How to tell when you’re getting old… or, Senior Moments… I haz dem.

Posted: September 10, 2012 in diabetes, Exercise, Physical activity, Senior Moments, Weight loss
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So, after a nice weekend which included a wonderful break to the heat we’ve been having, Monday dawned sunny, cool and breezy. Having been cleared by the physical therapist to attend water Pilates, Supportive Partner Woman wanted to be at the gym by 10:00 for class. I thought that would be an excellent time to go… I could get my cardio in while she was doing the Pilates thing.

I had a great workout. 30 minutes and decent resistance on the elliptical, followed by a training loop on the bike. I’m still leery of the treadmill, as I don’t need a blister relapse before vacation. I finished and waited for SPW to emerge from the pool area. We went home and I was browsing through my calendar, wanting to make sure that my scheduled session was in fact at 11:00 tomorrow. Turns out I made a whoopsie and the session was for 11:00 today. That would be 11:00, or 33 minutes earlier than the current time. So, I skipped my session at the gym because I was at the gym. Sigh.

I called in and Cory had a good laugh at it… I was still pretty mortified. The sad part is that if I hadn’t decided to check, I probably would’ve missed the Thursday appointment as well, thinking it was on Friday.

So, the weekend was pretty good… had an unexpected Saturday off, so SPW and I traveled to Berks County to see her family and I took a side trip to see my mom. See, I’ve been a bad son… I haven’t stopped in to see her for several months. No particular reason, I just got caught up in life. It’s not a good thing, though. There’s more to life than working and not taking enough time for your family. Let’s face it… when it comes down to it, family is all you can really count on.

It was nice to see Mom, though. In a surprise move, she was trying to feed me, but I managed to escape without damage. I had stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way to her house, as my sugar level was starting to go low. I ordered a #1 with a fruit salad, as opposed to fries, and it was very tasty. I probably should’ve gotten a grilled sandwich, but I felt that I needed the carbs. Three hours later, the blood sugar was going low again, so that necessitated me taking a glucose tablet. That held me off until we had dinner.

Crab quesadilla with onion rings and green beans.

We went to a new place for us, after getting shut out at Bonefish Grille. It’s a place called the Black Knight Tavern and Grille. We’ve been getting mailers from them for a couple of years, just never got around to trying them. Turns out the food is pretty good. Maybe not the greatest cuisine on the planet, but it was serviceable and filling. It also had the advantage of being pretty nicely priced. They offer a couples special. You get an appetizer to share, a choice of two selected entrees, and two small desserts. All for around $25. So, SPW (lover of fine crustaceans!) and I agreed on a crab dip appetizer that was served with some yummy warm bread. For her entrée, SPW went with a grilled swordfish, served with fries and green beans. I opted for a crab quesadilla topped with shrimp, served with onion rings and green beans. Like I mentioned earlier, the food is not haute cuisine. It’s basically pub grub, kicked up a notch. My quesadilla was fresh, loaded with plenty of crab meat. The rings were very crispy, and the only drawback with the beans was that they were a little oily.

Is this place going to earn a spot on our dining rotation? Probably not. The service was a little slow and the ambience isn’t that great. Our server seemed to have a regular in the same room as us and spent most of her time chatting up the regulars rather than attending to her other tables. I also realize that this probably wasn’t the smartest choice in terms of nutrition, but with my sugars running a little low all day, the carbs were probably a good choice. That’s what it all comes down to… making a smart choice. You have to weigh your options and know that if you had ice cream earlier in the day, you’d be better off having a big salad for dinner.

That pretty much sums it up for today. Keep making the good choices… your body will thank you.

Song of the Day: Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters
Currently Reading: Return to Atlantis – Andy McDermott

Quote of the Day:

Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~George Bernard Shaw

Everything old is new again.

Posted: September 6, 2012 in Comcast, Cooking, Customer service, Exercise, family, recipes, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss, Xfinity
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The Comcast saga continues.

After I actually got decent customer service, Teh Interwebz worked fine for a couple of days. Sunday through Tuesday. Wednesday morning, it was jacked up again. So I called them. When I finally got a live person, I explained the issue, stressing that they were out on Sunday and I still think the problem lies with the modem. As I was on the phone, the modem rebooted itself and things were working. I was told to call back if it happened again. It did. 10 minutes later. I called, spoke to someone different, who insisted on setting up a service appointment. For Friday. Two days with intermittent (at best) Internet service. I reluctantly agreed, still thinking it’s the modem. When I finally got off the phone, I unhooked the modem and reattached the old one. I tested the circuits and no anomalous voltage readings. I let it power up, the AirPort’s green light winked on and the Internet was back.

It’s still back on.

With my (supposedly) EOL Linksys modem from 2003 or 2004.

I have to wonder if Comcast gets a kickback from Motorola on these “recommended” modems. This thing is a piece of shit and I will be taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow. Lord help them if they give me crap about it being open… Admiral Furious might set sail. I might need bail money, so if you have a couple bucks to spare, I’d appreciate the help.

Chicken skewers… all kinds of yum.

Just kidding. I’m gradually getting back on the healthy eating train. Yesterday, I made some chicken skewers for lunch that turned out yummy. I’ll post my marinade recipe below. I usually alternate the meat with slices of green pepper, sweet onion and tomato. I will use mushrooms, too, if I have some in the fridge. I like to get the grill heated up, spray the grates with cooking spray, then back the beat off as soon as I put the skewers on. This allows the meat to get some grill marks and a bit of a sear without overcooking the meat.

I’m on the hook to work Saturday night. Hoping for an unexpected day off, as SPW’s cousin’s daughter (one of our pseudo nieces) is having a birthday. Gotta love that the child likes Legos.

Back to the regular workout schedule next week… I have sessions on Tuesday and Friday. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve missed the usual setup, with two or three other people. It should help to shake me back out of the funk I’ve been in.

I’m going to wrap it up for tonight… Hope you have a great evening and a better day tomorrow. I leave you with my marinade recipe.

Garlic & Herb Chicken Marinade

  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/3 cup vinegar
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried Italian-style seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, combine the water, vinegar, oil, garlic, thyme, Italian-style seasoning, poultry seasoning, rosemary, salt and ground black pepper. Mix well and put in a heavy zipper bag along with your chicken breast pieces. Don’t let it go more than 5-6 hours for maximum flavor.

Song of the Day: The Secret of my Success – Night Ranger
Currently Reading: For Love of the Game – Michael Shaara

Quote of the Day:

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. Doug Larson

Less stress = good

Posted: September 4, 2012 in Cooking, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Physical activity, Stress, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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This would be about right…

So, I might have mentioned Supportive Partner Woman’s wonky back. She’s been dealing with it for five days now, and don’t let it be said that she doesn’t have salt… she went to work four out of those five days. The rest of the time, she was pretty much cuddled up in bed with her best friend, the heating pad. Seeing as it was a holiday weekend, she couldn’t get ahold of the doctor’s office to schedule an appointment. So, I woke her up and she called this morning. She scored a 10:20 appointment and managed to get poked and prodded and x-rayed and scheduled for physical therapy. She’s finally starting to move a little better, but I’m very relieved. I was stressing pretty hard because she was in so much pain. It was hard for me to watch. Let me just say that getting older isn’t much fun.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. Had a decent holiday weekend… didn’t do much, but did manage to chauffeur SPW to and from work. I felt a little better about that as she didn’t have to walk as far as she would’ve had she parked in the garage. I did mostly domestic stuff, laundry, rotated the mattress, all that stuff. I even whipped up a couple of dinners using Stuff From the Fridge. I’m always excited when I can do that… makes me feel like I’m doing something important. The one thing that fell by the wayside was my gym-going. I went over to the Rec on Thursday only to find the fitness center closed for annual cleaning. I was told I was welcome to use the tennis courts, but that wouldn’t do me much good, as I don’t play tennis. I was supposed to have a session with Ryan this morning, but I had to reschedule so I could take SPW to her appointment. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:00. Yes, it’ll be early, but I need to go. I have three weeks until we head off to Florida and I plan to get to the gym as much as possible. The good news is that Cory will be back next week, giving me my usual appointment times and class sizes. Ryan did a heckuva job running the show all by himself, but I’m sure he’s looking for a break.

The other thing that happened was that I wasn’t particularly mindful of what I was eating between meals. I know… NOT a good thing. I think it just made me feel better at dealing with my stress and I didn’t want to do anything else in case SPW needed me for something. My actual meals weren’t too bad… cereal or eggs in the morning, a sandwich for lunch, and a sensible dinner. It was the between meal visits to the fridge for cheese or ham or a tortilla that caused the problems. I need to refocus and remember how good it was feeling.

Well, that about sums it up. Not only is SPW on the way to recovery, Stubby is in pretty good shape. We will see how he does tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Bad – U2
Currently Reading: The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Wow… service!

Posted: September 2, 2012 in Comcast, Customer service, homeowner's association, Supportive Partner Woman, technology, Wanda, Xfinity
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Many of you can recall me going on last week about Comcast and my phone and internet issues. I had theorized that the problem was due to the new cable modem and I would’ve been wrong. In a surprise move, that happens a lot.

See, after posting what I didn’t think was a negative post regarding Comcast, I got a comment from someone purporting to be from Comcast. Since we get plagued with a lot of spam (most of it in Russian!), I figured I’d do some due diligence before allowing the comment. Sure enough, a quick Google search showed that this person was either a) who she said she was, or b) had a lot of time on her hands to set up some giant spam operation to hijack my 55 Twitter followers. To make a long story short, they set up an appointment to get a rep out to check things over and see if they could locate the problem.

The tech came in the house, wearing booties so as not to dirty the carpet. He unplugged the line from the modem and ran some tests, detecting some strange readings to the signal strength. We said he wanted to check stuff out where the line comes into the house. About 5 minutes later, he came back and said, “I found it.”

What he found was that the lawn service contracted by the homeowner’s association (or unidentified rodent, but I prefer to blame the lawn service because they suck and probably giving Wanda kickbacks) had been a little overzealous in the trimming of the yard. The exposed core could account for all the issues we’ve been having, from the lack of dial tone to the modem dropouts, to the TV picture pixellating. I think I might need to invest in armor plate to put around the cable junction box. Sigh.

So, the moral of the story is that Comcast (at least here in Central PA) is not always the customer service beast that you read about online. Everyone I dealt with during this situation was helpful and very concerned that we were taken care of. I don’t think it has anything to do with this little blog… yes, it’s been viewed 6,000+ times, but I don’t have some ginormous following. I’m just a guy with some scribblings that some people read.

In other news, SPW (she of the ouchy back) has been kind of laid up all of yesterday and part of today. It was to the point that she could barely stay upright long enough to eat Chipotle. That’s serious. Got her pretty well drugged up last night and she slept and managed to take a shower without screaming in pain, so that’s a plus. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Song of the Day: Centerfield – John Fogerty
Currently Reading: The Covenant of Genesis – Andy McDermott

Good things

Posted: August 31, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Comcast, Exercise, Supportive Partner Woman, Xfinity
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Good morning!

In my last post, I wrote something regarding our Comcast service. I had written something not intended to be a scathing criticism of Comcast, or of my customer service experience. It was primarily meant as a simple observation. However, someone at Comcast read the post and contacted me to get our issue with the internet straightened out. Let me just say they are serious about this.

I replied via email to their representative. Within minutes I received an acknowledgment of that email and they called not only my cell (which I had with me) but also SPW’s cell AND our home number, I intended to call back once I shook myself out of my morning stupor and before I could do that, they called and are sending a service rep out to the house on Sunday between 10:30 and 12:30. Not too shabby. I will let you know how things go, but I’m very encouraged by the proactive response we’ve gotten to our issue.

Moving on to the topic of the day, I’m sorry to report that SPW is suffering from nasty back pain. This of course had me up worried most of the night… I wound up sleeping in a chair downstairs for a couple of hours. This is where a gym visit will come in handy. Hopefully I will build up enough energy to make it through the workday. On the plus side, it’s a three-day weekend for me, which makes me happy. I’m sad that SPW doesn’t have one, but by working the holiday, she gets some extra days off.

We are rapidly approaching decision time regarding an operation, though. I’m very torn as to what to do. My insurance mandated 6 months are up at the end of October, at which time I could have surgery. I could opt to wait until after the holidays and Reunion, which is what I am leaning toward. Mainly because I’d love one last hurrah at Ohana but also because it really wouldn’t be fair to be on a liquid diet or pureed diet around Thanksgiving. When I say fair, I’m referring to the need to make everyone else at the table watch me eat a half cup of goop. I’m also referring to my mom’s potato filling, which is so good it’s like a food group all its own. The other major question is what type of surgery will I opt for. I know I’ve said in the past that I’m leaning bypass, but I’m not even sure about that anymore. A colleague of mine just went through the bypass operation… I’ll be sure to consult with her before making any hard and fast decisions.

I do hope all my US readers enjoy their upcoming holiday weekend. I wish you all safe travels and happy memories.

Song of the Day: Head Over Heels – Tears for Fears
Currently Reading: 11th Hour – James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Quote of the Day:

More die in the United States of too much food than too little. – John Kenneth Galbraith

Good thing Buzz Lightyear didn’t say “To xfinity… and beyond!”

Posted: August 29, 2012 in Comcast, Cooking, Customer service, Foot issues, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Xfinity
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I got to spend some time this morning on the horn with Comcast. For the most part, I don’t have a lot of complaints… at least not regarding the internet. The service is fast, affordable and generally reliable. It helps that we are located between the big scary Lancaster office, and the much smaller, quieter, and friendlier Elizabethtown office. We also have phone service with them and that, too, is generally reliable. Today? Not so much. I was trying to call our eye doctor to schedule our annual exams and *BANG*, no dial tone. I pull out my cell phone and call them, actually speak to a live person. He gets the phone all squared away, then I ask about the problems we’ve been having with the net… dropping out, slow, etc. He starts to say he can help, then AT&T drops the call. Grrrrr.

Near as I can tell, the issue is with the new cable modem. I’m thinking that even though it’s recommended by Comcast, it’s the culprit. Maybe it’s blind loyalty to the trusty old Linksys, but the SURFboard seems to like to pop on and off at random intervals. This does not make me happy… I have the AirPort app on my iPhone and iPad and I can usually see that it’s disconnected but when you need to power cycle it, well, that’s a pain in the butt. I’m going to try to call Comcast again tomorrow and see if there’s anything they can do for me.

Today was fruitful in the gym as well. I made it to Hempfield and hit the elliptical for a half hour and did some weight training. I did a whole body interval on the elliptical that involved going backwards. I didn’t go too fast, keeping it around 100 steps per minute, but I didn’t fall over. I’m taking that as a good sign. It just felt so right to be back there and sweating. I know I still have a long way to go until I’m fit, but I will get there. As I stressed before, my immediate goal is not to figuratively die at Disney next month.

Oh, and a yoga update. Supportive Partner Woman (possessor of better flexibility than I!) has been doing this BodyFlow stuff, which is combination pilates, tai chi and yoga. She was showing me some of the poses and I’m not sure I’ll have the balance to handle it, since Stubby has a negative effect on balance for me. Maybe I should just make sure I get started on mats so I don’t kill myself during the inevitable tumbles. Am I scared about it? No, not scared. Perhaps a little apprehensive.

So, folks… that’s the score. I’m doing some training the rest of the week at work, which is a good thing, and my trainee seems to really be liking the subject matter. I’ll take that as a victory.

Talk to you soon!

Song of the Day: Basket Case – Green Day
Currently Reading: 56 – Kostya Kennedy

Quote of the Day:

Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip. – Arnold H. Glasgow

Back on the field

Posted: August 28, 2012 in Exercise, Foot issues, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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Hey everyone!

The Boot of Shame

What a difference a couple of days make. I was bemoaning my lot in life and talking about a reboot, then I went to the podiatrist yesterday and received some good news. It really made me that much happier, but I am out of the Boot of Shame. This doesn’t mean I’m full court back into the treadmill life. Dr. Miller wants me to stick to low impact stuff for another week or so, give the newly grown skin a chance to strengthen. I was, however, allowed to go back to the elliptical and arc trainers. So, yay me!

Since Stubby the Wonder Toe is out of the Boot, Dr. Miller still recommended cushioning him and, well, he gave me a little padded cuff to put around Stubby. It makes him look like he’s wearing a little g-thug hat. The only downside is that Stubby isn’t quite long enough to wear the padded bandage well, so I’ll stick to moleskin and gauze for cushioning.

I hit the gym today and Ryan had me doing a solid 25 minutes of cardio and working it the entire time. It was only 25 minutes as I had an appointment with the dietician as well. We did 10 minutes on the elliptical, another 10 minutes on the X-Ride and closed with five minutes on the arc. It felt good. I didn’t quite realize how much I missed it, but I started noticing my energy level being down the past couple of weeks.

Anyways, Shauna (dietician) is pleased that even with all that’s been going on, I’ve managed to lose 2.7 pounds. She wants to see me another time before SPW and I go on vacation. I know I can do better, but honestly, as bad a week as I’ve had in terms of food and exercise, I expected to gain weight.

I came home, fired up the grill and cooked up some chicken breast to take for dinner. I made some brown rice to go along with it, accompanied by peas (because it’s the only frozen vegetable I have at the moment. I also made some veggie flatbread pizza for lunch… this time topped with tomato (including one of our own!), mushroom asnd turkey bacon. Turned out pretty good. Shauna suggested that I try turkey pepperoni… thinks I might like it better than the bacon.

One of the other blogs I follow on wordpress, Fat Teacher, has a feature that I’m thinking of borrowing… the author likes to share a song of the day and also what she is reading. It’s a nice way to get a few things out there, and, knowing the music I like, prove how old school I am. So, look for that in future posts.

It’s about time to head off to work… hope I can write some more tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Stone in Love – Journey
Currently Reading: 56 – Kostya Kennedy

Quote of the Day:

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible – Walt Disney

Well, did you reboot?

Posted: August 26, 2012 in Baseball, Physical activity, Stress, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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Seems like that’s the question our IT guys are always asking when we call to bitch about something not working.

I think it’s time for me to do a reboot of my life. Not a complete cold start, but that hold the home button and power switch on the iPhone until the Apple logo appears. I’ve been stressing hard, and well, it’s not a good place to be.

I mentioned howe pissed I was about the blister. It’s pretty much healed… in fact, I see the podiatrist tomorrow. I’m hoping he will see fit to say I can back to my usual workout routine. It has really been depressing the last few days, not being able to do the workout I’ve become accustomed to. I also have a consult session with Ryan on Tuesday. Hope I’ll be fully back into it by the end of the week. I will probably avoid the treadmill for another week, but the elliptical or arc trainer should be fine. I can hopefully start getting back over to Hempfield Rec on my off days. I just can’t believe how much I miss it.

We’ve also been dealing with some personal stuff here at Chez T that I’m not going to go into any details on. Suffice it to say that SPW and I are both fine, but there has been a recent issue that’s taken up a lot of our time.

The other place I really need to reboot is my attitude. It’s really not been particularly positive. A lot has to do with the job… well, not the job but with the work environment. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t mind people chatting, but for the love of God, please use the indoor voice and STOP CALLING ME DARLING OR DEAR OR HON! There are two people allowed to call me that stuff… one gave birth to me, the other married me. I might make an exception for elderly relatives, but it’s really unprofessional to call your coworkers stuff like that. You might think you’re being friendly, but it comes across reeking of insincerity and obsequiousness. I’d much prefer to be called Brian. Or if that’s too many syllables, I’ll even answer to “B”

So, as you can tell, I needed to do something fun. I had mentioned this to my friends Hollie & Charles and they turned around and invited me to the Lancaster Barnstormers game tonight. I had a lot of fun. We were sitting right behind the plate and it was nice to just relax, enjoy some nice weather and good company. It’s something I really needed. I also got to fix something yesterday. The electrician determined that a feedback loop in the cable modem’s transformer was causing isssues with the outlets in my office. I had to retire the 8-9 year old Linksys modem after so many year of faithful, pretty much 24/7 service. It’s been replaced by a new Motorola Surfboard. If it lasts half as long, I’ll be impressed. It’s amazing how costs have dropped. This ran around $53 at Best Buy. I remember buying a 14.4K telephone modem in 1991 or 1992 for around $300.

Next up on the docket is to start clearing space up here to add SPW’s desk. We’ve determined that it makes more sense to do it this way… especially now that the outlets are working right.

Well, as I mentioned, I have appointments the next two days. I’m thinking I need to do margaritas soon. There’s something about making them with fresh fruit that really does it for me. Here’s a couple of my favorite recipes:

Mango Margarita:

approx 10 oz of fresh mango chunks
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup tequila
2 tbsp triple sec or Cointreau
2 tablespoons superfine sugar or simple syrup
Approx 2 cups ice

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes 4 cups (approx)

Pineapple margarita

2 cups ice
1 1/2 shots tequila (preferably silver)
1/2 shot triple sec
splash of fresh lime juice
splash of sweet and sour mix (or simple syrup)
1 1/2 cups of fresh cubed pineapple (or more)

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes approx 4 cups

So, that’s pretty much it. If you are interested in any way in Disney animation, Supportive Partner Woman (now being followed by Hollywood director types on Twitter!) has done a review of the upcoming animated short Paperman. Find that review here:

I’ll keep you posted on how my attitude adjustment and doctors appointments wind up going.

Crappy day cure-all

Posted: August 24, 2012 in Exercise, Stress, Stubby the Wonder Toe
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I was working on a post yesterday… I’m kind of glad I never finished it, because it was really gloomy and doomy and full of self-pity. It was just an all around lousy sort of day. I was supposed to have a day off to spend with Supportive Partner Woman, but due to circumstances beyond our control, I wound up at work. I was set to spill all sorts of venom across the bandwidth.

Why the sudden change, you may ask?

Besides taking the Boot of Shame out for a limp, I was listening to my iPod when it showed again just how smart it is. The Shuffle setting spit out a song that just made me smile.

There’s something about “New Song” that just makes me grin. Maybe it’s that bouncy beat, or the sort of uplifting lyrical message. Maybe it’s the fact that Howard Jones was my first concert, way back in 1985. It was at the Tower Theater… pretty cool stuff.

Regardless, the day did get better.

Today was another butt- kicking session. It’s amazing how much my outlook has changed on exercise. Now that I’m limited by Stubby, I find myself annoyed that I can’t do more, instead of being annoyed that I needed to exercise. Guess that’s a good thing.

On tap for the weekend, well, SPW has to work, and I’m on the hook for Saturday. If I don’t have to work, I’m going to take my mother to  a drum & bugle show at Exeter High School. Here’s the info if you’re in the southeastern PA area and need something to do on Saturday night.

Sunday, I’ll probably join some friends for a Barnstormers game. Been awhile since I’ve been to some live baseball and I miss it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Never had this happen before

Posted: August 22, 2012 in Stress
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I write this from the waiting area of Jones Honda.

“Why are you there?” you might say.

I’m here because Mario the Super Honda tried to digest me.

That sounds a lot worse than it is. Basically, I got in the car to head to Lowes for a new toilet fill hose. See, the new toilet I was installing sits a couple inches taller than the old one. Ergo, the hose is a couple inches too short. I got in the car, drove to Lowes, and couldn’t get out of the car. The driver’s side door lock had frozen.

I’ve been locked OUT of a car before, on many occasions, but never locked in. I tried to open the lock multiple times, no dice. So I drove to the dealership where I had to crawl out the passenger side. It wasn’t that bad, once I shoehorned my tubby ass over the center console. Guess that workout stuff is paying off, since I was flexible enough to actually climb out without breaking anything. Bone, car or otherwise.

So, that leads into today’s topic. Stress. As recently as three months ago, I would’ve had a meltdown. Cussing, pounding door with fist, general furiousness. This time, other than some light cussing, I just sucked it up and went to the dealership.

The most stressful part was trying to get ahold of SPW. This happens the one time she doesn’t have her phone, iPad, or is not logged into Facebook, Twitter, or email. Luckily, she eventually got the message and called me. She’s here now, next to me, enjoying the waiting room experience.

We’ll see what they say. Hopefully not too expensive. In the meantime, we will wait.

Oh, and I never did get that toilet hose. Sigh.

 

Update: Car needs a door latch mechanism. Not too crazy, but they won’t have it until tomorrow. In the meantime, their advice? “If it happens again, keep pressing the button. It will open eventually. And I got the hose.

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