The Flat Saga, Cont. of the Phone Saga, Plus Minecraft
Friday afternoon, I decided I was going to leave early because I was really NOT being productive at the time, and I had my hours for the week thanks to an unintentionally long stay earlier in the week. Turns out this was an excellent move because I had just enough daylight left to put the spare on when I walked out and discovered that my rear driver-side wheel had gone flat :( It had been fine when I'd gone out to lunch, so I figured I had hit something on the way back from lunch or something and it slowly deflated the rest of the day. As a side note, I found it amusing that women and younger guys all try ludicrously hard to avoid eye contact (like they think they're being subtle, but they're totally not) when you're changing a tire in a parking lot. The only two guys who stopped by were older guys, but I was pretty much just tightening the lug nuts or packing up the dead wheel into the trunk by the time they walked by. Either way, it didn't bother me--compared to changing a tire on a highway with cars zipping by at 70mph and up mere inches from your back (aka. my first time changing a tire), this was a cake walk. Except for getting the lug nuts off... that took some doing, and I may have only been able to get them off because I'm heavy, lol. Parking lot flat tires are seriously the best kind of flat tires there are, even if that's still not saying a lot.
Called up my usual car place to see if they could fix a flat tire, and it turns out they don't. After that, I drove home, looked up the number of the place I have a Groupon for and called them... they usually can fix a flat, but their equipment is broken. Bah :/ Discover that the rebate for my fancy new phone didn't go through, toss hands in air (because I don't have enough room to flip a table without breaking anything) and decide to bother with the rest of this in the morning. I had intended to hit up the farmer's market, but I kind of knew that the flat was going to take that out of my schedule, but I thought I'd have time to do my grocery shopping and call my phone company to tell them that I had qualified for the rebate, they just put the data plan on the wrong line and I couldn't get it changed until the next day. Attempt to play Minecraft, discover I deleted my only saved world D: Thankfully, I found a copy of it elsewhere on the old drive (I think maybe I moved it instead of tossing it, which makes no sense, but for whatever reason it was still on the old drive), so that was one crisis averted. And then the game crashed within minutes because Java ran out of memory :/ Clearly, a sign that it is bedtime.
In the morning, scour Yelp for a place that fixes flats which is nearby to other things I need to get done and has reasonable ratings. Gotta do it first thing, of course, because rockin' the donut isn't safe for long. Located a place that for sure has the capability (and charges only $20), and then decide to call Dad to check if he thought it would be a good idea to change out all four tires if it turns out the flat is not fixable (because sometimes they aren't, and we looked at my tires when he came to visit last month). This was a mistake, because it turned into an hour long discussion once Mom got on the line, because ignorant people always have really strong opinions. Anyway, we determine that if I can't fix the flat, I should call back, because apparently there's a deal at Costco for a set of 4 and she's going to make Dad look them up to see if the tires are good ones.
Call phone company. Turns out the store did leave a note in my account about accidentally putting the data plan on the wrong line and having to change it--that wasn't the problem. That new plan I switched to in order to be eligible for the rebate? Yeah, it's not the right plan. DERP. But the lady on the phone said that even though she couldn't do anything because I didn't actually qualify for the rebate, that if I took this stuff to the store they could credit me since they'd basically given me the wrong information and she would put another note in my account to explain the situation and note that I'd called to speak with her. Thing is, that store is kind of far away, since I bought the phone while shopping for stuff for the Japan trip :( Lesson for the future: buy your new phones at a nearby store so you don't have to drive far when this crap happens, seeing as this is the second time I've had to drive down there to get something about this purchase fixed, and I really don't have anything else in that area I need to do. Almost ever.
I get to the tire place and it (and apparently every other car place I saw that day) was super busy--they said it would be 2 hours before they could look at the tire. I don't want to lose my place in line, so I wait it out and knit (because I never go to have car work done without knitting in tow). Turns out the tire can't be fixed because it's too old and cracked (I didn't know it at the time, but apparently this may have been one of the original tires on the car... I only changed out two tires when I did change tires on Sleipnir, but it's a 2000 model and the tire is apparently dated 1999. Mrrrr...
After another lengthy discussion which consisted largely of Mom telling me where to get the coupon (in spite of being able to pull it up on my phone) while I tried to get from Dad which of the sets of tires that the coupon would be valid for would be a good fit for my car, I pull into the nearest Costco (and spend like 30 minutes trying to find parking, yeesh). They are out of the tires, and so are all the other Costcos I know how to get to. There is one in the area that has 'em, so I use my phone's Google Maps app to find it. And get lost twice on the way (because my phone keeps turning the screen off and there's no voice navigation... at least not that I have installed on Gleipnir. I may want to look into some form of GPS-like app or some such for Android). I arrive, purchase the tires, and they hand me a big red magnetic fez with the number 6 on it, tell me to put it on my car, and that they'll call me in about 3 hours.
Three. More. Hours. (And I may have taken a picture of my car with the fez on.)
Anyhow, I notice there's a McDonald's and a Staples across the street, so I figure there may also be a Starbucks and maybe other stores there. Turns out there's exactly a McDonald's, a Staples, and a Starbucks, lol. I order myself my usual frappucino and sit down to knit. I should point out that I can only knit for so long before my hands start hurting (I'm a very high tension knitter, in spite of attempts to knit more loosely and not snap my needles in half), and I was reaching my limit. Also, I got kicked out after 2 hours when the Starbucks started closing :( (I guess this location closes at 5?) I wandered over to the Staples and ended up getting a little pack of 4x6 photo paper so I can start thinking about that whole scrapbooking thing more seriously. Then I wandered back to Costco to mill about the store for another hour and a half before I finally got the call (3.5 hours after putting the fez on my car). I got a sample of watermelon and a sample of a really nice goat cheese that I would have more seriously considered buying if I knew for certain how much longer I'd be waiting, and that was the extent of my non-dinner meals for that day, because I'd started out in the morning and thought I'd grab a snack, maybe, and have lunch.
By now, it was kind of late, so I drive home and inform my parents that the wheels are now, in fact, on the car. Mom is all excited because she apparently found the last disc for Fruits Basket for rent at the military library and got to watch the end of the series (apparently she did not realize I OWN the whole series... both in manga and anime form) and was asking me if there was more (and also inquiring as to why the rooster did not appear in the series). I could have sworn he was in the anime at some point, but I guess not :/ So I got to explain how, no, there wasn't any more, and I didn't know if there ever would be, but the story does continue in the manga if she wants to read that next time she comes to visit...? Oh well, at least liked it (which she SHOULD, I mean, c'mon... it's Fruits Basket!!!), so that's good.
In a last attempt to squeeze something positive out of my day, I strolled out to the new Five Guys that opened up near me and got some cajun fries. It didn't occur to me that they'd kind of be cold by the time I walked back home, but they were still tasty. Eat my fries and simple romaine salad, resolve to get that phone stuff out of the way first thing in the morning, and try checking other Costcos to see if I can find one that still stocks the Boca burgers I use for my lunch. Because I'm out. And this totally constitutes a lunch disaster, because buying them from anywhere other than Costco costs an arm and a leg :( I think I need a new lunch sandwich if I can't find Boca in bulk anymore :(
Head straight to the mall where I bought the swanky new Gleipnir (III) with a fist full of paperwork documenting the purchase and all the screw-ups. I'm prepared to launch into a lengthy description of what happened and explain how I was convinced to change to the plan I am on and buy the phone partly because there was that rebate, but the guys behind the counter are significantly more chill about the whole thing than the lady I had to deal with when I came back to explain how the data plan had gotten put on the wrong line (because she kind of tried to imply that this was somehow my fault, even though I made it clear that the new phone was the only one with any real data capability and the phone itself had gotten put on the right line). Apparently I should see the credit appear on my account sometime this week, so here's to hoping I don't have to drive down to that store again anytime soon EVER. I half expect the credit never to show because it went too smoothly o_0
I wander over to Godiva, because that's only a few stores away, to get my monthly free reward truffle/chocolate (I wish there was a closer one so I could actually take advantage of this more often than like twice a year) and get suckered into buying a couple of small chocolates they have on a "buy 3, get one free" sale. (I never fail to get suckered into buying something when I show up for my monthly free chocolate, probably because I so rarely get out to the Godiva store). Plus they gave me a free sample of one of their "gem" candies that they're promoting, so, you know, free chocolate :D Naturally, on the way out, I notice that the NY&Co. is apparently having a store closing sale... with everything 50% off. Well, gotta check that out, since they have this double-breasted vest I really liked there when I was looking for stuff to wear in Japan (it was next to the trench coats, dammit, I couldn't NOT see it) and I've always liked their normal collared work shirts, and I have at least one pair of pants from there that is good. No normal collared shirts to be found (they all had weird smocking or were wrap shirts), none of the pants look good on me at all (hips doing an impression of the rings of Saturn... not a good look), and the only vests in a size remotely near my size are in white and grey (was hoping for the pinstriped black, which I'll just have to admire from afar now)... but you know what? The grey one looks okay on me, even if I'd probably be better off in the next size down (which was non-existent amongst the vests). Even if I have another grey vest (hey, but that one has pinstripes and this one doesn't!) which I never wear at home. So I get the vest and this cowl-y thing (I'm wearing it today!), since woven stuff is less likely to catch on the velcro on my heavy jacket than knitted. (For the record, it does still catch, just less so and I'm okay with that). I now have three dearly loved vests at home, but never wear them. Clearly, I have a problem. (Possibly related to the fact that my "everyday" quality collared shirts don't really fit me anymore, and I like keeping the "nice" ones in good shape... by not wearing them. That, and I am not cool enough to rock a vest over a t-shirt.) Man, I need to not make a habit of blogging about my clothes-shopping o_0 I sound like an idiot...
In retrospect, even though the rebate not going through made me pretty grumpy on Friday and Saturday, it ultimately played in my favor--I supposedly will still get the credit without upgrading to the pricier unlimited plan, got my free chocolate, and caught that 50% off store closing sale. (Hmn, have to wonder why they're closing, though... it's a good store and a busy, busy mall.)
Once I finally get all my grocery shopping done and go home, Costco is closed (they close early on Sundays, y'know?), so I can't go hunting for the elusive bulk Boca Burger box. Also, forgot to get sandwich cheese, which will have to be bought today after work (there is no cheese in today's sandwich, either, which is the last of the Boca). Wish me luck :/
That evening reading the forums for answers, I discover that Minecraft memory thing is apparently likely a problem of having the 32-bit Java installed, so I put the 64-bit version on and puttered about for a bit--no crash. Didn't have a whole lot of time to test it before bed, but since it didn't crash after two day cycles, that's good enough until I have time to do a more rigorous test u_u Like maybe starting a new world and getting settled in it, because I realize my old one doesn't have a lot of things in my explored areas (like grass, and I have yet to find vines anywhere). Or maybe gaining some levels, now that there's XP in the game... Also, an Enderman teleporting into your bunker is a scary, scary feeling (I thankfully avoided eye contact). They may now officially be worse than creepers, and bunkers may now all need to be 2 blocks tall inside o_0 Good lord, they are freaky things...
Finally, best line of a sewing machine review ever: "I am a novelist when it comes to sewing." XD I picture the reviewer embroidering his/her review onto cloth pages, LOL! That is still cracking me up, days later! (Easily amused...)
Called up my usual car place to see if they could fix a flat tire, and it turns out they don't. After that, I drove home, looked up the number of the place I have a Groupon for and called them... they usually can fix a flat, but their equipment is broken. Bah :/ Discover that the rebate for my fancy new phone didn't go through, toss hands in air (because I don't have enough room to flip a table without breaking anything) and decide to bother with the rest of this in the morning. I had intended to hit up the farmer's market, but I kind of knew that the flat was going to take that out of my schedule, but I thought I'd have time to do my grocery shopping and call my phone company to tell them that I had qualified for the rebate, they just put the data plan on the wrong line and I couldn't get it changed until the next day. Attempt to play Minecraft, discover I deleted my only saved world D: Thankfully, I found a copy of it elsewhere on the old drive (I think maybe I moved it instead of tossing it, which makes no sense, but for whatever reason it was still on the old drive), so that was one crisis averted. And then the game crashed within minutes because Java ran out of memory :/ Clearly, a sign that it is bedtime.
In the morning, scour Yelp for a place that fixes flats which is nearby to other things I need to get done and has reasonable ratings. Gotta do it first thing, of course, because rockin' the donut isn't safe for long. Located a place that for sure has the capability (and charges only $20), and then decide to call Dad to check if he thought it would be a good idea to change out all four tires if it turns out the flat is not fixable (because sometimes they aren't, and we looked at my tires when he came to visit last month). This was a mistake, because it turned into an hour long discussion once Mom got on the line, because ignorant people always have really strong opinions. Anyway, we determine that if I can't fix the flat, I should call back, because apparently there's a deal at Costco for a set of 4 and she's going to make Dad look them up to see if the tires are good ones.
Call phone company. Turns out the store did leave a note in my account about accidentally putting the data plan on the wrong line and having to change it--that wasn't the problem. That new plan I switched to in order to be eligible for the rebate? Yeah, it's not the right plan. DERP. But the lady on the phone said that even though she couldn't do anything because I didn't actually qualify for the rebate, that if I took this stuff to the store they could credit me since they'd basically given me the wrong information and she would put another note in my account to explain the situation and note that I'd called to speak with her. Thing is, that store is kind of far away, since I bought the phone while shopping for stuff for the Japan trip :( Lesson for the future: buy your new phones at a nearby store so you don't have to drive far when this crap happens, seeing as this is the second time I've had to drive down there to get something about this purchase fixed, and I really don't have anything else in that area I need to do. Almost ever.
I get to the tire place and it (and apparently every other car place I saw that day) was super busy--they said it would be 2 hours before they could look at the tire. I don't want to lose my place in line, so I wait it out and knit (because I never go to have car work done without knitting in tow). Turns out the tire can't be fixed because it's too old and cracked (I didn't know it at the time, but apparently this may have been one of the original tires on the car... I only changed out two tires when I did change tires on Sleipnir, but it's a 2000 model and the tire is apparently dated 1999. Mrrrr...
After another lengthy discussion which consisted largely of Mom telling me where to get the coupon (in spite of being able to pull it up on my phone) while I tried to get from Dad which of the sets of tires that the coupon would be valid for would be a good fit for my car, I pull into the nearest Costco (and spend like 30 minutes trying to find parking, yeesh). They are out of the tires, and so are all the other Costcos I know how to get to. There is one in the area that has 'em, so I use my phone's Google Maps app to find it. And get lost twice on the way (because my phone keeps turning the screen off and there's no voice navigation... at least not that I have installed on Gleipnir. I may want to look into some form of GPS-like app or some such for Android). I arrive, purchase the tires, and they hand me a big red magnetic fez with the number 6 on it, tell me to put it on my car, and that they'll call me in about 3 hours.
Three. More. Hours. (And I may have taken a picture of my car with the fez on.)
Anyhow, I notice there's a McDonald's and a Staples across the street, so I figure there may also be a Starbucks and maybe other stores there. Turns out there's exactly a McDonald's, a Staples, and a Starbucks, lol. I order myself my usual frappucino and sit down to knit. I should point out that I can only knit for so long before my hands start hurting (I'm a very high tension knitter, in spite of attempts to knit more loosely and not snap my needles in half), and I was reaching my limit. Also, I got kicked out after 2 hours when the Starbucks started closing :( (I guess this location closes at 5?) I wandered over to the Staples and ended up getting a little pack of 4x6 photo paper so I can start thinking about that whole scrapbooking thing more seriously. Then I wandered back to Costco to mill about the store for another hour and a half before I finally got the call (3.5 hours after putting the fez on my car). I got a sample of watermelon and a sample of a really nice goat cheese that I would have more seriously considered buying if I knew for certain how much longer I'd be waiting, and that was the extent of my non-dinner meals for that day, because I'd started out in the morning and thought I'd grab a snack, maybe, and have lunch.
By now, it was kind of late, so I drive home and inform my parents that the wheels are now, in fact, on the car. Mom is all excited because she apparently found the last disc for Fruits Basket for rent at the military library and got to watch the end of the series (apparently she did not realize I OWN the whole series... both in manga and anime form) and was asking me if there was more (and also inquiring as to why the rooster did not appear in the series). I could have sworn he was in the anime at some point, but I guess not :/ So I got to explain how, no, there wasn't any more, and I didn't know if there ever would be, but the story does continue in the manga if she wants to read that next time she comes to visit...? Oh well, at least liked it (which she SHOULD, I mean, c'mon... it's Fruits Basket!!!), so that's good.
In a last attempt to squeeze something positive out of my day, I strolled out to the new Five Guys that opened up near me and got some cajun fries. It didn't occur to me that they'd kind of be cold by the time I walked back home, but they were still tasty. Eat my fries and simple romaine salad, resolve to get that phone stuff out of the way first thing in the morning, and try checking other Costcos to see if I can find one that still stocks the Boca burgers I use for my lunch. Because I'm out. And this totally constitutes a lunch disaster, because buying them from anywhere other than Costco costs an arm and a leg :( I think I need a new lunch sandwich if I can't find Boca in bulk anymore :(
Head straight to the mall where I bought the swanky new Gleipnir (III) with a fist full of paperwork documenting the purchase and all the screw-ups. I'm prepared to launch into a lengthy description of what happened and explain how I was convinced to change to the plan I am on and buy the phone partly because there was that rebate, but the guys behind the counter are significantly more chill about the whole thing than the lady I had to deal with when I came back to explain how the data plan had gotten put on the wrong line (because she kind of tried to imply that this was somehow my fault, even though I made it clear that the new phone was the only one with any real data capability and the phone itself had gotten put on the right line). Apparently I should see the credit appear on my account sometime this week, so here's to hoping I don't have to drive down to that store again anytime soon EVER. I half expect the credit never to show because it went too smoothly o_0
I wander over to Godiva, because that's only a few stores away, to get my monthly free reward truffle/chocolate (I wish there was a closer one so I could actually take advantage of this more often than like twice a year) and get suckered into buying a couple of small chocolates they have on a "buy 3, get one free" sale. (I never fail to get suckered into buying something when I show up for my monthly free chocolate, probably because I so rarely get out to the Godiva store). Plus they gave me a free sample of one of their "gem" candies that they're promoting, so, you know, free chocolate :D Naturally, on the way out, I notice that the NY&Co. is apparently having a store closing sale... with everything 50% off. Well, gotta check that out, since they have this double-breasted vest I really liked there when I was looking for stuff to wear in Japan (it was next to the trench coats, dammit, I couldn't NOT see it) and I've always liked their normal collared work shirts, and I have at least one pair of pants from there that is good. No normal collared shirts to be found (they all had weird smocking or were wrap shirts), none of the pants look good on me at all (hips doing an impression of the rings of Saturn... not a good look), and the only vests in a size remotely near my size are in white and grey (was hoping for the pinstriped black, which I'll just have to admire from afar now)... but you know what? The grey one looks okay on me, even if I'd probably be better off in the next size down (which was non-existent amongst the vests). Even if I have another grey vest (hey, but that one has pinstripes and this one doesn't!) which I never wear at home. So I get the vest and this cowl-y thing (I'm wearing it today!), since woven stuff is less likely to catch on the velcro on my heavy jacket than knitted. (For the record, it does still catch, just less so and I'm okay with that). I now have three dearly loved vests at home, but never wear them. Clearly, I have a problem. (Possibly related to the fact that my "everyday" quality collared shirts don't really fit me anymore, and I like keeping the "nice" ones in good shape... by not wearing them. That, and I am not cool enough to rock a vest over a t-shirt.) Man, I need to not make a habit of blogging about my clothes-shopping o_0 I sound like an idiot...
In retrospect, even though the rebate not going through made me pretty grumpy on Friday and Saturday, it ultimately played in my favor--I supposedly will still get the credit without upgrading to the pricier unlimited plan, got my free chocolate, and caught that 50% off store closing sale. (Hmn, have to wonder why they're closing, though... it's a good store and a busy, busy mall.)
Once I finally get all my grocery shopping done and go home, Costco is closed (they close early on Sundays, y'know?), so I can't go hunting for the elusive bulk Boca Burger box. Also, forgot to get sandwich cheese, which will have to be bought today after work (there is no cheese in today's sandwich, either, which is the last of the Boca). Wish me luck :/
That evening reading the forums for answers, I discover that Minecraft memory thing is apparently likely a problem of having the 32-bit Java installed, so I put the 64-bit version on and puttered about for a bit--no crash. Didn't have a whole lot of time to test it before bed, but since it didn't crash after two day cycles, that's good enough until I have time to do a more rigorous test u_u Like maybe starting a new world and getting settled in it, because I realize my old one doesn't have a lot of things in my explored areas (like grass, and I have yet to find vines anywhere). Or maybe gaining some levels, now that there's XP in the game... Also, an Enderman teleporting into your bunker is a scary, scary feeling (I thankfully avoided eye contact). They may now officially be worse than creepers, and bunkers may now all need to be 2 blocks tall inside o_0 Good lord, they are freaky things...
Finally, best line of a sewing machine review ever: "I am a novelist when it comes to sewing." XD I picture the reviewer embroidering his/her review onto cloth pages, LOL! That is still cracking me up, days later! (Easily amused...)