 |
August 23, 2000 |
|
I stayed at work pretty late last night, and thus I was getting up pretty
late today. By the time I got out of the shower and was ready for work, I
noticed that I had a message on my pager. Terrific. Days that
start like this simply don't seem to go well. I figured that I should
simply go to work, I'll diffuse whatever bombs I need to diffuse when I get
there. I did have dinner scheduled with Nancy, I figured that it might've been her calling to confirm.
Once I got there I found that there were not immediate fires burning today.
Well, relatively speaking of course. The call was actually from Pam, and once I check my cell phone, I see that I missed a
call from her as well. Apparently, the Toyota dealer from this side of
town, the ones we talked to on Sunday,
has offered her a deal that she couldn't refuse. Not as good as she wanted,
but certainly considerably better than they offered before. She wanted me
to pick her up from the bus stop this evening, so she could stop by the
dealer.
Okay, admittedly I was skeptical. I called her back and asked if she was
absolutely sure that they were making the deal today. She seemed
a bit taken aback, but she did say, "Yes." I told her that I had plans
with a friend of mine, and that I would cancel them if they were definitely
making a deal today. No haggling, no more if's, it was just to go
in and sign the paperwork. She said it was.
I called my friend Nancy, and cancelled. I know
that she happens to take it well, she didn't even ask for an explanation.
As long as I asked, she was willing to reschedule. We rescheduled for
Monday evening. I don't like cancelling, it makes me look like an idiot.
No actually, it makes me sound like a liar or undependable, which I find to
be worse than an idiot. An idiot has ignorance on his/her part.
All this playing phone tag made me late to my doctor's appointment, which again, made me feel like an idiot. (see above…) I was there for about an hour, during which I got a page, which was for a phone message. That's fine, I can check it when I leave. [Sigh!] I was expecting the worst, actually just some random fire at work that I need to attend to. As it turns out, it was just a message telling me my contacts were ready.
I drove back and did a few more hours of work until I had to pick Pam up from the bus stop. It was about 6pm when I left to pick her up. I still had to do more things at work and would have to return tonight. Fortunately, the drive was rather harmless at this time of day. It typically is as long as you don't have to travel across the bridge, and thank goodness I didn't have to.
I arrived a few minutes early and parked immediately in front of the bus stop. I figured that she would see my car the moment she got out. I was mistaken. I had to sound my horn and it started her. We drove directly to the car dealer, it was about 6:30pm and they closed at 7pm, which I found a bit strange but no matter.
We went in and indeed started to do the paperwork for that lease. No more haggling. Thank goodness. We went outside and they went over all the little controls for the car. I was simply there for emotional support. They finished up the paperwork. She didn't have insurance yet, so we weren't able to drive it off today; she should have all that done by Friday. We went to the back room where they do all the financial work, the woman who was filling all the random forms and miscellaneous paperwork was an attractive Asian-American woman. She flinched and looked a bit embarassed when asked if she drove a Toyota. She admitted that she actually drove a German car. We should've asked our salesperson, Jim.
We found out that they, in fact, close at 10pm. They had told me 7pm so that I wouldn't get there last minute. [Weasels!] All along I was thinking to myself, apparently they can can pay her to drive their car. Pam got the keys and arranged for pickup on Friday.
I wanted to get a few errands done, since we were in this part of town.
First, was Eagle Hardware. I wanted to go to the hardware store to get a screw. The screw in my car alarm remote has apparently stripped and I needed to get a replacement screw. I wasn't able to find one that matched, I figured that they probably had them, but I wasn't looking in the right place. I asked one of the guys who worked there. To my dismay, he was able to confirm that they didn't have such a screw. Terrific.
The next couple of errands were in Bellevue Square. I wanted to pick up my contact lenses. We stopped by the store and they had four boxes; I had ordered eight. It's not quite as tragic as having only the ones for one eye, especially since I have the same prescription on both eyes, but it did mean that I had to return to pick up contact lenses. Although, I wouldn't need to do it for six months.
Then, we headed to Radio Shack. I needed to get a battery for this same remote that I needed a screw for. [Pay attention!] I picked up a two pack of batteries for about six dollars. The cashier seemed particularly unfamiliar with the concept of people wanting to get rid of their pennies, since I handed her $6.01 for a $5.96 bill and she looked thoroughly confused. It's so hard to get good help.
We were pretty hungry by now, and I suggested we go to Zoopa's. It is a buffet place. I happen to like it. It is not extraordinary food, and it isn't even that filling, but it is better than many other places. They have all sorts of salads, a pasta bar, several soups, muffins, etc. We picked out our food and sat down for dinner. I wasn't all that hungry and didn't grab that much, still I would almost definitely go for seconds. It's the beauty of having a buffet. We talked about possible plans for the weekend, whether or nor she had managed to get the delivery time and date straightened out with the mattress place, and such things. You get the picture.
She was running low on Met-Rx, and asked if they had a GNC in the mall, which they did… right next to the Radio Shack, if I remembered correctly. We walked over there after dinner. It must've been past 9pm by now. We passed by the Disney store; they had the Tigger Movie (make mental note…) The GNC was next to the Radio Shack, except that they had moved it momentarily. It was up in the second floor now. We went up the escalator to find it. We found it and she got her Met-Rx. She seemed happy.
We stopped by the Kit's Camera store. I wanted to know if they made a simple wrist strap for a camera. The strap that came with my digital camera is the type where you hang the camera around your neck, which I wasn't particularly fond of. I did take a quick look at digital cameras, mostly because both of my sisters are asking me for suggestions on cameras. Terry is more limited by price range, so finding one for her would be tougher. I did recommend one to Aileen, which was the Canon Powershot S10. After looking at that one and the newer Powershot S100, and comparing features, I found that she may want to get the latter. I would have to send her mail. My friend Tom had recently gotten a Powershot S100. It is incredibly small; you'd be amazed when you see it. It will literally fit in your shirt pocket; I was impressed.
We did make it back to the Disney Store in time to get the Tigger Movie DVD. I've always been fond of Tigger, didn't get a chance to watch the movie when it was out earlier though. I didn't even know the movie was released yet, I just happened to walk by the store. As it turns out, it was released today. The salesperson was also telling me about the release of Toy Story and it's sequel. They were selling the two, and a lithiograph for $30. I could feel my arm being twisted. Uncle! I ordered them too.
After the mall, I drove Pam back to her new place and looked around for a bit. It wasn't too long before we drove back to her place in Seattle. Let's be reasonable, she had no furniture there yet. During the trip back, we briefly talked about some of our weekend plans… including something we had talked about doing on her last weekend at her old place. After talking about it a little, I realized that she wasn't intending to follow through. It made me feel a bit strange, a bit as though I didn't really know what to believe. I dropped her off.
I eventually went back to work. It must've been past midnight. I was debugging something or other I don't remember precisely what. I remember taking a break and heading to the kitchen. I quietly wondered who was still around and walked down the hall. A number of my work buddies who stay late work down this hallway. I found that Jim was still here. There had been something that was gnawing at me all night and I needed someone to talk to. Jim is a good listener, and we think alike in many ways.
During our chat he kept fidgeting he still had the stitches in and they were itching. They were supposed to be in for a week, and it had been precisely that a week. He figured he would go tomorrow, but was toying with the idea of going tonight. I told him I'd go with him.
It was probably around 1am when we headed to Overlake, the hospital
where he originally got his stitches. I didn't know precisely where it was,
I normally end up going to Group Death since it is the closest one
to my place. We were going to the emergency room, granted this was no
longer an emergency, but that's where we was treated. There was no nearby
parking so we ended up parking about half a wing away. The ER had metal
detectors through the door, so I had to take off a considerable amount of
gear. Including my digital camera. At times like these, aren't you glad
that I carry one?
I was carrying a pocket knife, but they didn't seem particularly concerned about it. They just asked me not to stab anyone. Everyone is a comedian. It wasn't a long wait until the triage nurse nurse decided that he could take the stitches off himself; the nurse, not Jim. Pay attention here.
Sometime during the night Jim finally told me the story behind how he managed to get the injury. He was playing the outfield and someone had hit a deep fly ball. He kept drifting back and felt the fence out with his free hand. As the ball was flying over the fence, he reached over and grabbed it. Apparently, he leaned back a bit too far and hit his head on the wall. He dropped immediately, but held on to the ball. The opposing team kept encouraging the batter to continue running, so Jim got up and threw the ball in. He checked his hand, which had been holding his head. It was covered with blood. That's quite the story. I was impressed.
I was heading back to work. Jim was pretty hungry, so we asks where we might get food. At this time of night, it would be either Taco Bell, or Denny's; neither which appealed to him too much. He did end up picking Taco Bell as the lesser of two evils. I didn't get anything, since I was still full from dinner with Pam. We did go through the drive-thru and got him a couple of bean burritos.
After that, I just dropped him off at work. I figured I just needed a good night's rest. As it turns out though, I ended up staying up half the night. I suppose nothing ever changes really.
August 23, 2000