My checked bag
weighed 50 pounds coming out of Baghdad and going to Cape Town. During the visit,
it shed about 15 pounds in food, clothing and a backpack reshuffle and arrived
to D.C. at 35 pounds. Going into Minsk, it cannot weigh more than 50 pounds.
This brings a problem, especially since I already have a lot of stuff in Florida
waiting on me.
When I left
Baghdad, I had to plan for a possible D.C. stay but it wasn’t a done deal,
Plus, I couldn’t go over 50 pounds, so a lot of stuff had to stay. Eventually, I’ll
be reunited with it, but not until November or so. As a result, I had to decide
what to take with me, what to ship and what to leave for donation. I did the
best I could with that, but now I have a bunch of gaps.
Initially
upon arriving to DC, I needed food and laundry detergent, but not in that
order. Due to a spill in my suitcase, all my work clothes smelled minty fresh,
which could have been worse but still was undesirable. Plus, I’d spent about two weeks on the road
and all my play clothes were dirty, too. Laundry was even more important than food,
seriously. (Especially since, with my credit card, I have airport lounge access
and holy cow, the Atlanta Lounge is fabulous. They even have sweet tea, bless
their hearts.)
Fortunately
or not, my hotel room wasn’t ready when I arrived and I therefore was able to/had
to do a lot of running around. I arrived in the morning, I think, but as it
played out, I didn’t actually check in until after 6 p.m., by which time I was
zonked. But I still managed to do laundry, which, in my particular Marriott
Residence, is accessible with a credit card, not cash. Both the Optima and the
Chase Sapphire card have gotten extreme workouts since I arrived, but the $2.50
for the laundry is something I’d have rather done with cash, thought that’s not
an option. It feels silly charging something for less than $10.
I hit work
the next day, but didn’t settle into an actual assignment until a bit later.
Fortunately, by that time, TPTB decided I’d stay here for awhile (despite that
being my assumption, it looked like that might have changed and I might have
been sent somewhere but that didn’t work out) and I’ve been able to settle into
my hotel room.
And when I
pulled out all my stuff, I finally was able to figure out what I should have
brought and what I need to buy. The trick is, though, that in the end, my bag
can’t go over 50 pounds. I can cram stuff into my backpack, too, but I
basically figure on having about 25 pounds to play with.
Careful
consideration goes into any purchase. I’m low on toothpaste and astringent, but
I’m only here for three more weeks. Can I make it? Tallahassee has stores, too,
and if I can push off the purchase until I get there, that’s all the more
weight I can play with.
Some stuff I
had to buy; I’ve spent $400 on clothes, to include underwear and tennis shoes.
I’ve gone to some museums while here and picked up souvenirs for others, so
that’s adding weight, too. Hopefully this all works out, but it’s a strange
component of shopping.
In general,
I despise waste, whether it’s money, product, food or whatever. Laying out all
my vitamins, I realized I didn’t bring my vitamin D with me. This is a daily
thing and I won’t be reunited with my existing set until at least November, so
I had to think about getting more. Really, I only need about 90 of the things,
but they come in bottles of 250. Well, I probably have 250 already; I just don’t
have them here. And what’s more, the 250-count bottle is “on sale” BOGO. I don’t
need 500 tablets. I need 90. I hate “sales” like this. A box of 300 will be
priced at $20 and you get one free, so 600 for $40. But I need 90. If there’s a
100-count bottle, I’d consider it EXCEPT it seems in all these places that have
“sales,” the 100-count bottle cost $15. I don’t understand why we can’t have
prices that are comparable to the sizes. I don’t want to waste the money on the
100-count bottle; clearly, it’s a crappy value. But 600 pills weigh much more
than 100, and I don’t want to waste the weight. (Not to mention that taking one
a day really pushes the expiration date when you have a zillion.) So, on that
one, I’m skipping it altogether and am just being sure to hang out in the
sunshine.
I’m looking
at everything like that, too. Some stuff I know I have a ton of but I need now,
like cotton balls. You cannot buy 50 cotton balls. You can but 100, but those
100 are “triple size” to the point where they cost exactly the same as the
normal-sized bag of 300. Fortunately, cotton balls are both light and squishy
so they pack well (and even pad random things like wooden kitty cats for Riley)
and don’t go bad. But once my cotton balls are reunited, I will likely have
enough to last me until Riley gets to high school.
Hopefully,
the purchasing has slowed a bit. I’m done with clothes, at least, and am not
doing any more souvenirs. Not sure about the toothpaste; that one is cutting it
close.
But for
awhile there – over a week – I was totally hemorrhaging money. Last Tuesday,
though, I finally took a night off of buying stuff and managed to get through a
solid day without buying a meal or anything else. I’d even thought about seeing
a movie that night (it’s the cheap night) and opted out just to make it 24
hours without forking over any money.
I have been
cooking for the most part, but it seems like every day I meet up with someone
from my work past and share a meal. When I don’t, though, I even go home for
lunch. I’ve eaten in the cafeteria twice and even though we have an awesome
cafeteria, I don’t feel like any cafeteria meal should cost over ten bucks.
Headed
tonight to Nando’s for dinner, which will be my second time since arrival. I
went there for dinner the first night I got here, and it seemed surreal; my
travel journey had begun the day before in the city where the first Nando’s opened.
After a freakishly long travel day – 15 hours from Johannesburg to Atlanta,
three-hour layover, two-hour flight to DC, commute to hotel, no room ready
after hours and hours – I was just ready to collapse. But that garlic peri peri
sauce keeps you going.
