The real point of no return

Here is proof positive that we must be serious about this city living thing:

As of 1:30 PM today, we are officially a one-car family.

After 5 years of great service, my other baby (Prizilla, the gentle green monster) is off to a new life in a far-off land and I am fully embracing life as a public transit consumer. (The Rev. will point out that I slept very poorly last night, mainly due to anxiety over selling "my" car.)

It was yet another testament to the power of craigslist. I placed my ad (at no cost) on two separate occasions -- classified postings are limited to 7 days in big metro areas -- and fielded a couple dozen inquiries. After enduring one extended test driver who never followed up to arrange an inspection, one no-show, one interested person who had to suddenly leave town to rescue his daughter (a likely story) and numerous virtual tire-kickers, I received a terse email asking for the car's VIN to run a check. I responded with the information and my phone number (I had received other similar requests) and figured that would be it.

The next day I got a phone call from a pleasant young woman asking me to meet her and her twin sister (they are both grad students, one in town and the other at a school in another state) at a local Toyota dealership to have the car inspected. One inspection and some brief haggling later, I signed over the title, handed over the keys, and left with a bag containing miscellaneous personal belongings. We closed the deal at a local bank where she arranged (at my request) for the funds to be wired directly to my bank account. It all went off without a hitch, and both parties should hopefully live happily ever after.

All hail the Internet. This young woman was on spring break, was planning to visit her sister in Chicago, and did an extended craigslist search looking for a new car (her previous vehicle was totaled in a winter driving accident) and found one that fit her needs. Even five years ago, this would never have happened. It's a great free market experiment.

Small comfort

The new job starts Monday, so I decided to do a test commute today to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises next week. I have several different planned routes, but all of them involve some exposure to the elements, whether it's a walk to the El or a wait for the bus. I tried walking to the train station first, which took about 15 minutes at a pretty brisk pace.

The only trouble was it was 10 degrees with a -5 wind chill. Yeah. Time to break out the long johns, scarf, and chap stick.

Once I get downtown, it's not so bad, even though I have about a 10-minute walk from the El to my office. The reason is the Pedway, which is basically a human underground hamster trail that connects many of the buildings downtown.

If today wasn't cold enough, the wind chills night will be between -20 and -30; tomorrow the high will be in the single digits. The weather folks say this is 20 degrees below normal for this time of year. Well, THAT'S a relief.

Seriously though, I'm definitely a city person. If this is the worst it gets, I can handle that. I think the Rev. has it worse because during this time of year she'll basically be housebound with Zane until it warms up (on the plus side, she says she can get a lot of things done).