2569 Complications

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Marge Simpson: We can't afford to shop at any store that has a philosophy.

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I was supposed to go to dinner and bar trivia in Albany tonight, but circumstances conspired to prevent it.

I had a few errands to run - take a box of rejected Nutrisystem food to UPS for return, bank to get cash, gas station to fill up, heating oil office to ask about the budget program for this winter, post office to pick up a box of photos of Jay that his sister sent, drop some papers off at Piper's office, grocery store, and a few other things.

While I was in Piper's office, several police cars screamed past heading up the road, followed by the fire department heavy rescue vehicle (that says it's an auto accident) and the ambulance. About an hour later I headed home, after filling the back seat of my car with about $50 worth of frozen food. I had just enough time to wash and dress and make it to Albany.

I found out where the accident was. On the corner of my street and the highway.

The highway and my street were closed. The flagman let me through to park at a farm stand just down from my street, where the car (and frozen food) sat for the next hour and a half. I walked down to check out the damage.

A truck had gone off the road at a slight curve (a VERY slight curve) and took out a telephone pole near the intersection. I mean TOOK OUT. Flat on the ground, cut right at the base. The pole happened to have a transformer, which had exploded. There were downed wires all over the place, and across the intersection.

The red vehicle in the following photo is a tow truck, pulling out the demolished vehicle. It's across the end of my street. You can't see the street until you're right on top of it, and it looks like we lost the "reduced speed" limit sign and the street sign, too, so this could be fun for a while. Note all the wires down, and the pole butt on the right.

By the time I got there, the police and fire department had left, and it was all electric company people, and they didn't know if there had been any injuries. I noticed that there were no skid marks on the road - the guy must have hit the pole at full speed. There was some confusion as to whether the transformer had exploded before or after the accident.

Cutting up the dead pole, and preparing to plant a new one (on the right, on the truck):

The truck that hit the pole:
I was a bit relieved to see so little damage to the windshield and roof of the cab - that bodes well for the driver - but was a bit amused to see all the damage to the rear of the truck. It looked like the pole "vaulted" over the cab, and then landed on the van section in the back, ripping off the roof and flattening the sides.

Of course when I was finally allowed through the intersection, I had no electricity at home for several hours. That also meant no water or land line phone.

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I haven't mentioned the diet in a while. There's nothing to report. I'm still sitting at 12 pounds down, on less than 900 calories, over six meals a day. My tummy is a little smaller, and my waist is a little better defined, and my bras are emptying (whoa!), and my underpants are drooping, so something's happening. But not much. I still can't comfortably wear 2007's clothes.

As to the returned Nutrisystem food, as I explained to them, when someone orders certain selections on their first order, and then even fewer selections on their second order, it usually means they don't like! the stuff they didn't order, and especially didn't like the stuff they didn't REorder. So it is the height of stupidity to select the 28 bonus meals from items the customer has obviously already rejected! That isn't much of a bonus.
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