soupablog

VIA Bus: Day 3

So far, so good. I think I'm going to keep bus-commuting for now.

Things I Would've Missed This Week Had I Been Driving Instead of Riding the Bus.

• Discovering that Alan's old florist is now a deli = new downtown lunch spot.
• An fascinating, fragant, residential xeriscape on the way to the bus stop.
• Spending less on gas; helping my carbon footprint.
• Tons of new things noticed along the route that I can't when driving.
• A shaved ice vendor, perfect for a 95-degree, 3/4-mile walk home.
• Some fascinating people-watching and people-listening.
• Two miles' worth of neighborhood and downtown walking every day that I wasn't previously doing.
• A glimpse into San Antonio bus-riding subculture, replete with folkways and taboos.
• Putting less wear and tear on my car.
• Putting my commute time back to work (laptop, iPhone apps).
• A diverse population that most middle- and upper-middle class whites daily miss
• Time to strike up conversations with strangers. Captive audience if you will.
• Discovering that Broadway alone has at least three downtown bus lines: 9, 10, 14.

VIA Bus: so far, so good.

    inspired in part by erik barton (more about his TX visit later), and in part by accidentally letting my car get trapped inside the (locked-at-11-pm) municipal garage last night while at work: today i took the city bus to work and i had a good experience. depending on how picky one is with body odor (i just pretended i was in europe), riding the bus is really no big deal; it's fun and stress-free and allows time to check one's mail along the commute. i'm going to try it again tomorrow. it only costs $1 to get me downtown to work. i'll let you know.

welcome to scenic automovia / a tale of two cars.

My car was parked down at Ruta the other morning and got its window smashed in. At first, I thought they grabbed the camera, but then discovered I just had an empty camera case in the back seat to begin with; the camera was at home. They did steal my messenger bag, however, containing Staedtler pigment liners, iPhone cables, one volume of my two-volume set of The Daily Office, and a bunch of random papers.

Today, three days later, the window glass company finally arrived to replace the glazing, vacuum up the safety glass crumbles, and hand me a bill that was conveniently just under my deductible. Facetious. Then I took it to get it washed by someone else. Occasional luxuries are good.

Then I took Amy's mini-van to get a 4-wheel alignment. It took 2.5 hours of waiting around, so I made this sketch, above.

So it's been an automotive week. Still need to get tie end rods on my car (Saturday) and wash and prep the minivan for the trip to New Mexico. Oh yeah: no Soupablog next week.

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