birthday update

Evening - J had me take him to Albertson's to pick up a cake he ordered. I let him go in by himself and was sitting in the parking lot listening to the radio. I could see through the door that he was about to check out, so I pulled the car around to the door, just as he was getting done with that... Then he didn't leave! He wandered off out of view.... I waited a bit, reparked the car, and went in. He was at a closed check stand putting candles in it. Yep he did actually put as many candles as I am old!

At dinner he gave me an Astro Boy book with the story of his creation, and then a book on how to draw Astro Boy (and Kimba), whee :), but he wasn't done... he also had an iron turtle and frog that are hollow & 2 pieces, so you could store something in them. So many years that both J & D never usually acknowledge standard present type days, I was just totally blown away to get so many and cool ones at that. :) Plus the frosting on the cake was actually good too, not that hyper-sugar stuff.

car update

It's been 3 weeks, about 750 miles. I really enjoy driving it. I may get to be like queenbarbora and start driving around just for the sake of driving more.

Sitting up higher was slightly scary at first. I was used to feeling like I was sitting on the ground. From up there it feels like there is somewhere to fall, but they take care to make these less likely to tip, and it's not like it's as high as a VW bus or anything. I'm getting used to it already now.

I'm a little annoyed that I can't reach the switch to turn the dome light on while I'm driving, but I suppose I don't need to that often, and usually I do carry a flashlight, so I'll just have to carry it closer to the front of the car. The electric windows have been both a good thing and an annoyance already. They'll surely be both many more times.

Haven't tried it anywhere hilly yet. I wish it was rated for heavier cargo load. I had 5 mostly large people in it Sunday night, which was technically over the weight limit, though they all had plenty of sit room. I was driving around North Berkeley, so slightly hilly, and I could feel that it was a bit of strain on it. I hesitate to do it again with that much weight, which is hard when the space is there.

Overall I like it. I might talk myself into being concerned about the change when I'm not driving, but when I'm driving it feels good.

solar stop?

Um, a couple weeks ago, one morning, there were workmen in the street in one intersection that I usually drive through.

The next day I realized that what they had done was install stop signs on the crossing street, making the intersection a 4-way stop instead of the 2-way it had been.

This week I was noticing metal squares tilting off the top of the posts, exposing themselves to the south. I thought they looked like solar panels, but could not figure out why on earth a stop sign needs power at all, let alone solar power.

Thurs night, I thought I saw a flash of light from one of the new sign. So I drove around the block to get a better look. Sure enough the sign is ringed with red flashing lights!

I googled it and the lights look like these, but the sign sits more normally on a normal looking pole and the solar panel is smaller.