Long Day, Close Call
Dec. 8th, 2012 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThis was the first weekend that I have been in the Bay Area with my minivan available to me in about two months. Consequently, I had a lot of errands to do.
I needed a haircut, and being a creature of habit, went to Fremont because that's where I have been getting my hair cut for years ever since my old barber in Orangevale either died or closed his shop (I never did find out which). This also gave me a chance to have breakfast at Dino's diner, around the corner from my old apartment in Fremont. After that, it was time for an oil change from my regular place, followed by an overdue tire rotation from America's Tire. They warned me there that this probably was the final rotation on this set of tires and that next time in, I'm likely to need a new set of tires. Considering how many miles I put on them going back and forth to Fernley, that's not surprising. I may also need to reconsider the type of tires for the van. I have heretofore been buying the harder-wearing tires that aren't as good in bad weather, but if I'm going to be crossing Donner Pass regularly, I may need to take a softer, worse-weather tire. Mind you, at the moment Lisa and I have tried to avoid having me cross the pass when the weather is bad. In fact, right now my tire chains are in the wrong place; I left them in Fernley this past summer and I didn't put them back in. It's been that long since I drove myself up there.
I tried to take my recycling to the place I've gone before, but they closed early. The last time I went there, it was at their scheduled opening time, and they didn't open until an hour after that. This is very annoying.
Fremont errands done or stymied, I headed over to San Mateo any my company's headquarters, where I still maintain a cubicle that I occasionally visit because I find that my computer is happier if it can directly commune with the company network rather than exclusively connect by VPN. After making my laptop happier and making sure the computer I still keep running there was okay, I stopped by my favorite hole-in-the-wall taqueria, El Metate, for dinner, and finally swung over to Whole Foods Market to buy some cereal that I can only get there. (And also, it being Whole Foods, to buy some Real Cheese, albeit not very much because I can't afford it, much as I like it.)
On the way to Whole Foods I had a really close call. At the intersection of Ralston Avenue and Old Country Road in Belmont, I had just gotten the green light to cross Ralston. I paused briefly because I wanted to make sure that the car facing me that was signaling for a left turn wasn't going to dart out in front of me. That brief hesitation may have saved my life. As I started to pull out, a car came blasting through the intersection against the light from my left at full speed. I braked hard and the car swerved, missing me by inches. I pulled on through the intersection, heart racing.
The rest of the drive home had me twitching at the slightest traffic oddity around me. I was very happy to get my van parked and get back up to my tiny apartment.
I needed a haircut, and being a creature of habit, went to Fremont because that's where I have been getting my hair cut for years ever since my old barber in Orangevale either died or closed his shop (I never did find out which). This also gave me a chance to have breakfast at Dino's diner, around the corner from my old apartment in Fremont. After that, it was time for an oil change from my regular place, followed by an overdue tire rotation from America's Tire. They warned me there that this probably was the final rotation on this set of tires and that next time in, I'm likely to need a new set of tires. Considering how many miles I put on them going back and forth to Fernley, that's not surprising. I may also need to reconsider the type of tires for the van. I have heretofore been buying the harder-wearing tires that aren't as good in bad weather, but if I'm going to be crossing Donner Pass regularly, I may need to take a softer, worse-weather tire. Mind you, at the moment Lisa and I have tried to avoid having me cross the pass when the weather is bad. In fact, right now my tire chains are in the wrong place; I left them in Fernley this past summer and I didn't put them back in. It's been that long since I drove myself up there.
I tried to take my recycling to the place I've gone before, but they closed early. The last time I went there, it was at their scheduled opening time, and they didn't open until an hour after that. This is very annoying.
Fremont errands done or stymied, I headed over to San Mateo any my company's headquarters, where I still maintain a cubicle that I occasionally visit because I find that my computer is happier if it can directly commune with the company network rather than exclusively connect by VPN. After making my laptop happier and making sure the computer I still keep running there was okay, I stopped by my favorite hole-in-the-wall taqueria, El Metate, for dinner, and finally swung over to Whole Foods Market to buy some cereal that I can only get there. (And also, it being Whole Foods, to buy some Real Cheese, albeit not very much because I can't afford it, much as I like it.)
On the way to Whole Foods I had a really close call. At the intersection of Ralston Avenue and Old Country Road in Belmont, I had just gotten the green light to cross Ralston. I paused briefly because I wanted to make sure that the car facing me that was signaling for a left turn wasn't going to dart out in front of me. That brief hesitation may have saved my life. As I started to pull out, a car came blasting through the intersection against the light from my left at full speed. I braked hard and the car swerved, missing me by inches. I pulled on through the intersection, heart racing.
The rest of the drive home had me twitching at the slightest traffic oddity around me. I was very happy to get my van parked and get back up to my tiny apartment.
