I bought my Subaru Impreza in 1994. It’s a ’93, the last one on the lot, and I got it for a good price, I think around $12,000 after dealer discounts. Peter helped me pick it out after we made the rounds at several different dealerships.
It now has over 221,000 miles. Although it’s needed maintenance-type repairs through the years, every mechanic who has worked on it says it’s worth hanging on to.
The car has made two in-town trips this week, one to the airport and yesterday, to a consulting gig near Coolidge Corner in Brookline. The car still gets 32 miles to the gallon on the highway, and it has seemed pretty happy to be on the open road.
Yesterday was a keeper – light traffic in and out of Boston, no hassles on the turnpike. I took a break in the early afternoon to get some business done in Coolidge Corner, and after a little arm-twisting, got my client to sign off on 3 weeks worth of timesheets so that I can get paid.
The real high, though, was beating down the database on the laptop so that I didn’t have to work onsite today. The customer won’t allow contractors to use their VPN, so I’ve been out of commission since last Wednesday, when I couldn’t get the local database to work after trying to load the most current records.
I figured out the problems late yesterday afternoon, thus saving 3-4 hours of driving in my ancient car today.
A few weeks ago, I scored a hand-operated ice crushing machine for free at the tail end of a local yard sale. The grandkids love it, but I’ve been going nuts trying to find the right kind of syrup. Plus, regular straw and spoons just don’t cut it, you need the special spoon straw kind.
The syrups that flavor milk are not the right consistency, too gooey, and at this point, everyone is sick of the strawberry stuff I got to tide us over.
I’ve probably called half a dozen stores looking for Zarex, which EVERYONE remembers, but only one store carries – Roach Brothers, and they only have raspberry, which none of us likes.
I’d noticed that Target.com has slushie supplies online, so on the way back to the Cape, stopped in to their store in Kingston.
Serendipitously, I hit it right: they do carry the supplies, and everything was on sale, 20% off. I loaded up on cups, spoon straws, and 4 different kinds of syrup: grape, watermelon, root beer and pina colada.
And, it turns out, Target carries bean bag chairs, another hard-to-find item. I’ve been wanting to get one to provide enough comfortable places for the kids to sit: 2 easy chairs, 3 grands.
Today’s another day, it’s overcast on the Cape, and I have to get organized, but yesterday was great, a real keeper, and there are still a few more minutes to enjoy it before revving up for the next go-round.