One of THOSE Days

Note: This entry was written yesterday (Saturday).

I knew within 10 minutes that today wasn’t going my way. Like every day, I started it by pouring myself a wake-me-up glass of Diet Coke and sat down to read my e-mail.

No internet. Last night (Friday) we were under a wind advisory, with gusts expected to 50 mph. I was working on a complex project that absolutely required internet access, but I could hear the wind whipping around the house and knew we could lose our electricity at any point. That’s only ONE of the benefits of working on an unpluggable laptop. You don’t have to stop in a storm!

At one point, we heard a WHACK! (or maybe it was a WHUMP!), and the internet was immediately gone. A few minutes later, Mars was surfing again, but it never did come back on my computer. I finally gave up and went to bed, thinking we’d figure it out in the morning.

But this morning, none of our computers had internet service, and our provider affirmed that, as we feared, something had gone wrong with our satellite. The tech would have to come out to fix it. He’d call “within three or four business days” to “make an appointment.”

*gnashing my teeth*

How the heck am I supposed to go internet-less for days and days and days? I might as well give up food!

Still, I needed to finish my project by the end of the day, and I had a list of other things to do also. So I figured I’d practice the organ, go to Staples, eat lunch at McDonalds while I finished my internet project (yes, they have wi-fi; benefit #2 of a laptop), then run my errands, primary of which was to send Jessie her copy of Any Bitter Thing.

I piled everything into the van and drove into town through freezing rain. I went first to the church to practice the organ, but there was a meeting taking place that I didn’t know about. It was too early to go to McDonalds, so I went to Staples instead (to get a padded envelope). They were closed. Apparently they’ve been closed since the flood. Copy Depot was also closed — also since the flood.

No problem. I needed to get some wallpaper too, so I stopped by my favorite hardware/home decorating store. Their parking lot was crazy because the store next door was having a flood sale, but my store was a little higher than the neighbor, so I thought they would have missed the flooding. Nope. In fact, all their wallpaper — even the books — was flooded.

So instead, I headed to Goin’ Postal, bought a padded envelope, and mailed the book. Then I went to Michaels, where I found everything I needed and then some. Back on track!

I went to McDonalds, got my lunch and logged in. There was a note from my bookseller telling me he’d mailed Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to Melissa — but her name sounded suspiciously familiar.

I dug out my paperwork from Goin’ Postal: sure enough, I’d mailed Any Bitter Thing to Melissa, not Jessie! So, Melissa (Writmm), congratulations! You win twice! Once as chosen by random.org, and once benefits of my scattered, right brain. At least they’re different books.

But no worries, Jessie! I’ll get a copy of Any Bitter Thing off to you immediately. Guess I’m giving away five copies instead of four.

I’m at McDonald’s. I’m done with my lunch and e-mail. And now that I’ve written this entry, I can finally finish the complex project that absolutely requires the internet.

What? What’s that? Reserve power only?

#&%!@#!

Guess that’s one of the drawbacks of using an unplugged la