The Week That Was

Our 16-year-old son was asked by a girl to be her escort to her quinceañera last Saturday. A quinceañera is the Hispanic version of a sweet 16 party, but much more complex and ritualistic. It's a very big deal in the Hispanic culture, and it was an honor for him to be invited, especially as the escort of the honoree. However...

Being the escort requires wearing a tux. But not just any tux. The poor boy had to go shopping with the girl and her mother as they searched for a suitable dress. His presence was necessary so that after they picked out the dress they could go straight to the formalwear rental shop and make sure they got a tux to match. Of course, mom and daughter needed multiple trips to find just the right dress, so the boy got to spend a couple of days tagging along with two women looking for something he had absolutely no interest in. Welcome to my world, kid.

Anyway, the big event went well. A good time was had by all, and there were no unfortunate incidents. The tux rental place is located near downtown San Antonio. We live about 40 miles northwest of there, but I drive past it on my way from home to the South Texas city where I work several days a week. Being a dutiful husband, I volunteered to return the tux so my wife wouldn't have to drive all the way there and back. I mapquested the address and figured out how to get there. As I was leaving the house I mentioned the exit I planned to take to my wife. She told me that was wrong, and preceded to give me very detailed and explicit directions to the store. After a couple of rounds of "Are you sure?" "Yes I'm positive" I decided to follow her directions because she was so damned sure of herself.

You can guess where this is going, right?

Of course, when I got to where my wife told me to go there was no sign of a formalwear store. I called her and we played the "Where is it? "It should be right there" game for a while, until I asked her what should have been my first question.

"When's the last time you were here?"

Turns out she had never been there, but one of her friends had told her where it was.

Sigh...

So I went to where I should have gone in the first place. Lo and behold, there it was. Normally I don't sweat the small stuff like this but that part of San Antonio has some really twisted streets and awkward exits and entrances to the freeway. Plus it's just got to have the largest concentration of idiot drivers in the entire county.

To top things off some bozo driving one of those 'I wanna be an offroad ranger' pickups parked next to me as I was in the store. The damn thing had tires about as tall as I am, a brushguard and extended rear bumper that made it about 25 feet long, and was parked so close to me that I couldn't get in through the driver's door. I had to go around to the passenger's side and crawl over to the driver's seat.

The whole process delayed me enough on my trip down south that I didn't get there until after 5:00. That's significant because the manager's office in my apartment complex closes at 5:00. Usually not a big deal, but the air conditioner in my apartment picked that day to quit working. The temperature down here on Mon. was 100, on Tues. it reached 104, and Wed. it topped out at 106. Thankfully the A/C was fixed yesterday afternoon, but it's been like living in a sauna. I've spent as much time in my office as I dare, but this time of year the students are swarming the halls seeking extensions to projects that they should have completed by now. The little darlings have no concept of time management or deadlines. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Tomorrow I have a whole slew of waste-of-time admin meetings and busywork, followed by class and the long drive home. Friday I get to take my truck into the shop and go to the dentist. Sunday the entire clan comes over for Easter dinner.

Thank God the semester ends in three weeks...