flying soda, echeck, parking rant, phone bill

This morning, while I was getting into my car, I set my bottle of soda on the roof so that I could check to see if I needed to scrape my windshield or if I could just brush it off. Instead of putting my soda in the car - as I should have - I left it there and reached in to start the engine and get my scraper. The ice on the roof - with the vibrations of the engine - caused my plastic bottle of soda to fly off the roof, hit the ground, slide under the car next to mine and come to a rest in a snowbank.

So, I went around and picked it up - there was a lot of foam at the top, but the bottle was undamaged. And on the way to work, I sort of forgot about how shaken up it was and that I should be careful. I twisted off the cap at my desk and...

...nothing happened. It was fine. The soda must have settled down somehow during the car ride. Strangest thing.

Last evening, I went to get my car e-checked since my registration is due in January. And if I did it in 2005 to avoid the long lines, it would be free instead of the ususal $19.50

Now, I'm not sure how the line lenght is going to be differnt from year to year - but free is better than 20 bucks. There was no line when I pulled up and my car passed. Took maybe 7 minutes total and I was on the road with my certification in hand.

I had been a little concerned since there had been issues with the cars computer and the oxygen sensor, but they must have been electical ghosts and didn't affect the tests.

This morning, I had to pass up a prime parking spot at work since some dufus had backed into their space - and done a poor job of it. This is one of the many things that annoy me. If you're going to take the extra time to back into a space - do it well so that you don't mess things up for anyone else. And frankly - you're not Batman. You don't need to fly screaming out of your parking space to chase down the bad guys. Get over yourself.

This past week, I've been taking a closer look at my phone bill. I was concerned about the amount I was paying for my local service and the plan I had wasn't really what I needed. So, I called them up and looked for options. They couldn't offer any savings on intraLATA calls and the unlimited residence service, even with all the extra stuff removed, was still over 20 bucks. I ended up saving 5 bucks, but I've got no features on my phone. Hell, if it was any simpler I'd be using bare copper wires or tin cans and string. And it's still over 20 bucks + all the the federal fees and charges.

I'm strongly considering giving up on a land line entirely and going the cell phone route.

Now, before you get all up in arms - keep in mind that my biggest concern with those things has been the people that use them. I'd be getting a simple phone with a simple plan and using it primarly from home.

The very notion still makes me queasy, but the merger of SBC and AT&T doesn't give me hope for better customer service or reduced prices.

And I guess that's it for now. Have a good weekend and I'll get back to work...