So uhhhh, August is gone. I'm not overly sorry to see it go, to be honest. Historically, August is a very tumultuous month for me. In more recent years, that hasn't necessarily been the case as much. Nonetheless, this August was hot and miserable and I am still ticking down the days until Disney and if it could just be September 1st already, that'd be greatttttttt..
FRIDAY
Friday was a weird day at work since it was our last day in our old office. I'm glad that we're finally done with that office because being on the verge of something like a move is always more stressful for me than actually moving. That and I hate being in transition. My stuff was half at the new office and half at the old. On Friday morning, I went ahead and brought over the remaining items that needed to be moved with the exception of my laptop. When I got back, I tried to resist the Disney pull, but couldn't. #ALLTHEDISNEY!!!!
Since it was our last day at that space, Company had lunch brought in for everyone from Cru Cafe. It's a place that has been on my Yelp list, so I was excited to try it. I was disappointed though. I almost had the turkey sammich, but gave it up for the chicken salad for Twin Dad who hates mayo. I don't think the turkey would have been much better than the chicken salad, and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything worth going out of the way to get.
After lunch, I was burning time till I left at 1:30. It was a close call to boredom because I had moved my laptop charger to the new office and was fully reliant on the battery which was draining quickly. I ended up shutting the computer down to leave with 9% of the battery remaining. If you've ever been scuba diving, you know that the deeper you go, the more oxygen you consume due to pressurization. Yeah, I feel like that also happens when you're operating on battery juice. The less you have, the more you use.
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| Almost like the day I started. |
I headed out and went straight to my massage appointment at the technical school. I discovered gold recently when I learned there is a massage school in Charleston and it's not too far from our house (about halfway between home and work). Also, $35 for 90 minutes? Yes, please, and thank you. No tipping allowed? HELLLS YEAHHH BEECHES! Truthfully, it wasn't the best massage ever, nor did I expect it to be, but it did feel good, so I'm not complaining.. much. Also, they should give you an email survey to fill out instead of a piece of paper immediately after. It wasn't until I got home and was thinking about it and realized why my triceps were sore that I realized it was from too much pressure. Also, I didn't get a scalp massage, and between that and a face massage, it's hard to decide which I like more. It's essentially my massage happy ending. Nonetheless, $35 massage.
I headed home to wait on Teh German to get home. I finished up a challenge book. Teh WJL had forwarded me an email about Audible's sale going on and I re-signed up with my original Audible account (so the books would all be on the not-sequel account) so I could get the discounted rates. I ended up getting
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander 2),
A Man Called Ove,
Code Name Verity, and
The Last Anniversary.
Right before Teh German came home, I received an email from Shitty House Owner asking me to forward him the emails from the property management company discussing shed access. Because I'm an overly nice person, I forwarded him the emails, but also included a note detailing how it was even discovered that all of his crap in the shed (which he clarified was worth about $32,000) and if the mistake hadn't been made, no one would have known for at least a year, unless he had come to check on the shed. I actually called Teh MD-AR and read her the email before I sent it because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't out of line in the way I wrapped up the email, but I wanted to make sure it was on the record somewhere that he had been negligent towards the house. I blamed the shed, but it seems like he is just that type of person.
We had plans with Neighbors to go out to Sushi 101 for dinner, so after I finished responding to his email, around 6, they picked us up and we headed to dinner. Right in time, since 15 minutes after we were seated, the restaurant went from a quarter full to people waiting at the door. Our food did take a while, but we were chatting, so it wasn't too bad. After dinner, Neighbors showed us houses they were looking at for his mom and then brought us home so we could release the hounds.
We spent the evening being lazy. Teh German tried to watch the Patriots/Panthers game, but was having technical difficulties. Meanwhile, I was trying to troubleshoot my Kindle since it wasn't accepting the books I was trying to side load. I ended up factory resetting my Kindle to see if it would accept books. Much to my dismay, it did not work AND I lost all my puzzle accomplishments. Which I
know doesn't really matter, but it does when you have completed all but 3 of the goals and you have 508 stars for all your completed puzzles, it totally does.
As I was falling asleep, I thought that maybe if I backed up from a restore point I could get my puzzle data back. I didn't sleep well Saturday night because technical malfunctions stress me out. Especially when it's my reading machine so close to travel time.
SATURDAY
I BOLTED out of the bed at 6:45 on Saturday morning in a white-hot panic that it was Tuesday morning and it was daylight outside and Teh German was still asleep beside me and how the shit did he not hear his alarm going off and OMG he's going to be late for work and be stressed and grouchy.. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
My abruptness woke Teh German up and while I'm having 2 minutes of thoughts in about 5 seconds, he mumbled out a "What?" about the time that I realized that it was actually Saturday and he hadn't heard his alarm because there was no alarm and it wasn't because I slept with an earplug in. I crawled back in the bed with a pounding heart and Teh German cuddled me. 3 minutes later, we both had to pee, and Teh German offered to feed the beasts. Once we were all reset, we fell back asleep until 10. This is what happens when I stay up too late troubleshooting. I sleep too long.
Teh German and I got up and started playing around on social media while we ate a small breakfast. Then before we lost motivation, we started doing choirs. I negociated my way out of scooping poop by tell Teh German I would vacuum the entire house without asking him to help. I got the shitty end of the deal. I'm kind of OCD about the floors. So not only did I vacuum, I also beat off the rugs and the dog beds and vacuumed the dog beds and couches, but I also we ahead and swiffer mopped while I had everything up since it hadn't been done since the Haus warming party. I hadn't even started vacuuming the stairs or upstairs when Teh German came in from doing the yard work (scooping poop, mowing the grass, and edging).
It took me a total of 3 hours to vacuum the entire house and "mop" the floors. I also dusted off the table and vacuumed the base boards that obviously needed it. I finished vacuuming right in time to get my stinky sweaty ass in the shower before we needed to leave to head to the hair cut place for our appointments at 2:30. I broke my promise and asked Teh German to lay the bathroom rugs back down, but I replaced all the living room rugs for Phil.
We arrived to the hair cut place right on time. It's a place that Teh German found about a month ago and he liked the lady that cut his hair. I knew I needed mine cut as well, so I just made an appointment at the same place at the same time. It's hair, it will grow back... but I know better. The lady that did my hair said it definitely needed to be cut and she asked if I wanted to layers. I told her I didn't care and just to make it look good and ensure it still would go up in a pony tail. When she washed my hair, she massaged my scalp, so I enjoyed that. But then, I started to get scared. She started cutting, which was fine since I don't have a length fear. But then she started aggressively floofing my hair. Know what you shouldn't do to curly hair? Excessively floof. I'm not even sure what she was doing, but my hair was a hot mess when I left, despite her "fixing" it.
Also, let me just admit that I'm aware hair dressers hate doing perms. I get it. They are time consuming, they stink, blah blah blah. 2 of the hair dressers were surprised when I told them my hair was permed and not naturally curly, 1 of those was the lady cutting my hair. She was still aggressively floofing when I told her. She didn't stop floofing. Even when she was trying to fix it. I almost pulled away and said, "Have you ever deal with curly hair,
ever?" I didn't, but holy moly. Stop floofing the curls. You're just making them frizzy and I have to walk around like this for the rest of the day. STTTAAHHPPP. Also, I later learned that she had cut the front too short and it doesn't want to stay in the ponytail. I was impressed with Teh German's hair cut until Sunday when he got wet and you could see that she hadn't trimmed one side of his "bangs". Le siiiigh.
After hair cuts, we decided to go to Home Team BBQ for late lunch/early dinner. We had wanted to go on our anniversary evening to recreate our first date, but when Teh German's clutch broke, that was nixed and then we ended up doing Halls instead, so it was fine. Teh German was starting to get a headache so food was our first priority. There was a chipotle tostada special and they wouldn't let me try a small sample of the meat to judge how spicy it was, so I ordered it blindly. Both people behind the counter said it wasn't
really spicy, but Teh German and I shared a knowing look that said, they don't get it, but ok. Truthfully, I suffered through it because it was good, but my mouth and lips were on fire. Teh German said it was kinda spicy, so for me, it was almost unbearable.
After we ate, we people/car watched for a bit and chatted. Eventually, we headed out since Teh German wanted to go to Lowes. About the time we pulled out of the parking lot, I needed to go to the bathroom. I actually went so far as to ask Teh German where the bathroom was at the Lowes we were going to so I could plan properly. He asked if we needed to stop at his work and I admitted that wouldn't be a bad idea. The bad part of the idea was that Teh German didn't actually remember his alarm code. Excellent. So I took care of business while listening to the soothing sounds of the building alarm. After I finished, we were still waiting on the cops to show up to ensure them that no one was actually breaking in. It took 15-20 minutes for the lone officer to even meander up in his car. Long enough that if someone were really breaking in, they'd be gone.
Once the alarm situation was dealt with, we headed to Lowes. We only needed string for the weed eater. We ended up with a 100 foot hose, 2 hose holders, 1 thing of string, 1 thing of 2 cycle oil, and we found a pressure washer we're going to get since it's got good reviews and it's on sale for $50 off right now. Lowes free wifi is seriously a life saver for me. After about an hour, we finally left and headed home. Teh German's head was hurting so he relaxed and watched youtube for most of the evening, while I started the process of troubleshooting my Kindle.
So Kindle Fire's come with a program called Mayday which is essentially tech help via web cam where they can also control your Kindle. It's creepy and awesome at the same time. I was working with one tech who seemed to know what was up, but then the call got lost when I went to fetch the USB cable to transfer a book manually. With sadness, I called back and the tech I got didn't even know what Calibre was. Fantastic. I explained the issues I was having and she pretty much said she didn't have any idea what was going on and that she was going to escalate me to a technician. Ok.
The tech was trying to help me restore the Kindle to an old back up, but the screen kept freezing up/going black. When I told him I was just getting a black screen he noticed that I had an extended warranty and said he would put me in contact with the warrant people to get a new Kindle for me since the black screen was a problem. /shrug ok.
I had some issues with the warranty lady because she didn't want to use my credit card on file since it it is an Amazon rewards card. She finally "made an exception" when I couldn't validate any of the other cards listed on the account and when I told her that I was calling through my Kindle and I didn't have a number pad to actually input a card number and she wasn't allowed to put card info in.
TL;DR: I have a new Kindle HD 10 arriving on Wednesday. For once, something that Mr. Scrooge did had a directly positive impact on my life.
It makes me worried that the new Kindle is arriving right before we leave, but hopefully it won't be difficult to set up. It was after I bought a new case for the Kindle 10 that I started trying to get my current Kindle to cooperate with the book situation. Of course, it felt threatened, so it started working properly. Not only did it start working properly, but I also learned a few things.
-.mobi files are better for ebooks than .azw. Many moons ago, I read that .azw was the proper file to send to a Kindle, so that's what I had been using. If you use the .mobi format, the books will show up with the covers under the Books tab, which hadn't been happening.
-When using Calibre, don't allow Calibre to email .azw files to Amazon. Amazon doesn't accept them. Oops. If you email them (correctly) to Amazon, not only do they show up on your Kindle, but also in the Kindle app. Meannnninnngggg... if you have the Kindle app on your computer/phone, you can read there as well..
and it syncs. Granted, the book will show up under Documents\sent-to-device and not in the Books tab, but for the ability to read across all my platforms, I'm willing to sacrifice titles not showing up under books for the ability to read and sync across platforms.
I got a few books loaded onto my Kindle and started reading my final challenge book,
Forever, Interrupted. In the beginning, I was bitter for being hooked so quickly, but I stayed up until midnight:30 to finish the book, so it was pretty good. Also, challenge COMPLETE.
I know I shouldn't be so caught up in what Goodreads is
judging me for saying, but after seeing 4 books behind, I got a little obsessive. Well, now I'm 4 books ahead... and I have 4 audiobooks, 2 hard copies, and several ebooks to read. #cantstopwontstop
I reviewed the book so I could wind down and fall asleep, which was nearly impossible.
SUNDAY
Another startle awake on Sunday morning, but not as bad as Saturday morning. I think the dogs heard something and they both shot up, which woke me up too. Ugh. I got up and fed them and let them out, then we all went back to bed. I continued reading
Bossypants, which is still not sucking me in. Eventually, Meri got up on the bed for snuggles and Teh German woke up, so reading was put to the side for family snuggles.
We had plans to meet some of Teh German's coworkers at Triangle for brunch, then we were headed out to the Charleston Harbor on a boat around 2. Brunch was successful, then we headed to grab a bag of ice, then meet everyone else at the marina. The clouds had started rolling in, but we were still fine. Our boat wasn't ready, so we walked back to the restaurant we had passed to continue our drinking while we waited. 30 minutes later, our boat arrived and was cleaned and we were headed out. We were warned that storms were coming and to dock if we could, if we were caught in the storm.
First we headed into the bay towards the Ravenel Bridge and the USS YORKTOWN. After photos were accomplished and everyone emptied their bladders, we loaded back up and headed towards Isle of Palms and into Shem Creek. The waters were rough and we could see the clouds headed our way and that it was raining, so we went around the other side of the storm towards James Island and Folly Beach. We were able to get some tube time in, which was fun, abet mildly painful. Let's just say that I definitely got some good salt water rinses done on my sinus cavities.
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| Charleston Battery |
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Bridge selfie!
With my Troll-esque hairs. |
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| Love dat Bridge. |
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| Fishing boats at Shem Creek |
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| Fishing boats and paddle boarders. |
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| Headed into the riverway to get some tubing on. |
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Charles Towne Landing, a historical thing in Charleston
(students in SC learn about it) |
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| Storms avoided |
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| Selfies with Boyfran. |
We had to be back by sunset and as we were almost to the marina it started raining. By the time we pulled up to the marina, it was pouring. I grabbed our duffle bag with our stuff in it and tried to put it under my towel and headed to cover with Teh SC Teacher. I rang out my towel twice just get my clothes put on. I ended up free boobing and free ballin' because it was easier than dealing with a wet swim suit. Also, I had consumed a nalgene full of adult "juice" so I had zero fucks to give.
We had planned on eating at the restaurant where we had gotten drinks, but they were closed. We redirected to Mex 1 since Mexican was a drunk crowd pleaser. Some members of our group were overly drunk and I don't think our poor server was prepared for that. I have the ability to be very sober acting while pretty intoxicated, so I essentially took charge at the table. By the time we were finished eating, I was overly annoyed because no amount of drunkenness helps me tolerate certain things. I was almost sober by the time checks came, so I drove home.
I was feeling a little guilty because we got home around 8:30 and that's wayyyy late for the dogs, who normally eat dinner at 5-6pm. Teh German helped me take care of the dogs, then it was time to shower the salt water off and get to bed.
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Overall, an outstanding weekend.
I'm sure I'm special in that I am glad I cleaned the floors for 3 hours. I like a clean house and all those hours make me feel even prouder. Also, the fact that I spent 3 hours just cleaning the floors should explain why I could never hire someone to clean my house. I have
really, realllllyyyyy high standards.
I was hoping for more time in the harbor/under the Bridge, but the waters were so choppy that I was having to hold my boobs and I was over that. Also, there would have been no tubing in the harbor, so it was good that the storms ran us away.
Extra yays for discovering what emailing a book actually means for my life (no more brainless Insta/FB scrolling since I READ now)! Extra YAYs (in caps) for a new Kindle. Despite getting the book situation worked out, I was still getting the black screen of nothingness, and having already lost all my puzzle progress and it not coming back, I had nothing to lose by saying yes to a new Kindle. I had the option to get a refurbished Kindle HDX 8.9 (like I have), but I went with the 10 upgrade since #whynot.
Final YAYs for it FINALLY being DISNEY WEEK!!!! (And for finally being in the new office, even though I get to claim "first" for being the first one to lock myself out of our space because my access badge was missing (it had fallen off my laynard and onto the floor and I hadn't noticed until I went to my car and was trying to find it to get back in the building).)
