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Tuesday ::

Tuesday was an odd collection of contrasts. Part of me wanted to be mad at the roofers for having to come back a second time to patch leaks, but they were too nice about it (coming promptly, stating honestly that a proper fix would have to wait for dryer weather), and I didn’t really want to not be nice about it either, right before the holiday. Plus, before calling the roofers Monday morning, I’d clambered up to the problem zone and figured out where to apply the roof goop myself if it came down to that.

Hardly anyone was at the office to notice that I rolled in around 12:15. I took advantage of the lack of distractions to finish some modest cleanup work on some mission-critical code, then play with a pet low-priority project. I left just before 5 as a manager of another group was coming down the hallway to shoo a few of his lingering subordinates home for the holiday break.

Amazon had tantalized with the idea of being able to fulfill some wishlist items at the last minute, but as of the 22nd, the chosen collection of items couldn’t be delivered to New York until the 30th. So I’d printed the wishlists. I thought I would beat traffic by visiting Borders in Sunnyvale, but the parking lot was jammed. I drove right back out, saw Peet’s and remembered that I needed coffee.

Lori and I went out to what we thought would be a bit of a leisurely sit-down dinner (note to self: must learn to make chicken marsala) but the food came so quickly we were out of the restaurant in 40 minutes. We could have abandoned the shopping plan and gone next door to the theater to see Milk, but duty called.

Borders was a bit disappointing at first; most of Tim’s prog-rock wishes were too obscure. I picked up Joni Mitchell’s Hejira for myself (Jaco on bass!) and luck changed; quickly found and scooped up a number of good finds for others. To cap things off, someone had left the Weather Report boxed set Forecast: Tomorrow sitting in the wrong place, maybe it was amongst bargain books, possibly so that I would see it and fail to resist the $49 price tag.

Then it was across the street to the zoo that was Macy’s on the second-to-last shopping day before Christmas. Odyssey #1 was in the shoe department (any sighting of something that looks good, is priced well, and is available in men’s size 11 1/2 grabs attention). Odyssey #2 was to pay in the men’s department—abandoned when the cashier confessed that he was new and didn’t know how to open a Macy’s charge card (which they tell you gets a 20% discount). Odyssey #3 was to open the charge card in another department, where I was unsuccessful at communicating to the cashier—until after having a credit application denied—that the address on my driver’s license is 3 years out of date. Finally we completed the transaction and discovered that the 20% new-cardholder discount doesn’t apply to things that are already on sale, which is just about everything in the store, or, at least, everything we even thought about buying. Odyssey #4 spanned several stores and finally culminated in finding Lori a really nice coat at Nordstrom at 11:10 pm.

Tomorrow I have to do a bit more shopping, do some work on some presents, practice Christmas carols on piano, and get to a social event by 4. I should be sleeping, but I have a glass of wine, the cat’s been on my lap as I type, and it’s been awhile since I’ve taken a little snapshot of a day in words like this. Merry Christmas!

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2008 > December

Caught in the act >>

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