Biking & Jetta Woes

Whoa, it’s May already! Holy crap. It certainly doesn’t feel that way with the cool weather we’re having right now. It didn’t even reach 60 today which sucks because we recently had a hitch installed on the Escape and bought a nice bike rack and have only used it once so far. Last weekend we took the bikes to a local path and biked nearly 6 miles. My iPhone has a cool GPS map on it that not only tracked our path but gave us stats such as our average speed and time. It got a bit screwed up when we stopped to rescue a little Virginia ctenucha caterpillar who will later become a tiger moth, though. Joe nearly ran him over so we moved him off the path. It’s funny how most of the fuzzy caterpillars end up being rather ugly moths.

Virginia ctenucha caterpillar

Wednesday the check engine light came on while driving my car to work so based on past maintenance issues, we determined it was most likely the coil pack that needed to be replaced. You know, the same thing we’ve replaced approximately three times already even though Volkswagen claims it’s not defective (even though the same exact part has been recalled in other model years, just not mine). Joe ordered the part online since he’s become quite familiar with replacing it, and since my spark plug wires are over five years old, we bought new wires too. He drove me to work on Thursday and Friday and then repaired my car Friday evening which saved us a few hundred dollars in labor. I’m happy that my car is back to normal, not just because I love driving it, but also because I don’t like getting to work early so that Joe isn’t too late getting in.

Friday afternoon we had an audit party via work. We went to this fancy bowling alley, Pinstripes, in South Barrington. I hitched a ride with our new Director which is good because I don’t think I would have found the place otherwise. It’s really nice inside and even though I hadn’t planned on bowling, because I suck at it, I did anyway and had a good time. I played with a few people who were just as challenged as I so I didn’t feel too bad about my top score of 81. Now when it comes to the Wii, I’m a pro, and average 198 a game, but alas, it’s not so easy in real life.

I drank way too much coffee this weekend, although most of it was decaf. Starbucks is offering half-priced Frappachinos during Happy Hour from 3-5 pm through May 16th so Joe and I stopped for some after he picked me up from the bowling alley Friday. Then yesterday we got more. I like that you can customize them because I’ve been avoiding real milk lately since my body can’t handle the lactose. In fact, I’ve been buying lactose-free milk at Target. I also tried almond milk, which is ok, but the vanilla flavored one is rather overwhelming, plus too thick for my taste. I’ve yet to try soy milk, although I’ve had it in my custom frapp. I get it with decaf too since I’m so sensitive to caffeine. Even when I drink tea, which I’ve been doing lately, I get the jitters. I almost feel like I’m going to pass out or something. I make sure to have some food in my stomach so it’s not so bad.