What is becoming a bad habit

I have this bad habit forming. A bad bad BAD habit.
I can't believe that I've been blessed...protected...thus far.
But this habit needs to be stopped!

Okay...so as you can see by my lovely drawing, this bad habit involves me being in the front of the lane, that is going straight. In my peripheral vision, I see a light turn green and so then I go. BUT IT'S NOT MY LANE!!! It's the turning lanes that are turning green. So basically the traffic across from me is heading towards me. EEK!

The first time this happened, I didn't realise my error until I was just about all the way across...thankfully that person delayed in moving altogether otherwise we could have crashed.

There's been a couple of other times that I've caught myself, in that scenario, about to hit the gas pedal only to realise "RED LIGHT, YOU IDIOT!!!"

But unfortunately, I didn't catch myself early enough today! I started going but stopped when I realised a car was coming towards me, and had stopped when they saw me moving. It was so embarrassing, sitting 1/3 of the way into the intersection, clearly NOT where I was supposed to be. Plus, I almost got rear-ended to boot! The guy behind me saw me move and started to move as well and had to slam on his breaks when I quickly stopped. What a mess! One of these days, I'm going to be in head-on collision, ENTIRELY MY FAULT, for not staying put.

Why do I do this? Well, basically I'm distracted...not fully attending to my driving and all that is going on around me. Today I was thinking about some verses in James.

The moral of the story is NOT that meditating on the Scripture can be hazardous to your health! But rather, pay attention, Mindy!!! And maybe, beware if you are ever so lucky to be a passenger in my car.

I really am a decent driver...it's just when I'm at the front of an intersection at where I seem to get tripped up. Like I said...a bad bad habit.

Random Me

I like fixing things. I like the sense of accomplishment. I am generally good with projects that require my hands or a bit of creativity, which is why I like to try anything related to cooking, art, gardening, etc. But when it comes to my car, I am pretty clueless. I (really) dislike walking into an auto parts store looking like another clueless woman. I know it's all about my ego but I don't care. Therefore, I usually walk in trying to appear confident...that I know what I want and how to fix it. So yesterday, when I fixed my rear brake light, I was proud of myself. I did it, without help, and generally managed to appear that I knew what I was doing...I think. I know...changing a brake light isn't the most impressive thing but let me have this one, okay?

The food show that I've mentioned before was last night. Always an interesting experience. I've mentioned that my job is all computer/phone oriented. This food show is the one time I get to see people. The one opportunity I get to put faces to the people I've been chatting with over the previous year. It's a funny experience when you meet someone for the first time. I could close my eyes and know their voice instantly. But when I open my eyes and see the person that matches that voice, I often have to refrain from chuckling. It's not because they are funny looking or anything but because how they look doesn't match the visual image I've created in my head, based on their voice. Trying to reconcile the real face to the voice is an amusing process.

It rained yesterday.
The cute flat shoes that I bought for the food show are not water proof/resistant.
Note to self, wear only on non-rainy days.

For my Master's degree, I have to write a thesis paper. On Monday, I worked on the proposal that I have to submit before I start researching. Yesterday, I emailed a professor, that I haven't met, to see if he would be my paper's advisor. He agreed! So now I just need to submit the proposal and once I get the green light, then start my research. Eek! I'm both excited and daunted by this task of writing a thesis paper. I have this idea that it should be a long grand paper...60 pages is my goal. But 60 pages is enormous...I've never written anything larger than 20 pages. One step at a time, I guess. It helps that I am excited about the topic...that's a good thing, right?

Moving from one thing to the next

I had my car in the shop yesterday. Now it quietly purrs again instead of clicking. I like the lack of noise.

My coworker has been hard to work with this week. I think my coworker will be taking tomorrow off...I'm looking forward to a lack of noise.

I started exercising again, re-doing the same program I did over the summer. Last time it was evident in week 3 that I was too out of shape to follow the exact program. So my goal simply became about maintaining the number of work-out days/week and lengths of time, whether or not I ran/walked according to the plan. Since I'm in a little bit better shape than I was in July, I am going to try hard to maintain the plan altogether. So far on Monday and yesterday, I've exercised immediately after getting home from work, then ate dinner and started on my homework by 6:30pm. This has worked well for me thus far but there are some days when my stomach is growling sufficiently by the time I get home from work...so we'll see how thing pan out on those days.

I mentioned last week that I was going to read Jane Eyre while I was off of school. I haven't finished it yet but am about half way done. Surprisingly, it's not as awful as I expected it...I've rather enjoyed reading it thus far. But I also know that I am not at the most maddening parts yet. I have next week off of school...I'm hoping to take advantage of the extra time by getting ahead on some school assignments but I'm also planning on taking some time to read more Jane Eyre.

Another goal for last week was to get caught up on my Bible reading...I'm about a month behind and a book behind. I should be in mid-Deuteronomy but am in mid-Numbers. Sadly, I didn't get caught up and now that school has started and I'm trying to incorporate exercise again, my time with God gets pushed off the priority list. Yuck...that's awful to say but actions reveal the heart of man, right? I need to find a way to have time with Him in my schedule. After all, He is the only One who can truly bring balance, joy, and meaning into my life.

My Car is Going to the Shop

I own a 2000 Ford Focus. I've had this particular car since August, 2006, I believe. This is my 2nd Ford Focus (the first one I owned was before Germany). All cars have their own quirks but after owning two Ford Focuses, I will never own another. They are not bad cars...I'm just tired of "dealing" with the Focus' quirks.

About a year after purchasing my current car I noticed one day that my speedometer dropped down to zero while I was driving. Nothing happened to my car...I continued driving...and eventually the speedometer popped back up to where it should be. This has been happening ever since. The time between drops and for lengths of drops is quite random. I've lived with this for a year approximately.

Last November I finally decided to take it to a Ford shop to get them to fix it. However, I was concerned when, upon describing my car's problem to the service man, I was told "they've never heard of this happening before!" Oh good! It pretty much became a guessing game then. When they connected the car's computer to their diagnostics thing, it shows sporadic bursts of loss of power. The recommended solution was to clean all the cables in the car. $400 dollars later my car was in no better shape. The next recommended solution was to replace the battery, which I did (at a cheaper place)...still the problem continues.

A few weeks ago, to my joy and delight, I was talking with a friend about my car woes and he told me that he owned a Ford Focus that acted in very similar ways....yay, I wasn't alone! So I went online and found what I needed...a page that explains "common Ford Focus problems" and solutions on how to fix them.

Tonight I'm taking my car into the Ford shop (again!) and this time I'm taking that stinkin' piece of paper I printed up with ideas on how they can fix my silly car! Hopefully this will be the end of the speedometer saga.