We are Zipsters/Meeting food remembered

Yesterday, I finally sold our car. Craigslist came through again, though this time it took some effort.

But fear not! We are not carless, we are Zipsters. I don't think Zipcar has young children in mind, though, and the tedium of taking the car seat in and out may discourage us from hopping in a convertible Mini-Cooper to day-trip to Napa, but we'll give it a shot.

Normally, I guess, they mail you your Zipcard, which is how you get into the cars. But as I was registering, I realized their SF office is 2 blocks from my office, so I walked over. They were having some sort of Monday morning meeting, which reminded me of what it was like when I was part of a 'team' that all worked in the same 'office' in the same 'time zone.'

At BN, we used to have Monday morning meetings, which I liked b/c it was a chance to be working but sitting, something quite rare in retail management. Also, there were often pastries. At CoPIRG, we had Friday morning meetings at this awesome place called the Eggshell next to our office. They had a fantastic breakfast special. I lived an excessively frugal life in Denver, so this was my big treat. I don't remember much about the actual meetings. At that school in Maine, we had Thursday afternoon faculty meetings. Those always preceded "family-style" dinner night, which in no way resembled these boarding school kids' actual family dinners. Basically, they had to wear nice clothes (jackets and ties for the boys) and eat with a pre-set group of people, making awkward conversation with the one or two faculty members at each table. Before the meetings, all the faculty would sneak into the cafeteria (adjacent to the meeting space) and grab coffee and handfuls of whatever was left from lunch, often cookies.

Now I work alone in an office, a seven-hour drive from my 'state-mate,' the only other office west of Chicago, and over 3000 miles from my higher-ups. It seems weird to buy myself lunch and think business. And it's rude to have a breakfast meeting on a conference call. I need to figure something out.