The day after, Or: The turkey didn't die in vain. He died for us.

 

After a night where our stomachs digested yesterday's feast, it was time to take care of errands.  Our goals for the day: (1) Bring RQS's computer to the repair shop for a battery replacement, (2) Get my car's windshield fixed, and (3) Buy a new cell phone (the old one's battery needs replacing).  Of these tasks, there is no order that they must be done.  But they must be done while I present as Mario.  AARGH!  

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As usual, I awakened before RQS and decided to take care of some things before going out to get the car windshield fixed.  Unfortunately, several things conspired to prevent us getting to Safelite on time.  First, RQS didn't get dressed soon enough to meet the built in margin I had with departure time to reach Mt. Kisco.  Second, Google Maps directed me to a non-extant address on the "wrong road" in Mt. Kisco.  (I copied the address of 379 N. Bedford Road, and it got corrected to 379 Bedford Road - a location far away from where we needed to be.  And lastly, the street numbering on North Bedford Road was out of sequence, as Shoprite's entry (333 North Bedford Road) came after the small driveway for Safelite while building construction got in the way of seeing Safelite's building from the road.  AARGH!

We proceeded to sit down while my windshield got repaired.  If one looks carefully, there is a spot that got damaged in the safety glass laminate that couldn't be fixed.  However, from either side of the glass, it looks like a spec of dirt.  When it came to paying for the work, I couldn't get them to charge my insurance company directly - I had booked everything with a cash payment.  So I knew I'd have to deal with my car's insurance company when I can reach my agent.

Our next stop was to Best Buy where I bought a new cell phone.  The battery on my old phone is dying, and I figured that it was time to replace it and move things to a new phone.  As I write this, I'm monitoring the process of porting everything over to the new phone.  There will be a few hiccups in the process.  But I expect to be up and running this evening.  Once the new phone is set up for phone calls, I will order a new battery for the old phone and prepare to take it to the shop to be installed.  I will then have a backup phone for emergency use.  Yay!

Unfortunately, when we got home, the computer repair shop was closed for the weekend, as was my insurance agent.  RQS and I will be dealing with this on Monday, when everyone is back at work.

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While I am by my computer, RQS is cooking the chicken breasts I bought for Thanksgiving dinner.  One of the four will be used for Chicken Salad sandwiches.  Another will be used for Chicken Linguini Alfredo. And the remaining two will go into the freezer for later use.  Upon opening the package, RQS remarked - these breasts are heavier than the turkey breast we had last night!  Somehow, I think I did right....

A prolonged hospital stay, a cancelled holiday dinner, and a chip in my windshield.

 

Today should have been a good day.  RQS was supposed to leave the hospital and come up here.  But thanks to modern bureaucracy, she's stuck in the hospital for another night.

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I'm writing this post two days before Thanksgiving.  On Monday, RQS went to the doctor for some blood work, and ended up in the emergency room due to high potassium levels.  Although she was stabilized by morning, she was caught in a bureaucratic nightmare.  Both the doctors and nurses told her that she'd be going home today.  But the fates didn't get the message.

Around 9 am, RQS was told (for the first time) that she'd be going home by the afternoon.  Noon came and went, and she was told that she'd be out of the hospital before dinner.  Dinner came and went, and RQS was about to lose her cool for the third time. 

"I was told I'd be going home.  Why haven't I been discharged yet?"

The nurse on duty could only say that she was sorry, and gave the usual line of BS.  RQS demanded to see a supervisor, and found out a little more.  The medicine that works for her is expensive, and the hospital couldn't give RQS a supply without authorization from her drug formulary.  AARGH! 

"Why couldn't this have been prioritized during the day?" 

"Why has everyone been telling me that I'd be going home today?"  

"Why am I being treated like a cog in a machine, instead of a person with feelings?"

She had many more questions that couldn't be answered, and the supervisor had no power to do anything for her, save to say that he'd make a note to the daytime shift to make this a high priority.  BS, MS, and PhD - Bull S**t, More of the Same, and Piled Higher and Deeper.  If she was a VIP, they could have moved mountains for her.  But she is not.  She was breaking down on the phone.

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Now that we had no confidence that RQS would be discharged the day before the holiday, I decided to cancel the holiday dinner we planned at a local restaurant.  Then, I went to the supermarket, and my car's windshield got hit by a stone.  Now, I have to go to Safelite to get the windshield fixed before the bitter cold sets in.

I can't wait until the holiday is over and we can get back to normal....