However, I was in major-league depression on Wednesday (the 29th) and I'm not now, so it'd be inappropriate for today's entry.

So, click on the 29th, or "previous" at the bottom of the page, and then come back. We'll wait.

Yesterday, the Thirtieth of September, was the first actively good day I've had at work since start of school. It started first thing in the morning, when I used the timer function on my coffeemaker for the first time, so I awoke to the smell of coffee perking. This is one of the finer things in life. I came in in a good mood, and no one broke that mood all day. There is the point where you round the corner, and that was it.

I'm not sure what to add to this, other than it's better to feel good than not to feel good.

And October is shaping up well -- it's a lovely day, and even the rainy ones have been nice, recently. I love the autumn more than any other season, and am looking forward to foliage.

Wednesday was the trip. This is last Wednesday, so we're still a week behind but not much happened on Thursday or Friday of last week so maybe we're getting caught up.

The trip was simplicity. I needed to drop something off at an Airborne Express drop-off point. There's one in Dover. I asked Mason if he wanted to take a fast run down there, drop the package off, and get something to eat. He said "yes." Having an address for the drop-off, I got directions from Mapquest and away we went.

So that you know -- Mapquest? Sucks. Not only didn't the directions match up to where we were going, but the directions referenced nonexistent roads.

Well, naturally we found the place. And just as naturally we missed the drop-off time by like five minutes. This made us unhappy. Calling their 800 number, we found out that the nearest late drop was Manchester, NH -- which had, they said, an Airport Drop until Nine PM.

Manchester is 'quite a haul' from Dover. But, Mason and I were young, so what the heck? We'll get some snacks, take a run over to Manchester, hit the airport, drop the package off, and go have a slightly late dinner. No huge deal, and kind of fun.

Oh, how silly can we get, mm? Such naiveté is touching in a certain way.

We got to the airport around seven thirty. The problem was, there was no Airborne Express drop-off point there. We started to circle, looking for such a beast. Nothing -- not a sausage. We circled farther and farther out, finding terminals for Federal Express and UPS, but not Airborne, which is what we had the account number for.

Finally, we call them back well after eight o'clock and nervous we'll miss the drop time for that.

The national office puts us through to the regional office. "We're within twenty miles of the airport," we say. "Where are you?"

"Oh," they answer. "We're nowhere near the airport. We're on the other side of Manchester." And they give us a route to go, from I-93.

Except we said we were on I-293, near the Mall. And asked for clarification, and they agreed that yes -- take Exit Six from 293.

So we do. Needless to say, we get hopelessly lost again, and Manchester is good at that. We call them back.

"We said 93," they said.

"You sodding did not!" I replied cogently, at a payphone by a 7-11 in the rain.

"Well, let's get you here." They then give us directions.

Mason and I (mostly me as the driver) then manage to take every wrong turn possible trying to make our way there. Though in my defense I was talking to my Mother later about this, and discovered that apparently Manchester is Evil. My folks have excellent direction sense, and they got lost there.

One last phone call and several more stupid wrong turns later, we get there, at 9:45. They stayed open late for us. Now, the shipment had gone out, but it was no big deal. The packaged was going to Manchester.

Stop and consider that for a moment.

We'd just spent from about four to about ten... desperately trying to get overnight delivery... to the very city we went to to have it delivered.

No one said we were bright.

Mason and I finally went back to the Mall area (which we found no problem -- our cretinlike sense of direction reverted to competance after the dropoff) to go to Barnes and Noble to buy a tape to listen to on the way back, and get a late dinner.

The Barnes and Noble had no audio section. None. And we didn't want to spend the money for an audiobook we'd only hear the first half of. However, T.G.I.Fridays was open, so we went there and had a darned good dinner. So it wasn't all bad.

We got out of there well after Midnight. I made it through my front door at quarter to two. If we round up to two, that means we'd spent ten... freaking... hours on that trip.

Still, it makes a story.

The combination of the busy nature of work and my early week depression/despair means I haven't called Andrea yet this week, and barely e-mailed her. I was almost never in before late, and then I was in a foul mood, and I don't want to kill the relationship by exposing her tender ears to Surly Eric just yet. At the same time, the lack of phone calling may kill it the same way.

I've done this relationship thing before. How the Hell did I keep these things straight? And how do you balance intention with action and....

Hmph. All I know is I want to see her. Soon. A bad week capped by a good mood should be shared with a pretty girl, I think.