just another Tuesday

 Today is the 3rd day of the 20th week, the 14th day of the 5th month, the 135th day of 2024 [with only 224 shopping days until Christmas], and:

• "The Stars and Stripes Forever" Day
• Apraxia Awareness Day
• Dance Like a Chicken Day
• International Dylan Thomas Day
• National Brioche Day
• National Buttermilk Biscuit Day
• Sex Differences in Health Awareness Day
• Underground America Day
• WAAC Day
• The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival
• the moon is at waxing current, 14% of full
• And Voyager I is 46 Yrs 08 Mos 09 Days and 15,128,486,757 mi/24,346,946,927 km/162.74928790 AU from the Earth

Quote of the Day:

"He who angers you conquers you."

~ Elizabeth Kenny - a self-trained Australian bush nurse who developed an approach to treating polio that was controversial at the time, but changed how patients were treated

Years ago, I had penpals.  I got their names from a data base at the Parker Pen exhibit in the World's Fair and we wrote faithfully for years.  What I learned from writing was that you didn't wait until there was something special or significant happening to write, you had to send the letters chatting about everyday life and happenings.  Later, when the letters stopped coming from England, Brazil, and Turkey, I turned to journaling, and found the same was true, although I never tried to keep a daily diary.  The closest I came to that was last year's experiment in posting every day.  

((Grandmom Hughes would shake her head and tell me I was wishing my life away.))

So today isn't anything special. 

Despite all the pictures of the gorgeous northern lights and the assurances that they will be visible again tonight, the cloud cover hereabouts is thick and gray and we won't been seeing them again.

One thing that I did get done while off last week [three days spent for the most part laying and reading with brief forays into gaming and meandering about online] was to arrange to drop the car off at a body shop to get those acid streaks removed.  Turns out the doors will have to be sanded and repainted, so I will be working from home this entire week [tries very hard to look upset at that news].  I had thought about not having the car fixed, but given the same sort of acidic residue ate a hole in the roof of the Mercury Milan over the years, I figured maybe I had better cough up the $1500 and get it done.

Frank had gotten me a Seiko Mickey Mouse watch at WDW one year, and it is one of my favorite timepieces.  Last year, the movement gave out.  Seiko wanted $650 to replace the movement [this is now considered a collector's item], so I opted to let the jeweler replace it as he would.  I'm not interested in it as a collectable - Frank got it for me and I like it.  I got it back in April, and after a week it stopped working.  That was one of the errands - I took it back to the jewelry store with the hope it was just the battery.  Of course it was not.  Apparently the new movement was defective and I am without my watch again for now.

At least it was under warranty and this repair shouldn't cost anything.  

The last thing I did  while I was out and about was go and visit three different apartment properties in the Columbia area that had contacted [via AI I was told incidentally when I repeated the name of the person and wanted to make sure they got credit for my follow up] and encouraged me to come and see.    To say I was not impressed in an understatement, especially at the apartment prices posted.  The only thing I will say here is that "first come first serve" parking is all well and fine, but when your parking lot is half full on a Thursday afternoon, I can imagine the problems of finding a space when folks come home from work.

Mother's Day was a very nice brunch at Cured 18th & 21st.    It is a very posh atmosphere with an art deco ambiance that was reinforced by the live jazz band that entertained us for the three hours we were there.  The food was good, and I enjoyed my visit with the family very much.

And so the workaday world crashed into reality yesterday.  The A/C should be turned on tomorrow.  No word on when the other two elevators will be fixed.

See?  Despite a spate of dire news that has many of us doom scrolling, it really is just another Tuesday, neh?