For almost two years, I have been the owner of a 1995 Corvette C4. During this time, I have learned many lessons about driving, cars, and life in general. This past winter, I drove my Corvette home from robotics practice. Practice is held only 10 minutes from home. Though there was a light dusting of snow on the ground, I still set out. The path that I take requires crossing a highway overpass. This particular time, though, I slowed down to ten miles per hour under the speed limit and attempted to cross. Just when the car passed onto the overpass, it went into a skid, even though the steering wheel was straight and the speed had not changed. Skidding across the road, the words of my mother from the morning echoed in my head, �The overpass freezes before the road!� After sliding over a curb and stopping, I was thankfully uninjured, but my car was not. The bumper was scuffed. Since then, the damage has been repaired, and I have not forgotten this story or the lesson in it. If I was more careful, my car and I would have been safe. This past week, I was taught another important lesson. My dad and I were replacing my water pump, and just as we switched the new one for the old one, we realized that included in the packaging was a small o-ring. Thinking nothing of it, we continued on because we had not seen an o-ring during disassembly. After completing the replacement and driving the car a few days later, we discovered that motor oil was leaking somewhere in the engine bay. Upon further inspection, my grandpa found that the leak was coming from the water pump. More specifically, where the engine output shaft couples to the water pump. Finally thinking this through, my dad and I realized that this is exactly where that o-ring belonged. While it is an inconvenience that the process must be repeated, it has taught me an important lesson: that if a part is included in the packaging, it should probably be used in the assembly