Well, dear readers, I am enjoying my little working time here in the DC of Washington. One thing I really have enjoyed, both with this trip and the last one is the food. Washington is a good food town, at least for the most part. Yesterday was a perfectly fine day that began with me getting up and announcing the new Kritzerland title. Once that was done I got ready and then the East Coast Singer arrived, as did Lanny Meyers, and we went to a little jernt so I could have some eggs. This particular little jernt was everything I loathe in little jernts – organic, healthy, know carbonated drinks (Sandy went outside and bought me a Diet Coke), and nothing really worth eating. I had the least offensive thing on the menu – a gruyere cheese and ham omelet – totally sans taste, no more than an ounce of cheese and no more than an ounce of ham. This, according to their menu, had 530 calories. I don’t think so, but maybe they were including the bushes in some dressing that was on the plate along with bread I didn’t eat. Counting calories is very simple, adding is very simple, and counting and adding the calories in each ingredient only added up to about 320 calories.
After that, I stopped at the nearby Apple store so I could get a new bumper case for the iPhone – mine had cracked and given up the ghost. Then we went to Sandy’s house and began working. The first part of the day was devoted to going through all the songs for her upcoming album. We’d done most of the arranging things on the previous trip, but as I heard certain things I asked for some minor adjustments, which Lanny implemented right away – just little things in about six of the songs. Then we took a break and had some fruit, whilst discussing this little act she’ll be doing at the Signature Theatre in August, all Ira Gershwin. Then we played through all those songs, I nixed a couple, figured out a tentative show order and changed some keys. By the time we finished all that it was four-thirty so we called it a day and she drove us back to the hotel.
I answered some e-mails and did a few things on the Internet, then I met Lanny and Mona (Mona does publicity and other stuff for Sandy) and we moseyed on over to a jernt called Clyde’s. I had some Wild Atlantic Salmon – I knew it was wild because it did the shimmy and a back flip. The salmon was pan-seared and served over quinoa and asparagus in a balsamic reduction. It was superb and very calorie-friendly. Dinner was really fun and we had a great server. Then we walked back to the hotel.
I did more work on the computer and then about eight I moseyed on down to the fitness room where I did the treadmill again. First of all, my legs and back were so sore from the previous day’s doing the treadmill, but I persevered and kept going and did about 2.8 miles at a brisk speed, burning off 380 calories. I was sweating like a pig again, but it felt good. I took a photograph of me sweating like a pig directly upon returning to the room and because I am fearless always, here it is.
I titled the photograph “Fearless sweating elderly Jew.” Then I called Paypal because we’ve been having an issue with the title we announced today – this weird thing where some people who wanted to buy the new title and an old title couldn’t get both to add to the cart – it was creating a second cart. We’ve been having weird problems for the last week, and for this new release Doug changed the e-mail address where invoices were going to because that’s what a tech told us we should do, but apparently in the doing of that it created this problem. Doug is so frustrated with their techs and senior techs who never solve problems, who have snarky attitudes, and just open trouble tickets that are never responded to. So I took the bull by the horns and called myself, just to vent really, because the techs don’t work at night. I got a really nice gal named Judy, and she apologized on behalf of the techs, then patiently sat on the phone with me and tested all variations of putting stuff in the cart – she could see the problem was with only the new title. She asked me about how the shopping cart buttons were created – I couldn’t answer and I asked if she could do a conference call with Doug, and she did that very thing instantly. Doug walked her through the steps, which she could follow – he created a test product – it worked fine. Then he went in and changed the button so the e-mail address was the usual one where things have always gone and voila it worked. He told her he’d tried to make buttons four times for the new release but it kept reverting back to the wrong e-mail address. And she made the simple suggestion that not one of the techs had ever thought to make – that the buttons were reverting because Doug’s computer had cached in memory the one time it had done it wrong, and therefore it kept doing it wrong. But he’d had his computer off all day, which had apparently cleared the cache and then it was all fine and from now on he’ll know to do that for any problem. Plus we have a way of getting to this gal if we have any further problems.
That took up most of my evening and then it was time to write these here notes, which, in case you haven’t noticed, is what I’ve been doing.
Today, I’ll be up at nine, I’ll shower, and then we’ll have another work session – same as yesterday – the album, then the show. We’ll have fruit for lunch, and then I’ll come back to the hotel and get cleaned up for the evening’s festivities. Sandy will drive us to the Signature Theater and we’ll sup nearby, and then see the show entitled Company. I will, of course, have a full report for you.
Tomorrow, we will be working, so I’ll check out of the hotel around eleven, we’ll work till two, and then Sandy will drive me to the airport and I will be winging my way home. So you can start sending your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for a safe, secure, and on-time flight home.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a work session, eat fruit, do the treadmill if there’s time, then sup, then see a show. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the worst tech nightmare you’ve had with your computer? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of a wild time with Wild Salmon – Wild Salmon – that’s the title of my next novel.