Total Eclipse

Today was solar eclipse day. Momoko's sister and brother-in-law drove down south to make sure they saw a total eclipse of the sun. We were not as lucky. Still. These were exciting times. I checked the web to see the time when the sun would be most covered.

When the time came, I went outside. Momoko had provided me with safe eclipse glasses. I did not see the ISSO marking on them. Hope they were not cheap knock offs. I put the glasses on and looked up. All I saw was blackness. I feared the glasses were too dark.

My next door neighbor's wife was outside. She was also staring up in the sky. I asked her if she had any luck. She pointed and said she saw it. I doubled down and tried again. That is when I saw this sliver of a sun poking through.

The experts said we would have almost 90% blockage at the peak. I thought we were more like 80%. I still saw a lot of sun. I also heard rumors that the temperature would drop 15 to 20 degrees. It did not feel any colder at the peak of the eclipse.

Momoko came home shortly afterward and tried to take a picture of the eclipse. She put glasses over the camera of her phone. I gave her my pair so she could also shield her eyes. The picture did not turn out well. On TV, we saw people being interviewed at Little Kat's college.

Return Home Over the Bridge

My Internet WiFi had gone out the prior afternoon. I had a meeting at 11am the next morning. Momoko proposed we check out of the hotel early in the morning. That way I could be home before my work meeting. We got up around 7am. Were on the road by 8am or so. We had gassed up the night before. I had to drive.

The GPS took us a bit further North than was expected. We kept ended up driving on some back roads by trailer parks. Eventually we made it to a 4 lane highway. I did not want to lead the pack or come up in the rear. Was worried about cops singling me out.

We had to cross a bridge that spanned a couple miles over a bay. A local bridge by our house had just collapsed. So I was extra anxious. Most big trucks stayed in the far right lane. I stuck to the middle lane. Just when I thought we were safe beyond the end of the bridge, we hit bad traffic on a highway heading North.

Eventually we got past the hold up. The rest of the ride home was uneventful. I made my meeting. Then Momoko and I went to get our favorite Chinese food carryout. I worked hard to make up for lost time due to WiFi outage. Only one guy on my team was around to review my code. Some lady had reserved the documentation I needed to update. I did not find that out until she had left for the weekend. Came close to finishing my tasks for this week.

Returning to the Ocean

Momoko and I headed from the theater to another beach location. We traveled on back country roads. Got stuck behind a car carrier driving very slow. 18-wheeler trucks were illegally passing the slow truck across the double yellow line. Mokoko eventually passed it on the right shoulder. We stopped at a welcome center that had a machine that made you part of a comic.

I had to take the wheel after that. We checked into our beach front hotel right on time. I ordered a cheese steak at our favorite ice cream diner. It turned out to be the special of the day. The next morning, I got a lot of work done for my company. So I joined Momoko and her friend from work for lunch. When I got back, I lost WiFi and could not work.

We took advantage of the down time to go shopping. It was raining. Momoko drove us to some beach shop. I found a T-shirt for $4. Momoko could not find a gift spoon to give to Kit Kat. We went to the edge of the board walk. Initially we could not find this souvenir shop we recalled. I charged ahead and found the shop. Momoko bought a spoon. We also went into another shop that closed its boardwalk front. We asked a girl to help us purchase popcorn like Cracker Jack.

On the ride back to the hotel, we scoped out the first floor parking of Momoko's friend's hotel room. I found the perfect parking spot. We went back to our hotel to rest. Then we went back to the friend's hotel for happy hour. I did not get my spot. There was an elevator close to the parking spot I found. The elevator door would not open without a key card.

Eventually we searched for an elevator open to the public. Momoko's friend there was one that took you to the third floor for the bar. We found our friend there pre-gaming. Appetizers were $10. I got shrimp cocktail. Momoko got a beef au jus special that was not on the menu.  Momoko could not get comfortable on the bar stool. So we left after an hour. We had another late night snack at DQ. Their 6 piece chicken strip dinner came with white gravy that Momoko loved. I opted for ranch dressing.

Addams Family Musical

Momoko and Kit Kat were on spring break this week. Initially Momoko thought she would stay at home for spring break. Then she started thinking about going places. This was all last minute. I could not get any time off work. We decided to first head to the Addams Family musical.

Kit Kat had wanted to attend. I bought 4 tickets. Kit Kat invited her friend from high school. Me and Momoko drove up early to secure out king size bed hotel room. We arrived early. But it took an hour to get to a Sonic for a snack. The room had a pocket door to the bathroom, low toilet, and a shower door that swung two ways.

I called Kit Kat to check on her progress. She had left her apartment and was on her way. I took a nap in the hotel room. Woke up 15 minutes to the show's pre-dinner. I had to get dressed. We probably arrived right when dinner was supposed to be served. Kit Kat and her friend had been there for over 30 minutes. They waited for us before going to the buffet.

I asked Kit Kat's friend a lot of questions. Momoko and I only see here around once a year. A weird waitress kept trying to get the friend to stop talking. I told the waitress that since we only see this girl once a year, we need to let her talk and tell us her stories.

The musical itself was lacking in story line. It could have been a 10 minutes Tiktok video. Wednesday's fiance's mother stole the show were her solo routine. Pugsly started out weak trying to sing an octave too high. Then he shined with the right song for him. Gomez was a consistently good singer. Costumes were strong, especially the Addams Family ancestral ghosts. Choreography was also very strong at points.

Kit Kat left her program on the table. I scooped it up. Her friend drove them back home in her family's new Subaru. Momoko and I hurried back to Sonic for a midnight snack. We were only staying one night at the hotel. There were maybe 10 cars in the parking lot. No need to worry about not getting our room.

Mini Split A/C

We had previously installed a portable air conditioning unit in Little Kat's room. The exhaust went vented to the outside via a long thick duct. Little Kat said the unit just could not cool his room. He has a ton of large electronic devices running 24x7.

So we thought about installing a different type of A/C unit in his room. We could not do a wall unit .He is below ground and has no windows. Instead we chose a mini split A/C. The instruction said you should hire an A/C tech to install it.

I asked out handyman if he could handle it. He recommended we use an A/C guy he knew. I showed the A/C guy where we would want to put the indoor blower and outdoor compressor. He quoted me $1400 for labor. Later we changed the location to better suit Little Kat's needs, and also to make it easier to vent. The new price jumped up to $1800+.

This A/C guy would not give me a written quote beforehand. I had to hound him on the price at all times. They came and spent all day working on it as Little Kat sat in the living room. When they were done, I wanted to test the cooling. Both A/C guys said the unit did not work if the outside was cold. That was bollocks. They also said they gave me a 15 foot free copper cooling hardware. More bollocks.

After they left, I found a lot of trash inside and outside. My dryer was bent on top. There was goop ruining our carpet. Moral of the story is that our handyman is awesome. But the guys he recommends are not.

Finding Low Cost Magazines

I had to do some shopping. I wanted to buy some single issue magazines. The problem is that they have become so expensive. So I turned to Half Price Books. They sell most used magazines for 99 cents. That allows me to check out a bunch of new magazines for a low price.

I found some magazines that had a cover price of almost $30. Also found some magazines that almost seemed like books. They also cost me 99 cents. In the end I picked up around seven magazines. They may take me a while to read. I would have bought more. But I was on vacation and could not carry them home.

Even the seven magazines were heavy. I ended up stashing them in the back of my new GMC Terrain, which will be transported to my house. I only carried home a single book I bought at $3. It came in handy when I finished reading the last book I packed on the plane.

Taking Possession of the GMC Terrain

I got up extra early. Went to McDonald's. Spied on my brother-in-law waiting a long time in the drive through. I went to his house and picked him up. We needed to return to McDonald's to correct his order. Then we headed South. I was going to the closest branch of my bank. We arrived before open. To kill time, we stopped by Buc-ees mega gas station.

I noticed the car I was driving had low tire pressure. At first, I went to my bank. Got a certified check to pay for my car. Then we went to Discount Tire to get the tire filled with air. Then I headed back to Momoko's dad's house. Brother-in-law forgot his license. I dropped him off at his house to get the license and his car. He took me to my dealer.

The dealership was busy. No receptionist. Could not find my sales guy. Went to find the finance guy. Gave him my certified check. My sales guy had to finish helping another customer. Then he set up my OnStar and explained some settings in my new car. I drove it back to Momoko's dad's house, where I had to take pictures to show Momoko.

I tried to set up transport of my new GMC Terrain back home. Found the company I used last time. Their web site kept erroring out before I could set up a transport. Their phone system did not seem to be working either. I might need to go with another provider.