Lots of Hither And Yon

Today was a day filled with driving. Not the whole day, though it felt a bit like that.

I got up and started checking on the first flight. On time. Woo hoo. That gave me a couple or three hours to do my morning ablutions. Did I need that much time? Of course not. But it was nice not to be rushed. Or to have to get up at an early hour to do this pick-up. I headed out around 10:30 am to get to the Syracuse Airport around 11:30 am. When I got there, they had just landed and were getting their stuff and coming out. Have I mentioned lately that I really dislike the layout of the roadways around the Syracuse Airport? Blech. They found me, eventually, and we drove back to Geneva.

On the way, we talked of all sorts of things. Mostly their experiences in Florida. Though we did touch on the campaign a little bit – which I will talk more about in that section below. I made out like a bandit because not only did they throw me some shekels for my time and trouble, but I was also gifted with three delicious looking beers! Woo hoo!

Back home, I ate some lunch. Leftovers from last night’s dinner actually. I really do try to listen to my stomach and only eat until I am full. And that meant leaving a few bits of stuff on the plate last night. The food warmed up well, and the chicken skin crisped up tremendously. Yay crispy skin. Is there a vegetarian equivalent to crispy chicken skin?

The shower was also pleasant. But I didn’t have a lot of time before I headed off to Rochester for the second airport pick-up. SM’s plane was on time and she came out in a timely fashion. On the way home, we also talked of all sorts of things. Interestingly, at least in my opinion, they are also watching The West Wing. It is SM’s first time. Maybe RP’s too. And a couple of their friends are also watching it. I wonder how many people are watching it actually. Such a good show. And in this time of political craziness, even a dramatic television show seems calming and rational. As for me, I am just finishing up the next to last season.

I am home for a little bit. And I will post this after I come back from dinner.

Back again. Turns out that the rain and dark were too much for my dinner companions to handle, so we cancelled for the night. Instead, I went to the grocery store and bought some asparagus. Can you deep fry asparagus? I bet you can. I’m not going to, but…I also bought some fig Newtons and a piece of chocolate cake for laters. So excited!

Orville Leonard, Captain in the Civil War – Massachusetts Volunteers – I think my 3rd great grandfather

Augustus for President: LD started seeing if her friend in Phoenix can put me up when I am there later this year. How nice is that? I really need to get my act together and send out an email to people asking who they know who might be willing to put me up for a night in each of the capitals. I think I have 10 covered so far. It would be cool to have twenty covered.

At the grocery store I ran into people I know. And gave them stickers. I bet most people use them or lose them. But at least that’s one touch (out of what, now, 14?)(it used to be five I think…)

Travel Day!

Today was a travel day, hence the late post.

Got up at 6 (!) and didn’t go back to sleep. Why? Because I had to be out of the house around 8:15 in order to get to EC’s to pick her up for our trip. But that gave me lots of time to chill out and do some Duolingo before hitting the road. I am in another weekly quest with another person who is not doing Duolingo currently. Maybe they did in the past. Maybe they will in the future. But right now, I get to do the whole quest on my own. Luckily it isn’t anything too crazy and I will finish it. Still, it is irksome to be matched with these people. I am stopping following them so hopefully I won’t get stuck with them in the future.

I got out when I wanted to and got EC and we headed to the ROC airport. Dropped her off and parked in the garage. I have no idea how expensive that is going to be, but I really couldn’t care much less. This trip is about convenience, not about parsimony.

We went to the check in counter and were basically waived away and told that a wheel chair plus attendant would come get us. Paul arrived and whisked us through the TSA check point. EC got inspected a bit and I got patted down. No idea why. But since we hadn’t had to to wait in line, that little delay wasn’t bothersome. On the way to the gate, I sprung for some water and a brownie. Any guesses how much that cost? $13!! Insane.

We were, obviously, very early. But I always prefer to be early than on time. And late. Since I was traveling with someone who needed extra time to get down the jetway, we boarded the plane first. So our bags made it into the overhead easily. Quick flight with nothing too exciting to report. At O’Hare, we were greeted by a young women from a country I had never really registered before (Kyrgyzstan). Her English was great. She also spoke her native language and some Russian and seemed a little surprised that I spoke some Russian. I really need to get back to that. There were three other passengers on the little electric cart she maneuvered through the crazy airport that is O’Hare. I am very glad that we had her. It was a long, long way from our gate to the next gate. Even I would have been exhausted by the time we had reached it. Sadly, we were at the end of a section and there was no food easily available. EC had bought some food and I had the brownie and some snacks I had brought. And the outrageous water. so we survived.

On the next flight, we boarded on time. If I had brought my new suitcase, it probably would have had to have been checked on the jetway because the overhead bins were teeny! My backpack barely fit. EC’s bag was also small enough. Phew! We had to sit at the gate for a longish while while maintenance did its thing. Eventually, into the air we went. The flight was uneventful. Enough turbulence that we didn’t get a drink service, but that’s ok. I napped for most of the flight.

Cool Sculpture in the new Kansas City Airport

Our next wheelchair pusher was from Ethiopia. What an international day! And our Uber driver, who was laquacious and knowledgable was from Pakistan, though he had been away from there almost fifty years, whisked us from the airport to our destination. Taking a detour through Kansas City Kansas as a bridge was backed up and would have added 20 minutes to the ride.

At the C’s building, we had a lovely pasta dinner and great chat. But now I am a bit tired. Though I think a walk would be a good thing after all that sitting around. Tomorrow, off to visit 5 (!) places that CC has organized for us to check out. It will be a long and interesting day I think.

Augustus for President: CC (not the same CC but his wife) asked me about my campaign. I think I gave good responses. It is hard to tell. The more I talk about it the better I feel about what I am saying. Oh, and I gave the cart driver a couple of stickers, even though she isn’t a citizen yet.

There and Back Again, Jiggety Jig

Today was a no dash day. I guess I could have dashed if I really wanted to, but guess what? I really didn’t want to. I am really over dashing at this point. But that’s ok. Instead, what did I do?

CC wanted EC to come to his neck of the woods to look at potential living places. The craziness, of course, continues. EC and JC are still waffling about what they want their next step to be. I really wish they would just pick one idea and stick to it. Me, I would like to be near family when my faculties are declining. They seem to want to be near friends and community. I don’t think they realize that as they age, people will continue to die and their community will continue to shrink. Perhaps rapidly. This is all neither here nor there. Literally.

So, I offered to take EC to the airport in Rochester today so she could fly out to visit CC and see some possible living options near him. Luckily, the flight was at a reasonable time, so I didn’t have to get up insanely early. The drive up started in snowy conditions which tapered off as we got closer to Rochester. By the time we headed back, we had partly sunny skies. Woo hoo. At the airport, since I had borrowed one of their handicapped placards, we parked just about as close as one could possibly park to the entrance to the airport. The place was deserted.

At the ticket counter, we learned that EC’s flight was delayed. And that there were a dearth of flight options to her ultimate destination in case connections were missed. Which seemed likely in this day and age. I had planned to stay with EC until she boarded her flight. But, in light of this new situation, I sought guidance from CC. We eventually agreed that we would punt and postpone the trip until another time, despite all that CC had done to get ready for EC’s visit. One reason for putting it off, was that it was going to be insanely cold up there. And there was the possibility of missed connections with no one in place to actually aid EC if that happened. In other words, we drove up to Rochester for no reason. Yay.

But I had a reason to be up there. Before I share that though, I want to say that for some reason the parking ticket machine did not accept any of my credit cards – either being swiped or inserted. I ended up using cash, which isn’t a big deal, just a little frustrating. I also learned that we could also use machines at the parking lot exits and that I hadn’t had to stand in the bitterly cold weather and try to get the machine to take my money. Yay learning.

My reason for wanting to go to Rochester was to go to the Tesla place and see about getting my horn replaced. It is showing the same problem that my previous Tesla had: if the weather was below 34°F it stopped working. And that has proven to be frustrating. And potentially dangerous. It seems like a common issue, and I am minorly miffed that Tesla isn’t replacing it for free. Though the repair or replacement isn’t too terribly costly. Less than I used to spend years ago on any work that was done on my VW Passat. I made an appointment for a week from Friday. This will entail some driving since I am also taking SM to the Syracuse airport that morning. Then I will drive from Syracuse to Rochester for the appointment. Having lunch in Rochester is my current thought. Barring terrible, inclement weather.

Back in Geneva, we met up with JC at Grounded, their favorite lunch place it seems, for a bite and a chat. Then they headed off to run their errands and I came home.

At home I did nothing. Well, not nothing, but virtually nothing. Sigh. Then again, I did have a good political thought and I think I might actually follow up on that tomorrow.

Augustus for President: Here’s the thought. Quick aside. My mom used to say “Hold it, it’s in a strange place.” I used to just nod and smile. I didn’t realize that it was an insult until I was almost 40 years old. And I think she used to preface it by saying that it was something that her mom used to say to her. In any case, I have lots of thoughts. All the time. Creative ones, even.

Anyway, here’s the thought: I can probably use alma maters (I have four) and local schools to do some events. Fact finding and such. Maybe reach out to the faculty. I guess I need to draft a script or at least come up with a pitch. Maybe I will start really local and talk to the people at HWS. FLCC too maybe. Anyway, I think that would be a decent place to start. I can do some events in January and early February before I hit the road. Though I could start planting the seeds now. I would think that some political science professors, at least, would be interested in having a candidate for president come and chat with their class.

Another of my favorite pictures from my trips to China

Power Out!

The day got off to a weird start. Well, it had a weird night to nudge the day along. Around 4 in the morning, the power went off in the house. Turned off by NYSEG. There were lots of trucks in front of the house. My guess is that they were doing some tree trimming. Who knows. The power was off for almost an hour and a half I think. It took me a while to get back to sleep, but it happened eventually. And suddenly, it was 8:53 am!

Eeek! I had intended to dash this morning starting at 9 am. Which I almost did, despite waking up so late. I did one lesson of Duolingo so that I could use my 3x multiplier and get a 2x multiplier for this evening. Then I did my ablutions and jumped into the car.

My trips were only at 194, but I could still sign in and dash. They asked me for verification of my identity. My driver’s license and three selfies. I passed. Phew. And then on my first dash, it asked me to take a picture of my insulated bag. Luckily I had one in the car! As I said, Phew.

The first dash was surprisingly good. I made more than the miles I drove which is always a good sign to me. And I kept pretty busy for the whole time.

Flers – carnations?

At lunch time I ate the last of the food from the Thai place in Maine. I did that because it was fast and easy and I had a good amount of stuff on my to do plate for the lunch break. First off, after eating, a shower.

Oops. The shower lead to more problems. One of my faucets had been leaking for a while, but I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the hot. Turns out it was the cold. Because after the shower, I couldn’t turn it off. It was flowing out like nobody’s business. So I had to turn the water off in the basement because there are no shut off valves on the pipes going into the shower. Hopefully that will be rectified this evening. JM said he would come and fix them. I can’t have heat until I can turn the water back on. And I can’t have the water turned back on until there are valves on those pipes. Sigh.

Other than that, I managed to accomplish a lot in a shortened lunch period. Woo hoo.

The second dash was basically shit. The Army people have stopped tipping decently. Maybe they are feeling the budget crunch from the Government being closed. I hope that the democrats did not ok funding the military and whatever else Drumpf wanted to fund despite the shutdown. Grrr. I had to turn down a bad order and took one that turned out to be just about as bad. But I survived and people got their stuff. Yay.

Now I am home. It is getting colder in here. I have done some Duolingo – still in the tournament. And I am almost finished with the blog.

Augustus for President: I think I will do a variety of things to start events. There is more than one patriotic song to sing – I just remembered “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Is “Home on the Range” a patriotic song? Reading parts of the constitution. Reading parts of the Declaration of Independence. Other things. Perhaps showing videos like the one showing Reagan saying how great immigrants are. Etc.

I would like to order some lanyards. I would like to give a couple of badges to JC and EC. Though I don’t know how many people they see.

Vistaprint says that my first batch of stickers are on their way. I doubt that they are perforated. In which case, I will have to cut them up myself. I can’t stand there and tear them off or whip out scissors to cut them if I want to hand them out effectively. I can put most of them into a bag and have a bunch loose and ready to share.

K+ might need a dedicated computer for campaign stuff. I hope he can secure that one better than the one he currently uses for personal work.

Editing is Magic!

Yay! Another crappy dashing shift. Maybe even super crappy. I drove 82 miles and barely made my minimum. So I quit early to charge the car a bit more. It felt like the algorithm was doing everything it could to get me to decline one. Each of the rides was worse than the one before it – further and further for less and less (in a relative way). But I did not skip one. And my last ride was actually a good one. Not great, but better than the prior three or four had been. Grrr. Hopefully the next shift will be better. Hahahaha

Luckily, the long(ish) term boarder nibble fell through. I was having second and third and fourth thoughts about it in any case. And it turns out that the reason that her hosts asked her to leave was not because they had family coming, it was because the guest wanted to have her three children with her over Christmas. I was not going to tell the agent that I had enough space for them all. As I really didn’t want someone I didn’t know in the house for a week while I was away. And certainly wouldn’t want her and her three kids here without me being here. So, phew!

Finished my first Ed McBain book. I will take a few more with me when I head to Maine. But I will start the Eric Idle book this afternoon – The Spamalot Diaries.

The universe really needs to pick which things it acts on better. This morning, I saw that NAPA was a hot spot and I lamented that I liked NAPA rides. And lo and behold, I got a NAPA ride. The longest possible. Not the best, but certainly good. But a million dollars by the end of the year in my hands? Or a life partner? Crickets from the universe. Heck, not even crickets! Sigh.

Art

Tonight was, overall, fun.

After charging and thinking and stuff this afternoon, I dashed again. This was one of those dash affirming dashes that are, sadly, few and far between. I did do some distance, but the earnings compensated. My first three rides were all well earned and in a good sequence. From Geneva to Seneca Falls. To Waterloo. To the Outlet Malls and then back to Geneva. Nice way to start a shift! I think I had a few not so great rides, but they were balanced with a few nicely and in some cases extra nicely compensated rides. Top ten earning shifts I think of the time I have been capturing.

My last ride was a zinger. It was just enough to get me to take a long ride to Phelps which meant that I would be a tiny bit tardy to trivia at Twisted! Two minutes. Not that it mattered. The pictures were of Oscar Winning Directors. I think we got three or four maybe. Sigh. But it was still a fun evening. With P and J. No B I guess. And our fellow trivialites. Good times.

And now it is time to watch some stuff on the ether. Happy dreams one and all!