A Room With a View

I'm home for the weekend between back-to-back weeks in San Francisco. Yeah, I know, this past month I haven't really slept in my own bed much. Hopefully, after next week I'll be home for awhile. Nothing is on the schedule until the end of August, though I'm sure that will change. There's possibility of me going to San Antonio and Connecticut later this summer, yeah!

FYI: After next week, I'll have spent a total of seven weeks in San Francisco since last September. Geesh. That sure increases my odds of being in the "big one." I actually think of that quite often when I'm in compromising positions, such as the shower or on the toilet. What if there's a quake and I get caught with my pants down...literally? I guess if that's the way I'm gonna go there's no stopping it.

These two weeks aren't going to be so bad. We're being put up in the nicest hotel I think I've stayed in yet. The view is amazing. Right in the Financial District overlooking Chinatown, Coit Tower, and the Bay. I cannot and will not complain about that.

For you loyal blog readers, I only have a couple of more parts to post from the "Operation: Surprise" series, then it's on to posts from my Boston/NYC trip two weeks ago. I know, you can hardly wait. I'd like to post pictures here and there in between posts, to mix things up, but I still have tons to go through and it's kind of time consuming, so we'll see.

I have my first part of the CPA exam scheduled for July 12th. I'm studying today. I'm finally starting to get stressed about it. It's going to be more difficult than I thought. It's super hard to make time to study for it, too, with all the traveling I do. But whatever, no excuses. Knowing that by this time next year I could be a licensed CPA is motivation enough.

The view from my room as I walked in Tuesday morning. That's Coit Tower on the top left, and of course the Bay on the other side.



Overlooking Chinatown from the conference room at our client.



Such a comfortable bed.



Scoma's. Among the best seafood on the West Coast (so I've heard).



The view from Scoma's on the Wharf.



The view from my hotel room at night.

I'm Moving...

...for the third time this year.

That's right. I said a couple of weeks ago I was going to have an announcement. Well, that's it. I've been waiting for an opportunity to move in with my friend Don, who also is my boss (!!!), well, sort of. I mean he can tell me what to do, anyways... And the opportunity finally came up.

I've been waiting a long time to be able to be roomies with a good friend; I've never had the chance. His roommate since college moved out this past weekend, and I'm moving in the end of June.

Don already has the joint cleaned up, bought a new fridge, a new sofa set, new silverware, cleared room for me in the cupboards, is going to paint the bathroom and steam the carpets. This is sounding good already.

I broke the news to my current landlords last night that I'm leaving. I think I'll miss living with them, in a way. I won't miss the hustle and bustle of living with a family of five, but I really enjoy spending time with the adults, and I think the feeling is mutual. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, though. What were my sisters friends have now become mine, and it's good to have "family" closer than Minnesota if I ever need anything.

So there you have it. My rent is only going up by a nominal rate, I'll be about 10 miles further from work, but I'll be closer to Disneyland! Angel Stadium is going to be less than two miles away, I'll also have two malls within a five minutes drive. I think it's going to be good. My address will be on a street named after a fruit, in the city of Orange, in the county of Orange. How do you like that?

Anyways, I just got back from spending a week in Boston, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey and now I'm in San Francisco (again) for two weeks. Ayyy. But whoa, this hotel we're put up in is the nicest I think I've ever stayed in. I have a view of Coit Tower as well as the Bay...it's sick. And this bed is amazing with some 300 or something thread count sheets. I could get used to this. I can't wait to go to bed. With this trip I've also finally earned a free flight on Southwest, and I have another one coming on Delta in the next month or so. There are definitely perks to traveling as much as I do.

I have to remember not to take it for granted.

Operation: Surprise, Part 4

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Today was a day of perks. Well, if perks are good-looking women. Why not?

I started the morning off with another case of GPS directions gone bad. The school I was trying to visit apparently moved. I later found out that the street it’s now on is named after the landlord who owns the building I was visiting. And it’s all brand new. Google maps couldn’t even get it right. It brought me to the other side of town. Couldn’t it have just said, “Sorry, I got nothin’” instead of guessing? Bah.

The director of financial aid is who I usually meet with when I’m visiting these schools, but she was new and wasn’t available. That usually means the campus director will meet with me. The campus director in small town Illinois = hottie. Yes, it’s true. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t flirt with her a little. It kind of weirded me out though because she’s gotta be in her 30s and last I checked that was way old. Now that I’m 26 maybe my acceptable age range has expanded. I may have to get used to that.

As a side, I bet half of the people I’ve met this week have said one or both of the following things:

“When I heard the auditor was coming, I was really nervous. How did I do?” and/or,
“You don’t look like an auditor.”

The latter, I take as a compliment.

It is kind of empowering (?) when I walk into these places and check in with the receptionist. “Yeah, I’m here to see so and so big-wig.”

“Who’s your advisor?”

“No. I’m the auditor.”

As I was driving the four hours to my next stop in Des Moines, Iowa, I encountered my most major GPS problem yet. Somehow my position on the map was in the middle of the forest and not on any roads. It couldn’t recalculate my route because it didn’t know what road I was on. I already had a tight schedule to keep and I didn’t really have time to be messing with wrong directions. I ended up back tracking a bit back to a town I just passed so I could ask for directions.

Through it all, I’ve learned that I will always ALWAYS have a map with me at all times. You just can’t replace the ability to pull that thing out when all else fails. It’s always reliable. It also really bugs me that when I’m not using a map, I have no sense of where I am in the city. Sure, it gets me to where I need to go, but I couldn’t tell you at all what parts of St. Louis I was in on Tuesday. No good.

Maps are my friend.

I finally arrived in Des Moines. The women I talked on the phone with on Tuesday to confirm my appointment for Wednesday sounded pretty cute. This is usually hit-and-miss though as lots of people sound good-looking (see: all radio DJs).

So she sounded cute and her name was one of those names that I associate with attractive girls. I actually found myself getting a little nervous to meet this woman when I knew nothing about her. Kind of odd.

I waited in the lobby for _____ and, though she wasn’t quite was I was expecting, she definitely was cute and definitely closer to my age than the last woman I mentioned. I sort of felt a connection with her after our 20 minutes together, but you know, it’s hard to tell. It may have just been me, as usual. And it’s not like anything can come of it, so I dismissed that thought as soon as I thought it. Okay, enough of that.

After my appointment, I stopped to get something to eat on my way to the Iowa State Capitol building downtown. I was the first car at the red light and I was unwrapping my sandwich. The light turned green. I stepped on the gas. Not two seconds later I see some dude in my right side mirror up in arms looking like he’s yelling at me. I guess I almost ran him over? Dude, he must have started walking through the intersection way later than he was supposed to. I know, I still should have seen him and he still has the right of way, but that’s bull. So yes, I’m lucky I didn’t take this guy out and spend the night in jail. Idiot. It probably wasn’t as close as it looked. I hope.

I arrived at the Iowa State Capitol and planned on getting a tour while I was there. The security guard told me that only on the guided tours can you go up in the dome area. Come to find out, the next and last tour of the day is with a bunch of 4th graders. No thank you. Self-guided tour, here I come.

I was only about 10 minutes in when I got a call from the office. An audit I’ve been a part of is trying to be wrapped up this week while I’m gone and apparently I didn’t finish all of my work. In a semi-panic, I left the capitol so I could get to my hotel in case the partner called and I needed my computer. Oh bother. I suppose I am still on the clock even though my work for the day is done.

To cap off the day, I was checking in at the Radisson when the front desk tell me they’ve moved my room because of overbooking. Okay, great. But they bumped me up to the room with the hot tub, fireplace, and two plasma flatscreens. Oh yeah!! Hot tubbin’ it on a Wednesday afternoon. Can’t beat it.

I ended the day by going to a movie I’d already seen but loved so much that I thought “why not end a great day with a great movie?” and I was really craving movie theatre popping corn. After the movie, I hot tubbed it again. Ooooh.

Photos: St. Louis Arch

I went a little nuts with pictures when I visited the Arch in St. Louis a few weeks ago. I've learned that only a handful actually turn out how I want so I just end up taking 30 at a time or something. Here are my favorites:

This was taken from behind the Arch on the Mississippi River. It's a little high this time of year.

New Jersey (A Rant)

My impression of New Jersey is probably the same as many of the rest of yours...it sucks. Nobody ever seems to have good things to say about Jersey. Nobody ever visits Jersey (I don't think) and does anybody really know why it's called the "Garden State"? I mean, it was green and seemingly garden-y in the movie of the same name, but I didn't see an abundance ot vegetables growing along the road or anything.

Let me bring you up to speed here. The reason I'm in New Jersey is for work. Of course it's for work. When I went to AAA to get some planning materials, I was surprised they even had a Tour Book for New Jersey. It's paired with Pennsylvania thankfully, so it has some saving grace. I thought to myself, they must put the new guys at AAA on New Jersey. When you're in your first year at the company updating and editing the Tour Books, it must take a lot to screw up a state no one probably visits.

But I digress... (this saying is starting to become overused, by the way). On to the rant.

I really was going to give New Jersey a clean slate and clear my preconceived ideas about what to expect. Just like any other state I visit.

I had two appointments today. One in Livingston and one in Iselin. For those of you not familiar with New Jersey, both places are near Newark which is near Manhattan which is probably considered part of the greater New York City Metropolitan area, but I can't be certain.

Okay, so I got both of my appointments taken care of, but that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about why I've decided to join the club of people who don't care for the Garden State.

Reason #1: Tollroads

We left Manhattan this morning (future blogs will discuss this) and had to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. I love turnpikes! Well, I don't really know what makes a turnpike a turnpike, but it seems to involve tolls in my experience. So no, I guess I don't like turnpikes. I like the option to use tolls like I have in LA. The toll roads are available, and when you want to use them, are often free of a lot of traffic. In NJ, you must use them, and you must pay to use them. Thanks for the option!

Reason #2: Parkways

According to Wikipedia, the authority on everything for the Gen-Y-ers, a parkway is defined as "A broad landscaped thoroughfare; especially : one from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded." This sounds pretty straight-forward. I guess New Jersey didn't get the memo on parkways. I first realized their definition, when I tried to make a left turn off of Hwy 1, aka something something Parkway. No left turns. I thought I'd try the next light. No left turns. And the next light, no left turns. This happened to me on multiple occasions today. Then I would see a sign on my right that says "exit here for all turns." Apparently, you have to exit on the right to turn left. Sure enough, it's true. It's quite the fustercluck. And yes, it's retarded.

I spent so much time and gas taking detours and rerouting all over the place because of these stupid parkways that it worked me into probably the most anger I've had in a long, long time.

To give an example of how these things work, if you want to go to a restaurant on the left side of the road, you have to exit on the on the right side sometime before or after it, then make a left turn to get to the stoplight that crosses the intersection of the parkway. There is no bridge over it the road or anything, there is a stoplight. So why not just add a left turn lane? I wish I could describe and/or show the best/worst example of how messed up this is. I saw it today at 5:30. It was the stupidst thing I've ever seen.

If I sound like I'm repeating myself, it's because I need to vent.

I hate parkways. They don't make sense to me. They seem to defeat the very purpose they are trying to achieve.

Reason #3: Full Service Gas Stations

Yes, that's right, we've stepped back in time here in NJ. I go to the first gas station to fill-er-up. I see a little booth next to some of the pumps and as I pull up, a guy starts to walk out. I glance at the sign out front, "Full Service." I take off. I decide to go to another gas station. Pull in. Same thing.

"This is weird," I think to myself. I decided to try one more, same thing. I passed another couple. Same. At this point I'm thinking someone is playing a joke on me. I don't need or want someone to pump my gas. I finally determine that it must be the law in NJ that you cannot pump your own gas.

I also decide that there is no way I'm tipping someone to gas me up. I figured no one else would either, being gas is the price it is. Come to find out, again via Wikipedia, it is in fact law in NJ that there is no self-service. That's right. You cannot buy gasoline in New Jersey and fill it up yourself. What is this, the 1940s? I thought I was Marty McFly in 1955 on "Back to the Future."

Here are some hilarious (to me) quote I found in a newsstory from 2006 that I don't feel like citing:

"I'm not against a lot of things, but I don't want to pump my own gas. It's part of the Jersey identity. It's our thing," said Rose Maurice, who operates a tourism office at a turnpike rest stop.

Then there's the issue of safety. About 8.7 million residents live in the state and many of them, including more than one million senior citizens, have little experience in pumping gas. Assemblyman Francis L. Bodine (R) said this is one reason he's opposed to the idea. Plus, "If I'm dressed up, I don’t want to get out and smell like a gas pump," said Bodine.

Eight hours of training is required of gas station attendants, Dressler said. Among their responsibilities are knowing which type of containers cannot store gasoline, such as glass. "It's a dangerous product and they are trained in the correct procedures," he said.

Are you kidding me?

So that's it. By the time all this was over I wanted to punch something and scream really loudly. I just ended up having a case of some road rage as well as taking my anger out on the lady at Dunkin Donuts. I want the Berry Iced Coffee. Do I want sugar and cream in that? I don't know. I want it how it looks in the picture. Blah blah, can't understand your accent blah blah. Who asks is they want cream and sugar in their iced coffee? Starbucks and the Coffee Bean never ask me that.

Okay, that's the end of my rant. New Jersey sucks a big fatty.

Operation: Surprise, Part 3

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Today was a busy day. I had four schools to visit in the St. Louis area and then had to drive 2+ hours to Quincy, Illinois.

The two things I learned were this:

1) Don’t rely 100% on GPS navigation and,
2) I should have been a chef.

I bought a portable GPS device with precisely this trip in mind. It’s helped immensely… for the most part. I had a 1:30 appointment for which I arrived at 12:55 for. Perfect, I had time to go get some lunch first. My GPS tells me that a Chik-fil-a is close. Great! Well, 30 minutes later and not so great. It put me in some low-income neighborhood at someone’s house. How did I know this was incorrect? I thought GPS was supposed to be so great? Well, not always. -1 for GPS.

As I was on my way to the next site, I encountered a freeway that was closed. Completely. The detour didn’t really help me as I didn’t bring a map and didn’t really know where it was taking me. As I missed my exit on to the freeway, my GPS started freaking. It re-routed and sent me in a new direction. Less than five minutes later I was told to merge on the freeway that I had just passed due to closure the first time! So I realized I was just going to be going in circles unless I told the GPS to “avoid highways.” Okay, then it worked. Geesh.

That brought me to a culinary school, which brings me to the second thing I leaned on today.

I walked in and was greeted almost immediately with kitchen(s). Well, not completely, but the kitchens/classrooms were all completely glass on the hallway side. As the campus director walked me around explaining things to me, I could see in all of the kitchens and observe what was happening. It just looked like such a fun place to go to school. They cook and bake all day and get to taste each others food. Seeing this school coupled with my love of “Top Chef” on Bravo really makes me want to learn how to cook. As a side, I’ve been out of the office so much this year that I’ve only spent around $250 on groceries since the end of January. Whoa.

The best part of the culinary school? The the chef of the “healthy eating” class had just made some fresh berry smoothies and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Mmm.

In between my third and fourth appointments of the day, I had a little bit of time to kill. I was planning on going to the Transportation Museum, but one of the clients I talked to convinced me to go to nearby St. Charles to see the original state capitol (before Jefferson City) and to also see where Lewis and Clark set off on their expedition to the Pacific.

Yes, it was as boring as it sounds. Did I enjoy myself though? Of course.

St. Charles, Missouri is a small little town situated on the Missouri River. The main street is just a block off of the riverfront park and it definitely has maintained the old timey feel and is completely made of brick. It was pretty rough and uneven, but a site to see, nonetheless. It kind of reminded me of parts of the 405 in Orange County. I make a joke.

I parked by the old train depot and walked down to the river just in time to see one of those little boats like Mickey Mouse captained in the very first cartoon Walt Disney put out. I’m sure you’ve seen it.

I also drove down a gravel road a ways before I realized it wasn’t a road and was more like a path…for pedestrians. Oops.

I headed over to the Lewis and Clark museum. Completely lame. I paid $2.50 to see some diorama and a bunch of taxidermy of local wildlife. But hey, when am I going to get the chance to do that again?

Late afternoon I stopped in Hannibal, Missouri, home of Mark Twain (aka Sam Clemens) and the setting of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I wasn’t there in time to tour Twain’s boyhood home or see inside Becky Thatcher’s place, but I think I still saw enough. I don’t think I’ve ever read Tom Sawyer so the whole thing didn’t mean a whole lot to me, but I might some day.

I’ve been noticing that the Mississippi River is high in a lot of places this week and Hannibal was no exception. There was some sort of levee in place to stop the rising river from spilling into town. Interestingly enough, water was leaking through the levee I looked at, and it was pretty eerie. As I walked up the embankment, I could see that the river had flooded the riverfront park and further inland, I could make out the top of the railroad tracks peeking through the water. The railroad crossing arms were down, lights were flashing, alarm was ringing, and it didn’t stop. The whole scene was very peculiar.

Beantown

Tomorrow morning at 6:45AM, I'm departing for the east coast. Or, as they say out here, "back east." That's right, y'all, I'm going to Boston.

This will be my third time back east in the last year. My job brought me to Connecticut and New York City this past winter. My job is bringing me that way again. I don't have to work until Tuesday, so I've decided to fly up tomorrow instead of Monday and have a couple of days to sightsee. Being that I've never been to Boston, I'm pretty stoked. Everyone I talk to that's been there says it's wonderful.

The best part is, my Mom is coming with me.

It's for work, but I don't have to be working all day. I really just have 3-4 fifteen minute appointments throughout the day, Tues-Thurs. My travels will bring us throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. I can't wait.

I'm going to do my best to keep a travelogue while I'm there. It probably won't get posted to the blog until later. I mean, I still have several more installments in the "Operation: Surprise" series. I liked that title at first, by the way, but now I wish I had gone with something else.

Between that trip and this one, and all the pictures I'll have taken, I should have fresh content on the blog for weeks to come.

Also, I'm going to have a big announcement by the end of this month. It won't affect you in any way. Just me. And no, I'm not changing jobs, winning the lottery, or expecting. I guess it's not really that big of an announcement, either. Just an announcement.

Stay tuned.

New Car? Chew on This...

I just returned from the auto shop. Remember a few posts back when I talked about a coolant problem with Mable? Turns out the computer shorted and wasn't running the fans properly. That led to my radiator pretty much being trashed. I ended up replacing the radiator, hoses, thermostat, and computer to the tune of $1742. How much is labor per hour in Minnesota? Anyone? It's up to $98/hr. here. Silly.

I just ran the numbers on my car since I took it over in 2003. I only have receipts from when I moved to TX, but I'm pretty sure I didn't dump anything major into it before I moved to TX.

So, excluding normal wear and tear items, since these would still be incurred on a new car, this is the run down of my expenses on the car...

April 2006, Alternator, $351
May, 2007, A/C System, $873
May 2008. Cooling System, $1742
Total: $2966

Cost per month since 2003 ($2966 / about 47 months): $63
Cost per month since 2006 ($2966 / 24 mos): $124
Cost per month in since last repair ($1742 / 12 mos): $145

Any way you run the numbers, this car has been doing well. I think I made the right decision in fixing it again. As long as my 12 month average stays below the amount of an average car payment, I am going to keep driving it. That $145 would have to get to nearly $300 and that's not including insurance on a new car (I pay $29/mo right now). I have quite a bit of room to wiggle. I also am going to sock away $100 a month in a car repair fund / new car fund just so I can be prepared.

I'm such an accountant.

Operation: Surprise, Budweiser Tour Photos

The bottling plant. No pictures inside!



They only keep a few here at a time...



Thomas, Duke, and Mark






See the rest of the set here...

Operation: Surprise, Part 2 (The Beginning)

Monday, May 5, 2008, St. Louis, MO

I’m lucky enough to be traveling around the Midwest on site visits again. You may recall me doing this last fall in TN, KY, MO and KS. Good times. Well, turns out they need me for a couple more weeks’ worth of visits this month, also.

I started this morning at 6:45AM flying from Orange County to St. Louis, Missouri. Since my first appointment isn’t until tomorrow, I had the rest of the day to do some sightseeing. Most people who are sent out on these trips spend their evenings in the hotel watching tv. Me? I see it as a chance to see things I may have never went to see on my own and/or may never get the chance to see again.

Since I arrived in St. Louis at 2PM, I had to find a couple of things to do to fill the afternoon. St. Louis = Anheuser-Busch = Budweiser = tour of the plant = free beer!

I penciled the tour in for 3PM, well, after waiting 25 minutes for my luggage and 30 minutes for my rental car, I was running behind schedule. Side note: I reserved a mid-size sedan but was offered an upgrade to a Dodge Caravan since they were out of mid-sized. No. I said no. I’m not tooling around for 1000 miles in a minivan. She ended up getting me a Suzuki XL-7 SUV, one I’ve had before. Not bad. Oh, and she’s all, it’s going to be $0.40 a mile. WHAT? No. I need unlimited. I’m returning the car in MINNEAPOLIS!! That will cost way too much. Well, in the end it’s still going to cost almost $600 for the week. Sick.

Anyways, after the whole rental car rigmarole, I felt like Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, although I didn’t cuss out the Avis lady. For those of you in the know, Steve Martin’s character in said movie was at the airport in St. Louis also (I think?). So anyways…

I arrived at the Anheuser-Busch plant to find free parking. Yes! I walked in and the man-ceptionist said the next tour was in five minutes and handed me a card. I was waiting for him to tell me how much the tour was…but he didn’t. Free tour!!

The tour was pretty awesome. The whole complex sort of reminded me of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory in English-speaking Germany (you saw the movie…it was obviously in Germany, with no accents. Or maybe it was London? Cause wasn’t Augustus from Germany? Someone needs to confirm this…) All of the buildings were pretty old and similar looking. I was waiting for an Ooompa Loompa to pass by at any moment riding a Clydesdale, hand me a beer and say, “This Bud’s for you.” But, as you can imagine, that didn’t happen.

Some fun facts from the tour are this: they have all these huuuuge monster kegs, but not really kegs, that the beer sits in to do the proprietary “Beechwood Aged” thing. Well, they have 30 some of these things and each one holds the equivalent of 200,000 six-packs. Turns out, you’d have to drink one beer every hour of every day for 127 some years to finish that tank off. Whoa. They wouldn’t let us take pictures in there. Some secret. Did they think I was going to hand them over to Slugworth (see: Willy Wonka)?

I think the whole bottling plant was the most interesting part. They have this machine that fills 1300 bottles per second. I think he said per second. Per minute’s not as impressive. Well, yes it is. So either way, quick. No pictures in there either.

This plant bottles enough beer per day that if you lined them up end-to-end they would stretch from NYC to Miami. I heard so many more fun facts today, but I can’t remember anymore. All of them were impressive.

Obviously, the best part of the tour was the end. The “Hospitality Room.” Each person gets not one, but two free 12 oz. samples. Oh, wow! Freshest Budweiser ever!

The next thing on my list was to visit the Gateway Arch, or, more commonly known as the Arch. And no, not the McDonald’s one. Der. I’ve been to the Arch before when I was 12 or 13 or something, but I don’t remember it much, and I didn’t have a digital camera then, so I had to go back. Unfortunately, I missed the last elevator to the top. Sucks. I’d still like to do that some day. I hear it’s all claustrophobic-y but offers great views.

To end the evening, I headed over to Schlafly Brewery, the only (I think) other brewery in St. Louis. It’s pretty small time but it’s supposed to be good. There weren’t a whole lot of people at the bar, they were mostly in the dining room and outside on the patio. I sort of felt out of place when all of the guys coming and going from the bar knew the barkeep on a first-name basis and vice versa. I ordered my first beer and planned on heading out after that. It was kind of awkward. Well, then things started to be okay for some reason and I decided to just stay and order some food. I got this bison stew and a buffalo burger. Each were awful. The stew was just, something, and the burger was too well done and was falling apart. Nasty.

Well, then people started talking to me. It was actually kind of fun talking to the locals. I decided to try another beer. Then the guy next to me left, but apparently the barkeep overheard us talking and then proceeds to say to me, “so you’re from California? I lived in North Hollywood for five years…” That led to loads of convo. Which led to me finding out he doesn’t even drink, but only serves. Which leads to him saying how amazing the beer is they brew there at Schlafly (which he only tastes). Which leads to him giving me a sample of 4 more beers (on the house!). Which leads to be feeling obligated to drinking them (even the nasty dark stout which I knew would taste like fireplace and definitely did). Which led to me feeling kind of nasty. After all the conversation apparently this guy was my new buddy. He didn’t charge me for the second beer I ordered, he gave me a growler to go at the “regulars price” and each of the three times he thought I was leaving, he shook my hand and told me how nice it was to meet me and wished me safe travels. Nice guy. For some reason we bonded over a short period of time. I felt like Cliff to his Woody (see: Cheers).

Operation: Surprise, Part 1 (The End)

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged for awhile. Or maybe you didn't. Well, have no fear, I've secretly been blogging all week but I haven't been able to post it. Why? Because it would have compromised my mission.

I was in the Midwest all week for work, with the end game of ending up in Minnesota on Friday evening to surprise my Mom for Mother's Day.

During the week, however, I was working. I started in St. Louis then went to Quincy, IL, Des Moines, IA, Clinton, IA, Chicago and Milwaukee. It was a good week. I worked, I played, I enjoyed local brews.

I'm going to start by showing you the end of the week, then as the days go by and I have some time to edit down what I've written (it's long) I will post more.

So here we go. My parents were at a party last night so I was able to hang out with my sisters and their families until they got home. My brother-in-law, Marc, lured them downstairs where I was lounging on the couch.

Roll it!

Under Pressure

I made a promise to myself awhile back that when I moved to California I wouldn't let all the fancy cars and the remarks of others convince me to dump Mable and buy something newer and nicer. I made a promise to myself that I would keep my car until it's not worth fixing. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't have another $300 car payment.

Folks, this past week, I was very close to breaking that promise. I was pretty convinced that I wanted to throw caution to the wind and go buy a fun in the sun type of vehicle -- something that I could really enjoy this summer. Also, something that would be under warranty and not stick me with any outrageous repair bills.

I was planning on test driving a 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon/Sahara/X this weekend. I was planning on, if the dealer would give me the price I wanted, signing a lease for that thing before the end of the month.

Well, I've been stopped in my tracks. A voice of reason by the name of Don reminded me of my promises. He made me realize that there's no need to replace Mable right now. Sure, her coolant tank was bone dry yesterday, by no fault of her own, and sure, her tires don't hold air like they should, and yeah, the muffler is starting to act up a little, and yes, when it's 100 degrees out the a/c has a hard time keeping up, but these are all minor things.

After I had her coolant topped off and washed her clean yesterday, it's like driving a car that just had the middle-aged woman equivalent of getting a Botox injection. She's not hesitating off the line, she's shifting from first to second better and just seems to be running smoother. All because of the coolant. Oops.

Anyways, I'm a little over 6,000 miles away from the 300,000 mile mark, and I fully intend on making it. At this point, the only foreseeable thing I'll need is some brake work, but that's no big deal.

It's tough at times to not get excited about the idea of a new car. I was entertaining choosing among the following cars this week:

Jeep Wrangler
Mini Cooper
Honda Civic
Chevy Malibu
Volkswagen Jetta and a
Nissan Altima

The latter two, I was informed, are chick cars that I wouldn't live down.

I kept thinking how awesome it would be to tool around SoCal with the top down on a Jeep. So much more fun to drive than a convertible, too. But alas, Jeeps are not made to be an every day drive on the freeway type of vehicle. It's noisy as heck in the cabin, overpriced, and unreliable. Oh, and 15 MPG. So what gives? I would lease it for two years, have some fun with it, and get a sensible family car just in time to settle down, accepting the fact that I won't have another fun car until my mid-life crisis.

The more I thought about it, I was intended on buying a car not for myself, but for everyone else. Everyone who says I have all this disposable income and owe it to myself to get a nice car. Well, to those people, you're in debt. You have your nice cars and your $300-400 payment every month, I'll take $0 per month and put that money towards paying off that Visa so that one day, all the credit cards payments I'm making will be non-existent and that $300 car payment will be cake.

Okay, I'm over it.