The Weather and Everyone's Health

Monday, May 15, 2006

More Assorted NewsFlashes

Ok, in no particular order (think Tim Goodman's Crankypants columns):

Ok, I don't know how to tell you people this, but I got an iPod for my birthday! Now I can take NPR podcasts and music with me everywhere! I'll be damned if I'm paying $1/track all the time, though. I can start by putting all the mp3's on my laptop onto it. I don't have anything on it yet because I didn't have enough time to fiddle with it over the weekend, but I did enough fiddling to get comfortable with the menus, scroll wheel, etc. I like that it has games, but I wish I could take off the one that involves shooting paratroopers. That's just mean! I like that it has a calendar, but I haven't figured out how to put anything on it yet. It's shiny.

So, my car got its first parking ticket on Friday. $35. I was in a job interview, for crying out loud! What was I supposed to say--"I'd like to tell you about my ideal boss, but first I have to go feed the meter because I didn't think you'd spend 30 minutes talking?" And anyway then it turned out that even though I was a viable candidate for the job, it didn't pay enough hourly for me to consider it.

Speaking of interviews, I had 2 on Friday, and the other one was somewhere I would really like to work and I think it went well. It doesn't pay quite as much as I'm hoping for, but it's career-related, so the experience and networking would be good. And maybe I can make up the $ difference with tutoring. I also got a phone message that would have been a phone interview if I had been able to pick it up; I called back but it was after 5, so I left a message. Hopefully they'll call back today.

Went to KFOG KABOOM! with Anna for her birthday on Saturday. It was fun! "Saw" K.T. Tunstall and Los Lonely Boys in concert (meaning, sat in a parking lot from which the stage was audible and from which tiny singing people could be viewed with effort--I noted that that was probably the most relaxed I had ever been in a crowd that size before later wondering if the fact that I wasn't wearing a sousaphone probably helped). Ate regrettable over-priced fried food. K.T. needs to work on her stage patter, but I like some of her songs. Really liked "Black Horse & Cherry Tree" when I heard it on KFOG last summer. The neat thing was during the fireworks show Anna had an NPR survival crank radio so we could hear the synched songs. For "Black Horse & Cherry Tree" the fireworks looked like cherry trees in bloom! Very cool. Lots of innovative fireworks I haven't seen elsewhere, even last year's KABOOM. (PS you can watch streaming video/audio of the fireworks if you click the link above) Oh, and it was free! (except for the regrettable fried food...note to self...)

Re: GG5K training. Got dragged on some kind of death hike/jog yesterday morning. Should have eaten a little something or had some juice before I left, because I was tired and did not have a very sportsmanlike attitude (read: major lack of hustle). We jogged from about the Ferry Building to the Filbert St. Stairs which go all the way up to Coit Tower. We went up all the stairs. The view from the top was very nice. Then we went down all the stairs and (some of us) jogged back to where we started from. Probably 3-4 miles altogether. In the sun. I would whine more, but I was getting my ass kicked by our 60-year-old "coach" who at least gave me some good advice on running shoes. Did some stretching and crunches this morning. Will theoretically run 1.5 miles tomorrow morning. Perhaps with new iPod for company?

So, there was a Perspective on KQED last week about how this woman has given up her car and couldn't be happier. She has to wait for the bus now and can't carry things around with her and she loves it. Listen, I would love to be not buying gas, and I do enjoy noticing things as I walk through neighborhoods, but I have to get things from place to place! And buy groceries! And haul a tuba around! Part of the allure of a car to me was storage! If my car had indoor plumbing I could easily live in it! On the serious side, I hope to use it only when necessary and continue walking, biking and transiting when possible. The only problem with that kind of mixed transiting is figuring out where to park your car so it's safe and you can get back to it. Too bad it can't fold up and be carried in one's pocket. That would be ideal. Even fold-up bikes are cumbersome...

In other car news, I gave it its first fill-up (actually only 2/3 tank) since the drive up yesterday. Car now has 700 miles on it (break-in period is 1000 miles). $20, could be worse. Doesn't do quite as nicely in the city as on the highway, but still does quite well. Hope I don't have to fill up every week, though. Speaking of filling up, the owner's manual said that depending on whether it was type blahblahblahA or blahblahblahB it would prefer either unleaded 87 or unleaded 89. When we were driving up from LA and stopped we could find no indication anywhere on which type the car was, so we guessed and filled it with 87. Still finding no indication, yesterday I put in 89. I think it likes 89 better; seems to run a little more smoothly and quietly. Also started to notice more smoothness around the 400-mile mark; must be a break-in period thing. Looking forward to see what emerges around 1000 miles, though I hope I don't drive so much I hit that mark soon.

Going back to the KQED thing, I think I really got to the point (especially with tutoring) that I needed a car to get from place to place. Some places just aren't accessible by transit! And some are, but you have to transfer 3 times and it takes you an hour. To wit, my April bill for City Car Share was $500 (and I'm not sure yet how I'm going to pay it, but the new tutoring client should help...). Ok, at that point you pretty much just need to get your own car. My monthly payments are less than $500.

- posted by k @ 3:56 PM