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  2. NASA Slip Up: Never get an oil change in Saint Paul

NASA Slip Up: Never get an oil change in Saint Paul

By gregladen on November 18, 2008.

I did that once, and got totally screwed. I went in for an oil change. The guys at the Jiffy Lube convinced me that I should also get my tires rotated (though they did not succeed in convincing me to have the transmission oil reconditioned). When I drove off, it turned out that they had forgotten to bolt the wheels back on. Whoa.

Always make sure they bolt the wheels back on.

Anyway, our own Twin Cities Astronaut, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (that's a very common name in Saint Paul, by the way) was up in space walking around the space shuttle, and she was supposed to give it a lube job. But in the process, the grease gun exploded, and this led to a bit of a kurfuffle, which, in turn, led to her letting go of the tool box which floated off into space.

She is said to have mumbled something under her breath.

Five hours later, the space tool-box re-entered the atmosphere and mostly burned up. But a large chunk of metal ... which was probably a tire iron, according to NASA officials ... did make it all the way to the surface of the earth, where it blasted a hole in a small business on Energy Park Drive, in Saint Paul.

The Jiffy Lube now has special air conditioning.

(Details here. I'm only making some of this stuff up, really.)

Tags
Cosmos

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I really hate it when people spell my favorite words incorrectly.

kerfuffle |kÉrËfÉfÉl|
noun [in sing. ] informal chiefly Brit.
a commotion or fuss, esp. one caused by conflicting views : there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship.

And I thought it was bad when Jiffy Lube (in California) didn't tighten the drain plug in my car. All I ended up with was oil all over my garage, a chance to practice my vocabulary with them, a refund, and a pledge that I would never darken their door again.

i can't think of where that jiffy lube is on energy park drive.

i always go to the valvoline up lexington on roselawn. i have always had good service from them. matter of fact, i need to go there this weekend!