~Monday~ I caught the Wolfline bus in this morning, checking its whereabouts before I left home this time. At the stop, I waited just a few minutes as I knew the bus was just around the corner and down the street, and in that time I had a pissing contest with some ants. (Yes, that’s the second time I’ve used the idiom “pissing contest” in as many weeks. And, yes, I like using the phrase, “in as many weeks.”)
I set my bag down on the sidewalk while I waited. I noticed a couple of big black ants on the ground around it, so I moved it away, but the little buggers headed right over to it in its new spot. I kicked at one of the ants to deflect it away from my bag, but I accidentally killed it when I did. Two ants right next to it went absolutely berserk, and I thought, “My god, they saw their relative get killed in action right before their bug eyes.”
Since they were not to be deterred in making their way toward my bag, I lifted it up out of their reach. All of a sudden this red ant came flying across the sidewalk moving so quickly that I was in disbelief. It looked like one of those little bugs that go skating across the surface of ponds, and I imagined it to be a Super Ant on ant-idepressants. Badumpbump. I’m only here another minute, folks. Try the public transportation.
For that remaining minute, I watched the ants meandering around looking for god knows what, but being as enamored with food as I am myself, I assumed that that’s what they were looking for. However, one went right by a discarded Orange Push-up wrapper and went for a twig. I stayed with the “looking for food assumption,” however, rationalizing that all of the dried syrup in that wrapper had probably already been eaten, washed away, or dissolved by now and that’s why it was passed up.
Mercifully, the bus pulled up, and I was able to stop thinking about all that.
I had a 10:00-10:30 meeting with some colleagues in another unit of my organization, and it was a productive and fun meeting. Bonus!
I had another quick, fun meeting in the afternoon with my colleague and friend Jen, but that was no surprise as it’s always fun working with her no matter the capacity.
I arrived home to find that tree limb still in its same state, that is cracked from the trunk and sprawled across the front lawn and up to the end unit townhouse.
However, back in front of my townhouse, things had changed. The red car that arrived last Wednesday—at presumably the same time the car that was in my spot arrived—was gone. Lucky for it, it was parked in a spot marked “GUEST” all this time.
I have to assume that the owner of the car I had towed had returned as well, and I was glad to see that neither my car nor my house had been defaced in any way.
After a quick check-in with Robert, who raved about the salad and clam dip I’d brought to him, and after making a couple of Scrabble game moves, I ran some errands.
My first stop was at Frame Warehouse, which is one of the places recommended to me as having a big selection of frames. A few things: 1) It took longer than I wanted to to find it, as it was tucked away in a shopping center, 2) It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, 3) It had closed at 7:00, and it was 7:30, and 4) From what I could see in the window, it specializes in large and odd-shaped art-type frames (i.e., custom framing), and I’m just looking for a tri-fold frame that holds either 3×5 or 4×6 photos.
Just around the corner from that store there was a Bed, Bath & Beyond (I have a friend who works in the “Beyond” department in that store. Just kidding. That’s a joke I heard once and liked.), and I stepped in there just to see what they had. I walked up to the front register to ask the clerk the general direction of the frames, so as to minimize my time there. I hate shopping.
As I stepped away to head in the direction to which she’d pointed me, I heard a rip and then was yanked to a stop. A fold on the little pleat on the front right pocket of my cargo shorts had caught on one of those item display hooks and ripped the pleat. Not happy.
They actually had a tri-fold frame there that would work, so I made a note of it to possibly come back with my “20% Off Any One Item” coupon to buy it if I don’t find something I like better over the next couple of days.
My next stop was Target, where I bought two greeting cards, a bottle of hair styling gel, and a container of Snickerdoodle cookies. I wanted to see what those things taste like, as I’ve heard of them, and was pretty sure they didn’t taste like Snickers™ bars, but wanted to see for myself. They don’t.
At home, I took care of some things on my vast and ever-present to-do list, including:
- Checked my last few credit card statements to see if a credit from Smith Exterminating had been posted that they said “might take a few statements to appear on.” It hadn’t.
- Voted some proxy shares for some mutual funds I own. Just made the final vote day, which is tomorrow.
- Got out a potential birthday present for my boss to take to work to show my officemate.
And, finally, I heard this quote that I loved:
| An amateur photographer friend was invited to dinner and took along a few pictures. The hostess looked at his work and exclaimed, “These are very good. You must have an excellent camera.” Later, as my friend was departing, he turned to the hostess and said, “That was a delicious meal. You must have some excellent pots.” ~Simon Evans~ |