The Algorithm Hates Me (again)

It was actually quite a strange day. Not even considering everything.

First off, I woke up and got out of bed. Ok, that’s not so weird. But I made it out at a relatively early time. Despite Door Dash trying to convince me to dash earlier. Pushy. And the rewards aren’t worth it. Generally. But today, when I started dashing, there was a premium on each dash. Yay! And it was warm. Which was kinda of weird. But nice. I think we hit a high of 40°F as I mentioned was prognosticated yesterday. I was percolating along, minding my own dashing business and the phone rang.

JC wanted help with buying a printer. I happened to have just finished a long, semi lucrative dash which got me to a decent stopping point, so I agreed to meet him at Staples. The nice kid there had advised JC on a good printer, reasonable cost, etc. I convinced him to get a black and white printer with a toner cartridge that is basically powder and stays good forever. A much better choice for someone who only uses their printer sporadically. We agreed I would go and set it up tomorrow. Yippee!

Next up, lunch. I had a chicken drumstick and some other stuff. Mostly I read. I might have done some Duolingo and taken a shower. Anything is possible.

After lunch, I headed off into the wilds again, dashing my brains out against the crazy Geneva (and Waterloo and Syracuse) streets. Because the weather had turned cold. Below freezing. And all the ice that hadn’t quite melted, turned back into even more slippery ice. Joy and Ruptures. Made dashing really scary. But again, there was a premium. Everything was going along ok, when suddenly it became a “give Augustus the longest dashes” day. Not my favorite. I ended up in the middle of nowhere and struggled back to McDonald’s in Waterloo and civilization.

I did a few dashes there, contemplating heading back to Geneva after each – but got caught, of course, by a ride out to the farthest reaches of Seneca Falls. Complete opposite direction from my place of choice. Sigh. After that, I asked the car to find me a way home and it took me on a lot of backroads to get me to Geneva.

And, just as I was again debating whether or not to quit, I was made an offer that was difficult to refuse. Yes, the distance was a little long, and the time would be close, but the money was interesting. So, I picked up two orders at the delicious Char Burrito and took one down the street. And the other to Phelps. Sigh. The algorithm hates me.

I made it to trivia with minutes to spare. Only to be told that the host had been in a car accident and that therefore Trivia would be delayed. Just joking. It was cancelled. Life is that way sometimes. We did do some hanging out and some trivia through the Chive trivia network. All in all a pleasant evening. We are planning to try trivializing again next week.

Does this Remind you of anything?

Lots to do tomorrow. Things I have to do. Things I want to do. Things I am going to do. Damn, I like me.

Fun Dashing, shocking!

Two dash day. The first dash was very pleasant. No huge dashes. Nothing egregious. Just a lot of short dashes for decent amounts. If every dash session could be like that, I would be a happy camper. As for the next dash. I should have said no to my first dash of the second shift. It was bad – $5.75 for 8 miles one way. To a place that I didn’t used to mind going. But they changed from “Hand it to me” to “Leave it at my door” so it is no longer fun. But, the rest of the dash was good. Exceptional even. I got to quit at 6 instead of 6:30. Woo hoo. All in all, a good dashing day. And I got my tax form from Door Dash as well. I made way more than I thought I had. That’s good, right? I hope it didn’t push me up into a different tax bracket…

Bedazzled?

What? I don’t think I have ever seen a bedazzled door handle on a car. I guess it helps eliminate the scratches that often appear underneath the handle.

My car let me know that my windshield wiper fluid was low. Did it go to the store, buy washer fluid, and fill it back up? No it did not. Maybe in about five years that will be commonplace. If people even have a lot of personal cars by that time. (If we are even alive at that point – who knows what these four years will bring…) I decided I would go to Harbor Freight before starting my dash and see if they had an eye for the back screen basement door and if they had windshield wiper fluid. They had neither. But the guy there suggested Tractor Supply.

The guy at Harbor Freight said that Tractor Supply had hardware! Who knew? I certainly didn’t. I was lamenting that the last small hardware store had died recently here in Geneva. Boo hoo. I had bought windshield wiper fluid there back in December. So I knew they had that.

I am kicking myself that I didn’t reconnect with that woman yesterday. Sigh. I could have said something like – let’s reconnect. How hard would that have been? Oh, and a woman on the internet had a good test to see if a person likes you. Move into their personal space and see what happens. If they move away – chances are they aren’t that enamored. If they stay or move closer…woo hoo!

More tacos tonight. I made three, but I actually had enough stuffing for four! I think I will toss the last bit of taco stuff on top of the nachos tomorrow. I just wish my sauce was a little more coherent and held together better under heating. Oh well. Maybe next time. If there is a next time. I am not good at cheese sauces. Probably lack of practice, but still…maybe an actual teacher would be good. Maybe there is a youtube video about it. There probably is!

And that’s all from me tonight. I’ll have more blather tomorrow, allah willing.

Good Dashing Despite Dampness

I am in awe of ad writers and copy editors. I can come up with something halfway clever once in a while. They need to do it all the time every day! Amazing.

Today was, as often is the case recently, a two dashing session day.

I was just observing to myself yesterday that I hadn’t had a shift of lots of long drives for not quite enough money. I was happy about that. I thought perhaps it was because a new to dashing dasher I met was taking trips based on time and distance. But today, I managed to get a few of those long rides. And declined one. (I hate declining rides…) Despite those rides, the shift was quite good fiscally. Woo hoo!

I think I have featured this cute critter before

The second shift was a few fewer miles driven, but even better fiscally. The algorithm sent me to Waterloo and then all over over there. My nav system in my car was giving me bad directions. One time is sent me to the totally wrong street. And on the same trip, it wanted me to go someplace that wouldn’t have allowed me to get to my customer. But I managed all the deliveries and ended up ending my dash over there.

Weird. Another dasher told me that he routinely makes $150 for a shift from 4pm until 9pm on Friday and Saturday nights. More power to him. I don’t like dashing when it is dark. And the weekends aren’t times I like to dash either. Too many crazies out there. Me included.

I had to parallel park a couple of times today. I seem to remember learning how to do that when I was getting driving lessons from MF, a student and friend of my mother’s and mine. Back just before taking my driving test (which I passed the first time) in 1977 or thereabouts. I need to remember to tell her. I don’t think she reads this blog…

The espionage novel I am reading is starting really slowly…

Only one more full day of dashing to go. How exciting is that?

I will pay bills tomorrow. Not the tax bill, but I will get that organized. Unless I can pay by check. Paying by credit card would be neat.

Speaking of which, Chase actually is asking me to apply for a card. I need to look at the offer. If it is for a miles card, I might consider it. The book on travel that I started working through (but have stalled on since I can’t get my mind past the few travel things I already have planned) says that Chase points are the best points to have. Right now I have a small bunch of Citi points. Not sure how useful they are…

I finished the duck tonight. That is a sad. I also made up another batch of the dumpling dipping sauce. I think it needs more soy and vinegar. Tomorrow night I think I will have breakfast for dinner. It isn’t that hard to prepare. And I do enjoy it! Friday, I have my social engagement so will probably eat something related to that. Saturday, I might do more BBQ park. I still have a lots of BBQ sauce left over from when I last made BBQ pork. Sunday. No clue. Too far away to think about at this point.

And there we have it. What “it” is, I have no idea. Happy Wednesday!