A charmed day for sure, the moon must be in the third quarter of neptune, or whatever…
Had excellent bus karma today - walked right up to be met at stops by the one i wanted. Didn't sleep through any stops. No large smelly people sat on the aisle seat next to me and smothered/suffocated/trapped me. Nobody mugged me for the ipod on the route through white center.
Good transportation day in general. Erica gave me a ride home from downtown on her way to join us for dinner. Ron was at the dentist a few blocks from the Burien office and gave me a ride back to Bellevue. 
I rented a flexcar and drove from downtown to Lynnwood, leaving at five an arriving in only 40 minutes (it’s about 30 miles) - a rush-hour record for sure. Icing on cake: Travis found me a daily driver, a 500-dollar '89 Nissan Sentra, a cheap-to-own 4-door that will get me back and forth to the garage for the next month until the Z is running again. After that, it will possibly be my work vehicle, to spare the Z from any chance of utility truck duties - at least on days when there is a chance of such travesty or when it’s not undeniably nice top-off weather. And certainly when the weather is hideous or i need more than two seats… and am not looking to impress anyone. ;) It’s not an impressive car by any means - i've never been a big fan of brown interior - but all the mechanical stuff is solid and lots of parts replaced recently (axles, tires, alternator - good stuff). I mean, my mechanic found it, a diamond in the rough (okay, a semi-precious not-remarkably-sparkly piece of limestone in the rough) and i trust Travis wouldn't have called me without being confident that it will run for a while with very little attention (the phrase “generic parts" passed his lips) and i'm determined not to be picky about things as silly as color. Am i picky about the color of the bus? Well, sometimes, the yellow and brown ones are really uncomfortable. Not enough leg room for tall people, and the seat backs dig into your knees. Well, maybe not your knees… mine tho. But no, i board anyway. And this will be substantially smaller and more mine than the bus. ;) I'll find out for sure friday afternoon, but by the weekend i might be a two-car family…! Uh… American over-indulgence rears it’s ugly head! LOL!
It’s not that i hate riding the bus… it’s actually kind of a nice way to get downtown, and i can listen to music and read a book, or fall asleep and miss my stop. Er… but anyway, i don't mind it, but this job makes it miserable, cause i'm going to different places every day and always struggling to get there and get home. Last week my trip to Kent was 2.5 hours down and 3 hours home. Shoreline is just over 2 hours away on the bus - it’s 20 minutes by car. 
And often my transfers are in neighborhoods i don't know, so rather than relaxing on the ride i'm peering nervously out the window reading every street sign and stressing about if it’s string-pull time yet. The freedom of jumping in with a friend after work, or not being tied down to a parking spot - and not paying for parking! - is pretty great… until i want to run to Costco after work or need to be in Everett to shop for tools, or want to work on my car in Woodinville for the weekend… ugh. That’s when it starts to suck. And yes, i'm a big spoiled fatty lazy capitalist pig American who can't live without a gas-guzzling car. Well now i'm gonna have two… somebody call Captain Planet on me!
Stopped at Helly Hansen again today, but the goggle lenses i ordered haven't arrived yet. Oh, well, guess i'll just have to flirt with the cute sales girl… Thanx to her, tho, i spent a bit more than my gift certificate - on top of the new blue mirrored lenses from Smith, i came home with lightweight fleece gloves and a cool beanie, both by Dakine. Actually, i wore them both home, tried them out keeping warm as a walked through downtown… pretty good! I'm a big dork and i do stuff like that. The sales clerk assured me that about one third of her customers wear their new stuff home… i think that was just her flirting back. ;)
I achieved an improved balance of adequate sleep, reasonable diet, exercise and caffeine this week and have been getting a lot done, around the house, at work, on my resume, on a contract design job, on my Z. I'm not perfectly healthy by any means, but at least i'm not developing gout on the Atkins diet or getting fat by eating compusively in my sleep. Can you say the same? ;)
Okay, the furnace has turned off for the night and my office is starting to approach absolute zero… i'd carry the PBook to the couch or bedroom where it’s warmer but i brought the wireless antenna to Steph’s house and my battery sucks lately anyway, guess it’s time for a new one. $igh. Guess that’s coming out of the Christmas bonus… oh, wait, all i got from john l scott for Christmas was an empty card. Ok, new plan - guess i'll get tarted up and take the bus back to White Center…
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