Peculiar Particulars

So Wednesday evening, even though I had been driving all day, I decided to go to the NEX on 32nd street and look for a smart phone. I missed several calls that day, and I was tired of the pathetic reception from my other service. So I have a new phone number! The lady answered many questions for me, and I decided to go for it. So far I have been pretty pleased. I even posted to my navy blog yesterday, using it! And I have some reception in the galley, and sometimes on the windowsill in my room, not to mention a more reliable service everywhere else.

It was a very productive day. Not only did I work until 3pm, but I worked out afterwords, cleaned up and then went on this shopping spree. I also got a nice roller-bag (with laptop pocket) carry-on size luggage at the same place in anticipation of the very big trip next week. :)

But Thursday was the really strange day. I had it off, so I fiddled with the new phone the whole morning. I was done with my little duty (chow relief driver) at 12:30, so I promptly returned to my room, had great enjoyment watching Robin Hood (1938) again, then started putting music on the phone. And then zip! Exactly at 3:38, the power went off. I continued working with the phone for the short life of my computer's battery, and then I had dinner at the galley, called home, took a shower with a flashlight, wandered around until the sun went down, and watched this from the waterfront:

It was sort of exciting. It afforded me an opportunity to see the city in a way I will hopefully never see it again, and more blessedly, a grand view of the stars in the clear sky, with a preeminent moon shining all over the place.

This outage put all in confusion. The base was semi-locked down, the traffic was awful without the streetlights and stoplights, and when the power came back on early this morning (around 3:30 am they say) the phones on the base were down so we were awarded a day off.

I reported to work anyway (because I hadn't heard this word of mouth news) and it's good I did, because a few folks needed to be driven to the Sub Base for classes, and apparently, no one else was available. When I got back it was time for my doctor's appointment (heath assessment) in anticipation of the November PRT. After that I picked up my car from the NEX (the stuff for the AC needed to be replenished) and then drove up the hill for a shrimp burrito and then to the library for four hours of blissful work. I worked with the audiobooks nearly the whole time... after I re-shelved a cart of them, Christine, the librarian, asked me to pull a bunch with beat up cases and replace them. As I was on my knees organizing the cabinet where the cases were kept, she came by and told me I was hired. :)

Somebody donated a ton of books today... the majority of which they had to discard. I browsed through them, rescued a few to be taken to the local used book store, and found a darling, old copy of Jane Eyre. Decided to peek into the Library Sale room as well and found the first couple years of MHQ (1988-1990) in hardback for a $ a book (retailing at $12 each these days). Needless to say, I had a great time looking through them before I selected 11 volumes (the first two sets of 4, then 3 more).

Back on base I had chow, then returned to my car and read the last few chapters of Jane again. So happy! :)

Jp