13:13 on the 13th (but not really)

like many days, yesterday had its highs and its lows…

…a low was that time never moved.

i was turned on to a watch place in avery ranch (upscale austin neighborhood) when i bought my tag as it arrived with a dead battery. figuring i could just do it myself, i bought a battery and started to, but wasn’t expecting the screw that held down the battery bracket to be so short (or spring loaded) and said bracket launched itself off my table never to be seen again.

while the watch backing held the battery in place from there, it wasn’t secure enough for my taste, so i dug the business card my buddy mark had given me out of the center console and headed north. the card promised a battery change for six bucks, and they replaced the tag bracket for that amount, having me in and out in under five minutes, and most of that time was spent answering the question, “how is mark these days?”.

i’ve taken several watches to them since, and once one of my oakley’s (which they charge $25 at oakley just for a battery change, not including what you pay to ship it to them) ended up needing some internal work as the battery wasn’t the only issue. fearing the worst, i asked them how much i was looking at and their answer was less than $25 all in and about a week to get the part.

they had me ever after.

but two jobs and lots of running around makes it hard to get over that way, and i was stoked when i finally scheduled it into a day yesterday only to be greeted by and empty building and a for lease sign. i was devastated. not to mention, i had intentionally worn a dead watch i really wanted to be the first one fixed, figuring i wouldn’t check the time too many times before i went and got it up and running.

boy, was i wrong – i kept glancing at it before AND after, to no avail…it was constantly 1:13pm on the 13th.

(and now the title makes sense, huh?)

but all might not be lost – when i woke up this morning i googled them and their website still came up. when i went to it i thought it was dead as it still listed the address and hours, but then below that said they’re now strictly mobile with no extra fees, you just call and set up an appointment. as they’ve always charged me less than ten bucks for battery swaps, i’ll just see if they’ll come out to do all three oakley watches at once since they all need it, and honestly that was my original plan, anyway. i know i can do all my nixons, and i might take another stab at the tag, but i’ll let them do the oakleys and then i can get my collection (literally) ticking again!