Irene’s flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:17, but when I checked its status on the web, it showed an “actual” arrival of 10:42.
I left home at about 10:30, and drove to the outlet mall, and waited there for her to call instead of circling at the airport. I parked in a shady spot in the Microtel parking lot, where I fired up my laptop to get Irene’s new cell phone number.
While it was up, I checked for wireless access, and there were about 7 entries on the list from the Microtel’s network. I connected to one. Bonus.
We went from the airport to Helios, where we stayed for about an hour-and-a-half, enjoying coffee (me), iced tea (Irene), and eventually lunch — chicken salad (Irene), PB&J (me).
From there, we stopped at Kinkos-Fed Ex on Hillsborough St. so Irene could Fed-Ex something for Anne-Marie, I believe it was.
Our next stop was the Bank of America on Oberlin, where Irene was going to deposit $10,000 into an account for James, but while there, she decided against it — mostly due to a conversation with her sister, Susan, on the cell phone.
Next, we stopped at If It’s Paper over by Buck Jones Road, where Irene lamented about some party invitation stationery. While on the phone with Susan, again, trying to describe the colors on the invitation (to match them to other things associated with the party), I was reminded of my Internet & Society class, and possible applications of video camera technology, for which this situation would have been perfect.
Our last “errands” stop was at Barnes & Noble in Cary, where Irene was hoping to purchase a book for her nephew’s graduation, called Wear Sunscreen.
Robert arrived at about 4:30, and shortly after that, we went for dinner at Sammy’s. We chose there not for its gourmet food, but because we wanted to dine al fresco, which we did.
Robert and Irene each had the Philly sandwich, one getting the steak version, the other getting the chicken version, and then each swapping a half. I got the club sandwich. It was all good.
Irene tasted their only chardonnay (the place is definitely not known of its wine), and said, “I’ll have a Tanqueray and tonic.”
After dinner, Robert and I did a crossword puzzle, and then took an hour nap. When we got up, and went downstairs to tell Irene we’d be leaving shortly for dancing, we found her asleep. She decided that the couch felt too good to give up, so we ended up going without her.
It was a funky dance night. Carl was not in attendance, and I ended up teaching a dance. I am so not a teacher.
I only agreed to teach because Kelly and Amber had come specifically to take a lesson. I tried to teach the Circle Jerk, and got the very first step wrong. Oh well.
With some help from Michael and Steven, we got through it.
There was a very outgoing guy named Donny there, who was from Atlanta (and DC before that), and was in Raleigh for a bridge (cards, not trestles) tournament. He knew a couple of line dances, and he asked me for a two-step, for which we negotiated who would lead and follow, as we could each do either.
Geromy did a second lesson, teaching “Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo Train.”
We left at around 11:30, and completed the crossword puzzle when we got home.