I rented Girl With A Pearl Earring yesterday, watched it last night, and was a little disappointed. It was a gorgeous film, an interesting story (I haven't read the book), a fascinating look into 17th century Dutch society, and that last, slow zoom out from the actual painting was powerful in its simplicity - but I was expecting more. I wanted more scandal, more drama, more insight into Vermeer's creative process - more something. (Also: Was I supposed to be surprised by what was in the package at the end of the story?) Maybe if I hadn't read such marvelous reviews beforehand, I wouldn't have expected so much from the film.
This morning, I dropped off our 2003 Prius for its 18 month service (7457 miles), and picked up my reserved Flexcar parked across the street from Toyota of Seattle. The Flexcar was a 2004 Honda Civic (not a hybrid, unfortunately), with a pretty green paint (that I haven't been able to find on Honda's web site), and Flexcar's new in-dash keypad. It had 5719 miles on it - which was a good sign that Flexcar is being used. It was Flexcar location 2525, which got that 1969 song by Zager and Evans stuck in my head. It also started me thinking about something I was told at the Flexcar get-together: that you don't reserve a car with Flexcar, you reserve a location, with access to whatever car is parked there. It's an interesting piece of semantics, because it says so much. It's a car sharing program. The car isn't yours - just the access to it. It reminds me that, every so often, I think how nice it would be if Flexcar had point-to-point reservations - pick up the car here, drop it off there - until I think about how difficult that would be to orchestrate. The concept of location reminds me how impractical my idea really is.
I used the Flexcar to run an errand up to the Credit Union in Greenwood, and then Phillip and I used it to meet Dad & Mom for lunch at Catfish Corner, and then a nice sit in the shade, the four of us, on the shore of Lake Washington. That was nice. We were sitting there when Toyota of Seattle called to tell me that our Prius was ready.
This morning, I dropped off our 2003 Prius for its 18 month service (7457 miles), and picked up my reserved Flexcar parked across the street from Toyota of Seattle. The Flexcar was a 2004 Honda Civic (not a hybrid, unfortunately), with a pretty green paint (that I haven't been able to find on Honda's web site), and Flexcar's new in-dash keypad. It had 5719 miles on it - which was a good sign that Flexcar is being used. It was Flexcar location 2525, which got that 1969 song by Zager and Evans stuck in my head. It also started me thinking about something I was told at the Flexcar get-together: that you don't reserve a car with Flexcar, you reserve a location, with access to whatever car is parked there. It's an interesting piece of semantics, because it says so much. It's a car sharing program. The car isn't yours - just the access to it. It reminds me that, every so often, I think how nice it would be if Flexcar had point-to-point reservations - pick up the car here, drop it off there - until I think about how difficult that would be to orchestrate. The concept of location reminds me how impractical my idea really is.
I used the Flexcar to run an errand up to the Credit Union in Greenwood, and then Phillip and I used it to meet Dad & Mom for lunch at Catfish Corner, and then a nice sit in the shade, the four of us, on the shore of Lake Washington. That was nice. We were sitting there when Toyota of Seattle called to tell me that our Prius was ready.
