A Pretty Crappy 24 Hours

PJ left for Thomasville last night at 6pm.  It's about a 7.5 hour drive.  Poor guy.  He couldn't leave any earlier but they made 'good' time and got there at 1:30am.  He was up at 6:30am for his meetings.  He is working hard down here.  I have it in my head that my 'job' is to take care of him (it doesn't feel like a job, it feels like a real pleasure).

Anyways!  That was not where I was intending to go with this story.

So PJ is gone and I'm alone.  And I need to get a run in.  So I dress warmly (it was COLD here - in the minuses!) and head out.  

We have a lake across the street from our apartment and it's about 1.3 miles around it.  I normally run 2.5 - 3 times around.  It's between us and a community centre.  It is all lit up and a lot of couples walk along there.  (Side story - this lake has ducks.  Lots of them.  If you know me, you know that I HATE birds (seriously - what are their beaks made of because it looks hard and like it could hurt me.  And they are flappy.  So flappy.).  Just as we're about to fall asleep at night...we will hear "QUACK!!!!! Quackquackquackquackquack" and the ducks get all distressed.  Over what?  Not sure!  But it's pretty funny.  When I run, the ducks are normally asleep.  And even I can admit they're pretty cute when they're asleep - like chubby little circles because they tuck their heads in).

So I start running.  And I do one loop.  And just as I am finishing, a guy starts walking towards me.  And I have my headphones in but I hear him say 'excuse me miss, can you come take a picture of me?' and pointing down to the lake around where some shrubbery was.  I waved him off and said 'sorry' and he said 'I just want a photo' but it freaked me out to be approached by someone especially when PJ wasn't home.  And I thought it was odd because there were couples out walking intermittently but he approached the single girl running with headphones on.  So I ran to the other side of the lake to do a figure 8 - I was near home when he approached me but I didn't want him to see where I live.  So I got home and was freaked out and stayed that way all night (it did not help that I ran so fast that I was wheezing when I got home and couldn't figure out where the noise in the apartment was coming from).

Then I burned my roasted veggies.  Not a big deal but disappointing nonetheless.

Today I needed to return PJ's rental car and pick up one that I rented on my credit card (you only are insured on a credit card to rent for 45 days so by switching to my credit card we would start from Day 1 all over again).  I returned his car and everything was going fine. Until the man checking in the car turned it on and said 'you didn't fill it up?'  And I went 'OH NO I TOTALLY MEANT TO AND FORGOT!!  Can I leave and go do that and bring it back?!'  Now gas down here is under $2/gallon.  For the rental car agency to fill it up is $10/gallon.  The man said that he had already checked it in so I couldn't take it back out.  I felt pretty sick about it.  He then told me that he may have already checked it is as FULL.  I had my fingers crossed that he had checked it in full.  And he had!!  He said there was a chance we could still be charged for fuel if they noticed it and charged it to our account.  I'm hoping not!  But I have a legitimate argument for not filling it: I couldn't have even if I attempted.  Getting to that...

I went inside to get the new car.  I gave the man my license and he asked for my credit card.  He also offered to give me a free upgrade to a Ford Mustang.  Sweet!!!  He swiped my credit card and asked if I had set up a travel advisory to let the bank know I was traveling.  Um...yes I did!  But my card wasn't working so I needed to call the credit card and see what was up.  The man I spoke to at the bank said that I hadn't set up a travel advisory and I said I would be here for a year and did give them notification.  He asked me where I was trying to use the card and I said at the car company and he said 'okay, did you try and use it at a Texaco in Atlanta before?' And my response was 'Umm, no.'  He informed me that my card had been compromised and they would need to send me a new one.  And they couldn't force through a transaction at the rental car.  I had some mild panic at this as I only have one credit card.  He did offer to courier me the new card so I would get it in a few days. 

I went back to the rental cars agency.  The nice, nice man behind the counter was very sympathetic but it was soon evident that I didn't really have any options:

My Canadian debit card wouldn't work

My Canadian American dollar debit card did not have my name on it (but was a Visa debit card)

They couldn't accept cash

I felt pretty SOL.  Until I asked about using PJ's credit card which seemed like it would work.  Except he needed to be present with it.  

I called PJ.  He couldn't answer but he could text.  I was feeling pretty bummed. It's an awful feeling to be by yourself in a foreign country where your access to funds is limited, you have no family close by, and you have no transportation.  I don't do well in situations like that.  I mean, I was fine but I wanted to cry.  PJ asked if he could book a car online and me pick it up.

Genius!  I ran up and asked the rental car company.  The nice, nice man checked with his manager who said that would work.  PJ figured out how to do this on his phone (he was in a meeting not near his computer) and I quickly got the keys to a Mustang.  I was SO happy.  I told that nice man that I could hug him and he laughed!

I saw the man who initially checked in the returned car as I was leaving so I waved. He laughed and reminded me to fill up this car before returning.  I think PJ will be handling this from now on!

And then I got myself a biscuit for my trouble.