How I spent my afternoon

I wasted five hours of my life on Sunday when my mobile WiFi stick developed a problem. Of course, I got two really dumb tech people, and finally a smart supervisor who told me that everything I had been told to do wouldn't have helped and why and so I had to take my computer and the stick into a Sprint store.

That was Sunday, the night of the blizzard, and I just couldn't get it together enough until today to make the trek. I decided to have an attitude adjustment on myself prior to going and decided I was going to start off cheerful.

That lasted for the first 3 seconds until I was told I was in the wrong Sprint store. Luckily the right Sprint store was across the street. So instead of walking to the corner like a sane person, I was going to save time and cross in the middle ... on my side of the street was a bus stop so I could get on the street, and I saw an opening on the other side which seemed passable.

It really wasn't, and I lost my balance trying to navigate from the street up the curb to the sidewalk, and when I put my hand down on the snow pile, it was so mild today that my hand went straight down into the snow. I really almost did a face plant right in the (dirty) snow.

I was able to right myself and I noticed this man had stopped walking and was watching me -- I was about 5 seconds away from his coming to the aid of this little old lady, but I was good. Later as I sat in the Sprint store, I was watching people way younger and way lither than myself having the same difficulty.

So here was my Sprint Store view if I looked one way:

And here's out the window where I crossed the snowbank Alps:

I was told that I'd have to wait an hour (it was really more like 15 minutes), but while I waited I noticed people who came in with broken devices are really sort of twitchy -- like addicts who need to find their dealer FAST. There's a breathlessness about their need to GET. IT. FIXED. NOW.

So I got a new stick, chatted with the two young clerks as I downloaded it on my laptop. No way was I leaving without seeing that it worked. I was feeling proud of myself because I wasn't being twitchy and then realized it was because everything was going my way and I would soon be out the door.

Which I was. Onward to my Thursday lunch place which turned out to be having a private party for Syracuse University alums. Of course, I get upset when my routines get changed with no notice, and with the slush fest in the streets, and lugging my computer, I didn't want to go far, so I went to this place called Choux Factory.

When it first opened, all they sold were choux (little cream puffs) and coffee. That's it. That wasn't working for them, clearly, so they kept adding items, even sandwiches. Then there was a fire and it was closed for a few months, but now it's open again.

I ordered a Philly Cheese Steak, and imagine that sandwich made in an Asian style. It's Japanese owned and run, and this sandwich was beautiful. And tasted good too. Then they had these fantastic macaroons -- they are made like meringue cookies where they are dry and crusty on the outside, but moist on the inside. Got one almond and one coconut along with my iced coffee:

So I read magazines, watched the people walking by and then it was getting to be 4 oclock so I thought I should head home. Terrible slippery slush so I was doing the old lady shuffle. In addition to the slush, garbage is a problem. No pick ups since before Christmas and none expected until sometime next week. Here's my block: