Wordless whiny Wednesday

So, a common theme of this blog seems to be misadventures with water.  See, e.g. hilarious pool-running encounters or exploding water pipes or broken hot water heaters that take 2 weeks to be replaced.

To that collection, I add the following.  Went to take a shower early Saturday evening -- pushed down the stopper on the bathtub faucet, and the entire thing came off the wall.  Apparently I need to back off on the bent-over dumbbell rows.

No, my tub's not quite this dirty -- weird cell phone lighting - - it's pretty dim in there.

And yes, entire bathroom was redone about 2 years ago.  This is ridiculous.

With no stopper, I can't use the shower.  But fear not -- our heroine has a second bathroom (used as laundry room) with a shower (used as clothes drying area).  So remove the drying rack, and use the shower.

Better light here.

If you can see, the handle on the right is marked "H".  But au contraire -- in actuality it is the left faucet that controls the hot (the one marked "C"...).  Hilarity ensues while our heroine, undaunted but also pressed for time, attempts to shower.

Well, the cat was amused.

***

This was preceded by the following slip of paper on Friday

I love DC!  Always happy to contribute more than my share!

Yup - that's a $100 parking ticket.  For parking at a meter on an access lane (K St) during rush hour.  No reason that the access lane should have rush hour restrictions and it was NOT so marked.  And yes, I fed the meter, so this is actually a $104.50 ticket, once you include the wasted meter payment.

(for those of you who don't live in our nation's capital - parking is the city's biggest scam.  Signs are confusing and often missing; tickets are costly and the appeals process is a sham).

***

We continue.

So, my silly left shin muscle continues to give some issue.  No more soreness when flexing he muscle against pressure on top of foot, but the leg's stiff.  I can run on it without distorting my stride (and it improves every day that I do), but I'm not comfortable pushing it with speedwork until it's 100%.  (I still have hopes that I will get there shortly).

I went in to my PT, and he thinks that we're in a bad cycle - the muscle's irritated, and so it's slightly swollen.  Since there's not much room for the muscle, the swelling inflames it more, and perpetuates the loop.  The answer is to get the swelling down via epsom salts, continued activity, and compression socks.

So, went right after and bought a) epsom salts and b) compression socks.   Got my pricy socks home, and...

No black; I had to buy pink. 
Let no one say I'm not dedicated to my recovery.

Yup.  That's only one sock.  And it's the right one (which is actually the wrong one), not the left.

***

And...the grand finale happened early this morning.

Yup.  That's my car window.  I STUPIDLY left my gym/pool bag on the passenger's seat while I stopped in at the gym early this AM.  Really stupid -- I just was casual because a) it was RIGHT outside the entrance, under a bright light; b) it was 18 degrees out; c) aren't most delinquents asleep at 5:30 am?

Apparently not. So, they got my bathing suit, my nice towel, and...my blackberry, my personal cell phone, my drivers license, all my credit cards....

[yes - I'm very aware of how stupid I was]

Fortunately, I have a second drivers license.  Unfortunately, I don't have a landline, making cancelling all of my accounts a bit challenging -- why won't they let you cancel credit cards via online request?

So, I take today as a mental health day, and go about getting myself settled.  Get access to a phone, and try to report the claim to insurance.  But...their computers are down...

OK, no prob.  Body shop is preapproved by insurance, so I can take it in anyway.  And, body shop/service center has loaner cars through a deal with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and is right next to a Verizon store.  So grab drivers license and checkbook, and we're off.

Drop off car and head to Verizon store, where I pick out a phone.  Only for it to take 25 minutes to process the order (phone not in stock, so they'll have to ship to me).  Once the order's processed, I write a check out, and....check's not accepted by approval system.  No new phone for me.

So, give up and head over to grab loaner.  Only to discover that while the service center does cover 100% of loaner costs, the body shop does not.  And, I'm now carless and lacking credit cards while away from home at a car rental place that only takes credit cards (and money orders).

Long story short (too late), I take the "complementary shuttle" to a bank, flash my checkbook and drivers license (confirming, BTW, that there was NO reason for my checks to be declined), and get money order plus survival cash.  I now have loaner car and am home.  And am debating whether to retreat to World of Warcraft for the next 5 hours (or years).

***

I like to imagine that all of us live our lives on fault lines of a sort -- and small irritations (and the above are all small irritations) are tremors that take the place of massive disruptions.  This little fantasy gets me through the day with a smile.  When little things go bad, you're fortunate.

I'm thinking I need to play the lottery this week.  If I ever escape Azeroth.