A little backstory: Pike Place Market is a big tourist attraction in Seattle. It is situated between our downtown area and the waterfront. The market spans a little three-block street, which for some reason is open to thru-traffic. It is also open to pedestrians, cyclists, vendor tents, weird dudes with snakes, street performers, and every other thing that makes driving impossible. You’re not going to score a killer spot in front of the first Starbucks or a waterfront with thousands of visitors a day. Don’t even try. Just don’t.

Here’s a map of the street on which no one should ever drive:

Thank you for your attention.

Damn skippy! The wookie was a great find at GeekGirlCon and I know he’d fit in the back of the hearse, but this little suction-cupped masterpiece/daily affirmation probably travels better.

Purchased from Ugly Baby Shower Art.

Amidst the Crypticonning and party-driving, the Barbie Dream Hearse made a brief appearance in a film by Shawn Telford called “The Suitcase Challenge”. It’s about a group of friends reunited to drink 24 beers in 24 hours, stopping for hijinx at various Seattle landmarks throughout the day.

I hightailed it downtown from Crypticon at around 6pm for the shoot, and the guys were already deep in the throes of intoxication. The cowboys and morphs, however, were sober (most of them anyway) and fun to talk to while I waited for my next driving assignment.

We ended up at the old Ranier brewery on the south end of town. It wasn’t a long trip by any means, but with nearly a dozen people in the car, three of whom seemed drunk enough to toss their cookies, it was a perfectly reasonable distance. I’m happy to report that everyone made it there in one piece, and I’d like to send a special thanks to whoever left the pair of wrap-around mirror sunglasses in the back. They go great with my patterned Jams and Reebok high-tops!

The shoot came with its own photographer; I pulled some of his best ones from my segment and added them to my album. If you feel like looking at 100 more photos of me making odd faces, you can do that here.

I spent the night in Sacramento in a way-too-expensive hotel at the last minute. I don’t know what I thought would happen. It gets harder and harder to plan things these days, it seems. My main concern was finding a place with a decent-sized parking garage so my car would be safe. I’ve had the car for less than a day, and it would be just my luck for something ridiculous to happen.

I’m happy to report that so far, it’s all good. I was able to meet up with my friend Janet and drive her around town before heading northbound. Is it ironic that the first passenger in my funeral-coach-come-conversion-limo is a gray-haired retiree? Not if she’s alive, I guess. But the world is lucky she is! Driving Miss Janet was the breath of fresh air I needed before the steep, challenging roads in rainy Northern California.

Never have I been so excited about a new day. I woke up to a pleasantly Sonny-and-Cherless morning with the assurance I’d be driving north sometime today. It ended up being late; a wiring issue had cut power to some of the lights in the front cabin, so I watched a few good men rush to fix it by electric torch light at dusk. The whirlwind of activity seemed like just another extension of one really long day.

When I finally got on the road, my first order of business was filling my tires with air. I guess all the in and out traffic would put some unusual strain on the tires. Doug, the guy who sold me my car way back in April, said he put new tires on the car before he sold it. Another member of the giant revolving door of people I saw during my three days at Frank’s place, he and I chatted about car maintenance for awhile and he suggested I inflate the tires. They were at 22 psi and needed to be around 36 to 38 psi.

So when I got outside of town (Valencia, specifically), I went through the general rigmarole of “helpless girl at the gas station who’s never had to do anything for herself before” and found a guy to help me fill my tires. I tried to prompt him to tell me more about Valencia, since he said he lives there, but my interest was quelled when he said, “There’s nothing here but Six Flags.” Lame, indeed. Did they not hear about Disneyland being in Anaheim?

With air in my tires and gas in my tank, I settled in for a long drive to Northern California. I wish I had been able to allot more time for coast-driving and general sight-seeing and playing around, but I have a job interview on Whidbey Island (more than an hour north of Seattle) on Friday afternoon, and I pride myself on being places when I say I will. Good luck, me!

I arrived at the Burbank Airport a little before noon. I woke up at 5am to take the earliest flight out, rode Seattle’s new Link light rail, and just barely made it to the airport in time to go through security, get a latte, and be the second-to-last person to board the plane. FYI everyone: Link’s got some kinks.

When Pablo came to pick me up, the first words out of his mouth were, “Ayeee! Flaquita!” I hadn’t thought much of it, but when I returned to Seattle, everyone was asking about my weight loss. It makes sense that Pablo would be surprised too, not having seen me in a few months. During our ride back to Glendale, I regaled him with the saga of my life in the best Spanish I could muster. Intermittently, I found myself without the proper words and ended up taking the long way through the conversation, apologizing for it after getting my point across. Whenever I do this, Pablo reminds me, “Tu hablas español,” matter-of-factly. I am going to miss that.

At Frank’s shop, my car was in a million pieces. I smiled and said, “Told you I was coming!” We talked for a bit and I went to get coffee, mentally preparing to spend the night somewhere nearby. I kind of knew it wouldn’t be ready when I got there, but I was sick of changing my plans. I spent a large chunk of last year partway between LA and Seattle, accessible to both but effective in neither, so it was time to do some leaning. I spent most of the day chugging coffee and overseeing the work on my car.

By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty useless. I could see everyone working double-duty, but I couldn’t do anything. I helped Frank clean up and close the shop for the night, and he asked me if I was sick. I said I was just tired, and then he attempted to delicately broach the subject of weight loss. It felt odd explaining to him that this is how much I’m supposed to weigh while still digesting a huge chicken lunch/dinner from Dinah’s.

I thought my car truly captured what a Cadillac WTF might look like, but it seems GM had ideas of its own. I humbly submit to their superior creation.

In order to be recognized as an entity (rather than a person) on Facebook, you need to buy ad space at more than 50 cents a click. Robbery!

Actually, I wouldn’t mind doing that for a short period of time, except I still don’t have a service to advertise. Those who know me personally can attest to my general disdain for social networking sites, but they’re not going away and I want to promote my car. The diminutive dilemma continues…

The AC/heat system for the back of my car was just installed yesterday and Frank sent me pictures. He enlisted the help of James at LA Custom Coach, where they reportedly did a great job. Frank is now my official go-to guy since I can’t be in LA to do all the research firsthand. He told me the only reason James was even able to do this was this being a slow month. After working things out with James over the phone and perusing some of the huge party vans they make, I immediately thought, “Where have you guys been all my life?”

They put in a Manex A/C evaporator and heater system with 2-vent heat and 4-vent A/C. The two heating vents face the rear and four A/C vents run along the top of the side panel.

They also had to replace the condenser because they discovered a leak. James told me it was covered in dirt, and once they blew it out, they discovered several leaks in the front. And of course, it was out of freon.

Frank is putting the panels and seats together now. He had to pull in the panels a bit to make room for the tubing and whatnot. I’m sure more will change as the stereo components are fitted. I probably won’t paint the outside of the car until next year, since I’ve already had enough to worry about this year.