miko2

Saturday afternoon was my time to get my car stereo replaced. This was the last step in getting my car all fixed up after it was stolen and recovered in November. I drove over to Car Toys and was told it would take an hour and a half.

I grabbed my disc walkman and a book and headed out. I walked up the street a block or two to a computer store -- one that I really don't want to buy from, but they're close to my house so sometimes I do anyway. I wanted to get some memory for my backup pc this weekend, but I need to make sure it's pc133 that I need before I buy anything. Anyway, payday is Wednesday, I should wait until then.

So I walked around with my headphones on and then left. I stopped at Ivar's and had some cajun fish and chips, which took nearly all the money I had in my pocket. I read a little of my book -- David Brin's Kiln People.

Then I wandered over to Staples, which was another excuse to waste time. I didn't really need to buy anything there, but I looked at stuff. When I left I wondered if they thought I'd shoplifted anything. I feel that way a lot when I just wander around a store and don't buy anything -- and I carry a lot of stuff in my pockets so...

I decided not to walk into K-Mart, since I had a nearly brand new book in my hand, one that might very well be found on their shelves.

I was thirsty so I bought a Dr. Pepper with the last of my money. I declined to find out what wonderful cell phone deals K-Mart had in store for me, and wandered back towards the Car Toys store. For a while I just read while sitting on the stairs of a passenger bridge on the corner. It's funny, it's really been a while since I spent any signifigant time outside, and even sitting on a busy street corner in a busy part of town was a nice change of pace.

Finally I went back to Car Toys, but they obviously weren't done yet. I bought a cd wallet thingy for my visor and a cheap cd to listen to -- one of those "road" collections that sell in places like Car Toys for $5, that contain a lot of "hip" bands and the proceeds go to charity. Then I read some more.

Finally my car was finished. ^_^ Unlike a year before when I bought a new cd player here, this time nobody bothered to show me how to use the thing, or brought the car around for me, or anything. I had to get the guy's attention, then he found my key and said the car was in the back lot. So it was up to me to puzzle things out.

Before I had a Pioneer system, which the salesman told me got the best radio reception. They didn't have the same model in stock, so I got a Panasonic system, and when I asked about radio reception they guy just shrugged his shoulders and said they all got good reception. It's interesting how they treat you differently when it's just an insurance replacement, they have no incentive to sell you something better.

But the new cd player is nice. It's the kind where the face swings down and out to reveal the cd slot, so that it's normally protected from dust. Also it has fewer options than the Pioneer did, but for the most part those options were confusing and not very useful -- this does all the things I want it to do, without being very confusing. I was able to figure out how to operate it without the manual, always a good thing. ^_^

Sat night was writer's night. More of Chuck's Felicia story, some of Gene's story, food, friends. I missed another story because I was late.

Then back home to get my EQ fix. I hung out with a friend of mine, killing ice giants.

Sunday I spent watching football and doing EQ tradeskill stuff that didn't prevent me from getting up and doing other things whenever I wanted. I also found my $50 gift certificate for Amazon that I got for signing up with AT&T Broadband (it finally came Saturday) so I spent some time figuring out what I was going to buy, and then I had to fix things because the certificate only applied to things I was actually buying from Amazon and not their market associates or whatever -- typically I'll buy cheaper used if I can -- and then after I was done, I worried that I hadn't bought what I REALLY wanted to buy, ie something I would have bought with my own money anyway. But oh well, several cds and a dvd are headed my way in the future. ^_^

Also had a fun bit where I got invited to go kill a god, Cazik Thule, the got of fear. I'd never been to the Fear Plane before, so that was interesting. It was a big fight, 50 or so people on one massive monster. In the chaos of it all I didn't even notice Mika's character talking in guild chat. I guess she died, sounded like she was in Lesser Faydark which can be a dangerous zone... anyway, I feel bad that I haven't really been able to help her out or talk much the last couple of days. Hope she can link up with Sky at some point.