7:43 p.m. | 2003-06-22 It�s Amazing What You Can Live Without. Or rather, it�s amazing what you think you can�t live without. Of course, that�ll be a whole different kind of experience when I start going through my books. Yikes! I gave my planter�s wagon to my next-door neighbor because he gardens (vegetables) a lot. That was a little painful, however I feel much better knowing that it�ll be well-used and appreciated. Good lord, I�m mourning over the loss of my planter�s wagon. Next thing you know, I�ll be waxing philosophical about giving away my rake. I�m not parting with my birdbath though. Because, you know, every home needs a birdbath in it. Brings the outside in and all. I plan on filling the bowl with rocks I�ve polished and then covering it with a round piece of glass. Voila! A quite unique, yet bizarre bedside table. If it turns out to be a little too wacky, I can cover it with a tablecloth. See, I really am unconventional. Or just too emotionally attached to my birdbath and rocks. Speaking of rocks, I�ve packed them all, including my agates, in a small box. I�m going to take a black marker and write �rocks� on it. I�m guessing that my movers haven�t moved a box of rocks before, so that�ll be kind of interesting. And, it may be a small box, but it�s heavy. Okay, enough about moving. As Intern and I are official �buddies� for tomorrow, we�re commuting in to work together. Initially, I planned to pick him up and take him to my lot where we�d both ride the shuttle in together. However, I�ve been informed that I shouldn�t rely on the shuttle tomorrow, because if there�s any hint of trouble Downtown, they aren�t going to come get us. They will promptly abandon all of us because, you know, they care about us so very much. The official word is that we should all make sure we�re self-reliant in a traveling sense. That said, they�ve also shut down all parking areas that are anywhere near MyWorkPlace. Which means that all people who normally park near MyWorkPlace are gonna park in lots further out, which will push people like me, who don�t normally park Downtown, further out in a domino kind of fashion. So� yesterday, I spent precious moving time checking out our other options. Every parking space within a reasonable distance is metered, time-restricted or only allowed with a special permit. Due to distance, and the fact that we have been told we shouldn�t move about outside during the workday, none of those options work. While I was driving around, after my ritual Saturday brunch at The Diner, I suddenly thought of a solution. I drove back to The Diner and asked Mr. Chris if we could park in their lot. All day. Without being towed. (Customers only, you know.) He immediately told me that we could and that he�d make sure I didn�t get towed. In fact, he mentioned that one of the new Shuttles (a sister Shuttle, if you will) stops right in front of The Diner. Perfect. We can park for free, ride the Shuttle for free and, if the Shuttle decides not to run, we can walk to/from the lot. It�s only about a 10-block walk. And, it should be out of the danger zone. After arranging that, researching the sister Shuttle�s stops, and verifying that we are still supposed to report to work tomorrow, I called Intern to confirm. Ironically, even though he lives within 5 miles of my house, he only has a cell phone which has a long-distance number. Anyway, this is that. (I:) Hello? (CI:) Hey, Intern. It�s Cruel-Irony. As far as I know, tomorrow is a regular workday. I�ve arranged to park � for free � at The Diner. That�s about 10 blocks from MyWorkPlace, so if we want/have to walk it, we can. However, there�s a Shuttle stop right in front so we can shuttle � for free � up to here and only walk 2 blocks. How�s that sound? (I:) That sounds good. Hey, can we dress down? Didn�t they say we could dress casually? What does that mean? (CI:) They did say that everyone can dress casually which usually means jeans and such. In fact, they encouraged people to wear �running shoes�. However, in our Division, it works a little differently. We can�t wear jeans right now because of this, but we can dress down in the sense that you can dress in more casual clothes but they have to be psuedo-business. For example, I�m wearing pants that aren�t fancy-smancy. However, since you�re an intern, you can probably get away with wearing jeans, if you want to. (I:) Okay. I guess I�ll just wear what I�ve been wearing then. (Think high-end of psuedo-business � or add a tie and jacket and call it totally professional.) (CI:) Are your shoes comfortable enough to walk that far? (I:) Yeah, they�re comfortable enough. (CI:) Can you run in them? (I:) Yeah. If I have to. (CI:) Okay then, I�ll pick you at the crack of dawn (7:30am). (I:) Ugh. That�s sooo early. (He normally comes to work around 9:00am or 9:30am.) (CI:) I know. I have to get up earlier myself. Lets just hope I do. So, I guess I�ll see you EARLY tomorrow. (I:) (Heavy sigh.) Okay. Bye. In other news� I got a new blow dryer. My old one has been slowly dying. Last weekend, it finally just gave up. Hence, I�ve been going to work with wet hair. Fortunately, my long hair doesn�t do anything but hang down and, of course, I don�t style it, so, while it was a little embarrassing, it wasn�t a big deal. Good lord, they�ve come a long way with blow dryer technology. I bought it yesterday and tried it out today. I almost blew my head off! It dries my long tresses in mere minutes. I think, technologically speaking, I might just want to step into this new century after all. Woudn�t THAT be a hoot?! your thoughts? seed flower