Guam Journal - Days 2 through 8

Guam Day 2

Juan picked me up at 8 am at my hotel.  I was outside waiting for him as he arrived at 5 to.  He took me to the office building, the International Trade Center.  He asked me to wait for him at Foodies inside while he parked the car.  At Foodies, I found two things that I really liked: a kind of soft rice porridge in chicken broth, with some pieces of chicken and hard boiled eggs.   Also something cool and purple with large tapioca pearls in coconut milk with tara and ume flavor, with no added sweetener.   

 I also got an apple and ate it with some of my nuts.  Juan came and hung out while I ate, then he took me upstairs to the admin office on the 9th floor, and I met Gabbi, the AG’s personal assistant, and then Yolie, the Chief of Staff.  They were both very warm and friendly, welcoming me and introducing to me to many other staff.  When I was alone with Yolie, I cleared the air with her, as I wondered if something had happened when she changed from calling me Theresa to suddenly calling me “Attorney Jensen’ again.  She assured me that nothing had happened, she was just resorting to habit and being more formal in writing.  I was relieved and we both laughed.  She had an apartment to show me, that another attorney who had to leave suddenly because of health issues, was willing for me to take over.  It was at Pacific Towers, very nearby and within walking distance.  Juan then took me to the bank and I set up a new bank account and then we went to retirement….but will have to come back tomorrow to finish up.  Then I was in touch with my realtor Nicole and arranged for her to meet me at Pacific Towers, show me another unit there, and then show me around to several others including the one I was interested in at Agana Heights.  I really didn’t like either units at Pacific Towers.  These are high rises, with eight floors, and many units on each floor.  The power was not on in either one, and they both felt closed in.  After viewing half a dozen apartments in the price range I was looking at, we ended up at the place in Agana Heights, and it far nicer than anything else.  So we combed it over and made a long list of everything I wanted to ask the owner to do.  Nicole was going to write up an official offer that night and get it to me to Docusign.  When we were done, Nicole took me to as fast food Japanese place, Little Tokyo in a nearby mall.  The helpful staff went over every dish in terms of what was gluten free.  I stocked up so I would have food for a couple of days. 

I can’t remember how I got back to my hotel, but I do recall walking down to the beach from Ypoa Road.  Juan had cautioned me the day before not to walk down there because they were working on the road, but I asked the woman at the desk of the hotel and she said it was perfectly safe to walk there as long as the construction crew weren’t working.  It was great seeing the beach and ocean at last.  White sand that felt marvelous on my feet, and the water was crystal clear.  We were right in the heart of downtown Tamuning, so you could see light hotels along the shoreline in both directions, but it was still nice.  A handful of other people were down there enjoying the beach and water.  Unfortunately I had left my phone at the hotel so I couldn’t take any pics.  As I was leaving to walk back I could see a brilliant sunset on my right….

That night in bed I recall sensing something soften and open up energetically in my back, behind my heart, and I hoped that would help me relax and sleep….I still woke up after 6 hours and couldn’t get back to sleep, but at least it was during the hours I was supposed to be sleeping.

Guam Day 3

Juan was only available till noon today as he had oral surgery in the afternoon. He picked me up at the hotel at 8 again, and I had something to eat at Foodies.  Then he took me to the Empower office to sign up for retirement.  That was quite a process, and took about an hour and a half. 

In the early afternoon, Gabbi told me that I would be sworn in tomorrow.  She had me fill out a form on her computer and pay the fee online, saying I would be reimbursed for it.

I was waiting on and off for the tech person to set my computer up in my office and go through things with me.  I was also juggling getting a certified check for the rental deposit, from the Bank of Guam in the basement of this building, and then getting it to the owner’s office nearby, before 5 when they closed.  Finally it was all done and I called a cab, and I got there about 10 minutes before 5.  The cab was pricey, $12 to go about 5 minutes.  I was going to get another cab back to my hotel, but the property manager, named Ray, offered to take me there.  Ray was born and raised on Guam.  He likes to go to the Philippines because “there’s nothing to do on Guam.”  On the Phillipines, there’s great food, and things like horseback riding…He does like the beaches on Guam.  Since were going to do the apartment inspection together the next day, I asked if he might be willing to pick me and my suitcases up tomorrow and take me to the apartment.  He said he would but I shouldn’t tell his boss.  We arranged to meet at noon at the hotel.

I thought I would get packed that night, but that never happened.  I can’t remember what I ate, but it wasn’t much.  I was really tired and couldn’t eat much.

Guam Day 4

I woke up in the night feeling hungry and anxious about not having enough food.  I didn’t eat much last night.  I searched all over for food, finished the last of a jerky bar, and put out all the food I could find. Two lemons, a small bag of greens, which I didn’t know how I could cook.  A few nuts.  Then I found a bag of liquid food/meal replacement.  I drank it.  Calmed.  Went back to bed and slept.

I thought I might walk down to the beach again, but before I know it, it was ready to get dressed for my swearing in.  I showered, and put on the same work outfit I wore the first day.  But instead of my Dansko MaryJane’s that had slight heels, I wore the Dansko red clogs.  They felt more stable.  I wasn’t totally sure about this, it felt like a stretch.  This was supposed to be my first day off after all.  And I had thought I would be off at noon yesterday, but instead was on till the end of the day.

I realized that Nathan, who was going to pick me up, might be at work.  I could ask him to pick up some food from Foodies for me, some Arrozcaldo and the tapioca.  I reached out and left him a text (though I forgot to tell him what I wanted and sadly, his offerings were a sandwich on white bread and a soda).  Then I went to the FoodMart next door.  To my delight, there was Arrrozcaldo there, and I bought two, also some bananas and hard-boiled eggs. I ate some, and then waited downstairs for Nathan. 

Nathan thought there would be several people being sworn in, not just me, but it turned out to be just me.  We sat and waited in the courtroom.  Eleanor, one of my co-workers and the administrative manager of our family unit, was there.  I asked her if she could take a picture of meafterwards, and she said sure.   The AG was there, and other staff from our unit, the paralegals and investigators.

While I was sitting in the courtroom waiting I happened to look down at my feet and could not recognize them.  I touched my ankles and could see that they were really swollen, I couldn’t really see the ankle bones on the inside.

The Judge asked me and the AG to come up, and I raised my right hand and repeated the oath after the judge, line by line.  Somehow words came out.   The AG and judge shook my hand, and then there was a flurry of photos.  I wondered how my hair looked as I didn’t even go into the bathroom beforehand and do anything with my hair.

I drove back to the office with Nathan afterwards and stocked up on my food at Foodies, then John, the Special Projects Coordinator and the AG’s driver, drove me around.  He took me to sign up for water and power, then to get a traffic report I would need to get car insurance.  He dropped me off at my hotel and I asked for an hour later check-out time.  The property manager had said he would pick me and my suitcases up and go to my new apartment where we would do the inspection.  At seven minutes after the appointed hour, I concluded he wasn’t going to show, so I called John and he came and picked me up. After the inspection, I got the keys, but one of the workers was still there for a bit making repairs I had asked for.  I finally was alone and started to unpack and set up my sleeping quarters for the night, my camping pad, a large flannel sheet that I folded over and the soft blanket/ throw that Rafael gave me for Christmas.  I had gotten a notice from Eleanor earlier in the day that there was e Coli in the tap water, and I was happy to have my Berkey portable water filter to set up.  I unpacked for a long time, then ate something and went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  I hadn’t gotten far when a street dog blocked the roadway and barked menacingly.  I turned around and went home, and fell into bed.

Gaum Day 5

I had What’sApp’ed Eleanor last night saying that I’d be ready at 6 am.  We were going to the farmers market in Dededo.  (pronounced DEAD’ -a- dough) Eleanor was the administrative head of our family unit, Chomorro, born and raised here.  She heard the Chomorro language growing up, but her parents didn’t teach it to the kids as they liked to argue in Chamorro and not have the kids understand them.  Eleanor lived with her husband on the island.  She had tried to talk him into coming with us, but he wanted to stay home and work on the house, do some painting.  “I’ll pay you!  Twenty bucks!  Come on!”  -But to no avail….They’d been together for almost thirty years, and had four kids and several grands, two in California, one in Texas and one on the island.  They only got married pretty recently, as they met in the military and with one thing and another never really wanted to get married, it just wasn’t important to them.  When he said they should just do it -- Do what? says Eleanor. Why now?  But they eventually did tie the knot.  She had been worried that if they got married then things wouldn’t just be the same and everything would end, you know how that is?  I didn’t really.  And it didn’t work out that way, after all, so it had been a relief.

Eleanor hadn’t been at the market in a while – apparently there was the old market and the new one, and another one too.  She choose what she deemed was the largest one.  We parked along with others and started making our way among the booths.  I had been thinking about checking everything out before I bought anything, but that didn’t last long.   HHmmm these greens all look interesting, I asked about some of them, then chose one to start with.  It had pointy, smallish leaves.  Maybe I’ll catch the name next time.  Eleanor bought the deep reddish-purple wing beans –she hadn’t seen that color.  Later she pointed them out in green.  I got small eggplants, a thin cucumber, passed on the bitter melon, bought some small round lemons that looked more like dark green shooters in marbles, and then bought (too many) somethings wrapped up- in banana leaves, and scorched.  They said it had coconut, and maybe sweet rice….still warm.  Later when I tried one, I recognized it as mochi.  I kept buying till my three bags were full….papaya, avocadoes, bok choi, some of those loong loong Asian beans all circled up, several more things that were totally new to me, and finally a package of spring rolls in rice wrappers.

With all that food the thought crossed my mind: Now how am I going to cook this?  All I had was my mess kit from camping.  Other pots and pans were coming, but for now….a wok!  Let’s materialize a wok!  With a lid of course.  Eleanor and I stopped at a garage sale (no wok) and then at an Asian store called California Mart, that had popped up when I googled ‘wok.’  We wondered why the name California as it had nothing whatsoever to do with California, but instead was Asian – Eleanor asked and was told it was Korean primarily.  I asked one of the workers handling things on a shelf, who clearly did not understand my English nor gestures trying to describe ‘wok.’  Nor did I understand him.  I found some walnuts that were familiar and bought them – something about seeing something familiar, brought the response Oh look -I know them!, together with black rice and some split mung beans for dal. 

I was looking for fresh-caught fish, and quinoa.  Eleanor recommended PayLess but we didn’t stop….I’ve picked up that it should really be PayMore as everyone said it was expensive…. Eleanor shopped at the Base, since both she and her husband were veterans. The fish coop shut down after one of the last big typhoons as their building had been destroyed.  Villagers were all hoping and waiting for it to start up again.  Another fish market in Dededo wasn’t open yet.

When Eleanor dropped me off home, I invited her in to see my place.  She had looked at another place for me in Tamuning, near the office, before I arrived.  That place was pretty bad, and definitely moldy.  Even from the outside, she said this place was much nicer.  I was actually a bit embarrassed about the lack of upkeep on the outside, so I took her up the back way which seemed cleaner.  She said it was very nice, large living space, though when she looked out the windows to the mass of green which I love, she commented, ‘They need to clean that up!’   She thought it looked too jungle-y. 

I had time for a quick lay-down on the floor (relax Theresa, breathe) and then it was time to be in touch with Terry from AutoSpot who told me yesterday that he would pick me up and take me to their used car dealership.  I verified that that was still the plan, sent him my address on What’sApp, and waited for him outside.  As I walked out, I noticed that the bannisters and ledge outside looked like they had been pressure washed since yesterday when I moved in. That’s a relief.  There was tons of furry black-ish mold growing yesterday.  I’ll have to ask them how often they pressure wash, and ask if they could paint also.

Terry was wiry, thin, dark skin, and had never been up here this high. He tried to find his way down by feel, though everything was unfamiliar.  I asked if he’d like me to put on my GPS on my phone—he said he was about to himself…I left him up to his own devices.  Meanwhile I asked how long he’d been on the island and that was enough for him to launch into his most recent life story.  Something about being caught illegally in Korea I believe, thrown in jail and he only had $5 to his name and you needed $10 for a phone card so he couldn’t call anyone for help. He believes in positive thinking though and affirmations and all so he kept telling himself that things would work out and sure enough they did.  He met someone there who ended up giving him a chunk of cash, like $150, so he bought a phone card and called someone and before long he was out.  They made him leave though, so he opted to come here.  He likes his job as a salesman at AutoSpot and his aim was for me to drive a car away today.  I thanked him and told him that was not my aim—that I had another appointment at another auto place, and wanted to visit several before making a decision.  He was relieved then and said he had someone else waiting for him. I looked at two Prius Hybrids, 2014 and 2015 models.  Expensive I though, compared to used EVs in the states, 15K and 17K.  He encouraged me to test drive them, but I was only comfortable driving around the lot, as I was still on jet-lag and hadn’t driven on the streets yet.  I did appreciate his emphasis on building relationships though…he was going to run me back home, but I decided it would best to stay on the surface streets, as it seemed more likely that I could find someone else to pick me up and take me to another dealership, as opposed to picking me up at my apartment which I was realizing was a pretty upward-oriented drive.  He recommended someone named Tony at Triple J, when I told him I was heading there next.

When I called Triple J Auto the person who answered asked ‘which Tony? we have two’ and I demurred.  I’d get who I got.  So I talked briefly to Tony # 1 who asked me what I was looking for, to which I replied EVs or hybrids, used, and he told me that Tony # 2 would call me back shortly and come and pick me up.

Tony # 2 and I arranged a pick up place next door to AutoSpot, and when he showed up, he got out of the car, came around and shook my hand and said hello.  I sized the situation up quickly and decided to get in.  On the ride to his place, though, I started to feel more cautious.  I had been clear about what I was looking for, and he kept asking me what I wanted and what was important to me in a car.  Then he said they really didn’t have any used EVs or hybrids and I wondered what I was doing there.  When we got to his lot he started showing me smaller, gas vehicles – maybe you’d like that little Scion there?  No thanks, I’ve had a Scion before, I replied.  If you don’t have any EVs then I’ll be on my way I said…..and he started looking through his inventory.  There was one right in the row in front of us – I asked for the spec’s which I wrote down.  He didn’t offer for me to drive it or even get in.  He was feeling too slick and yucky so I said that I was going to go to the beach and gestured across the street, starting to get out of the car. He said something to the effect that the least he could do was get me there, and started driving.  Pretty quickly though, I realized that he wasn’t taking me to the beach.  Please pull off I told him, and he pulled into a car rental place, thanks I said as I got out…..and walked upstairs to the rental place until he pulled off.  There was a Ramen restaurant next door, and I realized with regret that I hadn’t brought any food with me, so it would be good to get something.  There didn’t seem to be any rice noodles on the menu though, nor was there much protein so I bought some water and walked out.  It was hot.  I was hat-less, sunscreen-less, and was suddenly feeling kinda woozy – maybe low blood sugar, maybe the heat, maybe that yucky experience I just had with Tony # 2.  I thought of the other co-worker Kristen, whose number I had, and who had told me to call her if I needed anything.  I dialed her up. After hellos she asked me how I was doing and how she could help.  I hesitated.  Well, I’m feeling a little….confused and not sure where exactly I am…she said she could come and get me if she knew where to come.  She and her partner weren’t doing anything right then, though they lived on the southern part of the island.  I described the Ramen place and the Car Rental….she didn’t recognize either.  Do you know what road you’re on, or what village you’re in?  I couldn’t say really, but I thought Tamuning.  Could you be in Tumon?  HHmmm…I though it was Tomun…..I walked down to another restaurant, a Mexican Grill, and I ask some people waiting outside what the address was.  They stared blankly at me.  Is this Tumon?  Shrugs, blank looks.  OK they’re as confused as me maybe…and oh, here was a sign for a mall, the letters were a little hard to make out A-C-A-N-T-A..something mall.  Oh! Kristen knew where that was.  It would take her a bit, but she’d be there with her partner Tony. 

Uh-huh…. a third Tony, hopefully better than #2.

I decided to see if there was something I could eat in this Mexican Grill while I was waiting to be saved. I decided on a fish Taco, on tortilla de maiz.  I paid and took it outside, then had a good look at it.  Burned.  I took it back in and said I wasn’t satisfied with it, it had been deep-fried and left in too long.  The woman said something about the batter being easy to get dark.  Batter?  I didn’t know it had batter on it, was there wheat or flour in the batter?   Of course there was.  I can’t eat it, I’m allergic, I explained. She took it back and gave me a new one with chicken, no batter, not deep fried.  I thanked her and once outside, practically inhaled it.  It was just an itty-bitty thing and I could eat three more.  I looked up and saw a sign “Now open for Lunch Brunch” across the street.  Oh darn!  I wish I had gone there instead.  Maybe it was all you could eat.  I could eat it all.  I was hesitant, though, to miss Kristen my saviour, so stayed put.

They pulled up and sat with my outside.  The third Toni was a woman, dark skinned with huge dreadlocks tied up on her head. I related some headlines about my day, and learned Kristen was Chamorro, born and raised here. She and Tony met in Eugene Oregon (small world) when they were both in school, and have been together for a couple of decades.  Kristen went to law school in Wyoming, and they’ve lived on and off the island.  Kristen had family here, mentioned her mother and grandmother who was ailing.  They had two kids, a girl and a boy, 12 and 14.  They’d been having trouble with the girl lately.

The upshot is that Kristen and Toni stuck by me for the rest of the day, 6 or 7 hours in total. At one point I said, ‘you can just drop me here if you need to take off,’ but they said ‘no, we’re not going to let you out of our sight.’  They accompanied me to two other auto dealers, took me out for a meal at a restaurant (treated me), took me shopping at PayMore where I did find quinoa, and eggs and apples and coconut oil I recognized and several other things—toilet paper!!  I perused the meat and chicken hoping to get some protein for the week.  Toni came up beside me: ‘Yeah, I told Kristen you were looking for the organic,’ she said.  The only organic chicken you’ll find is frozen, and in the bigger PayLess stores. She showed me where to look and I chose the only OG chicken there, wings.  They would link me up with someone who could sell me local eggs.  ‘The fish, if you’re brave, you can find people selling fish they just caught be the side of the road, sometimes with a cooler.’  The fish coop still hasn’t opened.

When they dropped me off at my place, early evening, I gushed about how appreciative I was, how I felt held and supported.  I tried to give Kristen a hug, and realized I had forgotten that she’s not a hugger.  Need to get that in my brain.  Slow down Theresa, remember to ask ‘would you like to share a hug?’

Guam Day 6

When I got up to pee, I glanced at my watch on the floor next to my sleeping mat.  4:50 am.  OMG I slept through the night!  Not 12:30 or 2:00 or 2:30, like it’s been, but just before the alarm at 5.  Wow!  What a milestone.

I thought about tuning in to the Community in the Round at Common Ground, for my powerpoint on Community Home Trust, but I fell back asleep instead.  Now that I’m sleeping, a few more hours would be good.  When I woke up the second time, I saw an email from Amy Halberstadt saying ‘You’re in the room! Happening now, thanks so much for your work on CHT!’

I decided to set up my altar,  cleared out the suitcase in the alcove opposite my sleeping mat, turned the empty suitcase over….hhmmm, it needs a scarf or something….looks like I just brought a couple of scarves for two work outfits.  Then I thought of Mama’s rose towels, retrieved the larger one, and it draped perfectly over the suitcase, making a nice bed for Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  After placing a candle in front, I unrolled the yoga mat I picked up yesterday, and we were all set.  It took a bit to settle down, for breathing yoga and meditation.  I was out of practice….but with the breath, found my way back.  Yes, that area on the back of my heart and chest was still open, and the microscopic orbit settled in.   Great thankfulness to the Mother for seeing me through this phase.  Like passing through the eye of a needle……

………….Here I am again!

One way or another, I’m making it to the beach today.  I need to visit Mother Ocean.

Terry from AutoSpot messaged me and told me to look on WhatsApp.  He wanted to meet my every need.

Hmmm Really?  My every need?  That’s be interesting….

On What’s App, he sent me photos of a Vietnamese EV they just got in a couple of days ago, as a demo model.  They signed with the company to be the only dealer offering their cars on the island.  Maybe they could sell the demo to me, he’d check with their manager.  It was a VF8 by Vinfast, a small crossover SUV.  I did a little research and asked if they could get the new compact model, VF 5 Plus, that just came out in Veitnam.  They sold 3,000 in the first 9 hours.  It’s their most affordable model.

I decided to catch up on my journaling.  After standing for about an hour and a half, typing at the kitchen counter, my feet began to tingle pretty badly.  Maybe asking for a standing desk was a mistake.  Maybe I should call the nurse line at United Health and chat with the nurse…..

For lunch, I washed the new greens (Tat-something I’m remembering now) , cut it up and put it in some of the ArrozCaldo I’ve been stocking up on, in the fridge.  Juan pronounces it “arozcad” but John, who is Chamorro says you need to give the rr’s a little roll, and then the last syllable (“o”) is truncated and under your breath.  More like Spanish.  I practiced his pronunciation. And love it no matter how it’s pronounced.  Juan says his sister makes a mean Arrozcaldo and that it takes a long time.  Maybe I can get her recipe…. I also had what was left of a can of tuna and another of the coconut mochi wrapped in banana leaves.

I called the nurse line, and the nurse I spoke with recommended I go to the ER and have them do diagnostics for a DVT.  I briefly contemplated getting there on my own.  Then I called Eleanor, and she’s heading over to take me there.

Guam Day 7

I slept through the night again, till the alarm rang off at 5.  I wanted to sleep some more and couldn’t believe that I had left the alarm on.  I resisted and resisted getting up and turning it off because the phone was in the bathroom, but finally did, then tried to sleep some more but really just relaxed in bed for a bit.  Felt terrible when I woke up, if anything more tired than before.  I’m guessing that it will take five nights of sleeping through the night for that to click in, and hopefully I’ll be feeling more rested then. So five nights will be before Thursday when I do my first court hearing – I told Kristen that I would cover for that hearing since they were really in a bind, even though this is my week off to acclimate.

So I never did make it to the beach yesterday, went to the ER room instead.  The good news is that after an ultrasound of both legs, there were no clots and they discharged me.  I also found out where the hospital is, and got a list of clinics to research for finding a PCP.  Another task for this week!  Eleanor hung out, went to the Base and the Micronesia Mall, then picked me up when I was ready, a few hours later. She invited me to come and see her place in Yigo (the ‘y’ pronounced like a ‘J’ as in Spanish) and then go out to dinner with her and her husband Frank.  It was great getting a driving tour of a big part of the island I hadn’t seen, and seeing a really nice area where their extended family all had houses in one large area.  Inside her home, she walked into a storage room and asked me if I needed this or that, and I left with a big armful of stuff for the kitchen.  Great!  Now I’ll be able to cook some of those things I got at the market on Saturday.  After, we went out to eat at a restaurant in Hagatna, the capital, and where my office is moving to, and they treated me.  I had chicken curry and rice. 

Today is a day to focus on getting a car.  I’ve pretty much crossed off the idea of getting an EV since there are so few charging stations here, they are definetly very early adapters for electric vehicles, with nothing like AAA or any disabled vehicle coverage on the island, and I can’t get any of the low-cost, affordable EVs from China or Vietnam—so I’m focusing now on a hybrid.  Gas is very expensive here, and I want to keep my fossil fuel consumption as low as possible.  I’ll keep you posted!

I also confronted my fear of the neighborhood dogs today.  Took my bright red water bottle holder, with a full bottle inside, which is on a long strap so I could swing it around and look fierce.  I discovered that they’re not wild dogs but actually belong to a neighbor on the way down the hill.  Three dogs loose and about 3-4 more in cages.  I went right toward them, talking loudly, asking them how they were, introduced myself, and then when they kept approaching and barking louder, clapped my hands and stamped toward them, then swung my water bottle and told them that this was my road too….and in general acted like the alpha in the situation.  When I returned after strolling the neighborhood, I told them what good guard dogs they were, used my same loud assertive voice, and told them they were going to see me there again, every day.  They were much more accepting.  Whew!!

Made some progress on my research on cars, but learned that there’s no CARFAX or anything like it here on Guam, so one is kinda flying blind.  I did run the VIN number of the 2015 Prius I looked at, and was told it was a straight Prius, not a Prius V as advertised.

Guam Day 8

I woke up at 1 am, and realized that I hadn’t taken any of my usual bedtime supplements, including my 5 mg. melatonin time-released.  I must have just fallen into bed last night. I got up to pee and took a 1 mg sublingual melatonin, and my motility supps.  I woke up at 5:30 am.  I could really open and I mean OPEN my eyes, for the first time, and I didn’t feel groggy.  Maybe that higher dose melatonin was too much.  Or too much for now.

I’m feeling more pressured about getting wheels since my food is running out and I have no more protein, other than eggs, but they could last me for several days.  At the same time I don’t want to make a poor decision, as car expenses will be my second largest expense here, after housing and utilities.  Oh and food, which is also supposed to be expensive.

I’m also ready to call up Yolie and ask if Juan could provide me some more transportation if I need it.  We’ll see how the day goes.  Terry from AutoSpot is picking me up at 9 to test drive the 2015 Prius and take me to a credit union where I can sign up – I can get a 2.25% auto loan there, if I need a bit more money than I have.  Or, I can take some more money from savings, but the whole point is to put money into savings, not take more out…..so, we’ll see how it all unfolds. 

Today I’lll be sure to have food and sunscreen and my hat with me.