Stock, Car

I did have more neuropathy pain in the hands last night and this morning, particularly in the thumbs and unfortunately in my right hallux (big toe) as I was driving back from the grocery store (yay, new car battery working fine!) so that made using the brake and accelerator tons of fun, but I haven't had to take any ibuprofen so it's manageable with heat (doing the dishes warmed them up nicely, as did wearing wrist braces for an hour or so). We didn't have a huge shopping list but there was a "10 for $10" sale on two staples that we use all the time so we are stocked up now. Before we left I finally tackled my car insurance files, getting rid of all the outdated supplemental info (we have a fairly nice shredder now so all those pages got shredded) and putting all the renewals in date order. Which is a lot for 22 years times twice yearly! Now all that remains is the maintenance log, basically all the times I've taken it in for an oil change or other work. And I received my replacement title in the mail today, confirming that I don't think I've ever seen my car's title in my life. My guess is that Dad must have kept it and after he passed it never made it to me. Now I'm ready to go car shopping, possibly as early as next weekend if my body behaves itself!

Finger on the Problem

After two straight in-office days it was such a blessing to work from home and give my hands a few days to heal! Lots of nerve pain, although I'm hoping it's more neuropathy being triggered than any lasting damage. Couldn't really do too much more than type, and ibuprofen is the order of the day, or at least the evening. Manual dexterity is just a bit tricky today. But my work got done, I put in my 8+ hours, and I can now relax...

Of the AM Commute from Hell, and Espresso Martinis

Brand-new bus this morning! I hopped on at 6:30 after a 10-minute wait in the somewhat-cold-and-dank, and all was fine until one of the last pickups when a wheelchair passenger wanted to board. All well and good, I think her timing might have been better if she'd waited until after rush hour, but I know nothing of her life and plans so who am I to say. Unfortunately, the wheelchair lift mechanism on the (I say again) brand-new bus didn't work, and got stuck in the exterior position. Which meant I had to wait almost half an hour before the next bus on that route came by (the bus in between takes a faster route... had I only known). All the other passengers got off and took an east side bus that promised to make the first Manhattan dropoff, but that's no good for me as I needed to get to 9th Avenue. And the later you get the more traffic builds up, so by the time I hit the transfer point for the local it was well after 8 AM. Alas, it was another 20-minute wait for the local, so I finally got into work around 9:15. Nothing like a 3+ hour commute! Then at lunch I tried to "piggyback" through the turnstiles and they closed in on my hands, which stung like hell and will probably result in a lot of nerve pain in the next couple of days. Fortunately there was a cross-promotion going between Grey Goose vodka and the new Devil Wears Prada movie, where they gave away tiny espresso martinis (martini-tinies!) and popcorn, which I later discovered (when eating the popcorn back at my workstation) was made with edible glitter. Glitter now festoons my keyboard and pants. The kids who came into the office for Take Your Kids to Work Day seemed to get a kick out of that; so great to meet the childers of two of my partners! Homeward commute much easier, and I'm just hoping the pain isn't too bad tomorrow...

Down to Earth Day

Today was the first of two consecutive in-office days, which are getting more and more difficult as I age, particularly when the morning starts out dank and cold and I'm slightly underdressed (otherwise I'd be too overdressed for the homeward commute) and I have to wait for both express and local buses for over 10 minutes each. Fortunately there was a free coffee truck (advertising that the firm is launching a new division, basically doing what my bosses at my old job did) outside our HQ, so I was able to warm up at last and get into the swing of Administrative Professionals Day. I had a lovely Admin Day, no monetary pressies but lots of flowers, and we had a little celebration where we all got together and had fruit and gelato (I'm sure my system will pay for the latter tomorrow). It was so nice seeing my fellow exec assistants all in one place for a change! And I got to leave all my stuff (except for the flowers) at the office as I'll be returning tomorrow; how could I not, for Bring Your Kids to Work Day? Lots of foot pain when I got home, hoping the shower eases my muscles in time to do it all again tomorrow.

Silly Site o' the Day

After a day of space heaters and shivering, the heat came on again today, so now I'm just hungry. Time for the Tiny Chef!

 Via BoingBoing.

The High Who Came In from the Cold

Happy 4-20, all! Copious use of the space heaters throughout this morning, and probably tomorrow morning as well, as I postponed organizing the car files in favor of just keeping warm and drinking lots of hot liquid. The heaters are now on again, I've just showered which raises my body temp and toked which lowers it, so I figure I'll come out even.

Car-Go Plans

Thank goodness the issue with the car seemed to be centered on just the battery. The new AAA brand (guaranteed for three years, probably longer than we'll still have this 22-year-old baby) is working beautifully, but I wanted to test it out anyway by driving to our favorite sushi place, as the sushi we got at our regular grocery store yesterday was somewhat lacking. The weather was icky and rainy (the Yankee game was postponed at least a few horus) and presaged a drop in temperature to come (looks like the space heaters will be employed for a few days) so the miso soup was especially tasty, and I even got some nice warming lunches/dinners at the nearby ShopRite as I'll be working from home the next couple of days. I think I found the car's title but I didn't want to take any chances so I've ordered a replacement (only $20 and five minutes on the DMV's website!) and made a bit more headway in organizing my maintenance log and auto insurance files in preparation for such time as we try to trade this in for a newer model. I'm hoping that time comes before my biannual registration comes due!

From the Hall of Medi-Pedi to the Shores of Triple A

At long last I was going to see my podiatrist first thing this morning about my hallux issue and to get my medical pedicure. As the hallux has been causing me pain I didn't want to walk the six blocks if I could help it, so I got in the car, turned the key, and... nothing. A few clicks. Dead battery. So I wound up walking a few blocks and grabbing a bus for the other 3-4 blocks (worth it!). Turns out the hallux (big toe) is where the sciatic nerve winds up, which is why I've felt the pain so acutely when my gait or IT band issues or whatever causes things to rub against that area. anyway, one trim later I was able to walk back up the hill six blocks to home without lasting pain, and immediately called AAA to give us a jump-start. Their road assistance guy Joel came in amazingly short order, gave us the needed jolt, told us to leave the engine running for an hour to recharge, and that the battery was definitely going. So I made an appointment tomorrow with my local Mavis, and about 90 minutes later we were off to the supermarket. Alas, we ran into the same issue when I tried to start the car to get out of the supermarket parking lot. Turns out the battery was so much on its last legs that it wouldn't hold a charge. So Joel swung by again, this time to change out the battery completely. Upon arriving home, I cancelled the Mavis appointment and started gathering all the files I had on my current car in anticipation of buying or leasing an new one. Turns out this 22-year-old baby is worth at least $1K trade-in according to KBB, so when we finally get to a local Hyundai dealer let's hope they honor that. After all, it's got a brand-new battery.

The Neverending Salad

I woke up way too early with a calf cramp, and by the time I got going for good I'd decided to try and stand in the kitchen for awhile to ease the calf and make myself an omelet for breakfast. I'd initially intended on using the lox, but I opted to do that tomorrow instead and then I realized I needed to pan fry onions and mushrooms, as I wanted to put cold shrooms into a salad later on. So that got done, then throughout the day I prepped other ingredients for the salad, and made myself enough for at least three meals. There's always something I forget to add, and today it was the tomatoes, so they'll go into the storage containers along with the leftover salad. I must have done at least three rounds of washing up as well, as I generally like to clean up after myself soon after food prep. Oh, and I finally finished compiling a list of all my bank accounts, credit cards, and stuff I'm in the process of inheriting from my parents' estate, a project that had been in the works for some time. Now I can sleep!

Silly Site o' the Day

Unusually for me, I had more down time than usual at the office today, so busied myself with my usual visits to the in-office partners I support and my fellow exec assistants. I didn't move around too much, as I didn't want to aggravate my foot (seeing the podiatrist at last on Saturday, well overdue), but if I were able to walk better I'd check out some zebra boards:

 Via Laughing Squid.