Tuesdays

Tuesdays are my days to play housewife. This morning I took my standard 40-minute walk around the neighborhood, took out the recycling, went to the post office, got my car washed, did the dishes and made lunch. I also managed to fit in some work on the enormous excel sheet that is consuming my working life. The car wash was rather exciting. It was my first time at this particular car wash (Handy J - voted best in the valley by LA Magazine!) and I was a little intimidated. It's not surprising that LA-ers are crazy about keeping their cars clean so the garage-like thing attached to the gas station doesn't quite cut it out here. I had been going to this place around the corner from us that has an early bird special M-T-W from 8am - 10am, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. When a coupon came in the mail for Handy J, I thought I'd give it a try. I was thoroughly impressed.

Handy J is one of those car washes you walk through while your car is washed -- it reminded me of the places we used to go to in Pittsburgh when I was a kid except here there are little tables and chairs for you to sit at while you wait for them to finish up your car. When I got out to the tables there was a girl about my age and a guy a bit older with large sunglasses on. I couldn't see where they had taken my car to finish it up (wash the windows, hand dry the whole thing, etc.) so I was a bit twitchy trying to figure out when it was done. At one point the guy asked me and the other girl if either or us had an SUV and it turned out it was the other girls. As she left to get in her car the guy and I started talking. Neither of us had been to the place before but we both had heard good things. He said he knew it was pricey but it he had heard it was worth it. I told him about the coupon I got in the mail and he seemed interested in it. As he was leaving to get in his Mercedes (like, the car wash was too pricey for him!) I realized I recognized his voice. All I could think was "Rob Morrow but geekier," and that's when it occurred to me: It was Miles from Murphy Brown!



















After "Miles" left a woman sat down next to me and we started chatting. I told her I was new to LA and she asked if I was liking it. I told her I did, but that I was still frustrated that I couldn't find work on a college campus. She asked for my card and told me that both she and her husband worked at UCLA. Very exciting day at the car wash!