Out with the old, in with the (semi) New

Jen's ever-so-reliable, rock-solid Mercedes sedan is going away tomorrow. After four years and 40K miles, we're ending the lease. We'll drop it off at a nearby MBZ dealership...after which it will be thrown to the auto-auction wolves. Kind of a sad ending for such a great little car -- and interesting that Mercedes was unwilling to deal on a new one, given that a dealership person recently told me that MBZ has more than 100,000 cars coming off-lease in the next quarter. Good luck to them, I say. But this photo is a great way to remember this car -- a bit dirty, wheels covered in brake dust and ready at any time for a lengthy, high-speed trek.

Now, on to the new. Or sort of new. Jen found an incredible deal on a 2006 Volvo V70 wagon on Craigslist. A salesman at the local Volvo store in Santa Rosa wanted out of his lease on this near-perfect wagon, loaded with 22k miles on it. So we took over the lease, and she's gonna drive it for a year and then we'll probably dump it. It will be great for Jen's new business, and it seems fairly quick with the turbo 5-cylinder motor. It's a similar khaki green metallic color to our old, beloved Saab, which is kinda cool.

By the way, we're not getting a golden retriever anytime soon, but I do have my eye on a couple of Volvo-appropriate bumper stickers: "Save Mono Lake" and something from the Kucinich campaign are topping the list of must-haves.

Coming next month: the BMW gets replaced!

Here's the Tree

Just about tinder-box dry right now....but here's a pic.

The Cult Plays Del Mar

This past Saturday we got to see 1980's glam rockers The Cult. They happened to be playing at the Del Mar racetrack, as the featured post-race entertainment. We arrived for the last four races of the day, and I bet $11 total and won $14.20. Minus the $6 admission to the races, seeing one of my favorite bands cost $2.80. Not a bad deal.

nils biker boy video

a short video from del mar

This blog is NOT abandoned!

I read not long ago that there are something like 220 million abandoned blogs in this country. That's a lot of stalled ambition.

My ambition inre: blogging was stalled for a while, too. That and forgetting my login info for blogger. So there you have it.

Anyway, the only reportable excitement is that our neighborhood has a regular ice cream truck. Who knew? And what you don't see in the photo shown here is the little kid down the block absolutely SCREAMING for ice cream. Good to know some things never change.

And that's enough small town news for today.

Art and Commerce

On this most recent Sunday, we went to the birthday party for the lovely and wonderful Annie Galvin at Ireland's 32 on Geary.

We haven't seen Annie or her husband Eric for quite a while. Too long, in fact, since they're both sweet, funny and generally terrific people. They're both pursuing their artistic passions, and Annie is a so talented...and I want the wrestler painting (pictured with this post) from her Wexford Girl website!

One of the more interesting moments during the party was that someone asked me if I was an artist like Annie -- the answer in my case being no....

However, it did strike me that so many of our friends have combined art and commerce to hammer out a living AND follow their dreams....Annie paints, Eric is starting a printmaking business, Lauren is a photographer, Joel and Noami cook, Carter is a textile designer, etc., etc., etc. Only question is -- WTF am I doing???

Right on to them I say -- and as for myself, I better get on it and find my muse. Or maybe my muse is just stuck somewhere on MUNI....

More anon.