.

Workin D and the $1000 Burrito

One of the big reasons my blogging came to a significant stop is the simple fact that the ol' 8 to 5 is just not as entertaining as, say, traveling the world. Well I am sorry to say this week has been more entertaining than most. Let me introduce the world to "Workin D".

Workin D is an honest fellow. He works hard for a train. Puts in his time for the man. And when that evening whistle blows Workin D heads straight home, exchanges his corporate uniform for something a bit more comf, and hits the town either seated faithfully on his scoot or atop his trusty yard sale bike.

In the mornings, D sets his alarm early enough to be ready an hour before the man requires. However, after the inevitable late night with his band-member roommates, Workin D, consistently hits the snoozer leaving him 30-45 minutes before his corporate start. Never enough, but mostly sufficient, D spends his precious moments to walk downtown where he picks up the usual split-shot Americano from his favorite and appropriately named Flagstaff coffee shop-"Late for the Train".

One particular morning was different though. Perhaps it was the overcast cover. Maybe the more trying-than-normal work week. Whatever the case, Workin D decided it was a good day to change it up a bit. First he walked to his local grocer to purchase an apple, but after bitting into the crisp treat, D decided his hunger was too strong for his small fruit to satisfy. Yes this craving was much more suited for a breakfast burrito than a small fruit, and D had knew just the place.

Flagstaff is home to one of Northern Arizona's largest hospitals, and what people often forget is that nice hospitals have nice cafeterias which serve respectable breakfast burros at a respectable rate. Workin D was well aware of this seldom known fact. He strolled confidently into the FMC Caf, grabbed his foil wrapped feast and headed back home. By this point Workin D's 45 minutes was nearly up, forcing him to eat his burrito in his car on the way to work.

Now, if there is any fault to be had with the near perfect FMC breakfast b, it is the need to put the salsa on yourself. This, as you can imagine, is rather inconvenient when driving. Especially stop-n-go traffic. Especially when it is raining. And ESPECIALLY when the car in front of you is not moving... Poor Workin D. A good guy, hard worker, and impeccable driving record (excepting the one little incident when he was 16 and rolled his car on I-40). That was all about to change.

D safely steered the car with his left knee, whilst delicately applying the salsa in his left hand to the exposed burrito in his right hand. Mouth watering, he lifted the potato, cheesey egg roll to his anxious lips. Then just his mouth instinctively reached like new born, his eye noticed the rest of the traffic, specifically the traffic right in front of him, was moving at a much slower pace, specifically 0 miles per hour. Foot to brake! Bumper to bumper! Burrito to windshield! Workin' D quickly matched the speed of the car in front of him.

"Holy Blank!" Both cars pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot. D was shaking like a thirteen year old girl who didn't make the cheer squad as he watched through his egg stained windshield a guy get out of the car he had just shared space with. The man reinserted the missing lens from his eye glasses and walked to the back of his car. Workin D, still shaking and now assured of massive lawsuit mustered up some backbone, got out of his car and prepared for the worst.

Fortunately, the damage did not look as bad as the burrito battered dashboard may have indicated. The man ended up being a college kid. The lawsuit ended up being a post crash cup of coffee. Still the cops were called, citation written, and when all was said and done, the estimated damage came out to $1,100 (not counting the late' Workin D bought for the kid who in the end came away thinking he had a new bumper and best friend).

Working D proceeded to his corporate chamber and finished off the unfortunate day. The next morning, D decided maybe he would return to his coffee ritual and has not had a breakfast burrito since.

The end.

posted by Travelin' D @ 6:38 PM 2 comments

Back In Biz

Well here we go. After MONTHS of silence I have decided to come out of hiding and compose anther blog. Not even a pseudo blog written by one of my friends. No, a true blog typed by the tips of my very own fingers. But before I get going I'd like to dedicate this to Ken in Portland who I recently bumped into. Ken, bless his heart, is one of the faithful, who told me when I saw him that he still visits the blog and offered his condolences for the last real blog before my hiatus (the depressing piece on suicide). This one's for you my friend as one of the primary inspirations to dust off the wheels of blog and get this thing rolling again.

And now as I sit here in Macy's coffee shop-Flagstaff, AZ, where I spent so much of my time in the final stretch of retirement, I can't help but observe a few things:

Observation #1. I am blogging on a site titled: World Trip 2006. Cool huh? I'm not sure if you noticed or not but I am no longer on a "World Trip". And furthermore, we are about 6 months out of 2006. And yes, to answer your question, it is embarrassing. I just haven't really gotten around to changing it yet.

Observation #2. There's really no reason to feel embarrassed when you haven't blogged in half a year, because there's a good chance nobody is reading anyway. But, I'm reading it and maybe Ken is reading it, so I maintain that there are at lease two good reasons to be embarrassed.

Now, let's get on with it. I've decided this re-entry blog I will commit to explaining where I've been and what's happened personally since the new year. When I got back from my trip, as you (and by you I mean Ken and myself) well know I spent a good month recuperating at coffee shops, and planning my next move to my beloved Portland. Well it seems someone opened their yapper here in Flagstaff because I got a call from the GCR explaining they heard I was back in town and asking me if I wanted to "rejoin the team".

"Perfect!" you say. "Quit. Travel the world. Come back like you never left." But that's just it, I did quit and travel the world and opened my eyes to a new perspective on life. And quite frankly, I was ready for the next "step". So when the GCR called for an interview, I thought, "Well, I won't take it, but what's the harm in interviewing..." Anyway I took the job. I guess everyone has their price. Truth is I needed money and even though I was shooting for a 25% increase in salary, I guess I was willing to settle for 13%.

Having sold out, I feel like I need to explain myself again. You may ask, "Didn't you learn anything in your travel Derek? Money isn't everything." Well yes, I can see that now, but at the time my thoughts were: 1. Money is something and I need some. 2. It'll look good on the resume to have a company ask you to come back and pay more after you quit and traveled for a year (er 9 months). 3. It's easier to find a job when you have a job, which means it'll be easier to find a job in Portland when it comes up.

They're all true, I think. But worth it??? I don't know. I am making money. I did interview for a great job with Princess Cruises based in Portland...(but came in runner up). But truthfully, Ken (and anyone else who most likely is not reading right now), I'm ready. I just turned 30 years old and I am ready to take the next step. I want to change the world. I want to travel... again (there's still a LOT of Southern Hemisphere I need to see). I want to move to Portland. I think I'd be willing to settle for one or two of the three right now.

That's probably enough rambling for the re-entry. The last thing I want to do is annoy the only reader that's visiting by too much rambling. But I'll be back, and probably even within the next 6 months.

Ciao.

posted by Travelin' D @ 11:48 AM 0 comments