First ride with Uber was good

We tried Uber for the first time while in Los Angeles last week because we were needing a ride to the airport.

We were picked up by Sunny after using the Uber app to indicate our location. Within five minutes he showed up at the door in an almost new Volks?wagen Passat, helped us throw the bags in the trunk and off we went.

I asked him how long he had been an Uber driver and he said about two weeks. His car was about one month old. He said he was from France and had lived in LA?about 24 years.

I went online to find out what it takes to become an Uber driver and learned that your car has to be less than 3 years old and cannot have been smoked in.

The fee was half the cost of a cab ride our Oregon kids had paid a few nights earlier. Uber isn?t allowed to pick up at the airport.

Would we do it again? Absolutely. And if you want to try it for free I have a code you can use that also makes my next ride free.

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Hillsboro lost a fine woman in Kathryn Hein?richs, who passed away last week at 94. I first knew her in 1959 when I worked with her at the Star-Journal and also from school as her daughter, Kristin, was a classmate. Her son, Dennis, was older and I admired him as a track star who could really run fast.

Kathryn was a proofreader at the newspaper; we all need someone just like her to make sure the names were spelled correctly and family information was correct.

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I took a package of frozen salmon out of the freezer for supper the other night and threw it on the kitchen counter to thaw.

Then I had the thought that if we had a cat, or maybe a dog, that wouldn?t be a good idea.

So I did an informal survey at the office and learned that most people who have animals in the house put their frozen stuff in the microwave to thaw naturally or just used the defrost setting. Others put the fro?zen packages in the refrigerator to thaw?which I think usually takes over?night.

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I?m starting to think more about turning 70 on my next birthday. I think it may be the new 50, or at least I hope so. If I knew at 50 what I know now, I would have been one savvy person at the time. But that?s not how it works.

I was trying to make a list of regrets, but can?t come up with any. And why try, it can?t be changed anyway. I have started a list of songs I might want played at my funeral, but I?m not planning on checking out anytime soon. Besides, I have no control over that, other than how I exercise and what I eat, but not even that guarantees anything.

As Martin Mull used to sing: ?I?m happy here livin? above my station; I got no complaints at all about my life; ?cause there?s just one way to live above your station and that?s with your friends and Dr. Pepper and your wife.?

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If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@
hills?boro?free?press.com.

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