Jeff and Sadie Travel to Charleston to get the 171

Well, after many phone calls to find out why it is taking so long for the corrected 171 to reach us, Jeff found out that "the officer" put our completed 171 on the desk of a secretary who is out having major surgery. Unbelievable!! He's had enough of this and talked to a woman yesterday who told him he could come pick it up. He was up at 0530 this morning loading Sadie and Chase in the car and heading for Charleston! He dropped Chase off at his house and met Sarah for lunch, then headed back in time to stop off at the Secretary of State's office to get the 171 certified. Oddly enough he met another couple from Greenville who also had problems getting their 171. They drove to Charleston to get theirs also. So, now the 171 with the correct spelling is on its way to be authenticated in Washington. Chase is back with his "mommy" for awhile and Sadie says any day is a good day if she gets to go "bye bye".

I'm still in Maine and the weather is still bitter cold. Tonight we worked late at the office. The activation is going well, but we are still on 12 hour shifts covering "user help calls". Robin, one of the other consultants I work with, and I are staying at the same hotel across town, but have our own cars since we weren't sure what kind of schedule we would be on. So far we've both been posted at the office all week. We've been leaving at the same time and following each other back to the hotel. I can't imagine having a car breakdown in this weather. Tonight we left around 9pm. The parking garage was deserted and she was behind me when I pulled out of my parking space. I paid the parking attendant and drove slowly down the street waiting for her to catch up. A car pulled out of the garage and zoomed around me on the one way street. I thought that it was odd that she was driving so fast. So when I got to the next traffic light I looked over and realized it wasn't her! I looked in the rear view mirror and the street behind me was isolated. Where did she go? She had got turned around the night before and took a wrong turn going home, so I decided to drive around the block. Still, No Robin anywhere.

I had thrown my briefcase in the trunk, so I pulled into a gas station to get my cell phone out. The wind was whipping around and my fingers were getting numb just trying to get my gloves off so I could dig in my briefcase for the phone. I had a brief thought that I surely didn't want to drop my keys in the trunk. As soon as I did it I knew it was a mistake.... I did what I normally do at home, trying to carry too many groceries in from the car. I grabbed on to the keys with my teeth and they froze to my tongue!! All I can think of is the little boy with his tongue stuck to a pole in "The Christmas Story". After yanking off half the skin on my tongue I called Robin and found out some psycho driver nearly ran her over in the garage and passed her. We laughed so hard about the keys we were in tears.