It's nice to have a car in my garage again, if only because if Godzilla decides to attack, I'll be able to drive away instead of taking a couple of transfers on the buses. I travelled home to Oceanside over the weekend, originally planning on taking a bus from Calabasas to Woodland Hills, then picking up a commuter bus from Woodland Hills to Universal City, where I would get on LA's train line to downtown, where I would pick up the Amtrak to Oceanside. The total cost would have been $3 for a day pass, but all the multiple headaches would have cost me much more in stress, as well as having to worry about synchronizing between arrival and destination times when heavy Friday traffic is added to the equation.

I ultimately got a ride to Agoura from a buddy of mine who was headed in that direction anyway, allowing me to pick up a different commuter bus that goes from Agoura to downtown making only a handful of stops along the way. Total cost: $2. The LADoT's bus is, by far, the best deal in public transportation here in Los Angeles. I was able to traverse half of LA County in one trip for just two bills.

One minor benefit of having a car is being able to transport stuff (in addition to yourself) to a particular destination. It's a feature I really miss that I don't get when I take a public bus or train. Thursday, coming back from work, I had with me a duffel bag full of stuff from work that I needed to take home (mostly dirty clothes from the past few nights of crashing in the conference room).

Here goes my thought process: I needed to make a payment with the court-appointed counselor, but there was no guarantee that their offices would be open at 7pm when I was due to arrive. Also, I'd need to get a taxi from Thousand Oaks Blvd to my house, a $15 trip one-way. So since there's no guarantee that the office would be open, and I'd have to take a taxi anyway, I decided to flaunt my freedom and go to Crown & Anchor for St. Patrick's Day. But I didn't want to lug around my heavy duffel bag in the middle of a packed restaurant, so I found a fairly elegant solution.

Half a block from the restaurant is my gym. I didn't have a lock on me, but you can pay fifty cents to rent a locker. I stowed away my duffel bag, took my jacket, wallet and iPod, and dropped in two quarters. The key released, and my two quarters came right back out, even though the locker was fully locked. Free stowage! It's nice to think that I haves a network of working showers and storage space thanks to 24HourFitness. I guess the ability to work out is nice, too.

Armed with my iPod, which manages to inject confidence directly to my brain, I walked over and discovered a line and a cover charge of my favorite hang out spot. I stood there listening to an album and a half before I finally made it in to the standing room only establishment. But once inside, I found my favorite table empty, as well as two chairs. I sat down on one, put my feet up on the other, and proceeded to watch college basketball on TV. I'll just worry about paying my counselor in the morning.