Wednesday.
I was planning on hitting the road for Baltimore today, but a minor glitch with the car I was planning to take set that plan on the back-burner for a day. I can handle that. Besides, the rest of the day more than made up for it.

  • Cleaned out the car and checked on the problem… it seems to be fixed now.
  • Talked to Kristen, my kid sister, and made plans to meet for dinner. She said that she’d get back to me after an exam and her last class of the day. She then said that it might be a little later than that – she wanted to have her finget looked at in the Infirmary. She hurt it last night and it was still achy and swollen.
  • Mom came home, briefly. She had a rehearsal for a concert that her students are giving at one of the local colleges.
  • Kris called and said that she had broken her finger, possibly in two places. But, she was her typical upbeat-sounding self. We finalized the dinner plans.
  • My stepfather came home. I told him of Kris and my dinner plans and invited him to join us; Mom couldn’t go because of the aforementioned rehearsal. He said that he’d probably meet us there.
  • Went to Greensboro and had dinner with Kris. It has been a LONG time since the two of us have done anything together like this. And, it was amazing to see how mature she has become… not that she was a “bratty” kid, but as the older brother, I can be biased about her if I so choose. I had also forgotten how funny she is; her sense of humor can be as dry as my own and her sense of timing is perfect. We were at the restaurant for nearly two hours. I am very proud of the young woman that Kris has become. Theo called, shortly after Kris and I had been seated, so I invited him to join us. He hadn’t seen Kris since he and I had roomed together, 3-1/2 years ago; he was shocked at how much she had grown and grown-up. Pop showed up shortly thereafter, but couldn’t stay… he had to get to a store before it closed. He came back. I even got to show him a few tricks about his new Palm Pilot®. As much as I might bitch and moan about “I travelled 2000 miles to come home and all I do is Tech Support for the family,” it’s all bark/no bite. All-in-all, it was a great dinner.
  • Stopped at Theo’s, again, because I left a CD that I needed there. We sat and talked… and watched Charlie’s Angels. It was my first time seeing it. Theo made the observation that it was a movie to be enjoyed for what it was: “Saturday Morning fare.” He was right. When I put myself into that mindset, suspension of disbelief came easily. It was a “fun” movie.
  • Called Jess on the way home to wish her “Happy Valentine’s Day.” It was after 00:00 here, so it was V-Day for me, at least. While talking to her, I remembered that I was out of saline solution and sleeping in my contacts was not an option that I wanted to exercise, so…
  • I went to one of the grocery stores to pick up a bottle of Bausch & Lomb’s best. They were closed. *grr* So, I went just down the street to another grocery store. They were closed, too.
    ::: braincramp :::

    It was looking more and more as though I would be sleeping in my lenses, after all. I decided to go across town to check another store. Probably the ONLY benefit of the fact that my folks live in a small town is this: Going across town does not take long. This store was open. Hallelujah! The purchase made, I…

  • Came home.

I should most likely be in bed, as I have 5-1/2 hours of driving in my immediate future. *shrug* Oh, well. I won’t leave until I’m rested, so it all balances out. If all goes according to plan (“…and the creek don’t rise…”), my next post will be from “Charm City,” itself: Baltimore.

“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. (and Ms.) America and all the ships at sea.”

Peace.