Welcome back!

Or perhaps, as I’m the one who has been absent, I should say: may I come in?

A years has passed since my last post. During that year, I’ve settled in to my new job at PATH, moved to the wilds of Shoreline, and made a transition from riding the bus to work to driving a car every day — and learning to drive stick at that.

Anne and I got fed up with the noise factor of the U District and found nice condo to rent in NE Shoreline — north of North City! We canceled a Christmas visit to my parents to move and took residence Dec 28 of 2006. After some experimentation, I learned that commuting to my workplace in Ballard averaged 90 minutes one way by bus. After I learned that Vanpooling would have a higher monthly cost than a car payment, I decided to buy a used car.

I cannot believe how lousy public transit is here! I’m spoiled by Canadian cities. For the first time in life I drive a car every day to work. I didn’t even own a car until I turned 40 — now Anne and I co-own two!

Incidentally, I highly recommend the Subaru Imprezza — Mine has 189,000 miles and still runs great. I like driving it more than our 2002 Ford Escort. (BTW, apparently, Fords have this thing where the steering fluid gets contaminated with aluminum shavings and makes the wheel stick. Be sure to change your steering fluid periodically. [Ha ha! My 1994 Subaru doesn't have this problem!])

In my next post, I plan to report on my trip to the Kansas City and Butler, Missouri.

“Kansas City? Butler, Missouri?” you ask.

I had a very good reason.