January 3, 2001

ubconciously, I must have been aware in some manner that it was the new Millenium yesterday. And apparently, I had to prove my own gooberishness to the world to start it off in the manner to which I have been accustomed. So, with all the things to do yesterday morning (packages to pick up, plates to put on the car, rent to pay) I ended up getting about half of the stuff I had planned to do. Why, dear reader? Well, herein lies the story:

 

It was early, as I had to drive around Escondido to find the post office that hopefully held my DSL modem hostage for my signature. Since I was going to be driving around, I thought I'd pop in some of the lovely CD's that Bubba gave to me for Christmas (The BBC production of The Lord of the Rings). Opening my trunk, I popped the CD's into the changer, and as I shut the trunk.... the realization hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. My keys were not sticking in the keyhole. I must have pulled them out....

I checked all the pockets, in the jeans, in the jacket, back to the jeans in case I missed them the first time, then to the ground, where there weren't any pockets at all. "Nooooo! My preciousssssss!" I cried... but even quoting the Gollum helped me not. (Nor, likely, will writing in Yoda style.) Incredibly chastened, I knew my salvation lay in the fact that somewhere in my sock drawer, I had a spare set of keys to the car. Now... how to get into the apartment.

Aha, I thought.... the office folks should be able to open my apartment! I trudged up to the office, only to find that it was locked. "Curses!", I thought to myself. The office didn't open for over 1/2 an hour. Finding one of the staff wandering around watering plants, I asked him if there was someone who could let me into my apartment. He stared at me as if I was a fool (suprisingly accurate assessment) and said those fatal words....."No habla Inglese" (pardon my spelling... I never took any Spanish.

Using rudimentary gestures, I finally got across to him that I was in fact a goober, he pointed me again to the office, and went and knocked on the door. It turned out that one of the office staff was indeed in, and just getting coffee before opening the door. She kindly brought me in, and without snickering called one of the maintenance crew on her walky-talky to meet me at my door. I remembered to give her my check for January as ID that it was OK to let me in.

I got back into the apartment with a sense of infinite releif.... now it was just a matter of finding the damn keys. Were they truly in my sock drawer, as I imagined, or had I packed them into a box, which might be under 20 other boxes still stacked in my living room? In desperation, I tore through the drawer, socks flying in the air and raining down about my feet. Yes! I found the envelope that the keys were in. Tears of joy streamed down my face (OK, maybe I'm starting to stretch the truth a bit). I took the key, and realized that I had to come back up to the apartment, as without my normal keys, there wasn't any way to lock it. I trudged down the four flights of stairs, opened the trunk and found the keys lying there, mocking me.

I took the key back upstairs and put it away, along with the socks that had fallen to the ground. As I locked the door and started back down to my car, I realized that I hadn't picked up the package that was left for me at the office. I sighed, and got into the car and drove back up to the office. The lady was kind enough not to shout "Goober!" at me as she should have, and unlocked the room where all of the Christmas mail had been stored. Finally, I got into my car and looked at the clock.

9AM. Half my stuff undone, and I was late to be at the office. I sighed heavily (thanks for the training, Suz) and began driving in to work, swearing that I'd get my DSL modem at lunch, even if it meant a 1.5 hour ordeal to come back out to San Diego to get in line at the Post Office. A meeting was called for the morning, and then postponed. Twice. Each time by an hour, which was clearly not enough time to slip out and drive out to get the modem. Finally, at 3PM, I headed to lunch.

Looking at the paper slip left for me, I discovered that the Post Office closed at 3:30. No chance in Hell that I'd be able to get there and get the item in time. Sighing, I went to lunch, and then home.

So...... I need to go get this thing this morning before work. I'll continue yesterday's post tomorrow, I hope. Ta!