Indian Toothache / Tile Ho

Yesterday: Passat sedan. KPFA. 50 year old woman driver was animated & excitable. She often turned to talk to me & drove with 1 hand on the wheel, causing the car to drift slightly to the side. She talked about a meditation retreat she did in Thailand. At the end of her trip she visited India and hated it. Her family met her there on vacation. They had to run like linebackers, stiff arming the beggars out of the way as they went. Her 79 year old father was having dental problems at the time & decided to have 2 root canals while in Madras because it's so much cheaper there.

Today: Ford diesel. KFOG. 2nd time I've ridden with this guy. Construction worker type, but drinking Espresso Roma coffee while driving the big big diesel truck with one hand & balancing the coffee on the dash board at times. Things I learned about him in today's 20 minute ride: He specializes in tile work, and also does sheet rock. He makes $75/hour. It costs $70 to fill up the gas tank in his truck. He believes in very brief, business like cell phone conversations. He has a son. He gets a lot of work from craigslist - he's known to some friends as "the craigslist ho." This did not amuse the friendly, middle aged woman who was riding in the backseat. When I got out in SF & he drove down the street I noticed the truck had very large mud flaps with the state of Montana on them.

Vanity Kills

Yesterday: Mitsubishi sedan. NPR.

Today: Camry. Star 101. Indian couple. Wife had perfectly applied makeup which she was checking in the vanity mirror when I got in. Mid-way through the ride, she flipped up the vanity mirror, but then would periodically check herself in the rear view mirror. Star 101 is horrible, horrible audio torture. Plus the driver was a "I'm gonna get one car length ahead" style driver. You know the drill. Change lanes, move up, uh oh, it's slowing down, change back to the lane you were in - net result - one car length ahead. The end.

The Fog

Yesterday: Old rattling Mitsubishi sedan, KPFA.

Today: BMW Mini, NPR, foggy in the East Bay & it cleared when leaving the bridge into SF.

That's boring. But have you seen the gray album video mashup? Ringo scratches!

112 in Vegas

Civic. No radio. Driver gave a presentation in Vegas earlier this year & it was 112 degrees. I've ridden with this couple before - they are nice people. Last time the guy drove really fast - this time he drove fast, but it was a bit more relaxed. I read a story about another interesting ride today.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Tercel. NPR. Blah Blah Blah. Today I decided that the carpool blog experience will have a 1 year lifespan. I will fill in the stats from January to June, and then it will be a year in the life of a carpooler. Then I will move on to bigger & better things like blogging about what kind of tooth floss I'm using or some boring thing I did last weekend.

Commit

VW Golf. AM 740 (Madden/traffic) then NPR. 2nd time riding with this guy. Good driver. No traffic 'cos it's Vets Day.

When walking to BART this morning, a guy with saggy pants was erratically riding a cheap mountain bike down the sidewalk towards me. He was swerving so I steped to one side, then the other - he panicked & hit the brakes, then amazingly started berating me for not committing to walking on one side of the sidewalk or the other. I politely showed him there was a 5 foot wide bike lane right out there on the street. Duh. Next time I will commit. Next time if he wants to play chicken, I will put a little bit of shoulder in. Then I will draw a John Madden style chart in this blog to show you how the play transpired.

Little bit off

Tuesday: Called in sick
Wednesday: Raining so I took BART

That's boring. So I'm giving you something foul mouthed but true to read, and a funny thing to watch.

Under My Thumb / MFM

Acura. Rolling Stones CD. High revving car, lots of carb backpressure sounds. Lady must've been a former race car driver, but I didn't feel unsafe. Would've been better if we had a guy like middle finger man to drive by.

Talk about what you don't want to talk about

Wednesday: Took BART
Thursday: Standard issue (sedan/NPR/silent)
Friday: Older Pathfinder. Hendrix CD. Listening to Hendrix is way better than hearing news on the radio. Then we had a nice conversation about politics the whole drive over, punctuated by intermittent talk about a recent Prince concert.

Tall kids & hookers

Monday: Audi Wagon. NPR. Driver is a building engineer with 2 sons, 8 & 12. They are tall. That's why he bought the Audi.

Today: VW Beetle. Jazz 91. Berkeley ballot measure talk, with focus on prostitutes & drugs.