Meandering Time

Had my meeting (part 1) today, which was long, but shorter than scheduled, so good. We had plans to meet for dinner and were told it was walking distance from the hotel.

It totally was walking distance, but it was NOT where we were told it was. I frequently scorn my husband (and dad) for their use of a GPS. I hate the repetitive drone of "in point one miles, turn left on Z street." I figure with walking, the number of times I would have to hear that would drive me to break my new phone.

Did I mention I got a new phone? No? Well, it's because I hate the process. We spent several days talking to salespeople, writing up 2-year-cost charts, trying to figure out if switching carriers or just one of us switching carriers or staying put with our current carrier would cost the least. After factoring in Cancellation fees, New Phone fees, Initialization fees, Monthly fees, and We-Just-Want-To-Charge-You-More-Fees fees, we decided to pay out of pocket full rate for new phones, get insurance this time, and stay with our current carrier.

Interestingly, we now have MORE services on our phones AND insurance, and are paying about $8 a month more.

But it was still a hefty payout and I did not want to be driven to annoyance by a GPS that would encourage me to yell at, beat, or throw my new phone, regardless of insurance coverage.

So I tried to use the web services to find the place I was supposed to go, which proved to be a challenge as the company web site detects when it is being accessed by a mobile phone, yet does not offer a "search locations" option in that mode and won't let you access their regular web site.

Smart phones? Not so clever. And despite being supposedly "easy" to use, I still find myself battling it.

So on the way I found a neat little bookstore. A mix of new, used, comics, and games. Almost all of it was right up my alley in terms of genre. The place was teeny, but literally packed floor to ceiling with stuff. The whole wall just to the left of the entry door looked quite similar to my home collection and I commented on that to the owner. He directed me to a new series--which I picked up the first book. What was really cool is he offers a 10% discount if you purchase something off of his recommendation.

Despite my detour and not being able to find the place, I arrived at dinner early. Totally busted my eating plan for the weekend, but thoroughly enjoyed the fish and chips.

Had a nice walk back to the hotel and spent some time doing some recreational reading. Ahhh.