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Jan 3, 2008 - 01:07 PM |
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Happy...? New Year |
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Yesterday was my first day back at work after the holiday. I should have known that that didn't bode well, but I trounced out in the 14 degree cold to my car, a few minutes later than I had planned, my lightly toasted cinnamon crunch bagel with cream cheese in one hand, my lunch in the other. The bagel even steamed in the cold. Mmm. I got out to my car. You know, the one I left for a week and a half under the covered parking while I was back home visiting my parents. I unlocked the car, loaded up my backpack and everything, and climbed into the front seat. I looked up and realized that what was a small rock chip before the break was now a three-pronged, two-foot-wide crack in the windshield. Wondrous. I figure that my insurance might cover it, though, and there's no use agonizing over it when there was nothing I could do about it then. I went to start the car.
Drat.
I knew I had left very little gas in the car when we went on break. I didn't realize it would be 14 degrees and that the gas would likely freeze in the gas tank. At least, that's what I assumed happened. I figured that I needed some more gas in the car if I wanted to get anything, so I decided to trek to the gas station a block or so from my apartment complex. I called up my boss to explain my predicament, then trudged to the front office of the complex. Maybe they would have a gas can so I could avoid getting one myself.
No such luck. All the golf cart things they use to get around the complex are electric, and they don't keep gas cans around. Oh, well. I walked the quarter mile or whatever to the gas station, glancing over at the Walmart as I passed. I wondered if I should get a gas can from there, but I figured the gas station, so close to the highway off-ramp, would likely carry some, and it would save me the extra time of standing in a Walmart line and everything. I got to the gas station, ears completely frozen, and asked the attendant lady if they had any gas cans. "If we do, they'd be in that back corner, but I think we sold our last one on New Year's Eve. Yup, don't have any more. We get some more in tomorrow, but I don't suppose that would help you."
Double drat.
That's okay, Walmart is not far. I trek back to Walmart, cross the entire store to find the gas can, cross all the way back to pay, walk back to the gas station (replete with frozen ears, again), fill up the gas can, and print the receipt. Or try to. I picked the pump with the broken receipt thinger, so I went back in to talk to the attendant lady. I'd made a new year's resolution to keep track of expenditures and file receipts, and it didn't seem like a good idea to mess that up on day 2. Got my receipt and trodded back to my car at the apartment complex, with frozen ears four times over. Finally figured out the gas can, dumped the 2 gallons of gas into the car, and got on my merry little way, with frozen ears, a chapped nose, and an hour of work lost.
Funny thing is, I was actually in a great mood. The sun was out, the walk was crisp, the attendant was nice, though my ears were cold I had gloves so my hands were warm, and I'm sorta wishing I could be taking a walk right now instead of staying cooped up in my basement workplace. Still have to figure the cracked windshield out, though. Oh, well.
Happy New Year!
| Currently Playing: Keane - Untitled 1 |
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