Snippets from the day

And what a day it's been so far. Not bad. Not good. Just full of strange things happening.

In no particular order:

There was a huge storm this afternoon, as we have discovered is usually the case. Today, however, the storm was full of lightning and thunder. I was sure that we would lose power, which we didn't. Instead, my vonage box got fried at some point during the storm. Nothing happened to our computers, the printer, the modem, the router, or any of the phones (most of which are daisy chained into the same plugs - bad form, I know, but still). Just the Vonage box. Which kind of sucks, since they can't be purchased here (or so I hear). I took it down to an electronics store and they were able to confirm that a processor was fried. They'll look for a replacement tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
*Yes, this means we have no phone for now.


In a related note, I saw someone in the building - which I guess would be a neighbor - received a package in the mail from Amazon. A package! In the mail! The mind boggles. I had no idea that the postal system worked in this country, let alone that you could get something that was purchased online from the US. I admit, I checked the package to make sure. It's not a reuse of the Amazon box. It's not sent locally. The sender's address is Amazon, in the US. The ramifications are stupefying.


On the way to get a censo today, I saw a passenger carrier plane (the normal, commercial, get on the plane and go somewhere type of plane) closely followed by two jets. When I say close, I mean it looked like they were sitting on the wings on either side of the larger plane. Probably someone important, like the president, heading off somewhere - but a little jarring when you glance up and see that in the sky. Makes one think all sorts of jack-booted security thoughts, and the way the world is changing. Much like this latest tidbit of changing transportation policy in DC.


And I was able to get a censo today. A censo somewhere between a visa (in one's passport), and the more traditional and more citizenry cedula - which is pretty much citizenship identification, as far as I can tell. The name of the card I sat in long lines to get today would lead one to believe it has something to do with a census, or being counted, or listed, or registered -- or something. All I know is that it is not mandatory, but I need it. It turns out you can't sell expensive things, like cars, without one.


I think I saw an ex-boyfriend of my mother's while I was driving home from the Censo office. Which is a supremely strange thing to say. One, because that's just not a normal statement that comes out of someone's mouth very often - at least not someone with a mother like mine. Two, because my mother isn't really the "dating" type (I think she's dated 2 people in the last 25 years), and it's just weird to possibly have run into him in a random section of this large city. It's like running into your second cousin's college roommate while vacationing in Sidney or something. I know it happens, but it's surreal.


Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but the wifey likes the fires in the evening, and with good reason, given the weather (see above) and the general romantic appeal of speding our evenings fireside. The downside is that, despite the re-engineering advice provided by our in-house engineering expert, which has been duly applied to the fireplace, we're still getting smoke in the house. Which means that I find myself walking around the city, running errands and the like, smelling like I've just come off of a week long camping trip. Sans the BO, of course. It's just a little disconcerting.