The Longest and Almost Shortest Day

Gridlock alert! Boy, no kidding! My left big toe persists in hurting like the dickens whenever I use that foot, and today's walking didn't help. The morning commute was fine, not a lot of walking there as I transferred from the express to a local bus and got out a block away from the office, but once there I found myself doing a lot of walking between floors with colleagues and doing various errands. I did a bit of browsing in Whole Foods as well, and was kind of disappointed with their lack of holiday point-of-purchase stuff as I was in the mood to buy some, but a colleague surprised me with a holiday gift of some wonderful (and kind of heavy) candles so I wouldn't have been able to carry more than that home. Fortunately Mom is a bit better today than yesterday so I left the backpack and my laptop in a temporary locker and all I had to schlep was the gift. Alas, I couldn't even get onto a subway; I finally squeezed onto a still-crowded "1" that emptied enough at 42nd Street that I was able to grab a seat, but then I had to go through the crowd thing again at the transfer point to a local bus in my neighborhood. So exhausting, i can't really think straight. All my usual organization will have to wait for tomorrow night.