Mary and Bob’s Journal

I have this vision of the post I would like to do right now, but I’m made apprehensive about pulling that off. Between the God Forsaken Safari “upgrade” and the faux simple Firefox browser that I downloaded earlier today, it took me nearly 3 hours to get my last post up. Not fun. But the experience did work my puzzle solving muscles.

I’m feeling the urge to tell you about all the wonderful people I got to interact with today. My morning was graced with Andy. Andy, my best friend. Andy, the strong maker of strong coffee. Andy, the thoughtful manager of our Netflix queue.

After I slept in to the luxurious hour of 8:30am, he put Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train on the DVD player and it made for a sweet start to the day.

Later, I went to Stokes Tire to have the screw in my left back wheel diagnosed. Their website says that the business is “24 years in same location - 3rd generation - Family run”. I showed up too late to get an appointment, but the gentleman there took care of me as if I were his sister. He anointed the tire with soapy water to check for a leak, he checked the air pressure in all four wheels . . . and basically made sure I’d be safe before he sent me back out onto the road. What a kind man.

Next, it was on to the AT&T store to test drive the Tilt. There, the young man who sold me my current phone spent no less than an hour with me as I experienced the Blackberry, the Black Jack, and yes, the iPhone. God, why can’t we merge these toys? (Ruth, give it a year, they will.) I left tired. And without making a purchase. Steve Jobs, you still haven’t beat me!

After that, I arrived at the office. I was surprised to find our floor occupied. A young man was hanging a door. I rattled off several sentences to him before he let me know, “No English.” I said, “Oh, lo siento.” Which brought a smile. I know a very small amount of Spanish. Whenever I do actually make these sounds to another person who understands them, it amazes me. I got brave. I said, “No hablo espanol. Un poquito. Pero, um. Quanto horas mas?” He said “Dos” with his fingers raised in the peace sign. I said, “Yo trabajo solamente un hora. . . um . . . Can you lock up?” He smiled and showed me his keys. It was nice.

Later, I IM’d my niece, and asked her if she thought her dad, my brother, would recommend the iPhone. He’s always been wise about helping me exercise shopping self-control. (Flashback to 1997, “Ruth, of course you can afford a Miata, but the question is, is it a wise purchase?” I waited 5 years and bought a Jeep Liberty. Very happy with the choice.) She recommended I text him - he was reachable on his iPhone. So I did. I posed the question, “Should I buy an iPhone today?” His response: Yes. I phoned the AT&T store & found out that yes, Albert does work on commission and he was gone for the day. I didn’t have it in me to walk the closer distance to the Apple store for the indulgence. Yes, I’m one more day, iPhoneless.

I left the office for a brief stop at B&N where I purchased some reading for my martini while waiting for carryout at PF Chang’s. I ended up with “‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,’ by himself”. Dove into it while I waited for the food to be heated. It enriched my day. Yes, I felt self-righteous with my historical non-fiction while the woman next to me read Us magazine. I’ll admit it. Before I got halfway through chapter 2, I was holding my napkin up to my eyes.

Got home just as the rain started up again. It’s a good day.