My truck has -character-

Eventually, I will get a replacment for my '86 Bronco II--possibly my neighbor's Jeep Wrangler*--and sell it, most likely to Katia, assuming logistics can be worked out for the sale. (Hehe.. it blue-books at $400 (fair) - $710 (good), depending how it's qualified for blemishes and mechanical problems--it loses a few hundred for the high mileage, average for an '86 is apparently 97K miles.)

* It's in excellent condition--he babies all of his vehicles--silver w/black soft-top, automatic, unknown mileage, assumed mid-90s, which would blue-book it around $5K, but hopefully less

Anyway, in preparation for this occurrence, I decided to write up a text file of all of my truck's idiosyncrasies and how to deal with them or what should be done about them. I plan/planned to include an annotated photo of the instrument panel, but haven't gotten around to it.

( How much character does it have? )

A puzzle timeline

1441: Told by Melody that this site was very captivating. Watched it for a bit, expecting it to get more interesting on its own, as the image was changing slightly, here and there.
1445: Told there were puzzles.
1447: Clicked the right thing, start problem-solving.
1449-1454: Told Melody about Myst and Riven, which she'd never heard of.
1508: Finished solving it.

It's graphically interesting, the puzzles are neither too easy nor too difficult, and it was a good way to spend 20 minutes or more. :D

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Also, I got a postcard from Phill yesterday! Postmark: U.S. Navy -- Jul 24 2003 - USS Nicholas (FFG-47) :D

Ow! Zut! Zoo!

In my humble opinion, cargo carts at storage facilities should be padded on all four corners, not just the two on the end opposite the handle. In particular, the near corners should not be pointy steel with intentions for my right heel, especially on pavement sloped away from the door of the facility.

Fortunately, I had a couple mini first aid kits in my glovebox, but now that I'm home I think I'll replace the small bandaids with something more suitable, and put shoes on before going to meet Moira et al at the Zoo! :D

Zoo! Mostly.

After the storage cart debacle, I high-tailed it over to the Metro station--which is beyond the storage place, btw, so the round-trip back home was even less convenient--and just missed the train going out. Then at Metro Center, habit put me on the Glenmont train, which is in the wrong direction. Hopped out at the next station after I realized, took a train back to Metro Center, ran up a stopped escalater--which apparently would've been a Down escalator--and then at the other side, with a train waiting below, I ran my way down the Up escalator--it's a weird experience, really--the ground and railings are just doing the wrong thing.

Got off at the Woodley Park/Zoo stop, went up a ridiculously long escalator--seriously, there's some vertigo going on just looking around--and hiked about 4 blocks to the zoo, arriving around 1845. (It was whie crossing the street to the entrance that I remembered my camera's batteries were almost dead, so there was no reason for my to have brought it. :P) The rest of the people had met at 1800, with her boyfriend arriving at 1900. I'd called Moira from the Metro station, and again once at the zoo; then I wandered around to a few exhibits near the entrance while waiting for them to return. (Total group was me, Moira, her brothers, her boyfriend, and one other guy.) We then wandered the zoo for an hour, finding that a) most of the animals were out of sight, and b) all of the exhibit buildings close at 1800. However, we still saw a good number of animals, and I really like the layout and landscaping of the zoo, which is quite extensive. One piece of exhibit that I'd like to see in use was a series of platforms and ropes 45ft off the ground, connecting two portions of the Orang Utan habitat through open air, and monkeys actually active in a completely open monkey exhibit--"Please hide all food and drink", "Look out for GLTs" (Golden Lion Tamarinds). Also in the works are the "Asia Trail", and the Bald Eagle exhibit will reopen soon (apparently there was a wild animal that came in and killed one of the eagles, so the exhibit is being redesigned--but we still saw a couple eagles. :) I need to go back for a day sometime when a) the new stuff is open, and b) so are the exhibit buildings. :P

After leaving a bit after 20 (without encountering any employees asking us to leave, and passing a few people walking -in- when the place officially closes then April-October--have you ever considered going to the zoo during the winter? We hadn't.) we walked towards the Cleveland Park Metro station (a bit closer to the zoo, in the other direction), and decided on dinner at Uno's. The pizza was excellent, the Uno's Amber Ale was good, and the conversation was entertaining; afterwards, we headed to the Metro--right outside the restaurant, almost--down a set of stairs next to the Up escalator--there was no Down escalator! Weird.), and all went south on the Red Line, transferred at Metro Center, and then I abruptly left the group because my Blue Line train was about to leave, while their Orange Line train wasn't yet present.

It's fortunate that I left the parking lot at my station after 10pm, because I gave up all $10 of my cash for dinner, and would've have had $3 for parking bfeore 10pm. Likewise, convenient that the runs from either Zoo-local station to mine were the same price, or I would've had to borrow a buck for the AddFare machine. (What happens if you have no cash and need to add fare? Those machines don't accept plastic, though the regular farecard/pass machines do.)

Tomorrow, work 7-3. Ewww.

Ah, just learned that if both USB and RJ-45 cables are plugged into Nathan's cable modem, the RJ-45 connection--mine--takes priority. ;) I don't know why Nathan doesn't go to support.cox.net to request a second IP and information on setting up two computers--he wants me to call, but I'm fairly certain I won't be able to accomplish anything that way.