Color TV

I went out tonight. I took Jason out. Jason drank. Jason drank a lot. I was going to drive him home, but Leeanne decided to instead. This was fine. I also gave Maria a ride home, which brings me to the color TV part. Maria lives in Lake City, and after I dropped her off, I stopped at a Union 76 on 145th to fill up before heading home.

Luckily for me, another gentleman decided to fill up there as well. I say lucky, because he had a color TV that he wanted to sell me! How could I pass that up??? You know you are getting a good deal on a color TV when you buy it from a guy at Union 76 station in Lake City at 2:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

It also got me thinking, who sells black and white TVs now?

Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo

My latest book is Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo. It's a space opera, science fiction type of story. The basic synopsis is this: The Argonos has been traveling through space for generations. No one can remember when it started or where it started from or even what it's supposed to be doing. They do know they went back to Earth once and it was an irradiated wreck. It's a large ship, and it has developed a political atmosphere. Nikos is the captain, and Bishop Soldano, the head of the Church, is Nikos prime rival for control of the ship. The Argonos discovers a world they name Antioch. Bartolomeo helps an unsuccessful mutiny of the lower class of the ship who wish to settle Antioch.

Imprisoned for his mutinous ways, Bartolomeo is released to lead the exploration of an alien ship. It is the first alien ship that humans have ever found, at least as far as the residents of the Argonos know. The Bishop thinks the ship is evil. And it is true that several people have died trying to explore the ship. Once Bartolomeo takes the helm of the exploration though, they begin to make progress.

Read after the spoiler cut for more on the story.

This was a decent story. The author spends a fair amount of time developing the characters involved. One aspect of the book that I liked is the focus on the effect belief has on the various participants in the plot. However, it doesn't really touch on the nature of belief or of the specifics of any particular belief. It is shallow in that manner, and that is somewhat of a disappointment, as there could be a lot more done with that. THere could also have been a lot done with people using faith to carry them through fear and peril.

There are also a lot of loose ends and unexplained character actions. It started to distract from the story after a while. You start to wonder, "Why did he do that?" A lot of these actions are on the cusp of making sense. In other words, they don't make sense on the face of them, but with some explanation that Mr. Russo had in the back of his mind, they would not baffle the reader as much.

It's very much a thumbs in the middle book. It didn't blow me away, but it also didn't bother me so much that I stopped reading. In other words, I wouldn't recommend picking it up if you have a huge stack of other books that you haven't yet gotten to. But if you have a few spare hours, it wouldn't be the worst thing to occupy your time.

( Now, continuing the synopsis. . . )

Vehicle use

In the last couple of years, I have moved from Bremerton, to Redmond, and last July, to Eastlake, in Seattle. When you live in the 'burbs, you have to have a car. There is pretty much no way to get around except by automobile. Grocery shopping, work, errands, going out, it all requires a vehicle. This is one of the reasons why I moved into the city. So I wouldn't be so reliant on my car. And when I did use a car, my trip would be a short one.

After moving in, I started riding the bus to work. My employer provides me a bus pass, which is good for a year. It takes me about an hour each way to get to and from work on the bus. The same commute takes about 20 to 30 minutes in good traffic, 60 in bad.

Toward the end of September, I was coming home from Neighbours on a Thursday night (sadly, Thursday nights are no longer so fun, but that is another entry), and I shifted from 3rd to 2nd going round the corner onto Lake View Blvd. Except that the shifter wouldn't go into 2nd. It stuck in neutral. So I coasted to a stop, and no amount of pushing would get it to go into gear. I called a tow truck, and had my car towed to my apartment, because I didn't know what shop I could tow the thing to. At 1:30 a.m., I didn't really have the means to do any research into the matter either.

That night, I decided to see if I could do without a car. I got up the next morning and took the bus to work like normal. And for the next 7½ months, I did without a car. I took the bus to work. I scheduled my errands. I cabbed from Larry's on Queene Anne for my groceries. I cabbed or bussed to clubs at night. I rented a car occasionally when I needed one for work. For the most part it worked.

Getting groceries to Eastlake without a vehicle is a pain in the ass, as there are no grocery stores in the neighborhood. Clubs weren't too difficult. Errands were, unless I could take car of them downtown or in the U-District. I had to get my couch cushions cleaned, and the leather cleaning place was on Elliott Ave west of Queene Anne. Not easy to get to. Getting to the funeral home in Edmonds to plan my brother's funeral was difficult. But by and large, the difficulties could be worked around.

I signed up for this mountaineering class through the YMCA. Our first "practice climb" was to be up Mt. Si. My ride did not show, and I didn't have a backup. So I decided to see about getting my car fixed. It's been about a month now since it has been fixed.

There have been some pluses. I was able to make a Costco run. I can get groceries. Getting to clubs has been easier and cheaper. I haven't had to rely on someone else for my rides for the mountaineering class.

But there have also been some serious minuses. I stopped working out. It was easy to get off and work out at the Y when I was riding the bus. But driving, well that's another story. Who wants to find parking downtown, or get on the bus and go back downtown to workout after I get home. I also haven't been making use of the extra time I have at home. No extra reading, or finishing projects.

So, I have come to a momentous conclusion. Except for the things that are a complete pain in the ass to do without my own car, I will stop using it. Tomorrow morning, I will get up a little bit earlier and ride the bus to work. I will get off on my way home and work out at the Y and probably get home around 7 p.m. I will try to get some errands done on my way to and from work. Perhaps I will even solve the problem of world peace.