Reunited

Just a quick post - came into work this morning to crank things out and got distracted by email as I just got an email from my old college budy Emilia! We had lost touch for several years, and looking into going to my (I won't say how many years) college reunion came across her contact info. A bunch of us are using the event as an excuse to get together and catch up - can't wait to get the whole gang back together (well at least some of us) - we're scattered across the country and haven't seen some people for I don't know how many years. Anyways, I'm strating to get a bit nostalgic about my old college days and looking forward to seeing people again!

April Fools Anticipation

I'm itching with excitement about the quickly upcoming day of fools. I had been wanting to visit dad and Barbro in VT since I got back and it turns out the earliest weekend was none other than April Fools... which I hadn't even noticed. However, dad got me thinking of it when he pointed it out and mentioned that April Fools isn't actually celebrated on the weekends, but the nearest business day (i.e. Monday), in his feeble attempt to prevent any fateful events from happening.



Historically, I think I've only had one great official April fools heist (at my first job in San Francisco - I got a free lunch out of it and it involved a nose ring). But still have played jokes on dad before in non-April months, the best involving the local paper, an old, old photo of dad and a quasi-secret name.



I had two jokes in the works and decided if this wasn't the best time than when would. So after careful delibration, got the ball rolling in the set up on Monday. I can't divulge too much as I don't think dad will read this between now and Sunday, but just in case it would be a shame (needless to say I will be blogging about this post the event). But just wanted to capture my pure giddiness last night when I came home and I found that the first part of the plan was already in place (earlier than anticipated)! It might have been the slight buzz of the beer I had earlier (we had an event at work that I organized which thankfully had food and drinks - and I'm a lightweight these days), the exhaustion of extra work and stressful projects, but opening my door and seeing the delivery (yes there are objects specially ordered for this event), my mind quickly imagining how this will play out and thinking of how purely ingenious this plan is and how entertaining it will be to all parties involved (ok, there are only three of us - dad's grumbling, barbro's laughter, and my delight).



So I apologize I can't elaborate on this further, or show you my frustration on my latest knitting project (last two really), or get into work too much (there are some major changes going on), or even show you my deflated soufle I got inspired to make one evening in pure exhaustion. Mainly because I have run out of time. But I hope you can share a bit in my excitement of this weekend's upcoming event and perhaps be thankful it's not you (honestly dad, it's not all that bad - no permanent damage... I think).

More on Cars

Cars have been the topic of several events lately. The next day, after the last post, I got to use Zipcar for the first time for a business meeting. Really fun, and since I'm not paying, super duper fun. It's like test driving all these new, different, funky cars I was interested in knowing more about anyways. Next, I want to try out the Mini. After I returned from my meeting I was set on getting a Toyota Matrix. It's a station wagon, but not at all like the Outback or others I was thinking about. And it's a Toyota (we're a toyota/honda family), and it's cheaper, and it's good milage, and handles really nicely (but than again it has power steering, so compared to my car any car seems to handle nicely to me). Onto the next car... the Prius.

Than today, I was forwarded the following link to an article comparing Priuses and Hummers. Guess who looses environmentally. As some know, I'm actually not a big fan of Priuses - mainly because I feel the milage differential should be much larger for the new technology. How substantive the report is, I can't attest to. And I grant that huge portions of the environmental debate are not addressed (i.e. Low-emitting vehicles) . But it does bring up some of the Life Cycle Analysis that is often not considered. The article ends mentioning the Scion - another Toyota, but unfortunately the form seems to trump function for me.

And finally, yesterday, guess what I got in my mail. Three days after I got hit, I get a solicitation from a lawyer to go after the culpret. It was a form letter, but I did get a magnet. Just to clarify, I was coming home Sunday night and the fellow behind me hit me at a red light... and than proceeded to run. I was a bit angered at the lack of respect, so followed him far enough to get his liscense plate and than proceeded to wait almost an hour for the police to come (on foot) to file a report. In the end it turns out that no damage occured (although I do still need to confirm this in daylight). Just a bit of a sore neck and being indignant that the guy didn't have the courtesy to make sure everything was alright before driving off, but who knows what the whole story was.

Car Trouble

Sorry for the absence. I was annoyed with Blogger for loosing my last entry before I posted it. It was worded so magnificently with a wonderful juxtopositioning of wisdom and humor... and now it's disappeared forever.



But, I'm back - jetlag is something new to me (what I thought was jetlag from travels to Europe, I now understand was not even close to jetlag). Frankly, I think jetlag should be renamed as it under represents the true experience of your body struggling to flip over (night becomes day - and you request it instantly, when you land).



Work has been... well work. Not much has changed, and is coming to a head. Don't want to get into it and air the dirty laundry, but needless to say there is some changes in staffing that should be coming soon that should help alliveate (fingers crossed) most of the trouble.



Outside of work, besides sleeping and trying to do basic necessities - restocking the fridge, endless loads of laundry (still not done - realize I now have a bunch of "hand wash" only clothes from india - that's a chore), I've had a little bit of fun.



Last weekend was fun with an organic windtasting at a friends (which I did end of sleeping during half of it as it was friday night and exhausted, and the hostesses bed was comfy, begging me to collapse on it). As well as cross country skiing on saturday. Before you protest that isn't possible (there is no snow here, sadly), let me say it wasn't tons of skiing - basically a golf course where they make their own snow and mainly catered to skaters (the skiing type). But it was nice to be outside and enjoying a little bit of skiing (I think it will be the only time for me this year - although I think I heard rumor some will be coming tomorrow, strangely, as it's like 60 right now).



I had several meetings to keep me busy after work, one talking about debt override and how to finance our next school renovation, and the other one with my local Sustainability Group which was exciting as I hadn't been able to participate much lately. So many people excited and not just saying what should be done, but stepping up and doing it. More on future progress in later posts.



And finally, my car, which was "broken" before I left for India, and not suprisingly remained so when I returned. I use the term broken loosely as all I had to go on was an annoying flashing light alerting me to the possibility. After debating if the fix could be some black electric tape over the light. I finally grit the teeth and brought it in yesterday. Initially they said it just needed more fluids - coolant - not too bad. But than I get that call, you know the one, later in the day, telling my that my radiator is cracked and by the way my front brakes are gone. After paying this morning, I start wondering if this is the beginning of a steady stream of repairs (it is a '94 after all), or are we are good for now. I think my plan is to wait it out for a few more years, partly because I really want to buy the cheaper version of this car:

It's a Tesla which is a new company providing a new type of electric cars. I'm not a big fan of hybrids, and highly recommend seeing "Who Killed the Electric Car", so something like this is right up my alley... somewhat. I had wanted a station wagon next, and this is going in the opposite direction, but this version is their high end to compete with the likes of Porche. I'm hoping they will quickly expand their line of vehicles (with ones at the lower price tags), I'll try to hold out until then.