Crazy Already

Y'all would not believe the kind of week I've been having...and I've only been back less than 48 hours. Yesterday was ridiculous. I got back to work on Monday and checked my calendar, and of course I had two presentations for today. Since I intentionally spent my break not even thinking about work (except for the occasional competitive shop during my own personal shopping episodes), it took a lot of effort to get back into work mood. But I'm happy to report that going home and visiting family over the break was good for me. It renewed my energy and I am much more enthusiastic (and optimistic) than I was prior to the break (I think the waiting game was getting to me). Nevertheless, yesterday was a busy day at work. Then, at 4:45, just when I was ready to pack up my things and hit the road (for my 3 block walk home), I get some last minute work that of course needed to be done immediately since it was for my 8:30am "presentation" today. Great. I stick around until 6:45 and finally take myself home thinking I'm going to go grocery shopping since I have no food in my apartment. That is, until I get downstairs to my car and it doesn't start. Yep. I know what you're thinking. Welcome to Minnesota. These are the moments when I want to pull my hair out and scream "I can't take it!!!" Ok, seriously, I was only gone a week and a half. And mind you, I have an underground garage parking spot at my building. So it's not even like it was left out in the cold. At that point, I was annoyed but not deterred. So I called old faithful GEICO and have them send someone out to jump start my car (it's so easy a caveman can do it! Ha!). 45 minutes later I get a call and the voice on the other end says "I'm the guy that's going to jump start your car" - to which I responded "good, you're exactly who I want to talk to right now!" (Hey, gotta keep a little sense of humor in times like this) So, he jumps my car in about 30 seconds with this box thingy (yeah, that's the extent of my auto knowledge) and tells me to keep it running about 20 minutes or so before turning it off. So I sat in the car and called my mom to vent for about 10 minutes, then I drove to Walgreens - about 10 minutes away. I sat in the car another 5 minutes before going into Walgreens and I couldn't have been in the store more than 5 minutes tops (I bought two things). Lo and behold, when I come back out to my car, it won't start again! At this point I'm two seconds from spazzing out...not only b/c I'm stuck in the cold and my car won't start. But I also didn't know anyone to call. My closest friends here don't live near where I was at and I wasn't about to wait another 45 minutes for GEICO man to show up. I flagged down the first car that pulled up in the parking lot which happened to be two young guys (who I later found out were brothers) and asked for their help. Now if this were NYC, I might have thought twice (or three or four or five times) about asking two strange guys for help. But this is Minnesota and I figured since I was in a busy store parking lot (there was also a supermarket there), the odds were in my favor that they wouldn't attack me, cut me up and store me in somebody's refrigerator. Luckily for me, these guys were saints. They had jumper cables, but unfortunately they were old and cheap and didn't work (it took us 15 minutes standing out in the cold to realize this). One of them mentioned going into Walgreens to buy jumper cables and I thought he was joking but after 15 minutes in the cold, I asked if he was serious. He was. I didn't even know Walgreens sold jumper cables, but guess what? They do. Very fancy, expensive ones too. They had one box on the shelf and they were $32. The brothers thought that was too expensive, but desparate times call for desparate measures b/c I didn't even think twice - I just picked them up and took them to the counter. I considered it an investment. Good move. Not only did they work but they have a really long cord to make it easier to connect. Oh yeah, the brothers also taught me how to jump start a car (don't laugh - I told you the extent of my auto knowledge) so it was a learning experience. I couldn't stop thanking the brothers and I felt bad since I had completely derailed them from whatever they had shown up to do (they kept insisting that they were just coming to buy movies and that they had been sitting at home doing nothing but I still felt bad). I tried to offer them money and they refused to take it. The older brother told me "what kind of world would we live in if people didn't help others out." Words to live by. This truly is a different kind of place. I decided I would say an extra special prayer for them since they refused to allow me to repay them. 30 minutes in the cold helping a complete stranger jump their car is almost unheard of where I'm from. Oh yeah, the brothers' names are Ryan and Joe (I believe) so if you feel so inspired say a special prayer for them yourself as well. I told them they are both saints and they just laughed but I really meant it. I wanted to tell them that they are God's angels but then I thought they might think I was crazy, lol. But they are God's angels. I wish that was the end of the saga but it wasn't. Ryan and Joe told me about a car place down the street where I could take my car to have the battery checked so I drove over there. But of course, it was closed (as does practically every non-food establishment after 7pm). So then I was faced with a dilemma: I need groceries because I have no food at my house but I can't cut my car off b/c it might not cut back on. So I did something I would NEVER do in NYC. I parked my car in a spot near the front of the supermarket and left it running. I locked all the doors except the one in the rear on the opposite side from the driver's seat (I figured that would make it a little harder if someone decided to actually try to steal my car since they'd most likely go for the driver's door). Then I ran into the supermarket and darted from one end to the other and picked up my basic groceries. I figured I didn't have time to browse for luxuries. I paid for my food quickly then ran back outside and guess what? My car was still there! Only in Minnesota. Oh yeah, my car wasn't the only one running with no one inside, sitting in the parking lot. Crazy right? Anyway, I decided to let the car run for a while more and I was talking on the phone with my brother in the meantime. When I hung up the phone is when I realized that my heat was on and my radio was on. Uh yeah. That would explain why my car kept dying so quick! They were sucking the little bit of power out of my battery. So I turned them both off and sat there for another 15 minutes or so before taking. I went through the drive thru at Arbys on the way home (and almost got stuck in the snow b/c they don't even bother trying to clear away the snow in the parking lot or drive thru lanes) and when I got home, I sat for another 5 minutes or so before turning off the car. After I turned it off, I waited a minute or so and tried to start it, and it started! Not wanting to get too happy yet, when I came home from work this evening, I went downstairs and tried it again. And it started! Yay!!! In the meantime, I went to Target after work today to get the rest of my groceries for the week. I didn't know if my car would make it through another grocery run but it looks like its back in business. Which is good news b/c I'm planning to go to the Urban League Young Professionals meeting on Thursday. And there is a National Black MBA function on Saturday I'm debating going to (it's a 500 pound challenge...I responded to the girl who sent me the invite that I'm not sure if I should attend - if anything I'd like to gain weight - and I don't want to get kicked out for not being down with the cause, lol!). Anyway, that's an indicator of how my week has been going. Today was nonstop at work. I had to schedule time on my calendar tomorrow morning to get work done. But in this economy, it's a great thing to be busy at work! Enough for now. Later y'all!