wallaby100

I told my partner about this goal, and we decided that I would drive the car the short distance to a restaurant a few weeks ago. We got there just fine, ate dinner, and started with drive home with me at the wheel. But then as I was waiting to enter a traffic circle, the guy behind us honked at me. I pulled into the circle slowly (it is really complicated because a circle of bicycle traffic is on the outside of the auto traffic circle)—too slowly for the guy or for my partner. She yelled at me (she says her voice wasn’t raised, but it sounded like being yelled at to me) and I have refused to drive since. Ugh. I hate all the traffic here in Europe, but I know that I would be happier if I knew I could drive wherever I wanted. I hope this isn’t passive-aggressive behavior on my part in some way. I need to try again…

I am not getting very far on this one. I am surrounded by college students all day who say “like” even more than I do! I am going to enlist the help of my colleagues on this one, and ask them to throw something at me (or something like that) every time I say “like” as a filler word. ARRGH!!!! I think I really do this more when I get nervous—sort of like verbal diarrhea. I need to slow down and really think about what I am saying. Bah.

I got this idea that I would assemble a solar generator to provide electricity just in my home office. So I have a small 12v solar panel (probably too small, but it’s all I could afford), but need a battery, battery gauge, and inverter. I’ll look next week at the auto parts store for a sealed battery and gauge. I think I can get the inverter from ebay. It would be so cool to have solar-generated power in at least one room in the house!