Just an update for those of you who may have decided I've abandoned my blog... No, no I haven't turned my back on it completely, just haven't been too motivated to write lately. Not sure why that is. Anyhow, things are going as awesome as before. I guess you could say I'm stuck in a solid routine now-a-days. I'm still dog walking for Wild Bill and loving it more than ever. It's so beneficial to be able to spend a chunk of time outdoors everyday. In the afternoon, I go to my retouching job, which I also really enjoy.
I still run into people who don't really understand what I am doing. They can't see how I can possibly be happy living in my car. For any new readers, and just as a reiteration rant, here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
Why am I doing this?
1.Paying rent is just not worth it.
-Especially in one of the most expensive cities in the world...
-I'm never home anyways. Why pay for a space I pretty much only sleep in?
-Roommate issues. Everyone has them at some point.
-I don't own much stuff, so I don't need a lot of space.
-The cost of other house expenses like utilities and home maintenance tack on a lot to the bill.
-Finding a decently priced place that allows dogs is nearly impossible.
-Finding a decently priced place, period- is nearly impossible.
-Saving all that money every month allows me to do things I've never been able to do before on a tight budget, like see a doctor, and have a savings account that has more than $15 in it!
2 Car-dwelling caters to my minimalist lifestyle
-living with less makes life more simple
-I don't buy unnecessary crap because I simply don't have the space for it.
-Less to worry about breaking or getting lost or stolen.
-I like knowing exactly what I have, and knowing I don't need anything more than that.
-It's just a liberating feeling to be free of the ties that come with having a lot of material items.
3. Mobility
-Commuting is a pain, and wastes a lot of time and gas. It's so nice to have a 5 minute commute, if I so choose.
-Road trips are easy to pack for. You're pretty much ready to go at any given moment.
-You always have everything with you. There's no "Oh shit, I forgot that really important item at home and need to go all the way back to get it."
-It makes getting out of the city easier.
-Adventure. Every day is truly an adventure when there's no limits to where you can go when you get off work. When you don't have a home to go to, the sky is the limit.
Possible Inconveniences I often get asked about:
-Bathroom: cafes, work, client homes, and yes, a jar for when I have to pee in the middle of the night.
-Shower: 24 hr fitness baby! I have 10 shower options all over the city and many more throughout the bay area and California if I'm traveling.
-Keeping food: I don't. Except for dry cereals and buying fruit on a daily basis.
-Dogs in car: They love it! They love always being on 'the go' with me. When I have to leave them alone, how is it any different from dogs who are crated at home for hours while the owners are at work? Pretty spacious crate, I'd say!
-Storage: I recently started renting a small storage closet that hold the extra stuff I don't use on a daily basis. Now I'm able to buy bulk items such as dog food for much cheaper obviously than buying the 5# bags every time.
-Comfort: Contrary to popular belief, my sleeping bag is quite comfortable used as a cushion and my 1 comforter keeps me very warm throughout the night (unless its especially cold, I'll start the car and run the heat for a while.)
-Safety: This is the one people who care about me are most concerned about. Yea, yea, I can see where they're coming from. I must say I feel much safer with my 2 super scary guard-dingoes. Who would break into a car that has a security alarm and 2 loud dogs barking at them?
-Privacy: No one can really see me laying in the back unless they press they're face up to the window, in which case, the dogs would be barking their heads off.
-TV/entertainment: Who needs TV? My Macbook Pro is the only tech device in my life and he suits all my entertainment needs as long as I can get internet which really isn't a problem in this dense city. But wait, being out and about in this city in itself IS entertainment. There's so much to see and do, not having a house to be lazy at is the perfect excuse for me to go explore and experience and LIVE!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Carstache & Conehead Sooz
I'm getting a lot more smiles from people while driving lately. Maybe it's because of the bright flame-orange mustache attached to the grill of my car. It wasn't my idea, but a 'dress code' requirement assigned by Wild Bill. Bill and I both agree it's like an automatic anti-depressant, for both the driver and pedestrians alike.
As you can see from the picture, My car was sporting a cargo bag full of my extra stuff. This was adding extra weight to the car, attracting unnecessary attention, and creating a dent in the roof. I had been waiting for a storage closet to open up at a storage place that had the size of space I needed for a reasonable price. Finally a space opened up on Tuesday! My storage closet is a 4x4x4 space for only $35/month. It doesn't seem like that much space but all my stuff only fills about half of it. I'll be visiting my space about once a week to switch out clothes, fill my travel shampoo/soap containers. Now I can buy things like dog food in bulk and store it there.
I've been pretty busy with my 2 jobs. Having such a tight schedule and living out of your car requires planning and organization. Here's what my days look like lately:
8:00 Wake up
8:00-8:15 Prep car for dogs- I fold up my comforter and sleeping bag and stuff them in front of the front passenger seat so they stay free of any potential dog messes. I tidy up any loose items and put them in their appropriate spots. Everything has it's place in every nook and cranny of my car. It makes life much easier when I know where everything is.
8:15-8:30 start car, change clothes, brush teeth, feed dogs, any other little tasks that need to be done.
8:30-9:00 Coffee. I'm already parked in a neighborhood with several cafes, so it's just a minute drive or walk to get my daily dose of caffeine. It's nice to have a moment to myself before the chaos begins.
9-12 I'm walking a group of small dogs now. My overnight parking spot is the neighborhood of my first pick-up. I do this to minimize commute time and save gas. The other half of the group is a 15 minute drive away. Pick-ups, an hour walk, and drop offs take me roughly 3 hours total. I end the same place I started.
12:00-1:00 Ironically, there is a 24 hour fitness around the corner from that last drop off with parking always available right out front. It couldn't be more convenient. From 12-1, I get to sit in the sauna and take a shower. What's even better is the gym is super slow at this time so I have the entire locker room almost all to myself. I'll also grab lunch during this time-frame.
1:00-6:30pm My new retouching job, which isn't too far from the gym. I love 5 minute commutes.
The rest of the evening varies night to night. Last night, I went to the self service pet wash to give Mona and Sooz a bath. How awesome is this! It's only $15 for 25 minutes which was more than enough time to scrub, rinse, and blow dry two dirty dingoes. Too bad they aren't going to like going to the pet store anymore. They provide you with the shampoo (3 different scent choices which are built into the sprayer!) and towels. You hook their collars into the stand-up tub. Even if I did rent a place, I'd still go here to give them baths. Its sooo much easier and there's not a ton of black hair to clean up afterwards!
So the reason they needed a bath is because last weekend we went hiking and Soozy got a tick. I tried pulling it out with tweezers, but the head got stuck in there and the spot got infected overnight. It didn't help that she licked and chewed on it too. It was pretty nasty! I had to take her to the vet for a cream, antibiotics, and a cone. I picked up some Frontline while I was there. I wanted them to both be clean before I put that stuff on. No more ticks, please!
Soozy was very upset about having to wear the cone!
As you can see from the picture, My car was sporting a cargo bag full of my extra stuff. This was adding extra weight to the car, attracting unnecessary attention, and creating a dent in the roof. I had been waiting for a storage closet to open up at a storage place that had the size of space I needed for a reasonable price. Finally a space opened up on Tuesday! My storage closet is a 4x4x4 space for only $35/month. It doesn't seem like that much space but all my stuff only fills about half of it. I'll be visiting my space about once a week to switch out clothes, fill my travel shampoo/soap containers. Now I can buy things like dog food in bulk and store it there.
I've been pretty busy with my 2 jobs. Having such a tight schedule and living out of your car requires planning and organization. Here's what my days look like lately:
8:00 Wake up
8:00-8:15 Prep car for dogs- I fold up my comforter and sleeping bag and stuff them in front of the front passenger seat so they stay free of any potential dog messes. I tidy up any loose items and put them in their appropriate spots. Everything has it's place in every nook and cranny of my car. It makes life much easier when I know where everything is.
8:15-8:30 start car, change clothes, brush teeth, feed dogs, any other little tasks that need to be done.
8:30-9:00 Coffee. I'm already parked in a neighborhood with several cafes, so it's just a minute drive or walk to get my daily dose of caffeine. It's nice to have a moment to myself before the chaos begins.
9-12 I'm walking a group of small dogs now. My overnight parking spot is the neighborhood of my first pick-up. I do this to minimize commute time and save gas. The other half of the group is a 15 minute drive away. Pick-ups, an hour walk, and drop offs take me roughly 3 hours total. I end the same place I started.
12:00-1:00 Ironically, there is a 24 hour fitness around the corner from that last drop off with parking always available right out front. It couldn't be more convenient. From 12-1, I get to sit in the sauna and take a shower. What's even better is the gym is super slow at this time so I have the entire locker room almost all to myself. I'll also grab lunch during this time-frame.
1:00-6:30pm My new retouching job, which isn't too far from the gym. I love 5 minute commutes.
The rest of the evening varies night to night. Last night, I went to the self service pet wash to give Mona and Sooz a bath. How awesome is this! It's only $15 for 25 minutes which was more than enough time to scrub, rinse, and blow dry two dirty dingoes. Too bad they aren't going to like going to the pet store anymore. They provide you with the shampoo (3 different scent choices which are built into the sprayer!) and towels. You hook their collars into the stand-up tub. Even if I did rent a place, I'd still go here to give them baths. Its sooo much easier and there's not a ton of black hair to clean up afterwards!
So the reason they needed a bath is because last weekend we went hiking and Soozy got a tick. I tried pulling it out with tweezers, but the head got stuck in there and the spot got infected overnight. It didn't help that she licked and chewed on it too. It was pretty nasty! I had to take her to the vet for a cream, antibiotics, and a cone. I picked up some Frontline while I was there. I wanted them to both be clean before I put that stuff on. No more ticks, please!
Soozy was very upset about having to wear the cone!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Right place, right time...
When I choose a parking spot for the night, I often change my mind if it doesn't feel right. So last night I couldn't decide where to park. I switched locations nearly 3 times. The first spot was too close to a bus stop so there was a lot of pedestrians and traffic. The second spot was close to a park that had some active wildlife. Sooz & Mona went crazy when they spotted a glowing-eyed raccoon peaking at us from behind a tree. So the spot I finally decided to go with was on a quiet street with several open parking spots. As I was preparing the back to lay down my sleeping bag and blanket, I noticed a truck backing out of it's spot two cars away from. As it drove away, I looked over and saw there were two suitcases in the spot which the truck just packed out from. I waved to the truck, but it was too far away already. I looked in one of the suitcase's ID slots and pulled out a business card for a guy named Joe's plumbing business in WI. I called the number and told the guy that 2 suitcases fell out of his truck as he backed away from the spot. The guy on the phone said that wasn't him in the truck and his luggage had been stolen from his car two days prior! I took the suitcases to the hotel and Joe gave me $100!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Photoshop & a room
I've been busy! I got a new job. I've been working as a retoucher for a photographer... and I love it! I wasn't really looking for it, but it serendipitously fell in my lap. I forgot how much I really enjoy doing Photoshop work. I'm learning a lot and sitting at a desk in front of a computer is actually a nice change from the sometimes chaotic, unpredictable world of dogwalking, which I'm still doing as well. It's a group of little dogs, and my favorite is Otis who is an albino mix of unknown descent with a pink nose. Otis is always so happy and can only eat carrots for treats since he's allergic to everything else. He is terrified of the stairs, but stands his ground and kicks some major ass when other dogs bully him because of his differences... :)
Oh, and I got a place! Well, just for the rest of January... I ran into an old friend at yoga a few weeks ago who just moved out of her apartment. The place is still technically hers for the rest of the month, but she's already moved on to her new place. After telling her about my situation, she offered me the now-empty room for the remaining 2 weeks. It's really nice to have a room to chill in, alone, while being in my PJs. Also, the high volume of dog in my car makes it so I would have to clean every night before laying down back there.
I've been following this guy's blog for a while. I really like what he says here about having too much stuff. (Aunt Toni, if you're reading, this reminded me of the passage you sent me the other day.)
http://www.mnmlist.com/
Oh, and I got a place! Well, just for the rest of January... I ran into an old friend at yoga a few weeks ago who just moved out of her apartment. The place is still technically hers for the rest of the month, but she's already moved on to her new place. After telling her about my situation, she offered me the now-empty room for the remaining 2 weeks. It's really nice to have a room to chill in, alone, while being in my PJs. Also, the high volume of dog in my car makes it so I would have to clean every night before laying down back there.
I've been following this guy's blog for a while. I really like what he says here about having too much stuff. (Aunt Toni, if you're reading, this reminded me of the passage you sent me the other day.)
http://www.mnmlist.com/
Friday, January 7, 2011
revealing peace
My hip is killing me. I thought I usually sleep on my side, but I must have been putting extra pressure on it last night, somehow. It's cold. It's just about as cold as San Francisco ever gets. I actually just looked up the temperature online to prove to you how cold it is and my weather widget on my dashboard, which is set on Lincoln, says 37 degrees. I changed it to San Francisco and the number only went up 3 degrees. "This is California! It's supposed to be warm all year round!" said the younger me back when the only thing I associated with San Francisco was Full House and Rice-a-Roni. Atleast it never snows here... With all the hills, I'm not sure SF would be a city if it snowed.
It usually reaches peak coldness at about 5am. This is when I wake up to either grab a dingo for warmth or turn on the car and run the heat. This morning, I grabbed a dingo and ran the heat. I almost thought about just getting up for the day since I had to walk a dog at 7:30. I decided to sleep the extra hour and a half, but accidently slept in till 8:10. I woke up to a phone call from the client wondering where I was. Luckily I was parked close by and she wasn't upset.
While at the park with the dingos and my now 8:30 dog, someone banged into the front of my car while reversing from their parking spot. No damage, except for the plastic license plate frame and the dealer's license plate cover logo had been ripped off. All this time I thought I only had a back license plate (which is apparently ok in the state of CA but not NE.) Although I wasn't particularly in favor of advertising for the dealership, I never cared enough to request a second license plate from the DMV. (mostly because I try to avoid any transaction with the dreaded DMV.) It turns out the real license plate was underneath the dealership logo the whole time! I ripped the rest of the logo away, threw it in the trash, and drove away a happy hit-and-run victim.
Underneath the surface of the physical world, everything around us that causes stress, irritation, worry, tension, disappointment, sadness or unease, there is a peace that remains stationary. It has been there all along and it never goes away. The key is discovering or finding that peace again, by stripping away and filtering out all the bullshit. What bullshit is covering your license plate?
It usually reaches peak coldness at about 5am. This is when I wake up to either grab a dingo for warmth or turn on the car and run the heat. This morning, I grabbed a dingo and ran the heat. I almost thought about just getting up for the day since I had to walk a dog at 7:30. I decided to sleep the extra hour and a half, but accidently slept in till 8:10. I woke up to a phone call from the client wondering where I was. Luckily I was parked close by and she wasn't upset.
While at the park with the dingos and my now 8:30 dog, someone banged into the front of my car while reversing from their parking spot. No damage, except for the plastic license plate frame and the dealer's license plate cover logo had been ripped off. All this time I thought I only had a back license plate (which is apparently ok in the state of CA but not NE.) Although I wasn't particularly in favor of advertising for the dealership, I never cared enough to request a second license plate from the DMV. (mostly because I try to avoid any transaction with the dreaded DMV.) It turns out the real license plate was underneath the dealership logo the whole time! I ripped the rest of the logo away, threw it in the trash, and drove away a happy hit-and-run victim.
Underneath the surface of the physical world, everything around us that causes stress, irritation, worry, tension, disappointment, sadness or unease, there is a peace that remains stationary. It has been there all along and it never goes away. The key is discovering or finding that peace again, by stripping away and filtering out all the bullshit. What bullshit is covering your license plate?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
yea yea its been a while since I've posted...
To all of my frequent readers, mainly Joel, I apologize for my last post being so long ago. Things have been busy and I've just returned from my trip to Lincoln. Over the holiday season, I walked full groups of dogs. By the way, I'm going to quit using names and specific information on this blog. It is public and available to anyone, and I'd rather no violate anyone's privacy by having their name or business information floating around.
So yea- groups of 8 or 9 dogs in the back of my small SUV! it was chaotic, noisy, smelly, stressful, but FUN at the same time. It was good to be at the beach everyday with 9 dogs having a blast. I bought a tarp to protect my plastic drawers and the flooring of the back seats. One particular dog made things about 10x more chaotic then they needed to be. Other than her lunging at my head while driving, screaming at top volume in my ears, running underneath other dogs during the on-leash walk to the beach, instigating all the other dogs to kick her ass, constantly needing a ball in her mouth or shooting water-ey diarrhea out of her butt, shes a really great dog... :)
So yea- groups of 8 or 9 dogs in the back of my small SUV! it was chaotic, noisy, smelly, stressful, but FUN at the same time. It was good to be at the beach everyday with 9 dogs having a blast. I bought a tarp to protect my plastic drawers and the flooring of the back seats. One particular dog made things about 10x more chaotic then they needed to be. Other than her lunging at my head while driving, screaming at top volume in my ears, running underneath other dogs during the on-leash walk to the beach, instigating all the other dogs to kick her ass, constantly needing a ball in her mouth or shooting water-ey diarrhea out of her butt, shes a really great dog... :)
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
A quick post aside from holiday madness
Christmas is steadily approaching and I'm super busy walking and sitting dogs. Right now, I'm staying at a clients house. Too bad the dingos can't come in. They're fine out in the car. I left them my pillows and blanket, and they got a pigs ear to munch on before bed. It is nice to have an entire house to myself. A warm bed with 3 layers of blankets, refrigerator for my food, and a coffee maker. I know most of us have access to these simple things all the time. But when you take away these comforts, and live without them for a while, I think you can appreciate them more when you do have access to them. There's so many people around the world who will never have these things, and they're content with what they do have. In this crazy season of mass consumerism, try to remember that having more is not always better.
I got to go- have to put a tarp on the inside of my car. I'm walking up to 6-7 dogs today and it rained ALL last night. Hoping to keep my stuff dry and clean...
I got to go- have to put a tarp on the inside of my car. I'm walking up to 6-7 dogs today and it rained ALL last night. Hoping to keep my stuff dry and clean...
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