Snapshots of DC
Tag AAA
Road Trip Leg One: Lehigh Valley to Washington DC
Today marked the first day of my week-plus trip to present an erotic writing workshop at SexDownSouth: Atlanta, promoting Parisian Phoenix’s Juicy Bits. I left home at about 7:50 a.m. and headed to the bank to deposit some checks at the a.t.m. Then, after much thought, I headed to Panera and picked up an iced tea and already had to pee.
At 8:15 a.m., I left Panera with a toasted asiago bagel and my tea. (They offered me a bagel for $1 today.) Sixty-five miles later I had to pee again! So I stopped in Grimes, Pa., Exit 13, at our “favorite Sheetz.” This Sheetz has an entire row of smoothie machines and frozen icee flavors.
I made it to Route 83 and Harrisburg by 9:50, despite all my stops. By 10:30 a.m., I had eaten my gummy worms and needed to pee yet again. So I stopped in Shrewsbury, Pa., near the border of Maryland, in an area where they had massive shopping plazas with every eatery known to man. Even a Panera. I used the restroom and grabbed a coffee, even though I hadn’t finished my tea.
I left Shrewsbury at 10:45 and arrived in DC at M’s house at 12:07 p.m.
M, my traveling companion through all my crazy adventures on several continents, and I hung around the house and chit-chatted for hours and spent some time watching the black squirrel that hangs around their house, Climber Meta.
We went to Siam House DC for a lovely thai dinner, where I had mango curry with tofu. So delicious!
My hosts are currently having a great day exploring all my maps from AAA.
The latest in the saga
So I spent a good deal of today dealing with paperwork for my mallet finger— trying to get the info I need to return to work since my specialist doesn’t think I need short-term disability for my finger to heal. That I just need to not use the finger.
For info on my injury:
The original blog post on the incident is here.
And the follow-up medical stuff is here.
I had filed a FMLA leave request, which I thought would lead to at least a week or so of short-term disability since Patient First told me to anticipate potential surgery and eight weeks of healing time.
But the doctor avoided both of those with a cast.
I’m stuck in limbo between waiting for the specialist’s office to fill out the forms to release me from my FMLA leave and the accommodation form for Stitch Fix, and I never quite reached the point of short-term disability but had started a claim.
I called the medical forms office at my specialist, and it took a chunk of the day to verify that they won’t have my forms ready until potentially next week— which of course intensifies my need for short-term disability which is a different set of paperwork a doctor needs to sign.
With my work week starting on Sunday, even if my release form arrived Monday morning and Stitch Fix could work everything out for me to return Tuesday, at that point I’ve already missed 1.5 weeks of work.
And I’ve used a lot of my paid time off recently while I was accepting voluntary time off— so when this occurred I only had 20 hours of sick time.
I’m not complaining, but I am trying to plan my household finances.
And then my supervisor said to come to work Sunday and we’ll see what we can figure out.
The ups-and-downs of navigating this system where medicine has become such a business that everything is so complex even for someone as organized as I am is exhausting.
But luckily the teenager puts reminders like this on my iPad. “Have a good day and don’t kill anyone.”
As compensation for my draining day, the teenager and I went to Aldi in our pajamas planning to buy chips, get gas, and stop at Arby’s to try their new boneless wings. The commercial got me. Because I hate celery. Watch it here to understand.
But when we got to Aldi, and bought our chips, the car wouldn’t start.
So I got to call AAA. Or in my case, text AAA. The teenager was very excited because she never witnessed a AAA call before. Because she doesn’t remember when I locked the keys in the trunk when she was 2.
It was the battery, which George from AAA replaced. We left Aldi 30 minutes after we called. It was all super fast.
And then we met George again at Wawa for gas.
The teenager loved the whole process and wants to learn more about cars and car repair even more than she did a few months ago.
As for the winds, for six dollars I was pleased but the teenager noted they were all spice and no flavor. I enjoyed them but they were over-sauced and the two flavors did taste extremely similar.
The Road Trip Home
The witch travels from Washington DC home with Mercury in retrograde
I thought I was on top of everything. I hoped to leave DC around 9 so I could be home by 1.
But then M’s housemates made this lovely kale frittata for breakfast.
I love kale and I love breakfast!
So I enjoyed a slice. And then another.
Everyone followed me out to the car and wished me farewell… and then M noticed a nail in my tire.
M called AAA because I don’t have my membership card. While he did that, I called my AAA home office and asked them to email me a pdf of my membership information. They assured me that I was in the system, but a pdf still made me feel better.
M and I chatted about the international cleaning staples: Lava soap, Brillo pads and Borax powder.
The AAA man came expediently, plugged my tire and sent me on my way.
After 25 miles, while on I-95 about to merge onto 695 outside Baltimore, my tire pressure light came on. I did what I always do, I called my dad and started to freak out and cry.
He advised me to get off the highway and have someone check the tire.
So I got off 695 on the first exit and pulled into a CVS parking lot while I checked the tire visually, then tried to reset the light, and then gave up and used the AAA app to locate local gas stations.
Interesting tidbit, it didn’t tell me which were gas stations and which were actual service (repair) stations.
I ended up at a Sunoco, I believe A.C.E Automotive. I pulled up in front of what looked to be an air compressor hose. I stepped into the office and explained what had happened earlier and asked if anyone could check my tire pressure.
An older gentleman finished writing up someone’s car repair invoice and told me to move my car “by that silver car.”
The silver car was my car.
He checked all of my tires. The back tires were around 26 psi. The drivers side front tire was 31 psi and the freshly repaired tire was 20 psi. The person helping me filled them all and went to get a spray bottle to check the plug.
After it looked like the plug was good, he then told me to drive a mile or two and come back.
I still couldn’t get the light to reset.
So I drove a bit and came back and filled the car with gas. I asked the gentleman his name, and introduced myself. His name was Gary and he reminded me of my dad.
Meanwhile my dad is texting me. My dad encourages me to be cautious and not to hesitate to buy a new tire.
Gary checks all the tires and they are holding pressure. He knows I have 175 miles to go. He tells me to text my dad that I’m fine and I don’t need a new tire.
I try to pay Gary and he tells me I don’t owe him anything because “that’s how people should be.”I stop at the visitors center right over the Pennsylvania state line and finally am able to reset the tire pressure light. I thought about how much those lights scare me. “Back in the day,” we got in the car and took our chances. We didn’t have warning lights. Cars just broke down.
And now a light comes on and I’m calling my dad in tears terrified I’m going to have a horrible accident.
But at the visitors center, the light goes out. I buy coffee from the vending machine.
And I notice the rest stop has free wi-fi. How cutting edge of Pennsylvania.
I was considering stopping at a truck stop to buy a tire gauge, but I did not.
I also promised myself if I saw a Popeye’s I would get a chicken sandwich. I did not.
I got home at 3.
That was a long day.
For more on my weekend away:
Friday night & Valentines
This is going to be a crazy lil bit of everything post. I’ll try to divide into topics with subheadings; I want to be good to y’all.
Nala
I bought her some new toys. Anything paper, like the one above, is a hit. But she seems to be afraid of bigger toys of heavier materials.
This is a photo of everything I got her:
As for plucking, it gets worse and better day by day. I’ve noticed three main triggers:
- Change in routine
- Overstimulation
- Desire for attention
Misty and Fog
The kittens certainly get more tired out since we let them run through the house. They pull they towels off the racks in the bathroom. They scatter the wash in the laundry room. They steal Oz’s food and he’s too big and dumb to stop them.
Some of my past kitten posts:
Nails
Tomorrow I get my first fill on my nails. They still look pretty perfect and I can see my natural nails growing in!
For more on my nails:
Road trip tomorrow!!!!
I joined AAA last weekend specifically because I’m traveling to Washington DC alone this weekend.
My temporary cards haven’t come!
I’m super excited and mostly ready.
I told my work colleagues and they asked if I planned on touring any of the downtown DC sites. I said no, I plan on sitting on my friend’s couch drinking coffee most of the weekend.
The teenager is going out with her dad so I’m on my own tonight for Valentine’s.
Angel Ackerman 