Oh, for a lot of that stuff I'd recommend doing it yourself, as most "chain mechanics" will rip you off and suggest you need stuff when you don't. One of my buddies' wives took their car into a place, think it was called "jiffy lube" or "mr lube" or something, wanted to get an oil change done. They inspected it, told her they needed new brakes, and were trying to get her to pay $800 for the job. Not only were the brakes perfectly fine sans a bit of dust (imagine someone telling you you have 3rd degree arm burns when in reality your arm is just dirty), but considering parts-wise the most expensive ones are $120/axel they were attempting to charge more than $300 for about 45mins of work.
It kinda depends. To add a bit of context: I'm meticulous about cleaning/checking the systems of my car. I clean the windows once every 3 weeks, clean the body once a month (and do a basic wash after snowstorms so there isn't salt buildup), and lift the hood once a month to see if stuff like oil needs to be replaced.
I'm not sure how often it rains down there, but if it's not often then you could get away with using cheaper blades. It rains 9 months a year here, so from value alone it's only costing me 10 cents a day to try these ones out.
So my silicone wiper blades finally came in (had to order them online as the local stores only sell the extremely shitty rubber ones). It's been extremely rainy for the past week here so I immediately got to test them, and the difference is night and day. Not only do they make no sound, but unlike the previous OEM-rubber ones they aren't leaving residue/dirt afterwards.
Oh, it's the same with most mechanics now too and why I tell people to never take their cars to be repaired at dealerships. The amount of upselling they do there for the most frivelous things is hilarious, where they'll tell you to buy new engine cylinders when you only really need an oil change.
If I remember right a lot of it stems from russia's stance on it, namely that families of players are afraid that by wearing them either they or their teammates' families may be in danger. Even ovechkin, a guy who may be the best russian hockey player ever (at least in the nhl), has veheemently refused.
I know for a lot of cases in canada, especially financial ones like tax-owing, they'll extend the statute if circumstances prevented someone from being able to fulfill the obligations (so like if you're poor and owe someone $5,000, they can extend it to where it'd start when you were first able to reasonably pay some of it off).
I'd argue 95% of fear nowadays has to do with a lack of knowledge. Lefties are afraid of guns... yet refuse to take a safety course on them and think you can fire 50 shotgun rounds without having to reload. Others were afraid that being merely exposed to someone without the jab would result in them dying... despite the fact that no other disease has operated like that without showing any symptoms (even bio-weapons like anthrax and chlorene gas would have people with shortness of breath).
I'm pretty sure quitting sugary drinks is just a good thing in general. I used to constantly have stuff like sprite daily, but swapped over to low-sugar fruit juice and zero-sugar gatorade. In the past 2 years, I've never had to use an alarm clock and have way more energy.
So they announced the new cast for the next season of my favorite show taskmaster (would recommend looking it up on youtube for anyone unfamiliar, as they post all the episodes there and it's quite funny). One of the people a part of it is the most controversial european comedian of all time and a guy banned from the BBC. Will be interested to see if they allow him to be himself or go for a watered-down version.
I did a similar thing with a local automotive club a few weeks ago after one of my apprentice buddies recommended it. We ended up meeting in a local park's parking lot (everyone was asked to bring their own chairs), then talked about the recent changes to winter tires and the possible new type of wheel rim coming out. I doubt it'll be a weekly thing for me as a ton of people were staring down my car and one was asking if it was for sale (apparently a 2006 corolla with only 80,000km and most of the original parts is a "dream car"), but it did add some variety.
I know over here a few places would accept fake passes and would allow you to shop normally. There was a local walmart near a highway exit which was known both for being open 24hrs and having a ton of trucker-related business (would not believe how many of them craved potato chips at 3am). While they did technically follow the "rules", they also had a sign up stating that they would not ask for proof if people had medical exemptions and didn't care where you got your pass from. A large majority of the people who shopped there in 2020 would write "my doctor says I'm fine" on their phone and they'd count it, no questions asked.
For me it happened with a lot of r/l people, as I don't use social media. I had co-workers and family members say that if I didn't get the jab I was a danger to society and that they'd sue me if any of them died because of it. It's been 2 years, and since then 3 of them have died of massive heart attacks (one of them had it while driving her 2 kids to school, the kids living but just barely) and another 4 suffer permanent headaches to the point in which they can barely function. I still have yet to be sued by any of them, or been given an apology.
I've always been under the impression that "luck" is perspective based and isn't a consistent thing you can show. Give a guy a glass of water in the desert, and he'll get on his hands and knees and start praying. Give him one in the middle of a hurricane, and he'll probably get pissed off about it.
Meh, I know one of them in southern vancouver was quite nice. Me and a few university buddies went there by accident, and due to discrimination laws they couldn't legally kick us out. By the end of the night we were playing pool with them and were invited to afterparty shenanigans. I think the name of the place was "sapphires" or "emeralds", definitely something jewel-related.
It's extremely easy.
Jack up the car by putting it under the frame (or in the case of most toyotas/audis via the "designated jack points"), making sure there's a bit of clearance between the tire and the ground.
Set up a stand on the frame, making sure it's within a foot of the edge of the tire you're changing.
Slowly lower the car onto the jackstands by lowering the jack (oftentimes it requires you to turn the jack's handle).
Undo the bolts using an impact driver/torque wrench (if you get your tires changed at one of those "cheap" places they'll often overtighten the bolts, making it extremely difficult to get off).
Remove/replace the tire, making sure they're balanced first (there are tools like "bubble balancers" which allow you to do it yourself, if not most mechanics will charge about $60-70 per set). When putting the bolts back on, make sure to do so in a star-shaped pattern instead of clockwise to prevent imbalancing/one side being tighter. Oftentimes you'll want to "hand-tighten" the bolts first, then set them to the correct tightness using the wrench/driver which can usually be found in the owner's manual
Use the jack to re-raise the car, remove the jack stand, slowly re-lower the car, and you should be good to go.
Oh, I think of it more as life skills. If more people knew how to change/rotate their own tires or do oil changes, we'd see less stories about catalytic converters being stolen and cars breaking down extremely fast. If someone can do those tiny maintenence things and put rain-x on their windows every 6 months, they should realistically only need to see a mechanic once a year.
You also have to think they inflated it a bit too, like what wrestling companies did in the mid-2000s by counting every family as 6 instead of 4 to make their numbers cleaner. I forget which wrestlemania it was, but they suggested they had more than 50m pay per view watches even though half of north america was dealing with significant power outages.
My hope for humanity grew a bit today. Woman in her mid-30s came in with her 10yr old kid, had 2 flat tires and thought it would take hours to do. I asked her if she wanted to learn how, and we spent the next half-hour replacing both tires using equipment they could get at a normal tool shop.
I haven't thoroughly tested them yet, but in the 3 days of rain they've been really good (for a bit more context, I didn't know about them either until one of my mechanic buddies saw them on a prius we were repairing and raved for half an hour about how "they can last 10+ years" and "prevent scratching when maintained" ). I'm not sure what "arizona weather" is like, but if it's as hot and muggy as it is here they should work too.