Or...through the fooking glass

Goodness knows why someone might want to read any of my adventures, but once in a while, funny stuff does happen.

Take today for example. After returning late yesterday from a sixteen hundred mile road trip, I rolled out of bed at what for me is the crack of dawn (0730) because I had a doctor's appointment at 0900. The parking garage was full, until I got to the roof. Winding up five floors to the roof revealed to me that the power steering is going out on my car. Wonderful.

I needed to go back to the first floor for the appointment, so I waited...and waited...and waited for the elevator. Yes, I could have taken the stairs faster, but by the time I got there, I couldn't have made it to the end of the long corridor. This getting older is getting old in situations like that. Damn that radial neuropathy!

It was a good thing that I had left the house fairly early. I arrived at the check-in only ten minutes before the appointment, so I signed in and took a seat. Almost immediately, the nurse called my name. This had to be too good to be true. It was. My appointment is next week. Unfortunately, that is not what my appointment card said, but I had left it at home. Rats.

Muscling the car back down the ramp was not fun, and I realised I forgot to have the desk stamp my parking ticket, so I had to fish out fifty cents to pay for my fifteen minutes in the garage.

Off to pick up all the mail that has collected in my rented box at the UPS store. Mostly a pile of garbage that has begun to find me after changing my address six months ago. Three applications for credit cards. A bill from the opthamologist that I have to settle before I have to have all the tests run again. Why I love having no health insurance... Oh! One of the little red slips of paper in the box that says I have a package waiting for me!

Wooooohoooo! Another of the mystery boxes that come to me. I just let the UPS store guy wonder why I'm getting stuff marked "Free Matter for the Blind". Once it was a huge box that had my new (to me) electric Perkins brailler. Then it was the big brick of brailler paper. Today, it's the contractions dictionary I ordered. I'm taking the correspondence course from the Library of Congress to try to get my certification to transcribe braille. (Another story, another day.)

I grabbed a breakfast burrito at Sonic, and came home to answer my phone messages from last week. Someone left me a wrong number; two were orders for my quilt patterns. Too early to call the west coast, so I tried to get some of the gear I dragged in last night stowed away. The three hours of sleep I had last night began to catch up with me, so I decided to take a nap.

The cats curled up next to me, and I was down for the count. Two hours later, I heard the computer announce someone messaging me, so I got up in time to find the ISP connection disconnecting. No matter what I did, I could not get back online. I suppose this six year old Dell is going to gasp its last before long. Please! Not before I get it all backed up!

I switch to the laptop, and when the Yahoo comes up, there is an ad that promises me a free scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream in honor of the tenth anniversary of Yahoo. (Can it be so?) What the heck, I decide, this is my junk email address, so I follow the link to print out the coupon. My printer jams. I take the guts apart and pull out the shreds of paper, and try again. Yippee! I am now going to get free ice cream tonight. It's in the same store as the Steak Escape place, and I rationalise that since I am making a second trip to the UPS store, and it's on the way back...

Never had tried the cheesesteak sandwich there, so I order one and take a seat as directed to wait. I see the entire staff standing around. Five minutes go by. No sandwich. Someone else comes through the drive in and they get their order. Someone else comes in to place an order. No sandwich. Finally, I go back to the counter and ask just how long it takes to get served. Fully expecting to get the usual lackluster response from another fast food worker, I was surprised to see them all snap to and before I knew it, I had my sandwich, a coupon for a free sandwich on my next visit, and the manager trotting out with my refund in her hand and a profuse apology! I not only got free ice cream for supper, but also free supper.

This put me in a much better mood, keeping me from tossing the computer and the printer across the room tonight when I could not get the online package labels to print. Maybe tomorrow will be a better technology day. Can't hope for another free meal, however...