nailing it down
Am I ever going to get any of An Atlas of Cities read? It's already mid-April and I have finished exactly one book this year. Mostly it's because An Atlas of Cities is the size of a textbook and so I don't commute with it, and when I'm at home I spend all my time watching TV. This could change a bit, I suppose, if Shobhit gets a second job, which is looking fairly likely to happen soon. In that case he'll probably be working further into evenings again. I guess we'll see.
He was actually out until about 7 pm last night, as he went to a networking event in Bothell that he came home telling me went well and was worth attending -- those sorts of things aren't always. In the meantime, I made the last of our QFC frozen pizzas for dinner, which I had ready for him to eat when he got home, like a good wife. I'm kidding! I'm a mediocre husband. Anyway! I poured hot peppers all over his side of the pizza, which he appreciated, and I also made us chai soon after he got home.
I also vacuumed, which I was in the middle of when he came in the door, scaring the shit out of me when I looked up and saw him there. It had been weeks since I vacuumed, the spring has the cats shedding like crazy, and it was long overdue. So now it's done.
And then we watched an episode of Santa Clarita Diet and a few episodes of season six of Cheers, when Kirstie Alley replaced Shelley Long.
That about sums up my evening.
I did wind up on the phone a little while with Danielle, and then on speaker so she could hear Shobhit, and we all agreed to switch the Enterprise car rental for three days to a two-day Budget rental between Amherst, NY to Syracuse, which took the rental price down from $172 to $65. We'll have to Lyft from Niagara Falls to the Budget car rental in Amherst, like a 25-minute drive, but even that cost will keep the total around $100 or so, a far better deal -- and now Danielle can book a room in Niagara Falls, Ontario, without having to worry about paying to park overnight. This also keeps us from having to cross the border on the arrival day just to pick up a rental car and bring it back into Canada for the night. I think this plan is both better logistically and far cheaper. Yay all around!
The booking of the Niagara Falls hotel remains the last plan to finalize. At least Danielle has it narrowed down to two hotels. That's progress! She insists on getting a room with a view of the falls.
I do have some other plans finally coming together -- these ones not even having to do with the trip with Danielle! I made my reservation for Happy Hour with Laney at The Mountaineering Club, the bar atop the 16-story Graduate Hotel in the U District, for Friday, May 10. Those reservations go insanely quickly and can only be booked 30 days in advance, which meant today; I set a reminder to myself to book it as soon as I woke up this morning. Thankfully this plan worked out. I even made the reservation for three, just in case Shobhit is available and wants to come too.
The other one is only sort-of booked, but also with Laney: the Fremont Brew Cruise, whose online form I filled out twice, and finally found the response in my Hotmail junk folder this morning, having been received on Monday. Apparently they only sail if 20 people book, and I am the first, but it's early. Hopefully 18 more book between now and then. If not, I think Laney and I will just do the West Seattle Water Taxi as a backup. It has to be a boat of some kind!
And, I just got back from my first lunch of the month with Karen up at the Six-Seven Restaurant at the Edegwater Hotel. She had something come up and the last one had to be canceled, so this was our first since March 19. Even that one had been rescheduled, though, so it's only been three weeks and two days.
I'm still posting a bit later than usual, even for days I meet Karen for lunch, because she had a computer glitch issue at work and had to postpone by half an hour. It still all worked out fine, though. At her suggestion I ordered or requisite split gyro sandwich before she arrived, and it came to us shortly after she got there. I think that did save us some time.
We talked about all sorts of things, including my vacation plans over the next couple of months, and also her niece who has a film in the Seattle Trans Film Festival. I walked back to work with my umbrella and here we are. I need to post this so I can pee!
[posted 1:46 pm]