Stranger in a Strange Land

We’re definitely not in DC anymore. The first thing that hits you (and hits you hard) is the heat. It’s downright oppressive. 2pm and it’s 107 degrees! I don’t care if it’s “a dry heat”, it’s still 107 and it takes your breath away. The landscape is so very different. Basically, this is a desert and the flora and fauna reflect it, cactus and the like. They are beautiful in their own way but very different from the plants back east. Why did people decide this would be a good place to live? How did they survive without air conditioning, especially back when most of the clothes were woolen?!?

Michele just asked why we’re doing this now and not in September or October. This was the first date open after the fulfillment of my one year real life experience. I didn’t want to wait.

We spent the morning checking out the area. We took a test drive to the Greenbaum Surgery Center: 15.5 miles, 20 minutes. We tried to go inside and look around but the patient’s entrance was closed. We’ll have to find out tomorrow where there’s an entrance for off-hour visiting. Afterwards we went to Walmart. I found another dress, not as cute as the one we left at the cleaners but it was only $14. We also picked up a few things to make our stay easier: a different shower head, a shower organizer, a non-stick pan and plastic utensils, and various things we left at home or forgot to buy yesterday.

We ate lunch at Carlos O’Brien. I don’t get the Irish/Mexican name, but they make great food. Their chicken dishes are wonderful. I don’t know what they marinate it in but mmm, mmm, mmm.

After lunch we drove north to Cave Creek and stopped at the Town Dump, a store, not a real dump. The dump sells a queer assortment of pottery, furniture, object d’art, and the like. There was one room devoted to cattle skulls. If that's the decor you're shooting for, then this is your place. I picked up this cute Mexican pottery lizard for me and sun pendant for Michele.

We’re meeting Donna Rose for dinner. Back to the Cheesecake Factory. Apparently we will be joined by a friend of Donna who had her SRS last week, Becky Allison, Toby Meltzer, Linda Takata (from Meltzer’s office), and possibly a few others. It seems weird meeting my surgeon for dinner.

I have this fear that we’ll go to the pre-op and there will be some reason why he can’t operate now. The appointment is 9:30 am tomorrow. I can’t wait to get through it.

Daily Expenses
Walmart $92.52
Lunch $34.00
Groceries $14.87