Quest for Wire

Wherein I set off across a hostile prehistoric landscape to bring my tribe that life-giving ... wait, that was a different quest (and a very bad movie).

So xrian and I are bopping off to An Tir this weekend to visit friends and teach some classes and since I'm reprising my "Birka wire-work" class I needed to stock up on supplies. The quest began on my lunch hour when I popped off to Beads and Baubles and picked up some more of the silver-plated wire I've worked up enough audacity to start using for the spun-wire macrame technique. Also some gold-plated wire to try out. But those are a bit pricey for starting people off on, and that store didn't have the plain craft wire. So I swung by Michael's Crafts, but it only had too thin and too thick. At which point I had to get back to work.

The quest resumed after gym time. I normally don't like running errands after working out (except for a quick stop at the grocery) since I'm still all sweaty and in my workout clothes, but it's better than trying to get myself back out of the house after showering and changing and starting to relax. But where to try for the right wire? I went for the sledgehammer solution. I knew they had the right gauges at the JoAnn's Super-store in Concord because that's where I'd found them before. Why had I tried the JASS in Concord before? Because it's right next door to Fry's Electronics and I'd figured what the heck. So there may well have been closer places to get what I wanted, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time running around not finding things. (This will become a theme of the errand.) So Concord it was.

But first, get gas because the needle's on empty. And there's a gas station right where San Pablo goes under 580 right before my on-ramp ... ah, but their electronic payment systems are on the fritz and they're only accepting cash. Well, I don't feel like running around trying to remember where the next nearest gas station is when the on-ramp is right there. I'll just stop at some exit with a station right there. Except ... hmm ... here I am on the other side of the tunnel trying to remember which exits have convenient gas stations, and the exits are all designed so that you can't see what's at them until you're past. But that needle has been sitting on empty for a while, so I took the first Lafayette exit ... and promptly got myself winding off into a business-free suburban tract. Backtrack. Argh. Follow the frontage road. Restaurants, civic buildings, coffee shops ... doesn't anyone buy gas here? Ah, there we are. Ok. Full now.

Now I just have to find my way back onto the freeway. You'd think that these bedroom communities would focus on making it hard for the uninitiated to find them. But no -- like the pitcher plant and the ant lion's den, all the difficulty falls on the "getting out" side of the process. Another false start heading off into the trackless (but not tract-less) wastes. Went about a mile before even finding a place to turn around. Backtrack to the gas station and continue following the frontage road. Get stuck behind incredibly annoying driver. How annoying? Well, the road has two lanes, and then there's a left turn lane. The driver is in the left-hand regular lane and has stopped halfway into the intersection and put on his left blinker. He is waiting for the left turn arrow to turn from red to green. But it isn't turning green. Why? Because there aren't any cars in the left turn lane triggering the sensor. Because HE ISN"T IN THE LEFT TURN LANE, HE'S IN THE GO-STRAIGHT LANE. I honk. Nothing. I check the right lane and pull around him. He continues waiting for his left turn light. I regain the freeway via one of the most awkwardly convoluted onramps I've even experienced.

The Jo-Ann's Super Store has the right gauge of wire. They don't have as many spools as I want, but it will have to do. I return home. It is now almost 9pm but my quest is fulfilled. The tribe once again has that sine qua non of civilization, the life-giving flames of ... wait, that was a different quest.