Soon, another cruise. But first, some shopping.

 

Soon, RQS and I will be going on another cruise that (hopefully) will reach all of the above ports.  This year's route differs from the above route we planned to take in 2022, as we don't expect that a hurricane will prevent us from reaching Sydney and Charlottetown on this trip.  The last thing I want from this cruise is to make another unplanned visit to Cornerbrook with nothing to do there.

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Today, I received some important materials we'll need before our trip. We're counting down the days to go, and taking care of things that need taking care of between our two cruises.  I have a co-op board meeting, lunch with two friends, and a dinner with Vicki scheduled.  RQS will be coming up here this coming weekend, so that she can buy a new printer and have me deliver it, and her back to her place at the end of the weekend.

So, what did with most of my day?  If you said "Relax", you'd be correct.  I didn't get showered and dressed until 4 pm (or so), and took a drive up to Poughkeepsie.  It was a nice day for a drive, and even the rush hour traffic wasn't too bad.  Ending up at Aldi, I looked for things that would not need refrigeration, such as bread.  But I noticed one item that interested me - a Bluetooth folding keyboard. For $10, it was worth a try.  The darned thing works, but is not practical due to its size.  It'll be nice to keep around when my main keyboard needs to be replaced, and the stores won't open for another few hours.  Sometimes, toys can still be useful.  Once done with Aldi, it was time to go food shopping at Trader Joe's. Today's food haul was a record expenditure for me at this store.  I can't complain about the prices, but I can see the effects of inflation and the Snowflake's tariffs starting to kick in.  $67 later, it was time to go home. 

Once home, I couldn't get the food into the refrigerator quick enough - my GI Tract was acting up again.  And soon enough, I was in for the night, and no longer in the mood to do laundry as I once planned. 

  

 

Forgetfulness and old age

Like many old folk, I notice that my memory isn't as quick or as sharp as it once was.  I can remember the days when I could work on a computer program 500 pages long and remember the exact page and "paragraph" a section of code could be found.  Now days, it takes me longer to remember things, as well as having only a vague idea where that memory comes from.

Today, I got dressed in one of the 2 dresses I received from Universal Standard this weekend while RQS packed to go home.  Having dropped RQS off at Croton-Harmon around 1:45, I proceeded to take a short drive and then have lunch.  Just as I was ready to take a long bio-break (my GI Tract was acting up again), RQS called me - she couldn't find the medicine she was supposed to being home.  AARGH!  I looked around the apartment and found nothing.  Although I'd look into the back of my car when I went out to the movies, I told her what I didn't find.  (Last week she left the medicine in the ice box.  Now, she left it where it can't be found.)

Luckily, she is going to the doctor's office tomorrow, and hopefully, she can get an early refill of the prescription.  If not, we'll deal with things then.  Getting old is a bitch, but it's better than the alternative. 

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Postscript:

RQS Called both her pharmacy and her insurance company.  All she needs is a new prescription from the doctor she will see in the morning.  This will allow her to get her drugs without having to pay an exorbitant fee for them.

A visit to the doctor and a zoom with the girls.

 

Although my doctor only sees me looking like the image on the left, my Texas friends have only seen me looking like the image on the right. Today was a half-and-half day for me, and I hated looking like the fellow on the left when I'd rather look like the "girl" on the left.  But then, Alfred, like Bugs Bunny was not afraid of putting on a dress when it is called for.

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Today started with me not getting enough sleep overnight.  I was running on 3-4 hours of sleep when I woke up, and it didn't make sense for me to go back to sleep before going to the doctor's office at 9:45 am.  As expected, the doctor was running a little late, and I could have arrived at 10 am without losing any time.  However, with this visit, I saw my doctor relatively quickly (for him) and had the chance to tell him about the problem I've been having with my leg and the problem I've been having with my GI-Tract.  

With the doctor's visit out of the way, I got a bite to eat and went home to take a nap.  Even though I woke up around 1:00 pm/1:30 pm or so, I didn't bother going out again before the zoom meeting with my Texas friends.  This was just as well, as I had some co-op business dropped on my lap, and I had to sign a document which would allow us to start negotiating the final cost for something previously required by our bank.

Around 7:00 pm, I got dressed as Marian and prepared to start the zoom around 8:00 pm.  Now, I wasn't in the mood to talk a lot, as I was still tired.  But I wasn't going to cancel things for tonight, as I don't want to get into that habit.  My Texas friends came on first, followed by RQS.  We caught up on what is going on in each others' lives, and the zoom lasted longer than usual.  Around 10:20 pm, we ended the meeting, and I went out to CVS to pick up some stuff.  While driving, I made my nightly call to RQS and we caught up on each other's day.  I mentioned to RQS that when I mentioned the possibility of our friends visiting NYC, that it wasn't shot down out of hand.  RQS noticed it too.  But I'd rather see them in a city like Chicago, Philadelphia or Boston, where all of us would have to travel to get there.

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All in all, this wasn't as bad a day as it could have been.  If a friend didn't cancel dinner for tonight, I'd have had no emotional energy left to enjoy the zoom with our friends.  So, things worked out for the best after all.

A quick trip to Poughkeepsie and back.

 

RQS had several things on her docket that had to be taken care of today.  First, we had to take her dress to a seamstress to be altered to fit properly.  Then, it was up to Poughkeepsie to pick up some clothing RQS had ordered and delivered to the store, and finally, to pick up a space heater to replace one which was recalled.

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Given that I am still recovering from a bug, I didn't get moving until 2 pm, not leaving the house until 3:30 pm.  Our first stop was at the seamstress's place, where RQS spent $50 to get her dress altered.  After we left the shop, we took Route 9a into Peekskill.  Along the way, we saw a gathering of fire trucks (and maybe police cars) blocking the entrance to the Cortlandt Train Station parking lot.  There was no way that I was going to stop and find out.  That could be done later after we got home,

About an hour later, we were up in Poughkeepsie to pick up the package waiting for RQS at Lane Bryant.  Although I parked at the other end of the mall, I figured we could stop into Target before going home.  Sadly, my GI Tract told me that I had to make it home pronto, and that's what we did.  By the time we made it home, I just had enough time to take off my coat before I took care of some important business.

Once done, it was off to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.  After shredding 2 chicken legs w. thighs, we started cooking some string beans, chopping up some scallions, and cooking some noodles before tossing everything into a skillet with peanut sauce.  Yum!  RQS even went back for seconds!!!

The rest of the evening was uneventful.  "Z Nation" was on the idiot box, and we enjoyed some mindless entertainment for the rest of the night.