I thought I was coming down with a cold, but it turns out that I just have a sinus infection. Oh, goody. It seems to be on its way out, helped on its way by copious amounts of Thai hot and sour soup. (I discovered Thai hot and sour soup's miraculous sinus clearing properties when I was in Glasgow. It really works amazingly well. I honestly think it relieves sinus pressure better than Sudafed. And it's certainly a lot tastier.)

Yesterday I took my car in for routine service. I asked them to take a look at the clutch, because it's been a bit sticky lately. Sure enough, the master clutch cylinder was leaking, and needed to be replaced. It was under warranty! No cost to me! Whooo!

I also needed new front brakes. Those were not under warranty, unsurprisingly.

I have to say, Autowest Acura of Stevens Creek was really providing stellar customer service yesterday. They called me several times to update me on how work was progressing on my car, took great care in explaining what they were doing on the car, and gave me a 20% discount on my bill, apparently just for the hell of it. And followed up with a call today to make sure that I was happy. They've usually given me perfectly acceptable customer service, but they were really going all out yesterday.

Anyway, I had a meeting yesterday morning that I was planning to attend via conference call, so the Acura shuttle driver dropped me off at Starbucks, and I got a cup of coffee, and dialed in to my meeting on my cell phone. When the meeting was over, I spent some time reading and marking up a draft manual that I'd brought with me, pausing to confer with the Acura service folks when they called me about my brakes needing work.

I had some lunch, and did a little more reading, and then my car was ready. By the time I got my car back, it was almost time for my second meeting of the day, so I went to another coffee shop that I'd spotted across the street from the Starbucks: Barefoot Coffee Roasters, who made me a phenomenal iced Americano - it was so rich and mellow that I didn't add any milk or sweetener, as I often do. And I sat outside, and did my second meeting of the day by conference call.

And then I finally went to work.

It's days like that that really make me appreciate my cell phone. It allowed me to confer with the Acura service people, keep my boss and coworkers posted on where I was, and attend two important meetings, all while sitting outside on a gorgeous day sipping coffee. Yay, technology.

My car feels fantastic, by the way. No more sticky clutch, and it may be my imagination, but I think the braking feels crisper. Makes me wish somebody could redo my sinuses as easily as they redo my brakes.

I've spent much of today lolling around, drinking sugar-free lemonade, and watching DVDs. Yay, Netflix. This is very therapeutic. Between that and the hot and sour soup, I'm hoping my sinus infection will be well and truly gone soon.