Month: December 2011

On my trip I rented a car, and was given a Ford Fiesta. Wow. I think the only time I even had the thought of “fiesta” in my mind was when I was returning it at the end of my trip, secure in the knowledge that I wouldn’t have to drive that little party wagon around any more. What a piece of cheap junk.

Here at Google headquarters, when you use the urinal you get to read Learning on the Loo, which is a one-page document placed at eye level right in front of you. It has tips and tricks about how to be more efficient at your job. There’s also Coding on the Commode, which is specifically about better programming methodologies. Unfortunately both of them are pretty long– a full page– which makes them hard to read in one session. I suppose you could drink a lot of water and kind of “save it up” until you really have to go, and that way you’ll be able to get through the full article.

I’m in San Francisco, sitting at a little pizzeria and enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous 55-degree weather. On the sidewalk, people are walking past in sweaters and scarves, acting as if it’s frigid.

When I left the house this morning (in Denver) it was 1 degree. Today’s high there is supposed to be in the teens. So 55 is amazing and warm. How funny that the “natives” here think it’s cold enough for a scarf.

Alex will be fifteen next month (yikes!) so we’re starting the exciting journey of driver’s ed and making the long march to his driver’s license. Colorado has a crazy set of rules and processes, and we finally figured out what steps we need to take.

He’ll be starting driver’s ed next week and finishing the course in February. We’re considering whether to buy an old clunker car– something for a few hundred bucks– so he can learn to drive without the hassle of (1) a manual transmission like my car, or (2) a big awkward vehicle like La’s van. Plus, let’s be honest: if he’s going to wreck the car like most teenage boys somehow end up doing, it would be better to wreck something that’s not going to make me cry.

So I was poking around Craigslist with my search criteria set to “for sale by owner, under $1,000”. This sweet little guy caught my eye:

Ahh, the 1975 El Camino. Now that brings back memories. Can you imagine how cool Alex would feel as he tooled around town in this baby?

Wow.