Earning 'man' points

About a week and half ago, I got the distinct feeling of 'manliness' that I typically don't get in my daily life (riding my bike to school, attending classes, reading books, and writing papers). As a part of my GK-12 fellowship, we are visting schools from around the valley and presenting our vision of what a 'sustainable school' could/should look like. As of right now, it is in its infancy stage, but we are slowly puttting together a framework in which high schools can begin to implement sustainable change in their curriculum, campus, and community. But that is not the point of this story....

On our way to the school (about 40 min into our drive), the 4 of us in the car start to hear the infamous 'flat tire' noise (although it didn't pop or explode, like I've heard in others). To put it bluntly as possible (and not stereotypically), the girl driving did not know what to do (and she admits it to the day). We tell her to put the hazards on and pull over to the right. She doesn't know where the hazards are on her dashboard and she starts to signal left . . . hmmm

We pull over on the freeway and it looks flat and feels cushy. Not a good sign. We get to the gas station and there is no noticeable gash or 'object' poking out, so our advisors (faculty) suggest putting air in it and just getting to the school. They are adamant about us getting there on time, and even suggest putting everyone in the other car... my mind was racing with some profanities, because they wanted us to risk life to get to this meeting on time. Because they were being idiots, and I know the driver did not know how to do this, I stayed behind.

In dress clothes, and 110F heat, I jacked the car, took the very tight lugnuts off, and fastened the doughnut on all by myself (it had been since I was 16 that I changed a tire). During this endeavor, I was sweating like Patrick Ewing (check out pic, .... this picture was probably taken when Ewing just entered the game... its like a watefall down the face) and my hands were black., but I somehow didn't dirty my dress clothes....

In the end, we were late 20 minutes, the tire was severely gashed on the inside, and I got my 'manliness' in, that is so lacking in the academic life.