Woody After Hours art by Paul Westover.
On Wednesday I had to take our only car to the mechanic to figure out what was wrong with it. Their waiting room didn’t have heat, internet access or breakfast sandwiches, so I walked a few blocks to the local McDonalds to eat, stream stuff on Netflix and wait.

45 minutes later the garage told me what was wrong, and that they could have the parts delivered and the car fixed in two hours. Being young and healthy, in spirit, I figured two more hours in a McDonalds consuming all-you-can-drink refills of diet soda would be fine.

Three hours later I called and asked how things were going. The parts hadn’t arrived yet, and no one knew where they were, but everyone was confident that they should be there at any moment. I thought about how I should spend the next three hours. On the one hand, I could take a taxi home, get stuff done and then take a taxi back whenever the car was finished. On the other hand, McDonalds was now serving lunch, and my phone still had plenty of battery life left. I chose to stay put.

Three additional hours later my car was finally ready to be picked up. I had spent over six hours sitting at McDonalds, an accomplishment few people can claim.

Today I am sick. I think I might have caught something while I was there.

Have a great weekend.

- Ben