Yesterday was my birthday. I got some nice cards and some warm telephone calls. If you called or sent a card… thank you! If you didn’t… I know where you live.
The big fun event of the day was dinner at the Claddagh Restaurant in Gilroy, one of the finest Irish restaurants we have ever found. I have mentioned it before, but it is worth mentioning again. I had the “Irish grill” with salad and garlic mashed potatoes – an assortment of sausages, with a lamp chop and a fried egg, served with some (really) hot mustard on the side. Jett had fish and chips which to my way of thinking is more English than Irish, but it was tasty too.
The big non-fun event of the day was taking the truck in to have the fuel filter replaced. I took it to a GMC dealer, which I knew would jack up the cost and their estimate came in at just over $200: $70 for the part and $145 for labor. Ok, fine, it had to be done. But I also asked them to check the brakes. The phone call later that morning told me that I was right to be concerned: one of the rear rotors was cracked. Damn – another $500! At least that was the thought going through my head as the service manager was talking to me. But, no, it would be more like $900. Ouch! But, again, it had to be done.
I sure miss the Harvard Street Garage. Leo would have done it for under $500, I think.
But when it was time to leave work the service manager called back. Not only was the truck not ready, but further inspection had revealed a leak in the “power boost unit” – whatever that is. It didn’t need to be fixed immediately and it wasn’t a safety issue. Yet. But he suggested that I have it replaced soon. At a cost of $900.
So my big birthday present was about $2,000 in repairs from GMC. Happy birthday, sucka.
Because the truck wasn’t available and because Jett shouldn’t drive at dusk and because I needed the exercise (I still haven’t lost that 10 lbs I gained at Christmas), I walked to the light rail station about a mile away. I wanted to take a close look at this system anyway and compare it to Boston’s Green Line. The quick assessment: it is clean, fast, fairly priced and has oodles of free parking conveniently located near expressways. But it isn’t heavily used, for the reason I previously mentioned: the roads are too damn good.
One surprise was that the fare collection system is basically an honor system. My $2.00 “one ride” ticket was actually a timestamped ticket good for 2 hours. So for two bucks I could ride the system as much as I liked, even getting off, doing some shopping and returning to my car, for the price of a “single ride.” Pretty good deal, I think.
We rode along at about 55 mph. I don’t think the Green Line, on its best day, gets above 40 mph.
I got off at the Santa Theresa station, the southern terminus for the line. This is where a commuter coming from the south would most likely park. The lot is huge and the parking is free. But at 5pm on a Wednesday, the lot was nearly empty.
Here are a few photos I took, plus one of a tree that I saw while walking to the shopping center where I agreed to meet Jett.
The trolley at Santa Theresa
Rush hour on the trolley – about 10 passengers
The nearly-empty Santa Theresa parking lot
Dramatic tree
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