Patrick's Crazy Day

Good morning.

Today was nuts. Well, not entirely nuts. I got to sleep in, which is especially great, considering I even went to bed early last night. So I got lots of sleep.

Janelle got up before me because she had to finish some homework, and she did, but she needed a ride to school. Anyways, because mom and dad Swan used their black accord to help move Joanne and Colin, Janelle and I had Joanne and Colin's car. It did alright driving downhill to get to the university, and I dropped Janelle there and headed home. I started noticing that the car was dysfunctional on the way home when it could hardly make it up the hills. It would rev high, then kick into gear, then kick out of gear and rev high again, gain speed, lose power, slow down, speed up. Very tumultuous. Very difficult. Very slow.

I made it home, and decided not to use the car any more than I had to. I left it in the parking space and went up the stairs to our building. That's when I realized that I was keyless. I had left the keys in the apartment. Briefly, I was struck with panic, then I remembered that Janelle had the other set, and that I would just have to find her at the University and get the keys from her, after her class. I judged that I had an hour and a half to kill, and headed to Bayer's Lake, to do some shopping.

First I went to Future Shop to check out laptops. As I was looking, this pesky salesperson kept bugging me, so I left. I went to Staples, where I was totally ignored. I looked at their selection and came to the conclusion that, while I could get a relatively cheap laptop at either store, I was not entirely sure what I would be getting, I didn't really know what I wanted, and I couldn't buy a laptop that didn't come with a pre-installed operating system.

I really don't like Windows. Lately I've been using the Ubuntu operating system, and I've found it very, very stable, fast, and reliable. It's got a few problems, but I'm quite satisfied. It doesn't bog down over time, like Windows does, and I don't have to worry about constant crashes and stuff like that -- all Windows problems. Ubuntu runs very stable, and that's the best part about it. Anyways, I'm looking for a computer that doesn't come with a pre-installed OS, so I can put Ubuntu on it, and neither Staples nor Future Shop sell them. Anyways, I left Staples. I don't have enough money to buy a computer right now anyway.

Coming out of Staples I decided to do some preliminary Christmas Shopping. So I went to Reitmans. Upon entering I realized that I had no idea what I was looking for or even where to begin. I couldn't even remember what size Janelle is! The staff tried helping me, and they were very sweet, but I just had no idea so I left. Afterwards I went to the Shoe Company because Janelle wants boots. So I tried looking for boots, but nothing was clicking. I decided I would have to return with, either more information, or Janelle herself.

Then I went to Little Caeser's, for two reasons. Firstly, to kill time, and secondly to find out how much time I had to kill. In other words, I wanted to know what time it was. On the way to Little Caeser's the car gave me more trouble than before. It just wouldn't go above 20 km/h going uphill and behaved even more tempestuously. At one point I was going uphill and the car just wouldn't accelerate and people lined up behind me...

Finally I got to Little Caeser's. I went in and after checking the time, I told Colin what was up. Being the sweetheart that he is, he called up Joanne. They arranged to meet me at the subway near our house for lunch, and then I could go to the University from there. So I tried to go, but the car wouldn't start. I went back and told Colin this, he tried it too, and took a quick look under the hood, and determined that the engine must be gone. It was very hot and there was a lot of fluid. Probably overheated. The car wasn't going anywhere. I thanked Colin, and told him I'd grab the bus to the University and meet Janelle there, and I started walking.

I ended up walking the whole way. Mainly because, as Colin pointed out, I'm too stubborn. It only took about half an hour to get to the University, mainly because it was all downhill. Then I started looking for Janelle. I checked around the SAC, then tried the Saceteria, and then the medical clinic because she had mentioned that she'd be there sometime today. I hung around the clinic for a few minutes then went back to the SAC. After looking around a bit more, I decided that it was more or less hopeless. Why did I even think I could find one person in such a big place? So I started walking home.

At this point I was getting tired. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and it was getting past lunch time. It took a long time, walking up hill, to the apartment and when I finally got there I was too shy to buzz the superintendent to let me in. Desperation finally took over and I went to the lobby. As I got there, however, someone else was coming in and held the door open for me.

I rushed in, and climbed the stairs to the Superintendent's apartment and knocked. She greeted me kindly and listened to my problem, and agreed to come let me into the apartment. So, with her little crazy-haired daughter in tow, we went down the stairs to our apartment, she unlocked the door and I gratefully went inside. Relieved, and exhausted.

I drank a few glasses of milk, and filled up on water, being very thirsty, then checked my e-mails and found that Janelle had written me. I wrote back very quickly, then went on MSN and we chatted for the rest of the afternoon. I totally forgot about eating until almost three o'clock. Then Joanne called and said that she would pick me up and bring me to the Volkswagen Golf. So I (remembering the keys this time) met her in the parking lot, and she drove me to where the Golf was parked and we parted. She went to work, and I headed back to the apartment to do the dishes, quickly, before going back to the University to pick up Janelle.

After picking up Janelle we headed to Little Caeser's again for some pizza supper. Janelle picked up a prescription at Lawtons, and then we went back to Bayer's lake. First we checked out moulding at Kent because we want to make a frame for our painting that Vince gave us as a wedding present. Next we went to Michael's for some Christmas supplies.

When we got home, we had lots of water, both being quite thirsty and then I set about installing Ubuntu on Janelle's computer and reading from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Janelle baked some garlic bread and chatted on the telephone with Juaniece. At midnight the garlic bread was ready and we ate some before Janelle went to bed, and I went back to the computer to finish installing Ubuntu and getting it set up. Afterwards, I wrote this blog. And I'm done now, so I'll say goodnight.

Goodnight :)