This is the one time my doctor might recommend for me to have a donut.

DAMN!!!!

I woke up thinking I'd still have air in my tire, and found that I need to find my "Donut" and hope for the best.  There went plans to go to work today - after I got all made up and dressed as Marian.  Now it was time to switch back to Mario mode....

- - - - - -

After waiting a while (I needed to breathe a little), I called AAA around 10.  They said the truck would arrive before 11:55.  It arrived around 11 am, just as I was starting to drink my 2nd cup of coffee.  Leaving that cup sitting by my computer, I rushed downstairs to meet the tow truck operator.  His compressor wouldn't work off of my car's socket, so we tried his truck's socket - with success.  But we didn't fill up the bad tire.  We filled up the donut (being safe) and mounted it on the car.  The old tire and rim had 2 potential problems- there was a small nail in the tire, and there was a deformation on the inner rim of the wheel hub. The old tire and wheel hub was put in the trunk, and the car was ready to be driven.

After tipping the man, it was off to Mavis. The fellow at the desk was polite, and he was able to take the tire out of my trunk and tell me that it should be ready in 2 hours.  Either the nail or the deformed hub was likely causing the leak, and he said that if I needed a new tire (highly unlikely) I would get a call.  It was off to the bookstore to kill some time, when I got my call - the tire only needed to be patched (I hope he's right in the long term), and that the repair would only cost me $25.00.  (I was prepared to pay much more!)  But this also confirmed my suspicions - the shop wanted to close early last Thursday, and they didn't want to keep it open for just me.  (If a repair took only an hour and it proved to be minor, why couldn't they have done this before they closed on Thursday night? Closing up shop early was the only answer that came to my mind.)

Something I realized today - I felt more awake not having to go to work, than if I had gone in as planned.  I mentioned this to the woman sitting next to me when I described my job, and her reaction indicated that I should leave the job for my health.  She may be right.  

Marry Me!

 

Last night, I saw a nice piece of fluff on the big screen.  "Marry Me" is a typical Rom-Com with an interesting twist on the Cinderella story - the woman is already a princess, and the man is reluctantly dragged into being a prince.  If you watch it for the story, you'll enjoy the movie.  But, if you watch it for the music, you'll be sorely disappointed.  For me, going into Manhattan to see this film was an exercise in sticker shock - 2 senior tickets cost us a little more than $40.00!  I've gotten spoiled by suburban prices, and I would look to see movies in suburbia the next time I'm out to see a new flick.

- - - - - -

RQS and I have discussed the "elephant in the room" several times: How she will reacct when she sees me as Marian for the first time?  And I think that she's getting a little more comfortable with the idea. But I'm not going to rush her into this.

Getting to RQS's place is not the easiest thing to do.  Often there is a traffic jam on the Jackie Robinson (formerly: Interboro) Parkway.  So I have to bail out and travel on local streets.  Yesterday, there was a snow squall that threatened to reduce visibility to zero on the most troublesome part of my trip - getting into her neighborhood and finding a parking spot.  Luckily, after 1 trip around the block, I found a spot in front of her front door.

Shortly after I arrived, we went into the city to watch the aforementioned movie. Afterwards, we went to several stores looking for the MTA's new OMNY card - without success.  Neither of us are happy with the MTA's old Metrocard payment system, and we would have bought the cards if they were available at the stores indicated by the MTA website.

When I eventually left RQS's place, I found that I needed to fill my tire with air again.  (I can't wait until I can get the car to Mavis and get a resolution to my issue.)  Although I drove 20 miles or so on an underinflated tire, I felt more comfortable looking for an air pump in suburbia than inside NYC limits. In Westchester, it's hard to find an area without several competing gas stations within a 5 minute drive.  In Central Queens, it can take longer, depending on the route one takes.  And I didn't want to risk time hunting for a station in an area I don't know that well anymore.

It's too bad that when I was on Long Island proper, that I wasn't able to take time to say hello to my brother.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do so the next time I'm out there....

A slow leak that has yet to be fixed

 

This morning, I found that the air pressure in my tire was dangerously low.  It may not have been this bad, but I knew I had to inflate the tire before driving to work.  So, off to the local gas station I went....  Arriving at the gas station, someone else was using the air pump, and he handed me the hose with about 30 seconds to spare on the vend.  The tire needed more air, so I dropped another 4 quarters into the machine, and filled my tire with 3 minutes of air.  Yet, this still may not have been enough.  You can bet that this car will be paying a visit to Mavis in the near future....

Now that I was late, it was a leisurely drive to the office.  I arrived 20 minutes late, but no one made mention of it.  If anyone complained, I'd say that I planned to make the time up at day end - which I did.  And it was another 8 hours of mind numbing work.  As usual, the first half of the day went slowly, but things went faster in the afternoon.  If I could only have the second half of the day, I'd be comfortable staying at this job for another 2 years.  But, with the agonizing mornings, I want to be out of there soon.  AARGH!

- - - - - -

And that leads me to thoughts on dating....

The other day, I told RQS about Marian and it is still something she has yet to experience before she can make any forward moves.  But things look good right now.  CWS may fall by the wayside, as she hasn't been available as much as I would like, given the time I have known her. Yet, I'm not closing any doors until I know how RQS reacts to Marian when she meets her in person.  (In this case, it pays for me to use the 3rd person for clarity.)  For me, it's a race to find the first decent catch that accepts me as Marian and Mario.  The one thing I will say - I will not "roach" either of these women.

Right now, I made a decision to suspend my OK Cupid account, as it would be way too tempting to swipe right and keep making superficial contacts with new women..  The way things go, I can get a refreshed list of women at any time if I need to go back into the dating pool.  No matter what happens with RQS and CWS, I think I'm going to take a break from meeting new women for dating.

 

 

PS: The tire is leaking air at a faster rate than in the past, probably due to the recent cold spell.  So it'll be off to Mavis on Thursday to see what they can do for me.

PPS: Mavis screwed up the appointment.  I'll have to put up with the leak for another week, or take off a day from work.