So, I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm involved in a Thruple.
No, I'm not cheating on Lawyer X.
But I have met someone new. His name is Fritz.
Isn't he wonderful?
Yes I still have Sven. Hence my current tripartite relationship status. And while I did love Sven for a very long time, it's just gotten old between us. The love was gone. And so I kind of wandered a bit and then I found Fritz. He reminds me of the Baron, my first love. But with a cool, funky transformers thing going on.
Sadly, I think it's time for Sven and I to part ways. I want to say that I will always love him, but let's be honest. When I'm with Fritz and the top is
down, and BPM is playing loudly on the stereo as I cruise down 66, I won't be thinking about Sven..
Sven goes away
this weekend. To greener pastures where I hope someone will buy him, take care of him, and love him.
So SuperLawyer, his BF, Lawyer X, and I went to see Star trek on Saturday night. Loved it! Lawyer X had some problems with the story line since it kind of broke with Star Trek canon. But hey, if you're going to re-boot the franchise, then you need to make room for some new story lines. And creating an alternate world by changing the space time continuum seems like a no-brainer to me. So Kirk was hot, but I have to tell you I think young Spock was kind of hot as well.
Morning walks. So I'm spending a lot of time over at Lawyer X's house since he has Shiva to take care of. And yes even pets have nicknames on this blog. And Shiva is a pretty good one since we also call her the "Princess of Destruction." Anyways, in the AM, sometimes after the gym, but sometimes not, I make the walk back to my place. And I won't call it the "walk of shame" since it's not a hook up. We're dating, well more than dating. And sure sometimes I'm walking down P St in the clothes I wore the previous night and a bad case of bed head, but still. And trust me, I've seen the folks making the walk of shame down P St. So I'll just call my commute from Laywer X's house to my place just a little morning walk. ;-)
So why does buying a car suck so much? I went out to a VW place in Fairfax and the slimey sales guy pulled out the whole bag of tricks, "What would it take to put you in a car today." An act of God. I'm just trying to get information. "What would you say if I would give you 3K for our trade in." I'd say I'd still like to know how much the car I'd like to buy is going to cost me. "What if I gave you $4K?" "What if I gave you $5K?" I'd say that even if you offered what I originally paid for the car I'd still like to know how much the car I want is going to cost and you still haven't answered my question. Agh! I finally got the answer, but it was like pulling teeth. And then we got into a beyond insane conversation about mortgages. Don't ask. I still want the car. Just not sure I'm going back there again.
That's how much it took to fill up my gas tank this weekend. I guess gas has come down a bit, but almost 50 bucks to fill up Sven? That's kind of crazy. The good news is that it was the first time I had to fill up the tank since May! Yep, the car diet has been working pretty well. I've driven to work maybe a handful of times this summer. Now, I wish I were saving alot of money doing this, but I'm paying for the metro myself. It's $3.70 per day. So roughly the cost of a gallon of gas. So I really need to give up my parking pass and get the company provided metro card instead. Then I think it will be worth it. So I'm going to cut the safety cord and give up my work parking place to see what the real cost is. Sure, I'm also saving some money on maintenance, wear and tear, etc, but still.
So I had to send a rather firm order to my father about anti-Obama emails. He's on this mailing list from his school that is pretty conservative and you just can't believe the lies and crap he was forwarding to me. And some of it is just so wrong it's silly. Like a quick Google search disproves half of this crap. I told him that if he wanted to send me emails that explains why he's for McCain, then bring them on. But I'll pass on the personal attacks, the lies, and the propoganda.
So how's the car diet going? Not too bad. Yes I drove to WV for work on Monday, and then to the office on Thursday since I had a BD meeting in Fair Lakes, but I did walk/metro on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. So not too bad. A couple of lessons learned.
One: I really need to pay attention to the weather. I worked late on Tuesday and then had dinner with my customer. During dinner, it started to rain. So we sort of lingered over dinner until it slowed to a sprinkle. So we headed out and I walked up to the Metro only getting a little bit wet. When I got off the metro in DC and rode the escalators up, it was like I was entering monsoon season. Just torrential downpours. I huddled under the station entranceway protected from the rain with a couple of scared tourists, a businessman, and then three or four homeless people. When it looked like it was slowing down, I made a break for it. Now, it's like 7 blocks, so it's not really a "break". It's more like I started to hike. And not even a half a block later, down comes the rain again. So I quickly sprint down the block and scuttle into a CVS. I breakdown and buy an umbrella (ella, ella, ella) and the woman looks at me. "Is it really that bad out there?" Translation: wow, you're drenched. Thanks.
Two: Your iPod is your safety device. It allows your escape into your own make believe world where you don't have to talk to the large drunk man at the corner of 15th and K who is there every morning begging. It means you can ignore some of the more bizarre conversation on the metro. When you have your iPod in, you walk smartly, focused on some random distance ahead while the headphones block out any attempt to intrude on your life. It really is essential.
Three: Just like Paris, except it's not. Yes, now that I'm enjoying a much more personal urban lifestyle, I'm opening myself up to the wonders of the city. To include some of the not so wonderful smells of the city. Seriously, coming out of the McPherson Square metro on a hot, sunny day is a rank, rank, experience. The smell of rancid urine is almost nauseating. And when you are in Paris you'll get a whiff of something like this, but Washington DC just isn't Paris. And now that I'm thinking about it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I guess it could be worse, we could have dog poop all over the place.
On Thursday when I did drive, I had to fill up my tank. $51. Ouch. It will be interesting to see if I can keep the number of days that I drive down to less than 5. That's my goal.
Oh, and I've started the Atkins Diet. Again. But I have lost over 5 pounds. So there's some progress.
Hillary gives her concession speech. I hope she does it right and really works to help unite the Democratic Party!
So with Sven still in the shop, I've been pondering my transportation dilemma. Do I really need a car? If so, what kind do I get? Used or new? Agh! The mind boggles.
But I've been thinking about the first question the most. Do I really need a car? Most weekends I don't get into my car (except to go to the gym). During the week I go from my condo to Rosslyn for work and back. I do drive other places for work occasionally. But one of my customers is in San Diego (and I usually fly there) and the other has an office in Crystal City literally a two minute walk from the Metro stop. Sure I sometimes have to go other places, but could I either get a ride from someone else, or could I go with the Zipcar approach? I don't know. I think so.
So I'm thinking of going on a car diet. For the month of June, I'm not going to drive my car. Well, ish. It looks like I'm going up to WVA on Monday for work and then down to Pax River on Thursday. But those trips don't really count since in theory I could get a rental car for them and charge them back to my client. So what I really need to do is go through a whole month and see when do I feel I *have* to drive because of some external meeting or other reason. So I plan to keep a little log book to help me keep track of when I drive and why so I can analyze it later. Yes, I know, how lame-o, but it will help me make a decision.
If I did need a car a couple of times a month and don't think the Zipcar approach will work, then I'll readdress the replacement car problem.
Now I've identified two initial challenges that I need to work out. First is the backpack. I've been lugging my laptop home every night and when I plop it in the trunk of the car, it's no big deal. But when I hump it on the Metro and walk up & down 15th St, it's a small problem. Just wearing it makes me sweat big time on my back. And that's when the weather is nice. If I'm humping that back and forth from work come July and August, to say I will be moist will be an understatement. So I either need to come up with a different way to carry it, or . . . . . . I leave it at work. So leaving it at work wouldn't mean that I couldn't' check email at home, but it does mean I couldn't work on other things. So I would have more free time at home. Maybe enough for a personal life? Hmm, that could be an upside. The second issue is the gym. If I think hauling my laptop back and forth via metro is a haze, let's talk about my honking big gym bag. That is so not an option. Plus, the idea of hauling my carcass up beyond the Metro to work out at night after work and then riding home on the Metro all stinky and sweating does not sound appealing at all. So I'm going to need to change my gym routine. But change doesn't have to be bad. The Y is close to my place. Before work and after work I can go to the gym. It won't be as convenient as the Golds in Rosslyn, but I can deal. I think. Hey, it's only a month trial period. We'll see where it ends up.
Sven and I have been together for eight years. Like most relationships, the first seven years were fun. Oh there were few problems, but stuff you just sort of assumed would happen eventually and then you moved on. But lately it's getting worse. The problems are more frequent. And more expensive. I had to take him in to get looked at last week and they wanted to keep him overnight for some tests. That's never a good sign. We went back for the tests yesterday and today I got the diagnosis. Some cylinder/oil issue thing-a-ma-bob. Look, I don't speak car mechanics very well. The upshot is that it's another $1600 dollars to get him fixed. And that's on top of the $4000 I spent last year in maintenance. So I'm sorry Sven, but it's time for a divorce. It's not me, it's you. I'm thinking I need something smaller, younger, hipper. It's just time for us to end this. I'm not going to kick you out right now, but I think we know this is the end of the relationship.
It's time for a new car. My little trip to the shop today set me back a cool G. And that's not really that cool if you know what I mean. It's been a bad year for me car wise. The maintenance bill is over $3K for this year. And the thing is that yes my car is over 7 years old, but I've got less than 62k miles on it. I just don't drive it that much. So it *really* shouldn't be costing me this much every year. Needless to say, I think it's time that Sven and I got a divorce. I'm not sure what I'm going to buy. I only know that it's going to have to wait till next year. Maybe March. But then I'll have an idea of when the new condo will *really* be ready. And while my heart cries out for a nice little two seat convertible, I may end up doing something more mature, responsible, and appropriate. BORING!
Still sick as a dog and just tired all of the time. Not sleeping well. And I've got a huge conference next week that I've got to prepare for.
And no I'm not going to the Depeche Mode dance party thing. I'm a loser. I'm going to curl up in bed and watch some Kathy Griffin shows I tivo-ed.
So, I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm involved in a Thruple. 
ered a bit and then I found Fritz. He reminds me of the Baron, my first love. But with a cool, funky transformers thing going on. 
