Ordeal

Today's project was running errands before leaving for my trip tomorrow. I had 4 set errands for the afternoon: post office, bank #1, bank #2, buy outlet adapter. (There was a trip to Target this morning, but nothing out of the ordinary to report there. The only remarkable thing about it was that I was thinking about how much I would miss Chicago and the view of the Sears Tower while running errands.)

I finally got out to do afternoon errands at 3:30 (late!). Within 20 minutes, I'd been to the post office, bank #1 and bank #2. Things were going so well! So fast! All that was left was a trip to Radio Shack to pick up the adapter. I had seen it on the website and it said the store had it in stock, so I thought this would take at most 5 minutes, since the store was only about 3 blocks away from bank #2.

Here's what happened for the 1.5 hours after I left bank #2:

- Walked to the nearby Radio Shack. Website had said product was in stock. Salesperson had no idea what I was talking about. Looked it up on the system. Told me they were not in stock, but in transit. But the store in the Loop (at Jackson & State - a decent walk) had 51 in stock. (Great. I just looked it up and the stores are about a mile apart.)

- Diagonally across the street to Office Max. It was just an express store, so nothing. She suggested Staples.

- Staples: according to Google maps, that's about 0.4 miles. Not terrible, I suppose. Went there and the salesperson asked me whether or not the adapter even exists. The copy center salesperson who was there with him was like, "of course they exist! Some old houses don't have 3 prong outlets." Good to know that the person who was supposed to be helping me (the copy center guy took me to the red shirt guys) had no idea what I was talking about, and thought they didn't even exist. They said to try the hardware store.

Of course, if I had just gone to the hardware store to begin with, I would be home. It was about as far from bank #2 as the first Radio Shack. (Argh, just heard a Radio Shack ad on TV. Annoyed with them. Why have the website say "in stock" if it's not?) But when I had looked at the hardware store's website, they didn't have anything. (And my cell phone wasn't working from my apartment.)

- Sears: saw Sears on the way to the 2nd Radio Shack and figured I'd stop there first. I mean, Sears is hardware, right? (Although at the time, all I could think was "automotive.") I went to the electrics first, forgetting it's in the tool area, and the guy down there told me to go up to hardware and they should definitely have it. After not finding it myself in hardware, I asked someone and she sent me to extension cords and surge protectors. Not exactly what I need.

- Finally went to the 2nd Radio Shack. They had it. Finally.

And then began the 1.5 mile walk home in the 90-something degree heat. Ugh. Hazy hot and humid. I guess it's good practice for Hong Kong.

Although this big run around for an outlet adapter was such a waste of time. I'm glad I wrote my packing list last night, or else I'd be really behind.

Off to go hand wash some more clothes and then it's time for yoga! (I totally need the stretching after all the walking around in this heat!)