This morning at 9 am, parking permits for permanent employees of the University of Washington Tacoma went on sale. The flight returning from my nephew’s twice-covid-delayed wedding was scheduled to land at 9:15 am but miraculously, we landed 30 minutes early. At 9 am, standing at baggage carousel 14, I begin my attempt to secure a parking permit for the academic year.
I had bookmarked the permit request page. It apparently was the OLD page and did not automatically forward to the new site. At 9:05 am, I resorted to a Google search and arrived at the proper location. So far so good. I selected the lot I wanted and began entering all the information about license plate, year, make, model, and color.
Done and ready to purchase.
The next step on my iPhone was not obvious. What I thought was the natural button to select, took me to another page to started the process anew. Worse yet, it said no permits were available. I thought I had missed the window.
I don’t mind taking the bus but COVID concerns have me wanting to avoid enclosed areas with strangers for a while more. Time to reset my thinking, I suppose.
Long story short, the luggage arrived, Mark and I drove home, and I started to write this post. Before hitting ‘publish,’ I revisited the parking site on my home computer—just in case. To my surprise and delight, the original transaction was sitting in my basket. I just needed to complete the purchase.
I guess that means I am ready for the start of the academic year….at least when it comes to parking on campus that is.
Lessons for the day: Be willing to try a different technology and never give up.
There is still work to prepare for classes and retreats to accomplish. I can do this. I have done it before. I will do it again.
Math in the Time of Corona 
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