my week, thus far

We're now working four tens, as opposed to five eights.

Last Thursday th'Mr phoned around area motels to find a decent rate for M-T-W. Red Roof was the best rate, $103 and change, and I rejoiced because I like the Roof anyway. It would be a round trip motel parking lot to job parking lot & back of fourteen miles, which would save me over 700 miles per week, yadda yadda, but when he phoned Sunday night to make my reservation the manager was adamant that a three-night stay cost $160. plus...

th'Mr ended up getting them down to $139, and that's where I stayed this week, but still. But still, I expected a continental breakfast, coffee pot in the room, microwave and fridge on request, internet access (in the form of a computer in the lobby), like in every motel we stayed in on our Florida trip earlier this year.

None of that, at this Roof. I'm torn... I'll be doing this for a while, the staying M-T-W, and I don't want to spend that big a chunk of my pay every week - even at the reduced rate it was $40 more than I spend driving back & forth every day. The room was adequate, clean, good location (an upscale Chinese-Japanese-Thai restaurant in walking distance, as well as independent Mexican & Italian, an Applebee's and several fast foods; Home Depot, Big Lots, Dollar General and my favorite general shopping store --a Goodwill... and bonuses of bonuses: NO WalMart!), but I think... I think... what if I drive it on alternate weeks and stay on "the other" alternate weeks? I do like being home nights.

So Monday I did the usual rise-at-four-AM-leave-at-five-AM thing, worked 7AM till 5:10PM, got to the motel at 5:35. Got a real good night's sleep after finding a Chinese restaurant and having dinner (saving enough leftovers for lunch Tuesday and Wednesday), buying a quart of half-n-half for my coffee and patronizing the motel ice machine. Worked ten hours Tuesday, went straight back to the motel & had sandwiches for dinner and had an even more thorough nights' sleep (and learned that even with 47 channels on the TV the most interesting thing on is something called Parental Control - IOW it's not worth wasting the electrons), worked the usual ten hours Wednesday --by this time it feels like "the usual," and 3:30 does not feel like quitting time-- and stayed over a little while to wire up a compressor unit with wire the diameter of one of my fingers; got paid an extra two hours at the time-and-a-half rate, worked ten hours Thursday and drove home.

Thursday it rained almost all day. There was no dew on Astro-the-van when I got up, so I took my umbrella with me (smart me). That little umbrella did little to deflect the monsoon I walked through on my way out to the parking lot. All day I'd been saying, "in ten hours I'll be home," "in nine hours I'll be home," etc, expecting to get home near seven PM, but the timegods decided to play a little game with me. First the five PM monsoon, then unusually thick traffic on the little two-lane WV35 I take from the job parking lot to the interstate, then the interstate ramp blocked off by fire engines (rather than following the slow-moving traffic to St. Albans I made a U-turn to go through Winfield, and nearly got creamed in the process) - forty minutes later than usual I passed the motel (no need to stop; I'd packed in the morning) and arrived at Target-Barboursville at 6:45.

At Target I filled my short list: a small Swiss Army knife for th'Mr, a chewtoy for the Grrrl, bottle brushes for the hummies' feeders, toothpaste, and the exact same vacuum that we'd been using (for twelve years or more) till it bit the dust last week. Unfortunately it was the display model, as there were none left in boxes. Unfortunately #2 they would not sell me the display model. Unfortunately #3 the cashier who'd said to me, "wait, wait, I'll have them check in the back to see if there are any in boxes," also said to someone else, in my hearing, about the shelf tag I'd brought to the front along with the vacuum, "I don't know if this is the right tag for it," putting my temperature on the "steam" setting. Just because I don't stock the shelves in your store I'm too stupid to figure out which item goes with which tag? Unfortunately #4 the "manager" just stood there with his hands in a "huh?" gesture instead of scurrying to the back to check on boxed-sweeper availability for me. I said to the cashier, "I'm in more of a hurry than he seems to be," and I left. In all fairness, "he" didn't know what I'd already explained to the cashier, that I hadn't been home since 4AM Monday and still had an hour to drive to get there, but by then I was out of patience. We'll go shopping in Lexington today.

It rained all the way home. Near Grayson I hydroplaned a little and slowed down even more; in Olive Hill I tried to phone home to say I was almost there, not to worry, but lost my money in the payphone, then spent another five minutes on their automated reporting system. "Press three if there appears to be a coin jam..."

But I finally did make it home, a little after 8PM.