A weekend with RQS in Queens

 

Since we had no plans to see anyone needing for me to be in Mario Mode, I planned to present as Marian all weekend.  So I packed a bag with three changes of clothes (all dresses) and drove to RQS's place for the weekend.

Now, it usually takes roughly 2 hours for me to reach RQS's place from my place.  And this past Friday was more of the same, save that traffic jams (I should say, avoiding traffic jams) kept me on-time.  For example, traffic jams prevented me from shifting to the Hutchinson River Parkway and getting stuck waiting for a draw bridge to reopen.  In short, everything that went wrong ended up helping me. When I reached RQS's place, I got there late in the afternoon, and was lucky to find a parking spot that I did not need to wake up early on a Monday morning to vacate.  Then, I carted my bag to RQS's building, then up the stairs to her apartment. 

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An unfortunate thing about living in RQS's area is that delivery people often screw up deliveries for some unknown reason. RQS lives at an address which should be easy to find, such as "12-34 1234 Street".  Often, the lummox that is doing the delivery will either deliver to the wrong street or the wrong address on her street.  In one case, a post office delivery was made to a house 1/2 mile away.  She was lucky that the person who received her package delivered the package to RQS - even though she didn't have to do so.

Why is this important?

RQS often has expensive things delivered to my place.  But we can't control food delivery.  We ordered some Halal food (I love Chicken and Lamb combos from NYC Halal carts), and it was dropped off at some unknown apartment nearby.  As a result, we ended up having Pizza - something that RQS was not in the mood to eat that day.

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Saturday came, and we ended up going to a movie called "Bad Apples".  It is a story about a teacher and an extremely disruptive young boy.  In the process of trying to get his dad to do the minimum to help his son, the situation escalates to a point where the teacher kidnaps the boy and keeps him imprisoned in her basement, while she (and the rest of her students) blossoms in her classroom.  Do I recommend this film?  Wholeheartedly!  Yet, I'd have made one change - I'd have allowed the movie to have some closure that it doesn't have.  (I'm not giving away the ending, but I'd have cut out the final scene.) 

When we got home from the movie, RQS cooked some salmon.  I wish I could have had more.  But she buys human portions...  

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Sunday was a day doing much of nothing - it was raining out, and the last thing we wanted to do was go out to the bodega down the street in the rain. It was a day where we watched old movies on Amazon Prime, and I introduced her to a pleasant movie I found online - "Saving Grace".  Since I never got dressed, I still had to figure out a way to make sure that my car was parked on the correct side of the street to not be ticketed.  So, I went to Google Maps' Street view and look at the photographed street signs.  And, I was both lucky and right - I could stay parked until Tuesday at 8 am.

It's nice to be able to sleep late when I'm at RQS's place for the weekend.  

Getting together with my niece for lunch

 

No, this is not my niece.  But it is a drawing of a pretty woman who was "hid" in many of an artist's drawings.  Today, RQS and I met my niece in Manhattan and went to one of my favorite Indian restaurants.

Since my car was left in a good parking spot over the weekend, I didn't have to take my morning shower until 10:30.  And then I proceeded to get made up, dressed, and ready to go into "the city".  We started walking to the nearby subway station at noon, and saw a bus coming by.  RQS checked the schedule and found another coming 3 minutes later.  So, we took the bus to a different subway station, and didn't have to climb any stairs.

Just as we were getting off the subway, my niece called to tell us she was at the restaurant.  5 minutes later, we were there, and I could barely recognize her with her sunglasses on.  As much as we loved the food in this place, the service was very slow.  We were there for the better part of 3 hours.  Luckily, the conversation was going well, the weather outside was perfect, and I was ready to drop a couple of "C-Notes" on lunch.

 

A little bit before 4, my niece had to make it back to Long Island, and we had to make it to Queens.  We got to RQS's place around 5, and I was able to rest until 6:45 when I started my drive home.  When I got home, I found the dress and T-Shirt I ordered from Ulla Popken, and put it on.  It looks nice, and I'll be getting much use out of it as the weather gets cooler.

One bit of bad news - Medicare turned me down for the bridge program.  I guess I'll have to wait until 2028 for my GLP-1 drugs to start being covered. 

I didn't have much to do today, and I did all ot it well....

 

As I write this, it's a Thursday evening, and my dinner is cooking in the toaster oven.  It's a late dinner for me, but it's better than spending even more money on "fast" food that isn't nutritious. 

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When I got up today, I wasn't sure if I wanted to work on my cruise blog, straighten up the mess in my apartment, or just sit around watching YouTube videos on the TV.  So, what did I do?  Pay bills, of course - all of them!  (I'm usually a month ahead in paying my bills, so the figure representing my monthly expenses plus a set of tires was expected.)  But it still hurts to see a temporary negative cash flow now and then. 

Eventually, I wanted to go out and take care of some things.  One thing I wanted to do is see if a particular dress is in stock at Kohl's - and when I went there, I couldn't find it in the store.  That's not a big deal, as I started to look at my winter wardrobe that I'll soon migrate into my closet.  Next, it was over to Home Depot to find some Command strip hooks that I could fasten to my garbage can, and hook the ties from  my garbage bags, so the bags don't fall into the can.  No luck again.  And then, it was over to BJ's to get some walking in.  And that's where I found the Command strip hooks I needed, along with some other items I'll be using (antiperspirant and ladies' shaving razors). 

Arriving home, I put perishables into the refrigerator, then did my thing with the garbage can - and it worked!  At least, I can say I accomplished something small today.

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They say that tomorrow will be a warmer day.  So I guess I'm glad that I didn't put away all of my summer dresses yet. 

Now that I can't go on an impromptu cruise, now what?

 

Now that I do not have a valid passport, how do I sate my need for novelty?  After 25+ cruises, one would think that I'd be finding cruise life a bit mundane.  Yet, the break from my everyday routines always makes me apprehensive at first, then recharges me once I'm on a ship.  In many ways, it's like going into NYC for a museum run or to the theater - a little bit of a headache to start, and then wonderfully rewarding.

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As I write this, I have a YouTube video on in the background: Emma (from Emma Cruises) reviewing her most recent cruise on Virgin Voyages.  This is reminding me of a cruise I could have taken this weekend, but didn't feel healthy enough to have booked at the time.  It is also reminding me that I won't be able to take any cruises while my passport renewal application is being processed.  

So, how will I sate my craving to break out of my normal routines?

Tonight, I am going with my friend Vicki to attend a concert by a fellow performing tunes by Paul Simon, Jim Croce, and James Taylor. Although I have never heard of Tom Glynn before, I immediately became interested in this performer because of a snippet of a Jim Croce song.  He is the first person I've heard who can do justice to Jim's songs (other then the late Jim Croce) in a long while - and that includes Jim's son, A.J. Croce.

Over the next few weeks, RQS will be going to dinners with a few of our friends.  But that's not enough to sate my cravings for travel.  So, I might try to squeeze in a trip between the holidays - just to get away from the humdrum routines of everyday life.  But where would I go?  It's too cold to bother with Chicago.  Boston and Philadelphia are places I'd want to visit in the Spring, and DC is off limits until our dysfunctional regime is ousted from power via the ballot box.  All of my travels must be domestic for now, and I don't see this changing until December.

 

I finally got out today, and I got some of what would not be bad news for normal people

 

This morning, I found that I had to go out as Mario, so that I could get passport photos that would pass muster for getting a renewed passport.  After I got the photo, I found that the photographer was way too close to me, and that the government's AI couldn't process the image.  (There's $18 down the tubes!)  Later, when I reprocessed a picture that the AI couldn't find my eyes (it claimed they were closed), it found the eyes and accepted the image.  Go figure. Once done with the photos, I chatted with the photographer and showed her pictures of me as Marian.  She couldn't believe it.  So, I may drop back to the store as Marian and see if she remembers me from the day before.

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I rested for most of the day, save for the period where I chatted with my financial planner.  It was a long talk about things of interest, including Chris Ferguson going "All In" at the WSOP (World Series of Poker) with three 6's and a pair of 8's.   There was only one have that could beat him, and it was three 8's with a pair of 6's.  And the other fellow had that in his hand.  As Ferguson was leaving the table, one of the fans watching the game said to Ferguson, "Jesus should know better than to go 'All In' with the devil's hand."  (Ferguson's nickname is "Jesus", as he once had a longer beard and looked just like the image of Jesus depicted in many pictures.)

 

Around 6 pm, I got made up and dressed as Marian and went out to go food shopping.  One problem - I had to get something to eat.  And I found an outlet of a sushi restaurant, where all dishes are presented to the diner on a conveyor belt. RQS and I have eaten at Kura before.  So I knew that the food would be safe.  But the bill would add up quickly.  And that it did.   Once done, it was over to Lidl for food shopping.  Total cost for this trip - $115.  Yet, it was worth it to have had a nice variety of sushi and an inexpensive supermarket run.

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On the way home, I chatted with my brother.  Politically, we are on opposite sides, and I can't see many of his claims that businesses are investing in America again, and that we're rebuilding our manufacturing base.  Nor can I justify the war with Iran, that he supports wholeheartedly. Could he be right?  I doubt it, but I don't claim to read as many news sources as he does.  (I'll bet he's BS'ing me, but doesn't want to admit it.)  If we weren't brothers, I doubt that we'd want to know each other.

But what would be good news for most people, and bad for me?  Well, I had planned a Marian mode weekend with RQS, and then meet my niece (and her hubby) in NYC for dinner.  My brother was thinking of getting my niece, my nephew, himself, RQS and I together for dinner.  That would kill a weekend spent as Marian.  AARGH 

Now, to contact my niece and see what she thinks.... 

Sometimes, computer systems don't work as expected

 

This past weekend, I tried to place an order with Ulla Popken for a Corduroy Jumper and a white T-shirt that I can wear together as an outfit.  Each time I tried to log into their official site, I got the above error.  Yet, when I tried to purchase the garments as a guest, I was successful.  Weird!

I think something has changed with Popken's US site that hasn't affected its European sites.  So, I decided to look for someone to contact, and I found a German Headquarters site I could write to.  I did this, and got a reply in German.  (Not a big deal for me.  But I'm hoping my message gets conveyed to the person in charge of the US site, someone who should know some English.

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I've seen problems like the above many a time.  AI may make it possible to test system changes much better than they are tested now, as well as make them much more secure than they are now.  And here lies the problem.  Our president has laid off many of the people in charge of information security for the US Government.  And this has likely resulted in hackers getting sensitive employee data from FBI files.

Consider that Iran has a "Military" division dedicated to computer hacking, and one can see that America's reliance on private institutions to alone protect our country from harm is likely misguided if our government can't protect itself from major data breaches.  We've seen key elements of our infrastructure attacked, and we don't know how far the hackers have gotten into their systems, nor do we know how much control they have over these systems.  Can anyone feel safe right now?  I certainly don't.

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I'm praying that America can survive until January 20, 2029, when hopefully, a saner regime can come to power and start to fix what our current president broke in his 80 y/o man child tantrums. 

Passport renewal, and cascading paperwork issues.

 

I'm glad that I can now update my passport and renew my global entry card online.  The online process does not require me to surrender my old passport.  But it does make the old passport invalid as soon as I hit the final "Enter Key".  This would not be an issue for me, save that it limits my choice of cruises, as I can't book anything new until I receive my new passport book.  

But this isn't the last thing I need to do with this ID.  My Global Entry information (think of TSA PreCheck with extra return privileges for international flights) has to be updated with the new passport book number, as well as information held by each of my cruise lines.  Of course, I'll soon be dealing with Airlines as well, so that they all have my new Trusted Traveler Number (TTN).  And then, I'll have to apply for both a new UK ETA and an EU ETIAS for next year's Iceland cruise.

And all of this is needed, so that I, as a US citizen, can travel "freely".  But I expect to have more complications for international travel, as I will likely have a second passport from another country by the time I travel "across the pond."  Yes, I know that I must use my US Passport when entering and leaving the US.  But the airlines will have to transmit correct information to both the US and both the UK and EU when I travel overseas.  This is going to get confusing at first.  But I will have resources I can count on before I travel.

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It was an important thing that I took care of applying for the Foreign Birth Registry (FBR) when I did, as my citizenship by descent is likely grandfathered under the old rules.  My brother has his FBR paperwork, and can now apply for his second passport he can use when visiting his daughter.  Assuming I'm lucky, I'll have my FBR paperwork by year end, and will be able to apply for the second passport.

I still worry about what our president will do to stay in power.  It's well known that he's weakened America's election system, the national security apparatus, as well as destroying one of the best militaries in the world.  Will I be able to stay safe until I have the papers I need to leave the US for good if needed?  That, and other questions, inquiring minds want to have answered.