Assortment

Long week. And it’s still not over.

Monday. I got everything packed up and Jennifer drove me to the airport for my flight at 3. At check-in, I did the e-ticket thing, and while I was waiting to get my baggage checked, the guy who didn’t do the e-ticket said, “the line is behind me.” Whatever, dude. I let him go first, and he actually left his garment bag at the desk! You’re supposed to carry your baggage to the security station, but he apparently forgot or was not aware of this. So I carried Jerk Off’s garment bag over to security. Why? Because you defeat a**holes by not becoming one.

I landed around 11:30 p.m., and took a cab on an unduly long trip to the apartment because I gave him bad directions. I’m learning. For future reference I live by the Battery Tunnel, exit 26 off the BQE.

Tuesday I set out to enjoy the insanely beautiful weather. 66 degrees! I went to the Lower East Side, which I think is my favorite part of town, probably because it’s the oldest. I’m almost done reading Gangs of New York, the nonfiction account of mid-to-late 19th century crime in New York, and every street down there is full of history. I got some Chinese takeaway and ate in Tompkins Square Park, reading and listening to three scruffy musicians playing Beatles and Rolling Stones tunes. I walked up to Union Square, and there was no place to sit because everyone was out enjoying the weather. So I went to Circuit City to check out laptops. The guys I talked to said that my dead laptop’s hard drive probably wouldn’t be able to be inserted into a newer model, and so my options were either have Circuit City transfer the data onto a new machine at a cost of $100 per 10 gigs[1] or buy a hard drive enclosure to turn my hard drive into an external drive[2]. Hmm. I went shopping at Target where I couldn’t find DVD cases, dark blue full-size fitted sheets, or HANGERS! They had no adult size hangers. At all. None. The mind boggles. Nevertheless I stocked up on groceries and whatnot and schlepped it all back to the apartment, all of which constituted a significant workout. Fatigue.

Also on Tuesday I witnessed not one but two examples of Bad Ideas in Child Transport.

Wednesday I walked through Central Park in the still-gorgeous weather, got a haircut, walked down to 48th street to check out the guitar shops, and then back to Circuit City at Union Square where I bought my new HP laptop. For $59, Circuit City offers a package of a laptop bag, wireless router, and flash drive. AND, they offer a free (with rebate) Lexmark printer with purchase of a laptop. My big mistake was buying Microsoft Office[3] and having Firedog (Circuit City’s answer to Best Buy’s Geek Squad) install it along with Norton. D’oh! That only took 3 hours and some exorbitant bench fee I don’t want to remember. I then began the hunt for a hard drive enclosure, which they didn’t have in stock. During my 3-hour wait I wandered around and checked at Radio Shack where the very helpful sales guy tried THREE enclosures, none of which fit my drive. Eventually my laptop was ready and I schlepped it, the printer, and my router back to the apartment. Ugh. Tired. And then there was the support call ordeal of setting up my router, but I’ve bored you enough. Now the fun part…

Thursday morning I returned a message from a recruiter, and we set up a meeting at 3 p.m. It went pretty well. He said he’d be setting up several interviews for me. Here’s a phrase you want to hear when you’re meeting with a job placement specialist: “substantial raise in pay.” Of course, most of that is the cost of living increase between Arkansas and New York. Afterward I went to a different Circuit City, right around the corner from the recruiter’s office, and picked up a hard drive enclosure. Wish me luck.

1.) Um, that would be a big hell no.
2.) Not surprisingly, this was not an option they proposed. I consulted my technology brain trust of Brian and Brandon.
3.) Thinking I’d need Word for resumes, etc, but I probably won’t.