“…against my window…bringing back sweet memories…” 10/15/07

It’s been one of those days. It’s Monday and once again I’m blessed enough to be alive and kicking and recording some thoughts in cyberspace. I was a tad moody in the first half of the day, but I’m over that now. It seemed that the protein shake that I consumed upon returning from my workout failed to rejuvenate like it usually does. Perhaps I was just too tired from a full weekend. Grey skies never help out a California Boy like me in that department, but I was in denial.

I actually have come to enjoy the rain of late. It was also raining on Friday and I combated that by putting in my Jazz for a Rainy Afternoon CD and straightening up the humble abode. I opened the blinds all the way so that I could enjoy my semi-spectacular view (SF Skyline in one direction, construction in another). As long as I don’t have to be out and about in the rain, it’s not so bad. Besides, us urban dwellers have come to appreciate the fresh and clean sensation a good rain can have on downtown streets that get a little “ripe” sometimes. I again opened the blinds today hoping that the dimmed sunlight and some more jazz would do the trick, but it didn’t. Today I was more closely aligned with the sentiment of the song, as another blues song by Bobby Bland came to mind, being that it was Monday.

I was also irritated by having to be tethered to the wall by a 2-foot Ethernet cable since my wireless access point decided to stop working last night. (Not to worry, I got it working again just a few minutes ago.) How wonderfully ironic it is for me to work in the wireless industry and to be felled by some consumer-grade Wi-Fi access point. Had it not been for the rain, I might have walked to Starbucks.

I decided to run some errands. After all, I did have some clothes in need of dry-cleaning and the computer in the console of my car keeps barking at me to get the oil changed. Furthermore, there just so happens to be an Oil Changer about 3 blocks from my dry cleaner. I went to the Oil Changer first since I have this thing about doing things in an order that lends itself to what side of the street something is on, or which freeway entrance it is nearer. No, really. I’ll sometimes drive 5 or 10 more miles on the fumes in my tank because the gas station is on the wrong side of the freeway and will require me to make too many left turns and...(yeah, I know…you’re probably saying , ‘Okay, Rainman, we get it…move on already).

Oil Changer was just the thing I needed to kick start my day. Those of you with the advanced degrees in people watching can appreciate why I enjoyed this so much. Not that the Oil Changer franchise in and of itself is entertaining, but this particular location never disappoints. For some reason, the turnover at this place is really high and perhaps its proximity to Downtown gives it a little more flair…a little more ‘flava’ than some of its suburban counterparts. It’s almost like this location does group hiring. Awhile back there were a group of what looked like “hill kids”, coifs just a little too well kept, and facial hair too well manicured for an oil changing joint. Then for awhile there was the Richmond crew. They looked like they had all previously worked as stevedores (longshoreman) at the docks, and decided to try this out. All of them about 5’9” and shaped like an armoire. Today’s group was a bunch of Yardmen, aka Jamaicans. It was hilarious. I wonder how long they will last. I found it especially amusing because one of the very few Jamaican restaurants in town shares a parking lot with this place. I was even further amused when they did that thing that they always do at auto shops, car washes, or any other service businesses. The Up-Sell. Whatever you came to buy isn’t enough. They always insist that you buy something additional. Your air filter needs to be replaced. You need some coolant. You need some wiper fluid. You need some new steak knives. One of these days I’m going to go to Jiffy Lube on Monday and get all those fluids replaced, get a new filter, and then go to Oil Changer on Tuesday and try to contain my laughter when they insist that they buy all these things again.

The combination of this entertaining cast of characters and my New Grooves, Blue Note Remix CD with its brilliant fusion of spoken word, hip-hop, and jazz turned the tables on my day. Rain is back on my good side now. If I weren’t getting tired, I’d wax poetic about my fondness for thunderstorms, which unfortunately we get here about as often as we get snow. “Bringing back sweet memories….”