Flat out like a lizard drinking!

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... that means I've been busy as a botox kiosk in Beverley Hills. Doing what, you might ask? Take a look:

San Francisco/Berkeley

Hawaii

Arizona Desert Camp making like Charles Atlas as you can see at the right (Lon Haldeman took that shot)

And now I'm off to Australia for all of April and May '08, carousing with customers here.

My FastCompany blog slowed right down when they ported it over to a new system which didn't quite work at first. But now it's up and running as is my latest post (which says March 3 but it was actually March 15).

One thing I tried in Hawaii, was to get a Hawaii driver's license. I thought it would be the coolest thing to hip out and brandish when the weather drops below freezing in other parts of the country. I haven't needed a car, or to drive, for 15 years. But apart from the envy factor, something tells me it might be useful to have one, especially in an emergency, and not be a burden to others.

In a nutshell I passed the written but failed the road test. According to the dragon lady tester, I went a"little to fast" around corners and I indicated a "little less than 100 feet before an intersection".

It's not a big deal, except it was an ordeal involving a) badgering friends to let you drive them around for practice and b) hijacking a friend's morning or afternoon while they sit and wait for you to do your test - the licensed driver must accompany the student.

Talk about overtaxing friendships! Thank you to Geri Tolchin, my realtor friend, for going above and beyond - please go buy your next property from her so I can atone for my sins.

I googled 'failed hawaii driving test' to console myself and discovered that failing people is quite a sport over among the testers, with the women testers being particularly unforgiving.

"Especially in Hilo, where, despite looking like it's a backwater, it's really by the book, due to the Japanese influence," offered a friend who lives there.

Here's me thinking that doing the test in podunk Hilo would be a pushover!

So I'm back to being chauffered around if I have to, until I give it another shot.

Here's the highlight of that whole experience ... in the Hawaii Driver's Manual it says in essence:

Please respect cyclists. Remember that someone on a bike not only represents less pollution and burning of fossil fuel, it represents one more parking space for you at your destination.

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