I had a pretty quiet day at work today. My boss was in, but he didn’t give me much to do. I read over 150 pages of my new book – THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE. It’s a really interesting book, but it’s very confusing. It’s about this guy who travels back and forth through time, but he can’t control it at all. He never knows when or where he’s going to go and, when he does, he always appears totally naked, since you can’t take anything with you when you travel.
When he’s in his 30s and 40s, he travels back in time and meets and befriends his wife when she’s only six years old and meets with her until she’s 18, so she knows him her whole life, but he only knows her after they meet when she’s 20 and he’s 28. Confused yet? I have to tell you, it’s a little taxing to think so much as you’re reading something, because every chapter takes place in a different year, when he and his wife are different ages. Even so, I am really enjoying it.
I also found out it’s being made into a movie, which will come out this year starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. That’s the third book I’ve read recently that was made into a movie. The other two were THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER (which was a LIFETIME movie that I missed, because we were on vacation) and THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, which will come out in 2009 starring Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning.
There was some kind of National Admin Recognition thing going on at work and someone in another department on my floor ordered food. I didn’t know what was happening, but as I walked to the kitchen to get my lunch I saw lots of people laughing and talking. I asked what was happening and someone told me there was a luncheon for the admin staff. The girl who told me said, “I’m sure there will be leftovers. I’ll let you know!” To which I replied that I had my lunch and I’m always on a diet anyway!
I wrote to the one person I knew could relate – Jimmy. We both have temped a lot and I expressed how sad it made me feel, because when you’re a temp you’re really always on the outside, looking in. Jimmy said that when he was on staff he ALWAYS made sure temps were included in everything. I did the same when I was at PwC – in fact part of my job was hiring the temps, and I always built real relationships with them.
I have to say again that everyone in my department is really great – super friendly, supportive and helpful, but it just made it patently obvious that I’m not REALLY part of the group, because I ate by myself and read my book while most everyone else in the department was about 100 feet away having a great time. It wasn’t the food I wanted, but the camaraderie!
My boss left at 3:00pm and I just read and played on the computer until 5:00pm. I had researched a great winery to go to tomorrow, and also found out about an art fair in Little Italy, so I was very excited about my day tomorrow with Audrey. The woman ride to work with sent me a link about a particular winery, and I had printed out all the information. She also printed out a map for me and highlighted the route I should take!
When I got home, I told Eric that I wanted to go out and get money from Citibank and put gas in the car, so I would be all ready to go in the morning. Unfortunately, as we approached the car, we saw that there was a piece of cardboard over the front passenger window and soon discovered that someone had broken the window. There was glass all over the inside of the car. We had the club on the car, so they couldn’t steal the car, and they didn’t bother to steal anything inside, or vandalize the car, but they DID attempt to use something to open the driver’s side and when they failed they just decided to break the other window.
I keep a bunch of empty KEIL’S bags on the floor of the passenger side, because I like to re-use them when I go food shopping. Eric figured they must have thought something was in them, but discovered there wasn’t anything when they got inside. Also, they might not have noticed the club, since it doesn’t go around the steering wheel, but goes around the brake, so maybe they broke the window and then saw that they couldn’t steal the car.
In any event, my trip tomorrow is off, because I can’t drive on the expressways or freeways with the window wide open. If we were just driving locally, it might not be so bad, but it’s an hour’s drive, so I think it would be very uncomfortable and Eric said he doesn’t want to ruin the finish of the car by putting tape all over the inside or outside, so he just wants to bring it in and get it fixed.
I found a glass place that’s only 5 miles away and left a message tonight. Eric asked me to set the alarm for 7:00am, because he wanted to be the first one there. This is the type of thing where Eric takes over and I really appreciate it. He took the car to the car wash to vacuum out all the glass and he will take it to the place tomorrow and see that it gets fixed.
I feel really bad, because I was really looking forward to spending the day with Audrey, and I’ve never been to a winery, so it was going to be a new and exciting experience. Eric said maybe he’d be able to get the car fixed really early tomorrow morning and I can still go, but I think that’s being very optimistic (how unusual for him!!).
In any event, I feel lucky that (a) it didn’t happen while we were away for 2 weeks); (b) they didn’t vandalize or steal the car – they just broke the window; and (c) I don’t need the car for work, so if we can’t get it fixed this weekend, Eric can take it on Monday. I always look at the bright side!
Eric was REALLY upset when it first happened, but then he calmed down and I actually think he ended up handling it better than I thought he would. I reminded him that Audrey’s car was broken into right in front of her condo in Las Vegas. Jimmy’s car was broken into in San Fran in his private apartment garage. Our car was broken into once and the window was broken another time – both times right in our driveway in Whitestone! Almost everyone you talk to will tell a story of their car being broken into, vandalized, or stolen. It happens to everyone – across the country. I guess Eric realizes that. It’s just a fact of life; a sad fact, but a fact of life nonetheless.
So, I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It’s supposed to be super hot out, too – like 95 degrees! I was really hoping for a drive to a nice, cool winery where we could catch up, taste wine, and have a few laughs. I’ll let you know how it all works out!