It is a day when things are not going according to plan

1. Got to the passport office; their camera wasn't working. Then they figured out the problem (a bad power strip), but it turns out I needed one more piece of paperwork that wasn't mentioned anywhere (because of my name change, where they marked out my old name on my birth certificate and put in the new name, even though the case # and date, etc., is all on the certificate, I still need the court order). The lady was very nice and asked me if I could come back at 4, which is technically after they close, to finish the application, since tomorrow she's booked.
2. My doctor's office is in a building where there are two elevators. One has been out for about two or three weeks apparently. The other went out today, and the people fixing it had all gone to lunch when I got there. So it was up four flights of stairs and an asthma attack for me.
3. I waited nearly two hours to see the doctor, which took less than five minutes, and then no one, either the phlebotomist or doctor (who usually does well), could stick me and get any blood out of me today, even after three sticks and several searches for veins. I now have an order to drink lots of water and go to an outside lab for my blood draw. But they are sending in my diuretic and potassium to the pharmacy so I can get those today. I am to limit my sodium intake, which includes my favourite drink, diet soda. YKWIA will be pleased; he's been trying to get me off them for years. For the record, I am drinking ice water right now.

Well, at least I remembered to pay one of my bills by five so it will be considered on time. I really want to take a nap, but I have to leave in about ten minutes with the paperwork to head all the way across town to the post office. I want to get there a little before four just in case she forgot. Actually, I should go ahead and get ready to go. I'll write later.

How sad that this should happen over a relatively small dispute

Police Arrest Man in Burning Death of Woman

She fired him from a job moving some of her stuff after accusing him of stealing a VCR and a large cake pan. He claimed she owed him $300 and left an invoice she did not pay in November [although I've heard up to $2,000--still, not worth a woman's life, and in such a gruesome, painful demise]. And this was the result? So sad. Good that he is now in custody, though.

How horrible

Woman Is Burned Alive in an Elevator in Brooklyn

It sounds like a strange 'Law & Order' episode opening. A man dressed as an exterminator ambushed a woman in a Brooklyn apartment building elevator by spraying her in the face and on her body with accelerant, lighting a Molotov cocktail, and igniting her with it. He then left her to burn alive and escaped the building. New York police are questioning a suspect.

That anyone could do something like this to another person baffles me. I hope they catch him soon. I want to know if she was targeted for a specific reason or if this guy just wanted to kill someone and she was convenient, an older woman trapped in an elevator, holding groceries.

My heart goes out to those who knew her--family and friends--and again, I hope they catch him soon.

[This comes just a couple of days after a woman was accidentally killed in a New York elevator, when her foot got caught in the door and the elevator moved up suddenly with the doors still open, dragging her to her death, in front of elevator passengers. My thoughts are also with her friends and family, in what seems to have been a freak accident.]

Hahahahahahahah!

Via Bill. I do believe the bald guy says something quite rude at one point (well, I'm not sure...it could be 'cow' and not what I thought I heard, but even so, it's fast, and in a Scottish accent, so it's likely to go by quite quickly without offence.) :)

I love Scottish accents, and I have a knack for understanding them (as long as they aren't super fast). But...I remember reading somewhere that there all these call centres in Scotland (kind of like ours are in India) because even though the English couldn't fathom what they were saying, a Scottish brogue made them calmer about whatever problem they called about.