The joys of car ownership

I had a thoroughly enjoyable Presidents day today -- didn't have to go to work, slept in, made some solid progress on a project, worked out, tried to convince Rushabh's cousin to buy a Mac, and then I decided to cap my day off with a trip to Whole Foods, to get my sustenance for the week. The ride out was fairly uneventful, and when I got to Whole Foods, I decided to park in the underground garage. I completed my shopping, and due to the way that I parked, I approached my car from the left side. As I was about to put my groceries in the back seat, I noticed it -- my left rear tire was totally and completely flat.

I took a moment to emit a minor curse word, and got to work changing the tire. Thus far, I've been quite satisfied with my Volvo, and haven't really noticed Ford's ownership of the brand at all. However, as soon as I dug into the trunk, that began to change. I found that the jack and tire iron were a little sub-standard, and hard to work with. The jack in particular, is quite odd:

The jack arm is totally bizarre

After some investigation, I determined why I wasn't so thrilled with the tire replacement tools:

I should have known, Ford cheaped out on the parts that I don't normally see.

Nevertheless, I figured everything out, and once I got the spare on, I was able to examine the busted tire more closely. It looks like a metal jag got me:

A nice shot of how the metal jag punctured the tire.

So on top of taking a good 20 - 25 minutes out of my day off, now I get to spend some time this week researching tires, and determining if I can get this thing patched, or if I'm going to be out some cash on one or more new tires. These are the kinds of repairs / hassles you don't consider when buying a new car, but totally add up over time. But of course, the convenience of driving totally makes up for the hassle, right?

Right?!?

-Andy.