an apocalypse writ in blood

So in sum, this is the tale of how a 5-hour mild annoyance turned into a 50+ hour ordeal, with more to come.

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Some trivial thoughts about my own day and related matters:

We’re back to using the office as a staging ground. Noah was here when I arrived this morning. I explained the situation and he said no problem, take what time you need, just keep me posted.

Also, I had a goodie bag of chex mix, marshmallows, pretzels, and lemon candy left on my desk by “Tori G—” (I can’t make out the last name; it’s in cursive). Thanks, Tori G! I have no idea who this person is, but I appreciate the gift.

Shortly past noon I got a text to come on up, so I walked up. It took them forever to process the paperwork [...] and we arrived home at around 5:30.

It’s interesting how travel costs escalate. The cheapest way to the medical plaza is to walk to the train station (10 minutes), take the train for $5, and then walk the rest of the way (50 minutes). Cheap and easy if you’re feeling fit and the weather is good and you have no time constraints. The next step up is walk > train > Uber, which will probably run you around $20 total. If you’re with someone with mobility issues, you can Uber > train > Uber for around $35-40 (taking into account you need two train tickets). This is possibly the worst nexus of cost and annoyance, because you have to account for the hourly train schedule and also leave extra time on both ends for your Uber to arrive. Workable if you’re coming home; not so much if you’re trying to get to an appointment on time. Lastly, you can Uber directly there. Door-to-door service. Costs vary wildly; I’ve seen anything between $40 (practically the same as the three-step trip!) to $70 (big yikes @ weekday afternoon rush hour). But sometimes, time constraints + mobility issues force your hand.

This was a lot less onerous when it was “once every quarter” instead of “multiple times a week,” but a lot of things were a lot less onerous back then.