I find that my time is being diverted and I don’t have even the limited time I had before to get things done.
I have managed to get the contacts in my old cell phone transferred to my new one through H and part of I (plus of course the “must put in right away” ones I put in first). I have skipped some as I really don’t know if I should bother putting in information about people we have not had contact with in some years - I am not getting rid of them, but just not copying them forward into the new phone. After I finally deal with the transferring into the new phone, I will go back and compare what I did not transfer - just in case I change my mind about whether they are needed in the new phone - and I will make a new category in my computer Organizer “not transferred” and mark them as such so I will know which ones were never transferred forward. When I say “part of I” I was working on this laptop (the one husband thinks I really should get rid of) and the computer or my browser crashed mid entry for IRS - remember I am an accountant, this is a lot of phone numbers and other contact info for me, more than for most people, if they even have it as a contact. I am not sure if what I entered for it will be there when I go back or if I will have to start over on the IRS entry. (If you are outside the U.S. - IRS is Internal Revenue Service, our Federal government tax collection service.)
Remember last week we did not go to a quilt show and a fiber show out of state? I thought - yippee more time to catch up and work on my cell phone transfer. NO!
Husband had been looking forward to the trip - and was upset that we were not able to go. Thursday we had lunch in Wendys (something we do almost every day - or way too often) and I noticed him doing something on his cell phone. He looked at me and told me that he had checked on the drive to Freehold, NJ in “real time” on his GPS and instead of an hour and a half (which in theory it should be), it was only slightly longer - an hour and 45 minutes - we could go to Golden Corral for dinner.
Now, for those who have not heard of same, this is not a destination restaurant. It is a family buffet chain, the sort of place that if had one locally we would go to for dinner once a week. But we don’t have one locally. The nearest two are this one in New Jersey and one in Connecticut which is about the same time to get from here, but is new and needs to settle in and get better before we go there. We have eaten at the one in New Jersey several times when we are vaguely in the area of it - quilt shows, woodworking shows and embroidery exhibitions in New Jersey find us going there for dinner. We have also been to several other of their restaurants when traveling. Husband likes the chain much more than I do, but that it because he likes the assortment of food and I find it hard to find something I like.
I sighed, and said Okay. So, without our usual over planning before we go anywhere, we set off at 3 pm. We only lost about 15 minutes on the road to the bridge which we normally get stuck on. Not bad. When we leave the island we live on (which is such a large land mass that we forget it is a island unless we are going somewhere or there is a problem) we have to go over a large toll bridge to a different island (which is part of New York City) and then over another toll bridge to New Jersey (and the mainland of the U.S. - although we rarely think of the fact that we are doing that). No problem getting over the first bridge. Doing well!
The second island (Staten Island for those who know it) should take maybe 20 minutes to drive across. The traffic was so bad that we inched along. The ultra helpful GPS told us that there were delays (less time they actually ended up being), but this was still the best route, so I did not suggest getting off the Interstate to take any of the alternate ways I know to go. It took about an hour to get across and down the island. Now, since husband had not mentioned this until after we had lunch, I did not know to limit what I drank and had 2 sodas (free refills). I had used the ladies room at Wendys before we left and an hour and a half is not too long to wait - and there are numerous places along the road we were to go in New Jersey to make a stop - and since we would be at the restaurant too early - we would be looking to stop at some place or another- get gas for the car at a Costco we know, go to Walmart or a Hobby Lobby, etc. - so I was not concerned. However, by the time we were leaving Staten Island we had been driving for just over 2 hours and I was desperate. Then again, the time of arrival was only half an hour more and we could easily stop along the way. But looking at the huge red spots left on the map, I figured we had to stop - but where, there are no service areas. I remembered that when we come home on this road we have a seen a Wendys on the opposite side (the coming home side) of this road and estimated which exit we would have to get off the road to get to it. We get off the road and head to the other side of the road - husband misunderstand what I tell him, and am I do not see where to turn to get to the Wendys (it is along a one way service road and we have to go the opposite way) and he continues on the road he turned onto. There are only local houses and businesses - no place to stop and no place to turn around (and that is with our little car - good thing we were not in our RV). We manage to turn around and head back and I see a sign to turn for the Wendys. He drives there, we find it among the shops in the shopping center, I run in - ahhh - and run back out so we can continue. (This stop took another 10 minutes.)
Over the bridge into New Jersey and we drive a short bit and then get off onto the road we need to take south to the restaurant. We come to a dead stop. The main road (the Garden State Parkway) in the area, the second biggest north-south road in New Jersey, has had an accident and even though it has 2 roadways - local and express is so backup that the traffic has spilled over onto the road we need to take which sort of parallels the Parkway. The GPS time of arrival is still half an hour later than it is. By 7 pm (that is around 2 hours on this road) we have gone maybe 5 miles - we have not finished circling under the road we got off to get onto this road. Guess what - the GPS says the time of arrival is half an hour and the time keeps changing to remain half an hour later than it is. We are not even sure that we will get to the restaurant in time to be able to eat there. We are sitting in traffic which moves by (literal) inches. We have been on the road for four hours for an hour and a half trip. We have paid over $20 tolls, plus used a good deal of gas. We are not sure what to do.
When husband checked on his cell phone before we left, there were to be scattered thunderstorms after midnight. As we sit trying to decide what to do the weather report changes to dangerous thunderstorms will be where we are in the next hour and there have been 2 tornadoes (not common here) from the storm - we are sitting with no place for cover - other than the road we are finally circling under. The answer become obvious. We manage to work our way to the right and turn right to turn left (a peculiarity of New Jersey). We head back on a open road.
As we get close to home it is around 8 pm. (The hour it should have taken us to get to where we were instead of the 4 hours it took to get there.) I start thinking about what to do for dinner. It is too late to go to Ikea or the Asian buffet we go to. I have nothing defrosted for dinner. We could go to Wendys (again) for dinner - but really after all this? I decide that Chinese takeout is the best answer. We don’t take out from same often as husband cannot eat rice, but we do sometimes (we used to take out from this place a lot). After a quick discussion, I go to call them and give them our order as they close at 8:30 and we cannot walk in and order then, but if I call, they will have the order ready when we get there.
Uh oh! Since we don’t call them often they are not a high priority to transfer to the new phone. (In the old days when we got a phone which allowed phone numbers to be stored in it - I would put in our immediate families and this place, but it no longer is a priority.) I was about to panic and then remembered my phone has Internet. I looked them up and there was even a place to click to call them - but what if it is wrong place with the same name (there seemed to be several)? I was so relieved to hear the wife owner’s voice. I ordered and we had dinner that night.
So basically we killed an entire afternoon, the money paid for tolls, and the gas used, for a 5 and half hour ride that was mostly sitting still in traffic.
Since then I have managed to catch up on things a bit. I have been working on transferring contacts into the phone (as I said at the beginning).
I needed to write two things for my embroidery chapter that I never seem to get to. I put out a midsummer verison of our newsletter, which I am also in the middle of redoing for the fall in a new format. We will be working on a project at our September meeting and the members need to do some work before, so I had photos of what needs to be done in advance, information that our yearbook will be out soon, and an overview of our upcoming meeting year (September thorugh June). That went out on time today. We put out what is called our yearbook - it is an overview of the upcoming year’s meetings, list of officers, membership list, etc. When the group was larger it was a lot longer and fancier. My husband made up the version we have been using and updating information in, a few years ago. This year we decided to change it around a little. The chapter president and I went through it after the board meeting last month. I have to get it out to the members as they need to have it before the year starts - and we think we might get back a few members who are on the fence about renewing when they read it. So yesterday I sat and moved around and rewrote the changed areas and sent it to the chapter pres for review. I still have to write up this year’s meetings programs and update the membership list, but those are basically just information updates, not major changes. I am waiting for her to have a chance to look at what I sent and deal with some questions I sent with it about the changes made. I still have to also update our website with our new meeting schedule and then work on the September newsletter which will be the first one in the new format. (The newsletter is emailed to members, newsletter editors of our region and the region director and to some prospective members.)
Today I went to a client for actual work. Luckily all went well there and a problem I anticipated was already resolved. I anticipated a bad, long ride each way as the local commuter train line is running at around 80% of normal trains as work is done, unrelated to the tracks for the commuter line, at the train station it goes to in Manhattan. People have been advised to take alternate ways to go to Manhattan - including some ferries which were set up for this and expresses buses - also set up just to deal with this. (Much fewer people have used either of these methods than it was thought would.) They are also running trains to alternate stations - one in Brooklyn and one in Queens which have subway trains to Manhattan. One thing which concerned me was that the Queens station is adjacent to the subway stop I drive to, and I was concerned that there would be a lack of parking in the garage I use and the subway would be too crowded - luckily there was no problem parking and the subway was as always. I actually got home in considerably less time than usual.
When it came time to do the dishes tonight and then sit down and write this post, husband came down all excited - he had a sale on his Etsy site. So, I first had to go up and help him with the paperwork and getting the package to be sent. So instead of a fairly leisurely chance to write to all of you and then go and “chat” with some needlework friends online - I have been writing this post about an hour later than I planned and the friends may have to wait. There, now, don’t you feel important, writing my blog post, is more important than chatting with friends.
Hey, we may go Pennsylvania this week - Friday or Saturday - if one of the two days it is not raining - what are the chances?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well three of them I guess this week.
First - when the GPS says that one will be somewhere in an expected amount of time, but shows huge areas of red - don’t believe it - turn around and save that second bridge’s toll!
Second - there is only so much time in a day, week, etc. One can only fit in what can be done in that time. Don’t get sick - just decide what is the most important to get done and start with that.
Lastly, Always put the Chinese takeout place in the new phone right away. :-)
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