Weeknotes 26:23

Posted 4 hours ago

Week of May 31–June 6

Road trip to ETSU

I took a road trip in the middle of the week with my wife and youngest. We traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee where my youngest will attend school in the fall. I had traveled through eastern Tennessee on my way to Asheville three years but this was my first trip where I got to explore this part of the state. We arrived in Johnson City just before 2 p.m. and went straight to the East Tennessee State campus. My daughter and wife met with the department head for an hour while I sat in the hall scrolling through Bluesky on my phone. I read Geoff Graham’s rant and posted a couple of pictures to Instagram.

After the meeting, we walked around campus. Our first stop was at Sherrod Library. In the midst of exploring, one of the staff asked if I needed help. I happened to see that the area we were near was called the Innovation Commons. I decided to ask him what it was and he proceeded to show us around for the next 30-45 minutes.

The Innovation Commons is a maker space at ETSU with 3D printers, button makers, VR, vinyl cutters, and many tools for creating all types of media. They are in the process of renovating some of the space. Mark, the operations manager, showed us around and explained all the changes they were making and how they had reclaimed space for things they no longer needed physical copies of at the library.

The exterior of Sherrod Library. The Innovation Commons is on the second floor behind those big windows.

After the library, we shopped at the bookstore at the student union to buy some ETSU shirts and stickers and then we walked around campus. We found our daughter’s dorm just outside the student union. Her dorm is one of the original buildings on campus. They are building a fine arts center next door that will open in the fall. Due to the construction, they have redone the space in front of her hall with new pavers and several porch swings. It looks like a really nice area.

After campus, we visited a Walmart to look for shirts and then we ate dinner at Freddy’s. It was our first time to try it. We did like the seasoned fries. We still think Culver’s is better.

On Thursday, my daughter went through orientation for transfer students. I went to the library and worked (or at least tried to work). It was not the most productive day but I did get some things done. I took time off around lunch to tour my daughter’s room with my wife. We took pictures, video, and measurements so we know how much space she has and what might fit in her room. We are so grateful that Austin took some time out of his busy schedule to give us access to the room.

Before heading home to Chattanooga on Friday, we took a side trip to Elizabethton. My wife and daughter wanted to visit Thoughtful Vintage. My wife had seen it on Instagram. My youngest enjoyed looking through fabric and buying secondhand clothing. We grabbed lunch at Zaxby’s and then hit the road to go home.

We enjoyed views of the Appalachian Mountains on our side trip to Elizabethton.

Houston, we have a problem

As we drove home, the road felt very rough and I felt a lot of vibration and could hear it through the front of the vehicle. I noticed it more at higher speeds. I began to suspect that it was the vehicle and not the road, especially when we got off the road to visit Buc-ee’s near Sevierville, Tennessee. I had also noticed that the car was pulling toward the left. I inspected the tires while at Buc-ee’s and did not notice anything visible. But I was feeling uneasy. As we started out again, I continued to notice a lot of vibration, even when we were on smoother parts of the road. When we had to slow down going through Knoxville due to a traffic accident, I could feel something was wrong with the wheel. It felt like it had something on it that you can feel with every rotation. I started to form a plan to stop after we made it past Knoxville.

We pulled over at a Pilot just south of Knoxville. I had my wife drive the vehicle around the parking lot. I could not really tell what was happening by observing. I called my mechanic. I was trying to get some advice on whether it was safe to try to continue home. I suspected it was not and he confirmed that. He thought it might be a wheel bearing. He suggested finding a Tire Discounter to have them take a look. I found one 10 minutes away and we made our way there.

One of my concerns was that it was just after 4 on a Friday afternoon. This store was open until 6. They got it in right away and diagnosed the problem as a broken belt on the tire. This misshapes the tire which is what I felt on the highway. We thought about having him put on the spare but then realized that the spare was 15 years old. We then discovered the tires on the vehicle were 13 years old and the others were also at risk.

The vehicle (GMC Envoy) was my mother-in-law’s and it has very little mileage on it and we have not driven it as much. We had decided to take this vehicle on the trip because our van had a noise a couple of weeks ago but the mechanic could not discover a problem. I just felt better about taking the GMC because I was feeling nervous about the van.

We decided to replace the front tires to get home and then look into replacing the back tires and the spare once we were back in Chattanooga.

It was a very stressful afternoon as I began to suspect a problem with the GMC and then wonder what that was going to mean late on a Friday afternoon when we just wanted to get home. I am very mindful of God’s protection and provision for us. I am not sure how long the tire was broken and know that it could have failed at any point on Friday.

But it did not. I attribute that to God’s protection. And then he provided being able to talk to my mechanic, provided a store just 10 minutes away, provided a store that was open till 6, and then provided in that the store could take us in right away and get us back on the road. I shudder to think what would have happened if that tire had failed when I was driving 70 along the interstate. I was very grateful to get home at the end of the day and see how God took care of us.

Notes from the work week

My work week was broken up quite a bit. I worked normal hours on Monday and Tuesday. I worked from the library on Thursday. And then I worked from home on Saturday. My daughter really wanted me to see ETSU. My wife and her visited back in March. But as I was looking at the PTO I have already taken and calculated the time I would need to take off later this year to help her move in, I came up with the plan to work from campus on Thursday and then make up for being off on Friday by working on Saturday. So I only had to take one PTO day for the trip.

I felt like Saturday was the most productive day of work I had this week. I was glad to have some space to think and catch up on some things that I have not been able to give attention to. I was able to address some feedback on a couple of projects that need to get out the door soon.

Articles I read

What I watched

  • The West Wing (Netflix)
  • Spider-Man 2 (Netflix)
  • Spurs vs. Thunder (Game 7) (NBC) – We were all very excited to see the Spurs win and advance the Finals.
  • Spurs vs. Knicks (NBC) – I watched game 1 into the third quarter and watched all of game 2 on Friday night.
  • Finding Your Roots (PBS App)

Books I am reading

I didn’t pick up any of these books this week. I am feeling a bit stuck with my reading right now.

Walking

  • Saturday – 1.22 miles in 24 minutes – I got out but was hurting in a lot of places so I cut my walk short.

What I played

MLB The Show 23 (Orioles) – I won the only game I played this week against the Yankees.

Comment on this post