Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just hardly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Today, the boys were weighed again. Max weighed a little over ninety grams. The Ledbetter’s was obviously working. Sonar weighed not fairly ninety grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar is a little bulkier, but there is no way he’s more than doubled his weight in just seven days. Something obviously went wrong with the weighing last week, but we can’t figure out what. Two technicians weighed Sonar, and Phillip and I witnessed the procedure, so operator error seems unlikely. The fact that Max weighed normally on the same electronic scale makes equipment error just as unlikely.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

Meantime, a duo of days ago, our Kenmore portable dishwasher stopped working. I did a search on this blog and learned that we bought it in February, 2008. Phillip called the Sears service number, spoke to some man about the dishwasher, and was given the address and hours for the nearest repair center, and was told that we didn’t need to make a reservation to bring it in. The repair center in the SoDo District, less than five miles from home. I reserved a Honda Element from Zipcar for this afternoon.

The dishwasher went into the Element lighter than I was afraid it would be. (I was most worried about us being able to lift it up into the SUV.) We drove to the service center, where we were informed that portable dishwashers are repaired only with a scheduled, in-home service call. We drove home, rather upset with Sears. We spent almost $40 0n the Zipcar (granted, I reserved an hour more than I thought we’d need, for a margin of error) for nothing. Phillip told the man on the phone it was a portable dishwasher – why didn’t the man think to mention that we couldn’t bring it in while he was providing Phillip the address? And, why on earth do we need to schedule someone to come to our apartment to repair something that two guys can pick up and put into the back of an SUV without even folding the back seats down?

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked Salsa the Volvo S40. As usual, the Zipcar process was seamless. It was effortless and convenient, and there is nothing much to write about the journey to Black Diamond and back yesterday. Salsa was about six blocks from home. It was clean. It ran well. We packed up the tank in Issaquah – and the gasoline was billed to Zipcar.

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to shove it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

Last Halloween, I got the news that Zipcar was buying Flexcar, and I wondered: “Will it be a trick or a treat?” After playing around with zipcar.com, making our very first reservation, and taking our very first joyride, I’m telling that it is a treat. From what I’ve seen so far (forgiving the truly awful transition week), Zipcar is an improvement over Flexcar.

Like I told Zipcar during the “How was your very first tour?” survey, having been Flexcar members for five years, the overall Zipcar process was pretty familiar to us. There were some differences, however.

Zipcar’s website reservations work with Opera, and that’s an improvement over Flexcar. I like my Opera browser. I haven’t used the phone reservation yet, but I think it’s useful that, if you choose, you can bypass the automated phone system and have a Zipcar employee make the reservation for you – for a petite fee.

I like that, rather than searching for cars in our general neighborhood, I can now find the cars closest to our home, have some idea of how close to home they are. I like that I can filter out the cars that are already reserved by someone else.

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the journey. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you come back it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it shows up that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

I can see how reserving a car, rather than a location, can have its advantages. Every car has its individual quirks, and if I were a picky driver, it might be nice to know I can reserve Chestnut the Civic Hybrid, which steered better than Collings the Civic Hybrid (for example). That’s a trivial advantage to me, but it might be significant to someone else.

I haven’t determined if I’m going to use a Zipcar when I’m in Portland. Being able to get myself around without a car was sort of the point. The problem is, Zipcar is still a fresh fucktoy and I have to fight back taking it out of the box too often.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the excursion to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

On the subject of fresh logos on the door, I am wondering what decision process lead to the choice to apply the Zipcar logo to only the passenger side door. As I walk up the street to the bus stop, and I see that Scion xA parked facing toward me, I can’t see anything identifying it as a Zipcar. There’s nothing wrong with that – it just seems an odd advertising choice.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

As I’ve written before, Zipcar did not create a good very first impression with us, during its transparent-as-lead transition from Flexcar. But, after reminding ourselves just how much better a car share program is than renting, we determined to forgive what might be an isolated glitch.

When I got home today, Phillip was activating his fresh Zipcard. Mine had arrived, too. A little while later, he asked me to read his complaint letter. He wasn’t able to activate his card, due to an unexplained error. We’d hit another glitch.

I attempted to activate my Zipcard. All my account information from Flexcar transferred over. Except for a duo of lumps of information that needed updating, the activation process was quick and flawless. I became a “Zipster.”

Then Phillip came up with a brilliant hypothesis: What if his activation error was due to the fact that his account is part of my account, and that I hadn’t activated my account yet? He attempted to activate his Zipcard again, and the process was quick and flawless. Phillip became a “Zipster.”

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also toughly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would showcase me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or demonstrate all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can narrow my search to a specific model of car. (Flexcar would permit me to search for a specific type of car: sedan, compact, utility, etc.) It would be nicer if I could search for two or more models at once, but that’s a minor gripe.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

The rules and instructions are pretty much the same as Flexcar’s, with one major exception. With Flexcar, only the person who reserved the vehicle could drive the vehicle. With Zipcar, once a vehicle is reserved and picked up, any Zipster can drive it. This means that the next time Phillip and I reserve an Element for a drive to Climb on Rainier, we can trade off driving.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

And the reaction to my previous question is: A Zipcar has to be returned to the spot it was picked up in. If there are more than one catches sight of in one location, it doesn’t matter which spot at that location the Zipcar is returned to.

I Am Not A Number

Theoretically, this is the very first utter day of Zipcar in Seattle. We’re still waiting for our Zipcards to arrive. So far, it seems like there are slightly fewer Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. (Where’s the one in the apartment building on Belmont? Where’s the one in the funeral home parking lot?)

I have no idea how different the reservation process is going to be, but the concept of naming cars, rather than numbering them, is going to take some getting used to. Instead of reserving Flexcar 2104, for example, we’ll be reserving Cabella the Civic. It’s more than just getting used to nice names, however, it’s a real paradigm shift.

Flexcar used to stress that you weren’t reserving a car, you were reserving a location. You weren’t reserving Flexcar two thousand one hundred four – you were reserving the Flexcar that’s parked in space 2104. There was a penalty for returning a Flexcar to the wrong spot.

Now, I look at the Zipcars in our neighborhood, and I see the name in the back window of the Zipcar, but no such identification on the parking spot. It seems we will be reserving a car. I wonder what they do about cars returned to the wrong spot. If there’s a parking lot with three Zipcars, is it only necessary to come back the Zipcar to one of those catches sight of?

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

People have asked me: “Why be a Flexcar member, if you use it only periodically? Why not just rent a car when you need it?” Well, today, our very first day without Flexcar, answered that question fairly nicely.

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The fellow behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came a lot of paperwork: agreements, waivers, deposits, more agreements, explanations, proof of insurance, and a signed statement that my own insurance will suit me just fine. (Reason two: All those agreements with Flexcar took place just once, five years ago.)

When Phillip bought the dishwasher yesterday, the saleswoman at Sears gave us the address of the nearest recycling center, in Snohomish, that will take our old dishwasher. Unluckily, we discovered yesterday, that center is not open on weekends. Therefore, our plan for today was to bring the old dishwasher to Value Village or Goodwill, hoping they would take it. We picked up the fresh dishwasher in Kent, and learned that they would take our old dishwasher. We picked up the fresh dishwasher, drove back to Seattle, cursing the saleswoman at Sears for not being better informed, put the fresh dishwasher in our kitchen and the old one in the U-Haul van, drove back to Kent, then back to Seattle – thereby doubling the mileage we were paying for – and returned the van.

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

And, reason three is: Renting that U-Haul van for four hours cost more than the entire day we had that Flexcar Element for a drive to Climb on Rainier and back, especially when I factor in that I had to put $24 worth of gas in the U-Haul, and pay for it myself, to avoid a $30 penalty.

Now, I’m back to thinking about telling “yes” to Zipcar, if my card ever comes. I don’t like how they’ve treated the transition, and I plan to tell them that, but after today, I don’t like the alternative of not having it.

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which commenced within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

On February eight (last week), Flexcar informed me, in an email, that I would not receive an hourly discount through my employer’s plan with Zipcar, but I would be receiving a 50% discount on the annual fee. The email added that I would be receiving my Zipcar card “soon.” All in all, the advantages seemed to outweigh the disadvantages. (I also considered that reserving a Zipcar in another city seems to be lighter than with Flexcar.) I determined to say “yes” to Zipcar, when the card came.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we spotted at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

Lynn’s fresh television did, indeed fit in the back seat of our Prius. We drove back to Lynn’s place and helped her set up the TV. There, I borrowed her computer to reserve a Flexcar Honda Element for tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we spotted a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

I attempted reserving an Element with the phone system. The very first one I attempted would be unavailable, all day. I called the help desk at about Three:00. The man explained that as of 7:00 today, Seattle’s Flexcars will officially become Zipcars. I need to use my Zipcar card to reserve a car for tomorrow, he explained, in a condescending tone of voice. I didn’t get a Zipcar card, I explained. They were mailed out two weeks ago, he replied (which, now that I think about it, rather contradicts last week’s email). He took my contact information and promised that someone would look into the situation.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

As I was preparing to write this post, I checked on zipcar.com. Their map of US cities has a flag by Seattle stating “coming Two/21.” When I attempt to locate a Zipcar near me, I get a message telling “Zipcars are coming soon to Seattle!”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The proprietor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

Like I told Zipcar during the “How was your very first excursion?” survey, having been Flexcar members for five years, the overall Zipcar process was pretty familiar to us. There were some differences, however.

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to commence a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the journey to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am watching Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also toughly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would display me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or showcase all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

And the response to my previous question is: A Zipcar has to be returned to the spot it was picked up in. If there are more than one catches sight of in one location, it doesn’t matter which spot at that location the Zipcar is returned to.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

People have asked me: “Why be a Flexcar member, if you use it only at times? Why not just rent a car when you need it?” Well, today, our very first day without Flexcar, answered that question fairly nicely.

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

I attempted reserving an Element with the phone system. The very first one I attempted would be unavailable, all day. I called the help desk at about Trio:00. The man explained that as of 7:00 today, Seattle’s Flexcars will officially become Zipcars. I need to use my Zipcar card to reserve a car for tomorrow, he explained, in a condescending tone of voice. I didn’t get a Zipcar card, I explained. They were mailed out two weeks ago, he replied (which, now that I think about it, rather contradicts last week’s email). He took my contact information and promised that someone would look into the situation.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good picture to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to commence and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the journey. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you comeback it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it emerges that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the tour cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the journey to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am watching Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also harshly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would display me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or display all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

Theoretically, this is the very first total day of Zipcar in Seattle. We’re still waiting for our Zipcards to arrive. So far, it seems like there are slightly fewer Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. (Where’s the one in the apartment building on Belmont? Where’s the one in the funeral home parking lot?)

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

People have asked me: “Why be a Flexcar member, if you use it only sometimes? Why not just rent a car when you need it?” Well, today, our very first day without Flexcar, answered that question fairly nicely.

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The fellow behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which began within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “translucent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked Salsa the Volvo S40. As usual, the Zipcar process was seamless. It was effortless and convenient, and there is nothing much to write about the tour to Black Diamond and back yesterday. Salsa was about six blocks from home. It was clean. It ran well. We packed up the tank in Issaquah – and the gasoline was billed to Zipcar.

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the excursion to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also toughly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would demonstrate me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or demonstrate all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

People have asked me: “Why be a Flexcar member, if you use it only from time to time? Why not just rent a car when you need it?” Well, today, our very first day without Flexcar, answered that question fairly nicely.

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which commenced within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good picture to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the spandex hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

Like I told Zipcar during the “How was your very first journey?” survey, having been Flexcar members for five years, the overall Zipcar process was pretty familiar to us. There were some differences, tho’.

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we eyed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we spotted a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “see-through.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good picture to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the spandex hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the rubber hood release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to begin and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a quirk, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the tour cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am eyeing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “see-through.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to begin and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am witnessing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The bondage mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I truly, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a quirk, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the journey to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I attempted to activate my Zipcard. All my account information from Flexcar transferred over. Except for a duo of chunks of information that needed updating, the activation process was quick and flawless. I became a “Zipster.”

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The dude behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the spandex hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the rubber hood release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you come back it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it emerges that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the excursion to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am eyeing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we eyed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “see-through.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked Salsa the Volvo S40. As usual, the Zipcar process was seamless. It was effortless and convenient, and there is nothing much to write about the excursion to Black Diamond and back yesterday. Salsa was about six blocks from home. It was clean. It ran well. We packed up the tank in Issaquah – and the gasoline was billed to Zipcar.

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The proprietor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to commence and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am watching Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to begin paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which commenced within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the spandex hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am witnessing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The man behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The proprietor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you come back it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it emerges that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the tour cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also harshly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would demonstrate me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or demonstrate all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a quirk, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I dreamed to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The dude behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we spotted a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “see-through.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you come back it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it emerges that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the tour cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am eyeing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can see not only the closest Zipcars to home, but also harshly how far from home they are. (Flexcar would showcase me only a list of cars in an area.) I get the idea that I can switch the central point (to something other than home), but I’m not sure about that, yet. I like that I can filter out the Zipcars that are not available during the time I want, or demonstrate all Zipcars and adjust the time I want.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to begin paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we eyed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “see-through.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good picture to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I truly, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the excursion to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am witnessing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I dreamed to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “translucent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would embark, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the spandex hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you come back it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it emerges that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am witnessing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which began within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The proprietor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a quirk, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am eyeing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we witnessed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good picture to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the possessor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to commence.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which began within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to embark and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

I indeed, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am watching Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The stud behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not glad with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the rubber hood release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I desired to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the rubber hood release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of glance.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to commence and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the excursion. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you comeback it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it shows up that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to commence a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the journey to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to begin paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we eyed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that truly matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t truly burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The proprietor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I wished to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the spandex hood release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which showcased us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The rubber hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I indeed, indeed like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I dreamed to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to commence a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am watching Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The man behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, however, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we eyed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That truly didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, truly, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the rubber hood release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to begin and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the journey. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you comeback it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it shows up that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I dreamed to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to begin a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars show up in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I wished to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The man behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does comeback to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to embark paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which embarked within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of glance). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which displayed us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The bondage mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the excursion cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantly (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am witnessing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The boy behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “translucent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just scarcely over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would begin, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of look). The possessor’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Eventually, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the bondage mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the bondage mask release. I referred to the proprietor’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The fetish mask release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of view.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to commence and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the tour. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you comeback it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it shows up that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I truly, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for jiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a caprice, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the jiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I wished to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instantaneous reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

I reserved a Scion xA because I’d been wanting to drive one. (Flexcar had them, too, but I never got around to reserving one.) I liked driving it a lot. It was responsive, and it felt solid. The controls were logically arranged. I found the headlight switch instantaneously (unlike that Ford van from U-Haul, where the switch was a pull knob hidden below and behind the steering wheel and took me almost half the tour to find). The windshield on the xA felt fairly a bit smaller than the windshield on our Prius, but the back window seemed larger.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to begin.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

I’d written earlier that there appeared to be less Zipcars in our neighborhood than there were Flexcars. As I log onto zipcar.com or look out the bus window, I am observing Zipcars emerge in those previously missing Flexcar catches sight of: the apartment building on Belmont, the funeral home on Broadway, the apartment building on Melrose where I desired to reserve the Element to pick up the dishwasher. (That last spot is an Element again.)

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something fatter than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The man behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to begin paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which began within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we eyed a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semi-transparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good pic to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.

Zipcar – Page two – Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work

Zipcar

Recap: Two years ago, the veterinary clinic weighed Sonar and Max. Both boys weighed around eighty grams, more or less – a healthy weight for a sugar glider. Last weekend, the clinic weighed them again. Max was still in the eighty gram range, but Sonar weighed just slightly over forty grams. We’ve noticed that Sonar has been rather skinny, but we hadn’t realized he’d lost half of his weight in two years. The vet was worried. That’s why we’ve been feeding the boys so much Ledbetter’s Mix this past week.

Whatever the cause, it was an incorrect weighing, and all that indeed matters is that the boys are healthy.

We are not blessed with Sears.

When we got our fresh cell phones, I signed up for Zipcar text alerts, but didn’t activate the feature. It didn’t seem worth the minutes it would cost to get the alerts. But, now that we’ve used our phones for a while, I’ve discovered that texting is effortless and doesn’t indeed burn up the minutes as much as I feared it would. So, when I reserved the Element this week, I determined to go ahead and activate some text features. A half hour before my reservation was scheduled to end, I received a text message (actually, there were only twenty five minutes left by the time the message actually came in) informing me when my reservation would end, when the next person’s reservation would commence, and instructions on how to reply and extend the reservation if I needed to. I thought that was rather nifty. Of course, if I were driving alone, I would have to pull over somewhere to read the message, but it was still rather nifty.

Salsa For Thanksgiving

I liked the Volvo S40. It’s not a car I would want to own, but it was nice to drive for the day. It seemed better suited for freeway cruising than for city driving. The controls were effortless to use and effortless to understand – with two exceptions. When I got in the car the very first time, the driver’s seat was shoved too far forward to me. The driver’s seat was eclectically adjusted, and the controls were down on the lower edge of the seat (out of view). The holder’s manual gave instructions for manual adjustment only (which was kind of odd). I attempted to figure out the buttons by feel, and couldn’t find the slide forward/backward button. Ultimately, I had to get out of the car, squat down in the parking lot, and adjust the seat from the outside. It was a minor thing, indeed, and if I were more familiar with the car, I’d know where the button was, but it seemed to me that there should be some way to form the buttons so they could be distinguished by touch. The other thing was the fetish mask release. In Black Diamond, my brother and I dreamed to take a look at the five cylinder engine. We could not find the fetish mask release. I referred to the holder’s manual, which demonstrated us where it was, but we still couldn’t see it. Again, I squatted down outside of the car. The spandex hood release was colored bright crimson (which was a nice touch). but it was tucked up under the dashboard, out of look.

The oddest thing about the S40, I thought, was the message on the dashboard. We didn’t want to put the crockpot we were bringing in the trunk, because there was no way to secure it from sliding around (our Prius has a cargo net!), so we put it in the back seat and secured it with the seat belt. As we drove off, a message in the middle of the dashboard told me: “Left rear seatbelt is in use.” I thought that was odd. As we continued on I-90, toward Issaquah, I began wondering about the button on the end of the turn signal lever. The button was labeled “Read”. I determined to thrust it. The message on the dashboard told me: “You have one message”. I shoved the button again. The message read: “Left rear seatbelt is in use”. I can see how this message feature could be very helpful, but alerting us that a seat belt is being used seems like an odd reason for a message.

We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, with just a slight edge of family drama.

Zipcar Is A Treat

I was pleased when Flexcar switched from using the card to get in and out of the car every time, to using the card to begin and stop the reservation and using the key to lock and unlock the car during the journey. I find using the card and holding it over the window just a little cumbersome. Now, Zipcar is using the keys-stay-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-with-the-card method. That’s a minor setback.

It’s also a setback that Zipcar doesn’t seem to let you free up the car if you comeback it early, like Flexcar did. I’m not entirely clear on that point, but it shows up that way. When I reserved a Flexcar for two hours, but was done with it after one hour, I could free up the remaining time, and if someone reserved it during those last sixty minutes, I wouldn’t be charged for them. In actual practice it never worked for us, but it was nice to have it.

I indeed, truly like that Phillip can take over the driving when I reserve a Zipcar, and vice versa. That is a big improvement over Flexcar.

Joyriding With Ayana

We made our very first Zipcar reservation this afternoon, just for the joy of it. We took Ayana the Scion xA for an hour and a half joyride. I drove. We went to Burgermaster for wiggles, we stopped into Pinocchio Fucktoys on a fad, packed up Ayana with gasoline, and took the long way home. With our fresh member bonus credit, the journey cost us nothing (except for the wiggles and the bunny I bought at Pinocchio, that is.)

There was a practical side to this joyride. I desired to make sure there were no unforeseen complications before we actually needed to use a Zipcar. There were none. I made the reservation to embark a half hour from the present time. (An almost instant reservation, in other words.) The two xAs closest to us were already reserved, but Ayana was available and only five blocks away. The car was clean and in good condition, and it had just under a half a tank of gas in it. There were a little over 24,000 miles on the odometer. The entire process was effortless to use.

As always happens when I drive a non-hybrid car, I kept making the mistake of releasing the ignition switch too soon for the engine to embark.

At the end of our joyride, Phillip said that he gets to drive the next time.

More Wheels Leisurely

It makes sense that it would be a gradual process, as Phillip pointed out to me – it’s more than applying fresh logos to the doors. It’s a software and hardware switch as well.

zipcar.com: A Very first Impression

I’ve been playing around with zipcar.com. I’ve been reading the FAQs. I like what I’ve seen, so far.

I like that I can lightly reserve a car in another city.

Yes, I’m liking Zipcar, so far.

I Am Not A Number

We will see what happens – whenever our Zipcards arrive, that is.

Why I Miss Flexcar Already

(Also, today explained why I felt that, contrary to latest tax switches, Flexcar was not a rental car company.)

The dishwasher Phillip bought yesterday was available for pick up today in Kent. We needed something thicker than a Prius to bring it home in. We drove to Hardwick’s, in the University District, to rent a truck. Unluckily, we left behind to check ahead of time to confirm that they are open on Sunday. They are not. We drove to the U-Haul in Interbay. Once there, we determined to rent a van instead of a pickup truck. The man behind the counter told me we were fortunate that they had a van available, and told me, rightly so, that we should have called ahead. I told a half-truth and said that something had come up at the last minute. (Reason one why I would have preferred Flexcar: That paragraph would have read: “I reserved an Element online, then we walked four blocks down the street, picked it up, and drove to Kent.”)

Then came more paperwork and an inspection of the van. (Reasons one and two, again.)

The thought does come back to me, tho’, that I don’t know what Zipcar is going to suggest in my neighborhood – if an SUV or truck is even going to be available.

Anyway, we have a nice, fresh dishwasher.

Zipcar: Yes? No?

Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to commence paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was ready to end my status as a car share member, which began within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.

The switch from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.

Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our capability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would proceed shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we witnessed at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.

According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That indeed didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we spotted a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the entire day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.

On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “semitransparent.”

We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good photo to me. I’ve determined to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.