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Look Ma, I'm Splitting My Posts
Tuesday, off to the Toyota dealership.
I do this every time I've been away for a while.
Jameson moves my car for me while I'm gone, but he's no mechanic.
Lots of things can corrode or become damaged just from sitting outside in Florida's extreme climate day after day.
The associate looked at me like I was nuts when I explained there was nothing actually wrong, but I wanted the car looked over.
"It's been in storage", I explained, "and I'm driving up the coast to Pennsylvania next week."
Two hours later I STILL hadn't gotten an update on my car, so I texted the associate and was told it would need misc fluids flushed.
Ok, cool. I approved the repairs.
Two hours later they said my car was done.
I hopped in and noticed some empty water bottles in the passenger seat; annoying, but again, whatever.
The the windshield was dirty, so I pressed the fluid button.
Nothing happened.
Went back inside and let the associate know. She disappeared into the garage and came out a short while later.
"Ok, they've topped you off, you should be good to go!"
Great. Back in the car. Tried it again. Nothing.
Turns out there was a hole in the line...chewed through by some rodent.
"Want us to fix that?" the associate asked.
Um, YES. I've been here for FOUR HOURS specifically so y'all could find and fix shit like this.
It was busy at the dealership, and I was patient with the associate as this wasn't her fault.
But I did say to her, would it not make sense, after they "top it off", to maybe check to see if the fluid comes out?
She agreed of course, poor thing, and I waited an additional 20 minutes while they put in a new fluid line.
It would have sucked to be caught without washer fluid on my upcoming 19-hour drive.
I really, really hope that's all they missed.
On the way home I stopped at Gideon's Bakehouse.
I was still angry about the failed Hawaiian mochi, and wanted to get Jameson something special.
If you haven't had a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie, here's what they look like:
(not my picture, not my hand)
Gigantic and amazing, and probably delicious :)
I got two regular chocolate chip, a pistachio toffee, and a banana walnut.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday, early morning and work.
I feel pretty comfortable about most things now.
The main issues are going to be when something goes wrong, like when some judge's assistant fails to send our schedule the night before, or when we need a document that I don't know where to find, or there's a technical issue and I don't know who to contact.
But you know what, with all of those things, I can only do what I can do, and ask for help.
The actual job, I'm confident that I can do.
Today's cases went quickly. I really like when they're spaced roughly 45 minutes apart, that seems like a good time frame.
Some judges have them scheduled every 15 minutes which makes no sense to me.
Others have huge gaps in the middle of the day, so I'll be stuck with several hours of boredom and deskercises (and not getting paid, because we are paid per case. BOOOOOO)
This judge was my favorite so far. She hustled her cases along, but still allowed everyone to say their piece without seeming pushy or impatient. And she asked pointed questions and talked quickly. All of her cases ended within the 45 minutes, giving us plenty of time to wrap up paperwork and prep for the next one. I wish all days were like today!
Our last two cases were cancelled, so I got home earlier than expected.
This was good because I had work to do for my data entry job finally.
I got started on that while Jameson packed up and left for a rehearsal (he's just auditing for some audio work he's doing later).
Once he'd left I got myself a Chick-fil-a salad, swept the pool deck, prepped my clothes and lunch for tomorrow, and spent about two hours doing data entry. For dessert I had half of the pistachio Gideon's cookie, and it was freaking amazing.
It's really like a gob of cookie dough TBH. Rich and decadent and I probably should have only eaten a quarter of it, but oh well.
Later on, I could hear an owl hooing loudly from all the way inside the house, so I went out back to enjoy the insects and other night sounds.
CLICK HERE to listen.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday was my last day of training for discount court reporting.
I got my trainer a gift card from Wawa as a thank you, she was chuffed.
(I noticed that she gets two coffees from Wawa each day, a hot one in the morning and an iced one in the afternoon).
The day ended up being rather stressful because some poor sap at the Judge's office never sent us our paperwork for the day, plus Wanda's computer took 20 minutes to restart, so we spent our whole first hour harassing the Judge's assistant and sweating while the computer grudgingly took minutes and minutes to load the most basic programs.
Eventually everything got going, though, and for the most part our hearings were on time.
There was also a break in the middle of the day which I used to pick up some groceries and book an AirBnb for an upcoming visit home.
Some of my family (my remaining family, I guess you could say) are getting together around the 10th, just to see each other.
It is very rare to get all of us in the same place.
One of my sisters came down with covid so probably won't be coming, but so far everyone else is still planning to come.
It'll be my aunt and uncle and two cousins; my sister who lives in town with her husband and son (we are meeting at her house); my brother Jonah, and myself. My sister Raven is our covid-sufferer and won't be coming, but we'll video chat her in.
I made a big mistake as far as travel and hotels for this visit.
First, I waited too long to book a flight because the prices kept jumping up and down by almost $200!!!
That, and all of the cancellations lately, had me nervous about pulling the trigger on a flight.
Driving is more expensive and a huge time cost, but ultimately I'd rather spend it than wake up to find my flight cancelled and have to miss the visit. So now I'm driving 19 hours up the coast, gas stops and all. $$$$
The other mistake was waiting to book a hotel.
I figured, nothing's going on in my dippy hometown. I'll wait until the last minute and get a good price.
Well a few days ago I checked the bookings, and there are NO hotels available under $150 per night.
I completely forgot about my hometown's summer redneck event: the 4-Wheel Jamboree. F*ck!
Loads of hicks from out of town and even out of state will be converging on the fairgrounds and tearing it UP.
As this event has been going on since before I was born, I surely don't mind all that.
But I DO mind not having anywhere affordable to stay!
The good news is I found a "reasonable" AirBnb but it's well outside of town, so more driving. Sigh.
The room was $65, but the FEES, oh my god!! Fees were as much as the room!!
Whatever, whatever. Grin and bear it.
It'll work out. And I do enjoy road trips in the end.
Finally the day was over, and I hugged my trainer and thanked her for helping me to learn.
The next time I come to work, I'll be on my own. Yikes!
I drove home, stopping to get more groceries and dinner.
Jameson had already left by the time I got back.
After dinner I wanted to go for a walk, but a sudden crack of lightning convinced me otherwise.
I must have been more tired and stressed than I realized, because I fell asleep right on the living room floor.
The sound of the rain probably helped.
When I woke up I cleaned up a bit and started packing my bag.
Tomorrow I will gather the remaining ingredients for dinner, plus some passion fruits to bring to my sister.
I'll make dinner for us and finish packing, and hopefully work on my data entry stuff (which I was supposed to do today before I got hit by that random nap). And then on the 9th I'll get up insanely early and start the drive to Pennsylvania.
I haven't been home since my dad's funeral.
I do this every time I've been away for a while.
Jameson moves my car for me while I'm gone, but he's no mechanic.
Lots of things can corrode or become damaged just from sitting outside in Florida's extreme climate day after day.
The associate looked at me like I was nuts when I explained there was nothing actually wrong, but I wanted the car looked over.
"It's been in storage", I explained, "and I'm driving up the coast to Pennsylvania next week."
Two hours later I STILL hadn't gotten an update on my car, so I texted the associate and was told it would need misc fluids flushed.
Ok, cool. I approved the repairs.
Two hours later they said my car was done.
I hopped in and noticed some empty water bottles in the passenger seat; annoying, but again, whatever.
The the windshield was dirty, so I pressed the fluid button.
Nothing happened.
Went back inside and let the associate know. She disappeared into the garage and came out a short while later.
"Ok, they've topped you off, you should be good to go!"
Great. Back in the car. Tried it again. Nothing.
Turns out there was a hole in the line...chewed through by some rodent.
"Want us to fix that?" the associate asked.
Um, YES. I've been here for FOUR HOURS specifically so y'all could find and fix shit like this.
It was busy at the dealership, and I was patient with the associate as this wasn't her fault.
But I did say to her, would it not make sense, after they "top it off", to maybe check to see if the fluid comes out?
She agreed of course, poor thing, and I waited an additional 20 minutes while they put in a new fluid line.
It would have sucked to be caught without washer fluid on my upcoming 19-hour drive.
I really, really hope that's all they missed.
On the way home I stopped at Gideon's Bakehouse.
I was still angry about the failed Hawaiian mochi, and wanted to get Jameson something special.
If you haven't had a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie, here's what they look like:
(not my picture, not my hand)
Gigantic and amazing, and probably delicious :)
I got two regular chocolate chip, a pistachio toffee, and a banana walnut.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday, early morning and work.
I feel pretty comfortable about most things now.
The main issues are going to be when something goes wrong, like when some judge's assistant fails to send our schedule the night before, or when we need a document that I don't know where to find, or there's a technical issue and I don't know who to contact.
But you know what, with all of those things, I can only do what I can do, and ask for help.
The actual job, I'm confident that I can do.
Today's cases went quickly. I really like when they're spaced roughly 45 minutes apart, that seems like a good time frame.
Some judges have them scheduled every 15 minutes which makes no sense to me.
Others have huge gaps in the middle of the day, so I'll be stuck with several hours of boredom and deskercises (and not getting paid, because we are paid per case. BOOOOOO)
This judge was my favorite so far. She hustled her cases along, but still allowed everyone to say their piece without seeming pushy or impatient. And she asked pointed questions and talked quickly. All of her cases ended within the 45 minutes, giving us plenty of time to wrap up paperwork and prep for the next one. I wish all days were like today!
Our last two cases were cancelled, so I got home earlier than expected.
This was good because I had work to do for my data entry job finally.
I got started on that while Jameson packed up and left for a rehearsal (he's just auditing for some audio work he's doing later).
Once he'd left I got myself a Chick-fil-a salad, swept the pool deck, prepped my clothes and lunch for tomorrow, and spent about two hours doing data entry. For dessert I had half of the pistachio Gideon's cookie, and it was freaking amazing.
It's really like a gob of cookie dough TBH. Rich and decadent and I probably should have only eaten a quarter of it, but oh well.
Later on, I could hear an owl hooing loudly from all the way inside the house, so I went out back to enjoy the insects and other night sounds.
CLICK HERE to listen.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday was my last day of training for discount court reporting.
I got my trainer a gift card from Wawa as a thank you, she was chuffed.
(I noticed that she gets two coffees from Wawa each day, a hot one in the morning and an iced one in the afternoon).
The day ended up being rather stressful because some poor sap at the Judge's office never sent us our paperwork for the day, plus Wanda's computer took 20 minutes to restart, so we spent our whole first hour harassing the Judge's assistant and sweating while the computer grudgingly took minutes and minutes to load the most basic programs.
Eventually everything got going, though, and for the most part our hearings were on time.
There was also a break in the middle of the day which I used to pick up some groceries and book an AirBnb for an upcoming visit home.
Some of my family (my remaining family, I guess you could say) are getting together around the 10th, just to see each other.
It is very rare to get all of us in the same place.
One of my sisters came down with covid so probably won't be coming, but so far everyone else is still planning to come.
It'll be my aunt and uncle and two cousins; my sister who lives in town with her husband and son (we are meeting at her house); my brother Jonah, and myself. My sister Raven is our covid-sufferer and won't be coming, but we'll video chat her in.
I made a big mistake as far as travel and hotels for this visit.
First, I waited too long to book a flight because the prices kept jumping up and down by almost $200!!!
That, and all of the cancellations lately, had me nervous about pulling the trigger on a flight.
Driving is more expensive and a huge time cost, but ultimately I'd rather spend it than wake up to find my flight cancelled and have to miss the visit. So now I'm driving 19 hours up the coast, gas stops and all. $$$$
The other mistake was waiting to book a hotel.
I figured, nothing's going on in my dippy hometown. I'll wait until the last minute and get a good price.
Well a few days ago I checked the bookings, and there are NO hotels available under $150 per night.
I completely forgot about my hometown's summer redneck event: the 4-Wheel Jamboree. F*ck!
Loads of hicks from out of town and even out of state will be converging on the fairgrounds and tearing it UP.
As this event has been going on since before I was born, I surely don't mind all that.
But I DO mind not having anywhere affordable to stay!
The good news is I found a "reasonable" AirBnb but it's well outside of town, so more driving. Sigh.
The room was $65, but the FEES, oh my god!! Fees were as much as the room!!
Whatever, whatever. Grin and bear it.
It'll work out. And I do enjoy road trips in the end.
Finally the day was over, and I hugged my trainer and thanked her for helping me to learn.
The next time I come to work, I'll be on my own. Yikes!
I drove home, stopping to get more groceries and dinner.
Jameson had already left by the time I got back.
After dinner I wanted to go for a walk, but a sudden crack of lightning convinced me otherwise.
I must have been more tired and stressed than I realized, because I fell asleep right on the living room floor.
The sound of the rain probably helped.
When I woke up I cleaned up a bit and started packing my bag.
Tomorrow I will gather the remaining ingredients for dinner, plus some passion fruits to bring to my sister.
I'll make dinner for us and finish packing, and hopefully work on my data entry stuff (which I was supposed to do today before I got hit by that random nap). And then on the 9th I'll get up insanely early and start the drive to Pennsylvania.
I haven't been home since my dad's funeral.
no subject
no subject
I hope your visit home is peaceful and sweet. Does this include Stepmother?
no subject
It is not a real owl flying, it's a cartoon that someone drew and animated.
That was an owl call. Specifically a barred owl.
It was dark and the owl was somewhere in the woods, I could not see it but it was very loud.
Being territorial I assume.
Visit home should be nice, though more than half of it will be spent driving since I was too pussy-footed to pull the trigger on a flight.
This will NOT include stepmother. In my post I wrote that it would be my sister and her husband and son; my aunt and uncle and cousins; and my brother Jonah (and was supposed to be my sister Raven also). Raven and Jonah are my HALF brother and sister, from when my parents divorced, so they are my MOM'S children, not my stepmom's. My aunt and uncle are my MOM'S sister and her husband. They hate my stepmom and want nothing to do with her. So, no, my stepmom is not involved in this get-together because the only friendly faces she'd have are Kate and the baby and I, plus she wants nothing to do with me.
no subject
That cookie looks INSANE. I do want to know how the chocolate chips still seem to look like chips and not... melty goo. Especially in Florida heat - I'd have thought they'd just melt.
Edit to add: I forgot to mention - TOYOTA, wtf? Get it together. I'm glad you caught that at the dealership... and not while you were driving.
no subject
I'm guessing the person took a photo of their cookie right outside the shop, which would have been air conditioned inside, which is why the cookie is not melted yet. If they didn't eat it within the next 60 seconds, though...
Yeah idk about Toyota. I don't want to be a Karen but it was a combo of things. They didn't notice that the washer fluid wasn't reaching the windshield. They didn't even check it at all, despite me mentioning that the car had been in storage. And then when I realized something was wrong and told them, they STILL didn't check it, just confirmed that my fluid was full and tried to send me away again. And then when they finally did look and see that a rodent had chewed through the line, the recommendation was for me to "park somewhere else".
Maybe it was a bad day, but I don't think I should have to pay for their bad day with my life while rocketing down I-95 at 80mph. If that makes me a Karen then so be it!
no subject
Ok, but you can HEAR THAT, RIGHT? My car does not NORMALLY make that noise. NO CAR DOES.
I practically hollered with joy when they finally figured it out, because justification.
And then there's times where they are above and beyond great... so IDK. Was that just a bad day? Bad mechanic? No idea.
no subject
Hope you are hanging in there! You’re in the homestretch!
no subject
That is an insane cookie thingy.
I'd like one bite, I think.
no subject