Closing out a weekend.

 

I accidentally deleted my original post for today.  So here goes....

Saturday was a rainy day where RQS and I would rather have stayed home.  However, I had taxes to take care of, and I had to take them to my new preparer.  Several traffic jams and delays caused by bad drivers losing control of their cars, we made it to my new preparer and were ready to make our trip to Suffern, NY to see the new Ghostbusters film.  

Why Suffern? you may ask.  There were closer theaters which involved much less driving.  Well, Saturday night's showing was accompanied by a Wurlitzer Organ being played prior to the 7:30 showing.  With the rain and road floods, we barely got to Suffern in time to get a bite to eat and enjoy the organ performance.

Too bad that we didn't stop somewhere other than the pizza parlor near the theater.  I won't name the place, as the food was mediocre at best.  But if you are in Suffern, skip the pizza and go for Mexican. At least we were able to get to the theater early enough to hear the whole organ performance. Was the film good?  For a franchise flick, it was pleasant.  But was it good?  It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half on a Saturday evening. When we returned to the car, I found that a slow leak was detected by the TPMS system.  So I drove home, and made plans to go to Mavis Tires the next morning.  

Sunday came, and I went to Mavis.  90 minutes later, the tire was fixed, and I was home for the rest of the day to rest with RQS.  Unfortunately, Monday came, and RQS had to leave.  So we got some lunch, and I dropped her off at the station, so that she could get home during daytime hours....

I have a feeling that the tire shop was right about this one - a short post

 

For a long while, I've had to worry about a slow leak in one of my tires.  About once per month, I'd find that an "Idiot Light" would go on, telling me that one of my tires needed inflating.  Well, the first time this happened, it was the TPMS Sensor in one my wheel hubs which was replaced.  Later on, I had a true slow leak that was annoying, and probably related to wheel hub damage that would only be noticeable when the car is on the lift.  This was a problem that I lived with, instead of trying to get it fixed - even after replacing a set of tires at the end of their life.  And then, after the wheel hub was repaired, I had another slow leak on the same wheel - this time, the tire needed repair.

Just before I went on my trip to Hawaii, I checked the air pressure in the tire to be safe, and then parked for a week and a half at the hotel. During the trip, I occasionally wondered about the tire, and whether it would still be inflated when I returned to the hotel to pick up my car.  It's been a month since then, and I haven't had to inflate the tire yet,

Why am I thinking of this?

I'm living more and more of my life as Marian, and I don't want to call AAA (or another service) for help when in gender-nonconforming presentation.  There are still too many people who think that people like me are freaks.  And I don't want to lose a certain privilege that seemingly cisgender people have - an expectation of being treated with "respect" (but not necessarily with honesty).  The one time I needed to call AAA while presenting as Marian, I was able to switch into Mario mode before the tow truck came.  Since I no longer bother keeping a change of clothes in the car, I feel that I could be at greater risk if my car were to break down on the side of the road. 

The calm before the storm

 

Winter is known for interesting weather.  One day, the weather could be in the 50's, and later that same week, we could have a blizzard.  This is one of those weeks.

Earlier this week, the weather was in the 50's, and it was a nice day to go out wearing a lightweight coat and a sweater underneath.  Today, the weather was in the high 30's, and people were at the supermarkets stocking up in preparation for the coming blizzard.  

This morning, I got up early, so that I could return a book to the local library, and then decided to take a long ride just to get some free air for one of my tires. (I have a slow leak in one tire, and wanted to make sure that I didn't need to inflate it in bad weather.)  While out, I noticed how busy the supermarkets were, and was glad that I stocked up on things a few days ago. I was also glad that I postponed a zoom meeting with my ex boss until tomorrow - neither of us would be going out, and it made sense to use forced downtime for our virtual get together than a day which I expected might be busy preparing for the coming snow.

By the time I got home, I was very tired.  But I had no time to take a good nap.  Instead, I had to get proof that I had health insurance lined up for 2021, and no extra time to take care of this.  New York's Obamacare exchange was closing up shop earlier than last year, so I had only the 6 week window to have paperwork in hand saying that I had purchased a plan for the coming year.  After a phone call and logging into the exchange site, I had that paperwork in hand, and had what I needed to fight "city hall" if needed.

Next, it was a co-op board meeting.  Things ran better than expected, and the meeting was quicker than usual.  However, I had to bug out early - I had a Tuesday night meeting of my Texas Zoom Meetup group to attend.  (I'll have to talk with the president of the co-op in the morning about me bailing out.)  Around 8:30, I made it to the meetup group, and only one of the group was left online.  We chatted for 30 minutes, and then I was free for the evening.

Hopefully, tomorrow's weather won't be as bad as expected. At least, I have my snow shovel upstairs just to be safe....