s offer of a significant discount if I ordered two pair on the same day. I ordered one set of progressives, and one set of “office glasses”, which are progressives without the distance segment – it gives you good vision at and near the computer, with more flexibility than “computer glasses” with only one focal length. And I’ve been happy with both pairs.

But I made a crucial mistake – I put very similar frames on both pairs. If I wear my regular glasses into the office and swap them for the office glasses, I can easily forget to swap back; the office glasses work fine if I’m just walking around the house.

Last Friday, I had a Zoom call; of course, I put on the office glasses for the call. I forgot to swap them back, and I didn’t leave the house again, so I didn’t notice. I was still wearing the office glasses when we got in the Lyft to take us to the airport on Saturday morning; things seemed a little blurry, but I wasn’t driving so it didn’t matter.

I finally realized that I’d brought the wrong glasses when it was too late to go home and swap, so I did the entire trip without proper driving glasses. The office glasses were just good enough to let me get by, but wearing them for driving was a strain; I even went without any glasses on days when I didn’t have to drive.

It was good to get home and put on my real glasses!

I made another mistake on the trip, and this one was a real hassle. Wednesday night, we drove the Niro to Lee (about five miles away) to do laundry. The tire pressure warning light came on for the left front tire after I’d driven half the distance; luckily, there was a gas station near the laundry, so I took the car there.

Air wasn’t free – I had to pay $1.50, which gave me four minutes of pump time. I filled the low tire and decided to top off the others; when I took the inflator off the third tire, the valve stem cracked and I soon had a completely flat tire.

I called Hertz and discovered that I didn’t have “premium roadside assistance”. They were willing to tow the car to Albany for $300 and fix the tire there – I guess I would have had to ride along to drive it back. I told them “no thanks” and used the AAA app to request a tow to a nearby repair shop. The app said that they’d be there in 45 minutes (at 7:05), subject to service provider availability.

7:05 came and went. At 7:30, I called AAA to ask what was going on and was promised a callback in 10-15 minutes. No callback, so I called again and this time the person called their tow facility, which claimed they’d be there in an hour. I even got a callback from AAA verifying that. But no truck showed up.

I finally called the repair shop (which was also a towing operator, R. W.’s Towing and Repair and they promised to be at the gas station in 25 minutes…and they were! The driver even gave us a ride back to the hotel, which was a very good thing because we’d discovered that there were NO taxis, NO Ubers, and NO Lyfts in the area (at least at night).

They had to replace the tire, not just the valve stem; in theory, the Hertz Loss Damage Waiver should cover that, but I’ll have to call Hertz on Monday to find out what they’ll pay if anything. I’m not holding my breath.

I’m still shocked that there weren’t any Lyfts or Ubers or taxis available. I had originally planned on taking a Lyft to and from the airport, but decided I wanted the flexibility of having a car at the last moment. That turned out to be a much better decision than I thought; one of the other travelers had an early flight so she couldn’t go back to Albany on the bus with the rest of the group – her only option to get to the airport was to use a limo service.

It’s nice to be back in civilization.