Sobriety Blog Thursday October 16, 2025

Weight: 337.4 lbs ( 153 kg)
BMI: 43.3
Waist: 55 in (139.7 cm)
WtHr: 74.3%

Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs
Lunch: Taco Chili Tortilla Chips
Snack: Tortilla Chips and Queso
Dinner: Hamburger Helper Double Cheeseburger Macaroni 
Drinks: Salted Coffee, Kroger Seltzer, Sugar Free Monster, Budweiser Zero

Sober Month 9 (Day 295)

Woke up early enough to have breakfast as I did have an appointment to get the oil changed in my car this morning. I did was nervously staring at my watch all morning. The appointment was at 10am and I woke up at 8am but I spent the entire morning doing the math of how much time I had and how much time it would take to do something.

And conveniently I did get a coupon in the mail a couple of days ago for an oil change for $39.99 (not sponsored) I thought that was a great deal but I had noticed that the coupon had said in the fine print that it was a $50 savings. That would mean that the base price for an oil change would be close to $80. I know that a lot of things are going up in price, and I know that it's been a while since I last had the oil change. But last year they only cost sixty something dollars. And then here was a coupon for $50 off for a total of $39.99. But the guy at the garage said the oil change that was on the coupon was for a “full synthetic change” and apparently that's just not what my car needs. Who knows, I don't know much about cars maybe my car just uses all natural organic oil. He did apply the coupon to my order which I was grateful for it's just the receipt shows the coupon took off $15. Hey, I'm grateful for any help at all. And I am glad that it only had to off $15 to make it the promised price and not the full $50. As I had budgeted for an estimated $70 into the financial program

The thing that REALLY made me happy was that when the mechanic brought out the car he said the thing that I was PRAYING that he'd say. Which was absolutely nothing. No comment on the exchange, no notes on the invoice. The old sticker on the windshield said that the oil change was due back in December, in March the Oil Pressure Sensor went bad, and back in September the Engine Light came on as the transmission was reading the wrong gear ratio, and now I'm getting the oil changed. I was scared that the mechanic would come out and nervously apprehensively say, “Sir, you need to come look at this” The paranoid thought was that the reason the oil sensor went bad and the transmission was having issues was that the oil went bad and was somehow making the other parts go bad. But if they were able to open it up and they didn't see any issues inside of the engine that was a massive, MASSIVE relief. Of course I say that with very, very little knowledge of how car engines work. I'm just guessing that if it were too late for the oil change they'd say something. Something that did make me nervous looking at the invoice was that the tires were rated 12/32. That really made me nervous because that looks like a rating of about 37% and these are almost brand new tires. I'm not sure how long they're intended to last but I would hope longer than a year or two. But looking them up that's actually so good that it doesn't show up on the scale of worn tires. I do kind of wondering if they even make 32/32 tires or what they would look like. 

I left the mechanic walking on sunshine. I wanted to buy a drink to celebrate, but I really like this sobriety streak that I've been on so I went ahead and bought some Budweiser Zero which is a nonalcoholic beer. I also grabbed some Tortilla Chips and Queso to snack on this afternoon 

I was telling Roommate that I was ecstatic that they didn't say that it needed any other services. He was a bit uncertain about my excitement as he had assumed that I had took the car to Walmart to do the oil change. I was telling him that the place I take it to would profit from preforming more services. But he was thinking that the Walmart people are just technicians and they wouldn't know more about the deeper services of the car. He was relieved when I said that I took it to an actual shop. I am really avoiding taking it to Walmart if I can. 

Last week when I was talking to my Customer Service Manager about making an appointment last week she told me about when her son took his car to Walmart and they had turned the oil filter the wrong way anciently over tightening it so they tried prying it off with a hammer and screwdriver causing literally thousands of dollars worth of damage to his car. Walmart did pay to fix his car, but I wouldn't want to take the chance. 

I was also relieved to see the Rent check come through this afternoon. So on the spending comparison spreadsheet today looks like it's pretty expensive, even though it was a payday. I had the Rent Check, Grocery check, and the Oil Change. So I did get paid, but the net difference was down $206. But there wasn't anything that wasn't expected. 

So far I'm planning on next week I'm not planning on paying anything. But the week after that I'm planning on paying all of the bills for November. I was debating on paying those bills on the 30th of October or the 6th of November. If I pay them all on the 30th I have the bills for November before November starts. But if I pay them on the 6th that would be late for a couple of them but I would have kept the "Bills Savings" over the $100 minimum to avoid the fee. But I figured that the entire point of "Bill Savings" was to to pay the bills. So not using the savings account to pay the bills didn't make much sense. And it would be so nice to finally have a month where the bills are paid before the month starts like I want to. And I just realized that if I can keep the next two grocery runs under $100 I'll be able to keep "Bill Savings" over the $100 minimum balance. 

Of course that's an easy thought to have as I had, unsuccessfully, tried to keep the last two grocery runs under $100