What a Mess

It's a good thing that I didn't have a first-thing-this-morning meeting, because I was delayed getting to Day Jobbe on account of having difficulty getting away from where I've been staying this week.

( Messy Accident in Newark )

As I gingerly pulled out of the motel's parking lot, dodging incoming tow trucks, I cast an eye toward that KTVU camera. I couldn't see the specific model, but I could see that it was a Panasonic P2 series, which means it's in the same class as the camera that Lisa bought for our Business Meeting coverage. Now I sort of wish I'd wandered up to check out exactly which model of P2 they were using.

Because of the street closure, I had to go the long way around, several miles out of my way, to get to work, but there was no harm done to me. It's probably just as well that I wasn't in a hurry to get going this morning, because there seems to be a non-zero chance that I might have found myself in the middle of that crack-up had I been leaving a couple of hours earlier.

Life Getting Complicated

My mechanic has fixed the problem whereby the van would die when the engine idle dropped below a certain point, but now there's not enough high-end power. He worked on it all day today and into the evening without a solution, and he's going to come in tomorrow to work on it because I'm a good customer and he's a good guy, but he doesn't know if he can fix it. How I'm going to proceed after that I do not know. I've extended my hotel stay another night (through Saturday), but the rental car is due back by 9 AM Saturday, and if I can't return it by then, I'm effectively going to be charged through Tuesday morning because Enterprise rent-a-car isn't open on Sunday or holidays.

I'm thinking I may go ahead and go to BayCon tomorrow morning and leave either when my mechanic calls or 2 PM, which ever is earlier. But then what do I do if I can't get the van back? The current idea is that I would need to get Enterprise to take me back to the hotel, and then have a taxi take me to the train station on Sunday morning very early to catch a train that I hope will get me back to Reno on Sunday. I need to check availability. Logistics are complicated. And expensive.

I went down to BayCon for a few hours this afternoon and evening, which I enjoyed, but after the Meet the Guests and the call from my mechanic, I simply got too stressed out to enjoy the rest of the evening and decided to come back to the hotel room and try to rest. The Memorial Day Weekend is not looking like much of a holiday.

Lisa is now working on versions of Plan B: getting the RV ready to go as the vehicle to which we will travel to Spokane/Portland/Seaside. Expensive as all get-out, but at least we do have the plan in reserve.