City...lunches...and Burmese food
Claire and I met up for lunch today. We went to a yummy Burmese restaurant in Chinatown. You'd think the "Burmese" part would have been the adventure, but navigating the city turned out to be. Keep in mind it was about 6 blocks away. There were four options for getting there:
Option 1 - Walk. I wore uncomfortable shoes. It was overcast. On Mapquest it looked really far. I figured I'd waste half of my lunch break walking. Yes, I know, it would have been good exercise.
Option 2 - Take the Bus. I've never taken a bus in the US. Apparently one drives up and down 8th street. I researched it online, talked with Claire, and was still HIGHLY intimidated by the idea of taking the bus. Plus, they only run every 20 minutes. I can picture myself wasting half my lunch break waiting on a bus. I'm sure the timetables aren't accurate! Oh, and they cost $2 each way. $4 to take a bus a total of 12 blocks?!?!?! I don't think so!
Option 3 - Drive. Well, parking at my client is free. So, if I have to pay a couple of bucks at lunch, it's worth it to avoid the hassles of options 1 and 2, right? But then again, getting into the free parking lot is a challenge. I don't have a badge so I have to wait for the security guy to buzz me in. Sounds simple enough, except that they don't respond right away and sometimes traffic backs up on 7th street and people start honking at me!
Option 4 - Take a Taxi. I was afraid the taxi driver would curse me for only going 6 blocks. Plus, I'd have to call a cab and wait then hope that I could get one for the return trip.

So, I went with Option 3 - the only one completely in my control, sort of. So, I was about 200 feet down the road and I realized how silly I was being. It was such a short walk! Silly me. Now, I had to find a parking lot. I passed one on 8th and Arch, a block away from the restaurant, that was $3.75 per half hour. I circled the block, passed the restaurant, couldn't find free parking, and decided to go with the parking lot I passed on 8th and Arch. Now I only had to walk 1 1/2 blocks!

Parking wasn't easy. Apparently the guys didn't like where I decided to park. We finally compromised and I hoped that I wasn't completely pinned in!

Lunch was very nice. Claire and I chatted about all kinds of stamping things. I will definitely go back. I had Sweet and Sour Pork. It was kind of Chinese/Indian. There were some Chinese dishes on the menu and then there was a lot of curry dishes on the menu. I'm not a fan of curry. I also tried the Mushroom Lemongrass soup which was suprisingly yummy. No, I didn't eat the mushrooms.

Now, I had to get back. Finding my car was easy. I wedged my body between my SUV and the HUGE SUV next to me and got in. There was some kind of demonstration in the parking lot! Who has a demonstration in the parking lot??? I was scared. It seemed peaceful enough, but there was flag waiving and singing and I intimidate easily. Then when I finally got out of the parking lot and paid my $11.25 parking fee (so much for a couple of bucks), I couldn't move because cars were blocking the one-way street. Then there were tons of pedestrians leaving the demonstration. I got back and security buzzed me in rather quickly. I think only 3 cars were backed up along 7th street.

This afternoon I finally became official and got a security badge. Now I can let myself in and out of the parking lot and cafeteria! Yippie! (It's the little things.)

Lesson learned = Walk next time. It's good exercise. City blocks are small. And parking is expensive.