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August 25, 2000 |
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It's a Friday. It's going to be a busy Friday. I knew from a couple of days before that Pam and I would be picking up her new car today. The Rav4 is a
nice little SUV, as far as SUV's go. I however happen to have a a distinct
dislike of SUV's. However, I have to realize that it's not going to be
my car and that it's really about what she wants and is
comfortable with. Still, I can't help but to really dislike them
bloody things.
I drove out to meet her at the bus stop. On the way there, I got a call on
my cell phone. It was Pam, she told me that she had
actually walked back to her new apartment and asked if I could just meet
her there. Since I was about twenty minutes early, I had actually
been looking for a screw store. The guy at Eagle hardware had told me
about a store on 116th Ave, a couple of
days before and I was wondering if I could find it. I'm nothing if not
efficient with my time.
Having had no luck, with the screw store… I kid you not, it was
apparently a store that specialized on screws. I headed to Pam. I was only a few blocks away, it would only take me about
five minutes.
Her new place looked bare as you might imagine without the furniture. They
did hook up the phone line today and she brought one of her phones so that
she could make calls. The call to me, for instance. [Keep up
here!] We only stayed there for a few minutes before we went to the
Toyota dealership, the same one that closes at 10pm, but apparently won't
tell you that if you have the temerity to ask them over the phone; they'll
tell you 7pm.
The remainder of the paperwork was relatively painless, proof of insurance,
and all that jazz. They did go through and wash her car again,
which was certainly a nice touch. Then again I have never bought a new
car… a motorcycle yes, but not a car. So maybe this is a typical thing
that they do when selling new cars, or maybe it depends on the
price of the vehicle, which is probably closer to the truth. I
really didn't care one way or the other, but still thought that it was a
nice touch.
All along I was quietly wondering to myself if Pam
was going to back out of this deal. Normally, I wouldn't think so, but
after the antics of this past weekend I wasn't so sure anymore.
We drove back to her new place, where she parked her car in the resident parking and I parked mine in guest. They're on two different levels, so she had to come to get me. We went back upstairs to drop off a few things at her apartment and then we went to dinner.
We decided to go to Chili's. Chili's has a warm place in my heart, although that may have much to do with the fact that Aileen is a Chilihead, which is to say a Chili's waitress. Yes, this is the same sister that is literally a rocket scientist, or more accurately was a rocket scientist. Now she works on tanks.
We did stop by my place for a couple of minutes. I was expecting a package and was hoping that it had arrived today, it didn't so I left my place an utterly broken man. Okay, not really, but I was a little disappointed.
I'm not sure why but I had been thinking about their chicken mushroom fajitas (maybe it's a Len thing, he likes them too), and that's what I ended up getting. Even the waiter commented that it was the best thing on the menu. Pam had gotten the chicken soft tacos, apparently she didn't care for mushrooms. And after I heard her story, I can certainly understand why she doesn't like them. It doesn't really bother me, though I'm not about to tell the story here and possibly spoil mushrooms for any of you out there.
She didn't finish her tacos, of course. I know I have some hangups about not clearing my plate, which I have gotten better about, but it is still the rule rather than the exception. She on the other hand, rarely finishes a meal, I wonder if she has some similar issues with finishing things. She got it packed up to take home, although we promptly forgot it. In fact, we even forgot her keys to her new car, although we would've eventually found this. The waiter did run out the door to hand us the keys, which was very nice of him, too bad he didn't do the same for the doggy bag.
We went to QFC, which was only a few doors down the same shopping center. She asked if we could pick up a few things for her new place since her parents would be arriving tomorrow. I don't mind shopping; really I don't. What I don't happen to care for is lingering. For instance, there's no real purpose in spending five minutes in deciding precisely which type of cheese would go well with a sandwich. So half jokingly I told her that we could, but she only had twenty minutes in which to shop. I rationalized that this was really all it took to pick up a few things.
And naturally the first thing she did was spent two minutes picking out sandwiches. [Sigh] We sped through the store, where she wondered more about precisely which types of sponges she liked for her sink. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this may be an issue for someone who is fairly new at being on their own and washing their own dishes, but this is certainly not Pam. It's not that you can't change something when you go to the store. For instance, I have switched laundry detergents because Tide irritates my skin. However, I don't agonize about which laundry detergent I use everytime I go to the store.
Naturally, we didn't make the twenty minute margin, not by a long shot. We were there for ten minutes longer, which I still think was nothing short of a monumental feat, especially since this is the person who spent twenty minutes picking out a wine with her sister only a few weeks before.
We drove back to her new place where we put away her groceries, and we left shortly after that. She still didn't have any furniture.
We went back to her place, where I saw the vast chaos of her apartment only a couple of days before her move. She asked if I might be able to take some of her dishes back to her new place, since she was a bit reluctant to have them packed and moved by the movers, although I didn't really understand why, since they were insured.
Actually, we had talked about this only a few days before, when I asked if she would be feeling amorous tonight. She replied with her being stressed about the move, and about the dishes in particular. I told her that I would move the dishes if she were to put out.
Tonight, she asked if I would move her dishes and I reminded her of the arrangement we had talked about only a couple of days before… To make a long story short, she did and I did.
August 25, 2000