Oh, joy. We're having an open house for employees' families. So troops of people with young kids are coming through our department, which is still working with people on the phone. I just love trying to explain something to a pissed off customer while a screaming baby goes by behind me. And the teenagers sneering. I think I'm going to lock my electronics in my drawer while they're here.

I'm exhausted from just driving. Went Delaware to pick up one lone tree. Are at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. Began heading back, but I was running the risk of getting back too early, so stopped at a goodwill. Was a bust and got back in the truck only five minutes later.

The truck had up and died.

Not the battery, we apparently don't have roadside assistance for it, so I agreed to put the tow on my cc. Finally get back (an hour and a half ride with an otherwise friendly former skinhead). They only take cash, so then it's "follow me to the nearest ATM". Showed him the way back to the highway, then back to work to unload the tree and plant it in water.

Stopping for a small bottle of wine, and then I am donesky.

Hot chocolate later.

I succumbed to the fitbit craze (late, as usual) because I was interested in increasing my passive exercising (the kind you get from parking further away), doing the stairs, and sleep monitoring. I had to hide all the calorie stuff, but otherwise it nestles comfortably between my boobs most of the time (finally found something I could hide in there) and I've been pretty good at doing 15-25 flights on active days.

Need more active days, though.

Who else is using Uber? I love it to pieces. No more taxis for me, hopefully. I have also found the drivers nicer, and one or both of us gets an edjamacation by the time we're done. Apparently Shailene Woodley (or however you spell the Divergent star) said something cheesy about learning about cultures by asking your cab driver where they're from, and I got into a Jezgument about whether or not that was patronising and shitty to do.

I maintain you can do it nicely, and just had a great conversation with a driver from Cote D'Ivoire by just starting out with "I don't recognise your accent--where's it from?" Maybe it's easier because I'm not from here either and also not white? Dunno. But the worst part about the drive today was how often the driver turned and looked square over his shoulder to talk to me.

Also, still consistently cheaper (no tipping and total is less than just the ride from the cabs I used for the same distance) and so far the cars are all really nice and clean and the drivers are working for their star ratings. The "goodbye" from the drive was "I give you five stars" and "I give you five too."

I need to work out if I can see my ratings, but that way lies meowmeowbeenz ( t /Community ).

Who else is using Uber? I love it to pieces. No more taxis for me, hopefully.

I love Uber, and now that they have taxis in their umbrella (in SF, at least), I don't use any other service. And I've learned awesome things from pretty much every driver I've had.

Hot chocolate is now in the past. Delicious and decadent. I may not need dinner. Which would be fine, more soup for lunches.

Beware the meowmeowbeenz.

Uber isn't out here where I am, yet. Might be worth looking into for the other end of train rides, though.

I've never heard of Uber.

I was just reading about the CEO of Mozilla on Twitter, though, including the statement from OKCupid. Good for them.

The only reason I haven't tried fitbit is the last pedometer I bought didn't work because I'm apparently too fat for it work when clipped to my hip, and it wouldn't work anywhere else. But if it works when tucked into my bra, I might give it another try.

Did you try your shoe? That works for me for the cheaper ones, but I can't really use the more expensive pedometers

I've been avoiding news about the CEO of Mozilla because quitting using Firefox would be a PITA. Too many open tabs.

Zen, did you get your Chromebook? Am I remembering right that you ordered one off that same deal tommyrot linked to?

I maintain you can do it nicely, and just had a great conversation with a driver from Cote D'Ivoire by just starting out with "I don't recognise your accent--where's it from?"

Not about cab drivers, but I just found out background information about two coworkers in the last two workdays in ways that seemed OK. One, I asked her about how people mess up her name, and the other I asked where she grew up, because it was relevant to a vaccination question we were discussing. It turned out to be Zimbabwe, which was a surprise! t /vaguely related

I was all set to go ask for sympathy from my parents, but my mother had a tooth pulled today! So I was very sympathetic toward her instead.