A Blog-worthy Day

I had no idea what a frustrating day it would turn out to be when my hairdryer sputtered out this morning before my hair was even dry. Well, it didn't exactly sputter- it whined- and I turned it off before it had a chance to combust and catch my hair on fire. I was NOT ready to start my day with a head full of fire.

I made it out the door without my hair singed, but realized I wasted time even bothering drying my hair because I was soaked by the time I reached my car. Yes, Dallas is still underwater. You'd think we're far enough inland these hurricanes would leave us alone.

I got a new computer at work yesterday, so today I spent a good deal of my time realizing I was on the wrong wireless network and struggling to access this one portal I needed (funky network security stuff I don't understand!) I ended up calling the "help" desk. Yes, I say "help" because I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a kind fellow in India just for him to tell me 1. This page I was trying to load never loads (which is not true because it always loaded on my old computer and it loads on my coworkers' computers) 2. That I was on the right wireless network (I wasn't) and 3. Oh....well then you must have a problem.
Yes, thank you. I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with you for you to tell me I had the problem I called you about.

Anyway, I got our IT support guy to get me on the right network- it took him 5 seconds. I think he finished it before I finished asking him to do it. Then my problem with loading the page was solved! Still...a very frustrating process!

I suppose the rest of the work day was smooth sailing.

I've been having trouble with my iPhone recently. The home button doesn't respond a lot, so I have to hit it a billion times for my phone to respond....quite frustrating! I decided to be productive after work and take it in to get checked on. I wasn't sure if I should take it to AT&T or Apple, so I started with AT&T. They couldn't fix it, but they could tell me it was still under warranty and I bought some more screen covers- just to make the trip worth while.

I called Apple on my way to the Apple store @ Willow Bend to see if they were slam busy or if they had an open appointment. No one answered....the entire way to the store! You'd think Apple made enough of a profit they could hire someone to answer their phones.

When I got to the mall I heard them announce on the radio there was a tornado in southeast Dallas county. I was a whole county North- no problem. (I think living in Alabama 4 years jaded me. Tornadoes rarely touchdown in the hills of AL, and when they do, they don't stay down long, so they're not much to worry about).

I headed to Apple without giving the weather a second thought- the skys were blue. I noticed every store I passed was closing. It was 5:55- I couldn't believe the mall could close at 6pm on a Wednesday and all these lazy workers were closing up 5 minutes early! I picked up the pace- maybe I'd make it to Apple before they shut their doors.

There was a small group outside Apple. They were closing because there was a tornado warning. Everyone had to go to the back corridors. I tried to get back to my car and escape the mall before they trapped me in for who knows how long!

They caught me, and guided me to the back hallways that only shoplifters and moms who've lost their babies get to see on their way to the security office. I followed the other shoppers into the hall and found a nice corner to mind my own business in while we all updated our Facebook status' and Tweeted about the exciting experience.

This pic is of the mirror up on the wall (so the security guards won't run over each other on their cool mall-segways). This is where my personal weather reporter entered the picture.

Elizabeth texted: "I just saw your status and I watched the tornado on the news! Lucky that you're trapped in a mall..."
Me: "How bad is it? When I got out of my car the radio was saying it was in southeast Dallas. Some people are saying it passed thirty minutes ago....It's starting to smell like dirty diapers in here!"
Liz: "We are watching it!!! It's been on the ground for 5 minutes in downtown dallas! Crossing over Trinity River and going toward Harry Hines! It's destroying buildings! Where are you?!"
Me: "Willow Bend. We have been released."

I decided to give up on going to Apple because after this fiasco, I just knew they'd be swamped and backed up on appointments. There was no way they'd get to me. So much for trying to be productive. People in Toni & Guy were in the middle of haircuts and clearly did not comply with Security's demands to take cover in the musty corridors.

I walked out to my car and heard tornado sirens. I called my weather reporter (Liz) just to be sure. She said, "No! Go back inside! It is coming up the Dallas North Tollway right towards you." I could see the tollway from where I was. "But the sky is blue," I protested! "The sky is always blue in a tornado! Except for the one black cloud! It's coming your way," She said. I heard her wise father in the background advising me to stay at the mall. I couldn't think of any good ditches I would be able to dive into in case I encountered the tornado on my short drive home. The tornado was probably still 10 miles south of me, but moving about 25 mph- Liz would let me know when it was safe to leave the mall.

More weather updates from Liz: "Tornado funnel at the galleria! Stay put...The storm is going to come up on both sides of you. I wish I could be stranded with an anthro and jcrew!"

I headed back in and gave Apple a second chance. Good thing because the fine young chap who got in line behind me made all this madness worth it! He was dressed like a charming European- pin striped suit, European shoes (When are American guys going to realize how much more attractive they'd be if they dressed like European guys? I love a sharp dressed man...<3 Men in peacoats). He might as well have been Leonardo DiCaprio's hotter brother. I heard him speaking in an unidentifiable language on his phone (another attractive quality). I know it wasn't French, and I know it wasn't Spanish- maybe Portugese? Or it could've been an Eastern European language, but definitely not Russian. He was dreamy.

The kind Apple folks updated my phone software and replaced the entire cover (screen, speaker, and button) for FREE! Reason #203 I love Apple (I can overlook the fact that they can't answer a dang phone).

I suppose the day turned out successfully. I survived a tornado, solved my computer problems (without help from the "help desk"), and I bought a new hair dryer at Target (where I saw Michael Vartan in the parking lot- Ya know...the hot teacher in "Never Been Kissed"...Jennifer Gardner's partner in "Alias"... thank you God for creating that man!)