February 8

Saturday mornings are usually the time when I run all of the errands that have to be taken care of. This Saturday is different because the Beetle is in the shop for some routine maintenance. For a 2002 Beetle, having the 80K mile service performed in 2014 reminds me how lucky I am to have found this particular Beetle when I was looking back in 2012 for a used vehicle. While I know that this service will be rather expensive, I learned long ago that there are vehicles that will drain your bank account in a hurry for things that aren’t scheduled and will break or fail at the worst possible time. I will be here at the apartment waiting for the phone call to let me know when the Beetle is ready and exactly how much it will cost me. Luckily, I got my tax refund earlier this week. I deliberately waited until after that to even schedule the work to be done. Since I am trapped here today, it seems like a good idea to write. I am going to relax today and listen to some music and perhaps catch up on the news later this morning. In a way, it is good that I have this break from the routine around here. A little variety is good and keeps me on my toes.

It is just after noon, and the call about the Beetle has come. Naturally the cost will be more than estimated. At least I can afford this since I am using my tax refund, but it will hurt.

I will NOT be watching any of the Olympics. The whole thing just stinks, and I am not talking about the bathrooms in Sochi. The disgraceful behavior of the Russian government towards LGBT offends me deeply, and that is reason 1 for my boycott. Reason 2 is the complete farce these games are bing held under. Apparently there is no country that can be ready for these events even after years of preparation. The Olympics need to be assigned to one place and left there so things can be maintained properly. I suggest Athens for the Summer Games and Lillehammer for the Winter Games. All the members of the IOC can then contribute to the upkeep and gradual improvement of the facilities that are already in place and therefore stop these embarrassing examples of corruption and inefficiency that occur every 2 years now.