The Rental Car

I rented this Chrysler 200c to drive around the Maritimes.  It was a pretty decent car.  I decided not to go with a compact rental car because I wanted to have enough room in the back for my daughter, plus I didn't want a hatchback so we could hide our luggage. 

 

Rental cars are odd things.  Cars are such personal items.  People love their cars.  They are statements about the drivers. And then it is odd when you borrow or rent a car.  It is like borrowing another identity.  I went from a practical, economical, and cheap persona to a roomy, luxurious one.  The car had features that I didn't know I'd like: keyless entry and ignition, motorized seat, rear view cam, and fuel economy calculator; and some I didn't use: Bluetooth audio, sunroof, backseat pass through hatch. 

 

Actually, one of those features worked against us.  We stopped at this restaurant in PEI for lunch for about 45 minutes.  It was a pretty hot day and when we walked up to the car, my wife asked, "What's that noise?"  I listened and said, "It must be an automatic cooling fan."  Not exactly.  We got in the car, and I realized I had left the car running the whole time.  See, that's the problem with keyless ignition.  You can start the car without the key, but you don't have the sensory feedback of removing the key to remind you to shut the car down.

 

I always wondered about those announcements on the ferries for drivers to return to their cars because they left them running.  I used to think they were morons to leave their cars running. Now I know they just had fancier cars than mine.

Cut Off from Coffee

Before I went to Quebec, I gave up coffee. Again. I knew I was coming to a coffee cafe culture and I wanted to be ready to say non. When I was in France, I tried to go with the flow but according to Brenda, and I totally concur, my personality changes when I am caffeinated. And it's not pleasant. Think zombie but with less personality. Everything gets on my nerves. Even me, and I LOVE me.

So I cut myself off. But I get to Quebec in the spring and sure there's some coffee but definitely not the cafe culture. No standing up at the coffee bar for a quick shot. No lounging street side for a long one. So it makes me want one more because it's so much like home I think I can handle it.

I abstain but I do have a delicious hot chocolate that is 72% dark chocolate and I feel like a happy, satiated heroin addict.  Of course, the next day I'm a total zombie but that only intensifies with the cold medication I'm on.

Lucky family.

Completion

When you are facing a mountain of work, here is what you do:
1. Stop for a breath.
2. Quickly prioritize what you have to do.
3. Chip away at the important stuff first.


Now to follow my own advice.

San Franciscans Smell

I was in San Francisco last week.  It is a beautiful place.  Beautiful scenery.  Gorgeous architecture.  Yummy restaurants.  But the thing that struck me the most was another sense: smell.  People of the Golden Gate, you smell! 

Now before you get a big hate on for me, let me explain.  First, you don't necessarily smell bad.  You just smell in a greater magnitude than I am used to.  I was walking down the street and I was surprised at the smells: colognes, perfumes, hair products, pot, cigars, garlic, coffee.  It is not just confined to younger people either.  I was in a restaurant, and I got a big waft of perfume.  I thought it was from the waitress standing behind me, but when she left, the halo stayed.  It was the octogenarian woman in the next booth.  She was lucky there was no open flame around. 

I've been to a lot of cities.  Why does SF seem to smell more?  Have I just become desensitized in my own city?  Is it just that Spring was in the air?  We get a lot of rain where I live; are people just rinsed more?  Have we become so PC that smell is another one of our personal liberties we are quick to give up?  Maybe it is just that I fell in love with San Francisco and that my senses were aroused (the same way I can still smell the hair of the girl who used to sit in front of me in grade 1). 

I'll definitely go back to San Francisco.  The pics and vids I took can't do the smells justice.  Maybe by the next time I go, there will be smellovision.