I'm rushin' home, just as soon as I can...

It's Leap Day!
Google even has a cool little leaping frog in the their logo today...

And I really was rushing around today, particularly after work, as I had the first day of a Masters swim meet here in Fort Lauderdale to get to (warm-up started at 5 p.m., meet at 6). I swam the 400 IM (which didn't go terribly well) and a leg on an 800 Free Relay.

Then came home, and am about to crash... because I'm feeling a wee bit sleepy. Though I may finish up reading A Tale of Two Cities tonight, as well...

(And today's song, Janet Jackson's Miss You Much, is more in my head from my quick drives home post-morning swimming--on the way to work--than from today.)


So let me tell you baby
I'll tell your mama
I'll tell your friends
I'll tell anyone whose heart can comprehend

Fish in the sea, you know how I feel...

I was wondering around YouTube last night, trying to hunt down the Best Song nominee performances from Sunday's Oscars (without much luck since the Academy has pulled most of them), and stumbled upon a Michael Bublé song that I quite like: his rendition of Feeling Good (although I'm partial to the live version over the recorded one--though I do like the Pink Panther reminiscent trumpets at the beginning of the latter).

And the song became somewhat apropos for today, given:

• the rather cold weather that blew in today (following yesterday's tornado warning here in Fort Lauderdale, and the mass power outage in Florida--that didn't effect FtL),
• my new suits that arrived in the morning, and
• that one of the main characters in my book escaped the guillotine today...

Now I just need to start getting ready for the Masters meet I have this weekend in Fort Lauderdale. And wish Casey and Caroline good luck at Big 12s (which start tomorrow).

Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

So when all you've got are sleepless nights

On Friday while at work, for some reason I got Whitney Houston's I Learned from the Best stuck in my head. I've not heard the song in a few years, and at that time I didn't have it on my iPod, so of course it floated around in my head the rest of the day...

which naturally led me to put it on my iPod that night ;)


As for the rest of the weekend, it went well. I didn't have anything planned or to do, so just kinda bummed around the whole time. On Saturday, I managed to pick up a new lock set for my front door and stumbled upon a Texas watch (pic above).

Today, I set about installing the locks, and other than some minor glitches which I worked around (like the back of the new dead-bolt being bigger than the hole), got them installed (hence the different color on the dead bolt on top). After the installation, I read some of A Tale of Two Cities (which Erin probably thinks I should be finished by now, but I'm not--I did get to the part where they're sharpening the guillotine, thought); and this evening I checked out the movie Jumper...

And now I'm not watching the Oscars, which I'm partially wondering why I'm not... but am just not. I should be headed to bed, in any case, so I can try to swim in the morning (I did managed to wake up for 3 mornings last week: woo-hoo!--if waking up earlier in the morning can be something to celebrate?).

And so you know the way it feels to cry
The way that I cried when you broke my world in two
Baby, I learned the way to break a heart
I learned from the best
I learned from you

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance, with the stars up above...

Well, due to some pesky clouds in the area, I'm missing tonight's full lunar eclipse.

But that's semi-ok, as I'm still recovering from swimming 13 events this weekend (9 individuals and 4 relays) over in Clearwater. The meet itself, went rather well... and my times (for those who care):

Saturday
-1000 free: 10:03.86 (out in 5:04, back in 4:59--and I got touched out!)
-200 back: 2:02.37
-200 fly: 2:03.04 (almost like I planned it!)
-400 IM: 4:27.07

Sunday
-200 breast: 2:25.05
-100 back: 56.61
-100 breast: 1:06.32
-100 fly: 53.63
-500 free: 4:54.70

I also did 2 50s back on 2 medley relays (25.55 and 26.39) and 2 50s free (23.36 and 23.47).... All-in-all, not terrible. Anyways... must jet back outside to see if I can catch some more of the eclipse: night.


And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine, in your blush
Can I just have one more moondance

Phenomena...

Headed out to Clearwater this afternoon, for a Masters meet there this weekend...

And my daily calendar had this really cool picture of "Drive Carefully" on it... which I would show here, but can't seem to get it to load. Maybe in a wee bit later.

Have a good weekend and hasta...


Mahna-maha (do-doo da-doo-doo)

The fundamental things apply, as time goes by

For the second consecutive weekend, my focus yesterday was jaunting around South Florida to test drive some cars. I had mapped out 5.5 cars to check out and after swimming yesterday morning, I headed west to start my test drives at Saturn. There, I was checking out the Astra (pictured at left) and somewhat the Aura (the .5 car of interest mentioned in my last post).

Upon arrival and a brief inspection, I dismissed the Aura as an option, and moved to wavering between the 3-door and 5-door Astra. Initially I was drawn to the 3-door option--in my seemingly quest to not get a sedan as my next car--and so this was what I test drove. The test drive, however, did not go great: whether due to a mentally assumed familiarity, or simply because it just was that way, I did not drive the car well. In fact, it was the worse test drive I had of all the cars I tried. Compounding this issue is that the service manager from where I've taken my current car (and felt like I've been ripped off), has since moved on to this location. So following the dual experience, I probably won't be getting another Saturn with my new car (not that I don't like/love my current car, but mostly because the current models aren't the right fit).

Following Saturn, I started heading toward Volvo, which was located farthest away, and figured that on-the-way I would find a Pontiac dealer and well as be able to grab a quick lunch--both of which happened. I checked out the Pontiac G5 and G6 coupe (it also comes in a sedan). As the 2 cars look highly similar, with the 5 being a wee bit smaller than the 6, I've only one pictured (that's the G6 at right). Both drove similarly, with the G6 having a little nicer interior than the G5, but both work. Both test drives also went much better than the Saturn one, which was nice but just further cemented the losing appeal of the Astra.

Once done at Pontiac, I went to test out the Volvo C30, which while looking highly similar to the Astra, produced a completely different experience. In fact, the C30 was the first car I've actually really liked to drive while on the test drive. It stood out in that way: all my other test drives have just been comfortable/normal.

And shortly after finishing my test drive at Volvo, a massive rain storm came in, which stopped any further possibilities. As I had finished with my targeted drives for the day, I wasn't terribly upset about it. But yesterday did leave me with an interesting quandary in that the car I liked the most, also appears to be the least practical of all (though some additional research remains).

So I am now left somewhat perplexed on what to do, and somewhat thankful that I've got a few months to figure it all out. I also happened over to a Ford dealership and tried out the Focus and Fusion. The Focus was the smaller of the two, and while I did fit inside, the side mirror couldn't adjust to my height (bizarrely). Also strange was the fact that there was less headroom in the bigger Fusion--which just means that I really won't be considering either as an option.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die

And the clock on the wall has been stuck at 3 for days and days

Well, not really three: my wall clock at work has actually been stuck at 3:04:45 (to be exact). The battery in the clock died last Friday morning, and I've not yet replaced it. The annoying bit is that it makes me notice how frequently I look at it, because I keep catching myself getting the wrong time (and then having to look at my computer for the time).

But otherwise, the week is doing alright. I'm gearing up for trips to see/test drive 5.5 cars this weekend (there's one car I've almost ruled out, but just want to look to make sure, hence the half). And hopefully that'll happen on Saturday. Oh, and more importantly, I not only survived Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, but also the 72-hour "will buy car after looking" window...

After almost 96 hours, I don't even know if I'm really any closer to getting rid of an option, at this point...

She believes that life is made up of all that you're used to
And the clock on the wall has been stuck at three for days, and days
She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway
But outside it's stopped raining

...the one behind the wheel

I spent my pre-Lent Sunday not in any Mardi Gras celebrations (it is Lundi Gras today, by the way), but rather on a test-driving spree--all before the Super Bowl. After getting a much-needed haircut, I went off and test drove 5 of the 10 cars I'm investigating to replace my soon-to-be-11 year old Saturn.

Now, according to my designs/plans, I won't be buying any car for 5-6 more months; this is just the beginning of review of things. According to the Dodge salesman that showed me the Avenger (which I basically confirmed I didn't like) and the Caliber (at left), I'll be getting my car before Ash Wednesday ends: he said the typical buyer gets their car within 72 hours of looking. Given that I won't have looked at all the cars I want to check out before Wednesday, I'm somewhat doubtful of my falling into that...

My original plan was to test drive just two cars: the Volkswagen Jetta (pictured first above) and the Hyundai Tiburon (at right). This did have me driving around a wee bit, as the VW and Hyundai dealerships I know of aren't exactly close by, but it was alright.

I headed to the VW dealership and as I was taking my test drive I spotted a Dodge dealer just up the road. So I figured I might as well stop off and check out the two cars there, to see how they are (I'm actually mostly interested in the Dodges because of the orange color they have available--which is shown above, and which my sister insists I shouldn't get, although placed next to a car who names means "shark" in Spanish, I'm not sure how unbiased my sister's commentary is when in opposition to anything shark related...). And then afterwards headed over to where the shark awaited...

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and trying to cool down a wee bit (it was warm here on Sunday, and my slowly dying AC in my Saturn wasn't doing too well), I reached Hyundai and pried a test drive out of them (though I did need to find a car without a sunroof to get head clearance).

Following the Tiburon, I headed home to prep for a looming Super Bowl party. On the way, I passed by a Honda dealership and decided to stop-in and test drive the Civic Hybrid (above left).

So, not too terrible, but I don't know if I'm any closer to narrowing down my options... course I still have those 5 others to check out... hasta and have a good Fat Tuesday tomorrow.

Drive
I'm yours to keep
Do what you want
I'm going cheap