I don’t think I’m prepared enough…
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I think perhaps I’ve accumulated some bad karma because it seems that it’s just one thing after another lately.

First I wreck my car, then the check engine light comes on after I pick it up from being fixed. The check engine light turned out to be nothing, but it still caused some stress at first. Now it’s the refrigerator.

Today I come home to find out that the fridge, which has been leaking and warping the wood floors in the kitchen, has quit completely. It’s running like crazy and not cooling at all. The only upside here is that it’s a Maytag.

Maytag’s website rocks. I was able to schedule a repair appointment just by going to their Service & Parts support page. Enter my information, select the right appliance, the trouble I’m having, select from a list of available appointments with local repair services, and hit submit. Seconds later I’ve got a confirmation in my email. It can’t be much simpler than that.

So maybe it’s bad karma, maybe it’s not. But trust me on Maytag…

…and wear sunscreen

Pics!

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Until my car is fixed I’ve got to have a way to get to work.  Today I began a combination bike/bus/rail commute.  It takes longer, but overall it’s not too bad.  

I left the house this morning at about 5:30am rode my bicycle ~6.5 miles to Discover Mills Park-n-Ride.  There I boarded a bus that takes me to MARTA’s Lindbergh Station where I get on a train going to North Springs.  The next stop is Buckhead Station and my building sits right on top of it.

After locking the bike up in the parking deck and hitting the restrooms to clean up and change into work clothes,  I was sitting at my desk before 8:00am.  That is actually earlier than I would get here when driving because I’d always hit snooze too many times.

It’s only the first day, but so far,  getting to work without a car isn’t so bad.  If anything I’d say it’s better since I don’t pay for gas,  don’t sit in traffic, and can’t sleep to late or I’ll miss the bus!

I’m traveling in the far left lane of I-85 southbound.  I see the sign for the HOV lane and proceed to change lanes to the right.  Just after I do, everyone in the lane I’ve just moved to stops.  I slam the brakes, but it’s not enough.

Pics:

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It may not make any sense considering that it’s been six months since my last update here, but I’m working on a new blog. Broken Fishstick was setup to allow Zane and I to track the planning of our escape.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, our plan is to pick up everything, move onto a sailing catamaran, and sail the world. Check out Broken Fishstick if you want anymore information. We’re both going to be posting various things about the whole process over the next several years. So head over there and tell us how crazy we are, but don’t be surprised if the only response you get is “Yup!”

I know what you’re saying, “But freedom is nearly as vague as happiness”, and in most cases you’re correct. The specific freedom I describe is fairly simply described as: “The ability to do/go when/where I want whenever the desire compels me”. Sounds simple enough, but life tends to make such a nomadic lifestyle difficult with things like jobs and bills to pay. So now I have a goal; adjust my life within the next 5 years so that I can live entirely on the move, or at least not tied down to any specific area.

Even though it just somehow seems wrong, I’m laying out plans to allow me to live without plans. First order of business, cut expenses and sell off the accumulated stuff. Anyone need a couch? Loveseat? Car engine?

It’s not very impressive and more just an exercise in Python datatypes, but I wrote a little script that reads the battery info from the /proc filesystem to display the remaining charge of my laptop’s batteries.  You can check it out here:  http://www.fatratz.com/svn/frz/battery/

And yes… I know I’m a geek.