Took my car in for an oil change yesterday. It was a quick half hour, then I stopped by the gas station to fill up the tank for the rest of the week and a half. Seems like I’m always at the car shop for one thing or another. I don’t know when this all started but it’s just about every other month I’m there (or it feels that way). An oil change and tire rotation every few thousand miles, then on top of that, transmission and other fluid changes. Geesh, that’s pretty high maintenance in my books! Still, I’m more than happy to do this regular stuff if it means I don’t have to fix anything, or worse, get another car.

Speaking of automobiles, I had a coworker who once told me she was left stranded on the highway during the previous day’s commute home. Didn’t know what happened, the car just stopped in the middle of the road and wouldn’t start up. I asked her how old that truck was and she said it was about three years old. Then she exalted the wonders of her car and how she would buy it again if this one crapped out (which it did, and she did). Makes sense. New car conks after three years, I’d buy the same exact make and model again. Love is blind. My old boss at a previous job loved her Jeep Wrangler. Then she said if you get one, be prepared to spend a lot of money fixing it. She’s owned two or three of them before. Are you fer reals?! I don’t have the time nor patience to deal with that. I barely want to go to the gas station.

Now I could be totally off here, ESP was never one of my fortes, but I think the American big 3 auto manufacturers would benefit from the new energy bill proposal to mandate 35 mpg by year 2020. Here’s the thing, they’re losing market share anyway if they don’t jump into the environmental, energy awareness shindig. They’re already suffering and they already need to do this if not to fulfill any law, to market to their consumers new tastes. Toyota did not spend the beaucoup bucks to be first on this hybrid business for nothing. They were the ESP-thinkers… “moving forward” isn’t just a slogan. So what’s so bad about having a law that not only pushes you to do what you would’ve done anyway but on top of that, Uncle Sam’s gonna help them by subsidizing some of their factory improvements in order to meet the mandate. So they’re getting free moolah to boot. Aaannd… as if that weren’t lenient enough, it’s not like 35mpg is an across the board rule for every vehicle, it’s just the overall average. SUVs and trucks wouldn’t have to meet that, they’d just be calculated into the average. If they fight this, they’re crazier than I thought.

Yesterday I had a political conversation with Bible-thumper. Now I’ve heard of the keep-politics-and-religion-out-of-conversations advice before but as with all silly social norms rules, they only apply towards certain people. Some people enjoy it and there are no hard feelings. Bible-thumper enjoys debates like these and we keep it light. He is a born-again who is very adamant in his beliefs. I respect that… mostly. I respect it in that I respect any person is entitled to his views but holy moly them views are so right!!  And I’m not talking about that right, I’m talking about the other right.  Just when I think I understand the degree of his rightwingness, I realize I’ve but scratched the surface. Duuuude… it’s like Bible-belt right. I’ve been living in a bubble. These people exist. They’re the same folks who think Creationism should be taught in public schools.

Let me just give you examples and you can decide for yourself. Frankly I was surprised by the things he expressed.

• People who come to this country must learn the culture and language. We should not need to accomodate them.
• Abortion ought to be banned but the US Supreme Court is too liberal.
• We did not go into the Middle East for oil.
• Those people over there (Middle Eastern region of the world) will never stop fighting. It’s just the way they are.
• We need to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
• Maybe if we allowed everyone to carry concealed weapons people would be nicer. Had the Omaha shooter been in Texas, someone would’ve capped him for sure.

Good ol’ watercooler conversation entertainment.

They remind me of… food. C’mon now, you should know this by now. It’s food, food, and always food. In this case, candy. Don’t ask why, they just do.

I went to the local Costco to get my spectacles, which by the way, has pretty decent prices and selection. Consumer Reports seemed to think so too in 2006 if I’m not mistaken. The one I’ve been going to for the past two years has a hodgepodge of really nice people. I’ve seen the same crew for the past two years so it’s probably a pretty good place to work if they’ve been there that long in a customer service-type job. Hmm… I wonder.

So here’s the rundown of the motley crew of very nice folks:

Thug – He’s the guy who put in my order when I went to pick out my glasses. “Thug” because he had a cut lip, gash above his eyebrow, and all he was missing was a black eye to complete the ensemble. I don’t know what this guy does on the weekends. Pleasant enough though, and who knows, maybe he just had a klutzy midnight run to el bano.

Curly – Mr. Congeniality

Spacey – Watches TV while helping me fit my glasses. Friendly, but in her own solar system.

Biography Channel – He asked me about my life story while Spacey was adjusting my glasses. I’m talking about whole life story, the entire rundown from childhood to current job. Maybe I should call him Nosy. He assumed my current job is also my first because I look dewey fresh out of college. Ain’t that sweet? Weird dude, but amiable enough.

Mr. Sunshine – Cheery, gay guy. Very knowledgeable and willing to explain things. I like him cuz he taught me that the higher your prescription, the smaller you probably want your lenses. The larger the lens circumference, the thicker the edges, the more coke-bottle-like your glasses.

There are others, but these are the ones I interacted with and made a good impression on me. Recommended – I’m sure your local joint will have cool folks just like these too.

No more disposable #1 PETE water bottles. I’m going with the #5 polypropolene2 instead because it won’t be dangerous for another few years when new research surfaces. Until then, I’m sticking to this.

It’s a water pouch. They come in various sizes. I have the 2 liter bag and it’s as you can imagine, very big. But, you don’t have to fill it all the way and it’s a bag so it folds up when you’re done with it.  The portability is great but how do you wash this thing? Soapy hot water, shake it around? Is that good enough? I guess it’ll have to do.  Oh, the bottom is wide so it stands up too.