2002 Q2 Vacation: 38°46.3195’N, 117°27.39441’W

Day 0: 15 May 2002

00:00 UTC – 03:00 UTC (Decompress)

After leaving work, I ran a few errands, deposited a couple checks that I’d been procrastinating depositing, and headed home. I watched TV and basically decompressed for a little while. Then I decided it was time to start thinking about my trip. I made myself a checklist of things I had to do before I left. Then I slowly started doing things on the checklist. The easiest ones first, working up to the ones that would take more time and effort and/or thought. In between, I watched TV.

03:00 UTC – 05:00 UTC (The Door)

So, eventually it came time for the item on my list which involved getting my bike and other junk out of my car and bringing it inside, so that I would feel comfortable leaving the car parked at the airport for a week. I grabbed my keys, and headed to the car. I got my first load of stuff to come in and headed back to the door. And it was closed. And wouldn’t open. Funny, I didn’t think I’d locked it. I fiddled with the key and made sure it was unlocked. No dice. The deadbolt was unlocked. Door would not open. The doorknob turned, but nothing inside moved. Ever since I moved in five years ago the lock had been finicky. And sometimes I’d have to jiggle the knob or sometimes even kick it to make it open. This time nothing worked. It was jammed tight. Never the less, I spent about an hour trying to open the door. I was hampered by the fact that I had no tools. They were all inside. I was also cold. I kicked the door a few times (not too hard, I didn’t actually want to break it). I pushed and shoved it in various ways. I tried over and over to force the doorknob to turn further. Nothing. No luck.

Now, around this time, I started thinking that I needed to just give up and call maintenance. The stupid finicky doorknob had finally gone and broken completely. Fine. I’ll do that. Problem. My cell phone was inside on the table. For that matter so was my wallet and everything else I normally carried with me. The only reason I even had a jacket was that it was in the car. The only reason I even had the keys was that I was going to the car. It was about midnight. All the neighbor’s lights were off. Well, I did have my car. I drove a mile or so away to a shopping plaza and found a pay phone. I called information on my calling card to get my maintenance people. I got the answering service, who promised they would page the guy on duty, and they told me to get home so I would be there when he arrived.

So I raced home. They were pretty fast. About fifteen minutes after I had called, the guy pulled up in his van. I explain quickly what was going on. He pulls out a screwdriver. 30 seconds later the door is open and we are in my apartment. He then examines the doorknob. Turning the knob has absolutely zero effect on the latch. He starts taking it apart. The knob itself is fine. But the mechanism inside is busted into several small pieces. Whatever had been holding on keeping it functional had given up and busted. He had the parts he needed in the van though. Another few minutes and the insides of my doorknob were brand new, and working better than they had in the entire time I’ve lived here. He told me next time to not wait for it to actually break to call maintenance. The fact that I often had to jiggle it to get in, and sometimes had to kick it, was kind of a clue that it was not going to last forever, and that a new one might be good.

I thanked him and he headed on his way. Now it was time to get back to doing what I need to do to get ready to leave. I had lost about 90 minutes. I didn’t get a picture of the broken knob or the maintenance guy. Sorry!

05:00 UTC – 08:00 UTC (Slow Progress)

So, once I was finally in my apartment and the guy was gone, I continued to slowly go through my checklist of things that needed to be done before I left. But I was very slow and very inefficient. I watched a bunch of TV off the Tivo. I slowly puttered around getting things I needed, putting things away, whatever.

08:00 UTC – 12:00 UTC (Sleep)

I finally decided I was just not being productive at all, and needed to go to sleep. So I switched the Tivo to live TV on some news channel, grabbed a blanket, and lay down on the couch, with the alarm set for just an hour or so later. I’d just take a quick nap, then continue.

12:00 UTC – 17:00 UTC (Pack)

Four hours later I actually got up. It was a struggle to get up, I was sleepy, but I knew I had to start getting things together, so I managed to get myself up and showered and dressed, then I went about my checklist activities in a much more efficient way. I cleaned the birdcages, I emptied the car, I collected together all the things I knew I needed, I started packing them into my big suitcase and my backpack. I didn’t get everything done that I had wanted to do, but I got almost everything done, and all the crucial things. Eventually, I was ready to go.

17:00 UTC – 20:00 UTC (To Plane)

So, it was time to go. I had my BIG suitcase. I hate my big suitcase. It is a fine suitcase, but it is just too big. But I was bringing a tent and a sleeping bag along with everything else. Now, I have no idea if I will actually end up using these things, but since I am “winging it” I really don’t know what I’ll run into, and perhaps I will need them. So, I thought it was better to have them than to not have them. But it means I needed the big suitcase. They took up a lot of space. But dragging the big suitcase is a major pain. But I lugged it to my car, then got underway. I made very good time for the airport. I am almost never this much ahead of schedule. I probably had time to do a couple more items on my list. But it was OK. I was at the airport early. I had time to grab a bite to eat at one of the places at the airport. I took my time. I read my book. Soon after I left the food place, my flight was boarding.

20:00 UTC – 00:00 UTC (Flight to Phoenix)

The takeoff was pretty turbulent, but after that it was a pretty uneventful flight. It was a wonderfully clear day outside, and I watched the scenery go by for a long time. I finished the book I was on, and started another one. I skipped the snack since I had already eaten for the day. Before too long though, I just fell asleep. I was pretty tired.