I hereby retract the previous post's anger/annoyance. Turns out that instead of a 10-20 min. drive-&-park, the mission was a 5-block-walk. Considering it's in the mid-40's today (NEVERMIND THAT WE GOT 0.5-1" OF SNOW LAST NIGHT), the walk was quite pleasant and I rather enjoyed it.
(But don't tell anyone at work!)