I just finished showering and making my bed. I will try to summarize today’s eventful telephone call (and other minor miscellaneous) before I call it a night.

Just before I was about to jump into the shower “she returned”. Mr. 40+’s ladyfriend knocked on the door at about 12midnight. She did not (nor did I) mention the money and the bandana she borrowed. At the same time, Screamer’s cat (home alone) started screeching out loud. It reminded me of my time in Japan. There were a lot of stray cats around, and at night from time to time, they would make quite a racket. At this moment, the cat (and Mr. 40+) are quiet.

Before the shower, I was able to do an hour on my rowing machine. Yesterday, I was feeling a little depressed, and not in the mood to exercise. For dinner last night, I ate a can of Pringles, 2 fruit bars, and about a quart/liter of milk, and about 2 cups of cold green tea. Today, I was also feeling in a no exercise mood, but I managed to exercise. Instead of rushing to get into the shower and out before Sex and the City (a comedy) came on, I decided to relax and drink about a quart/liter of water. I cleaned up the sweat after the show. If I can keep up the exercise routine, maybe someday I won’t continue to be “fashion roadkill”. Usually, after I go somewhere, I would have my photo taken at the location so that I can e-mail it to a couple of friends in Japan; they like to know what (and how) I am doing here in New York. Unfortunately, the photos taken at the South Street Seaport showed that I’ve gained weight and clothes I wore were cheap and anything but stylish. I’m going to pass on sending those photos.

Oh, before I forget. I received an e-mail from my walking friend (see yesterday’s blog entry). He wrote that he would not be available for walks until the heat and humidity is lower. I think I might put another ad in the personals web site. Maybe I’ll have better luck next time.

Onto the phone call.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have been waiting a long time for my New York State Teaching license to come. I was told by several people that it would take between 14 to 16 weeks for my application to be processed. Well, that time has come and gone. Today, I decided that I would contact the NYS Dept of Ed. in Albany. I’ve tried to call them on the phone in the past, but their automated system puts you through automated circles of time wasting hell. Basically, if you call, you can expect the following scenario:

1. Call the number. You will either get a busy signal or an automated recording. The recording spends about 3 or 4 minutes giving you alternative options to talking to a live person. Finally, you are given 6 choices (#5 if you want to speak to a representative). After you press #5, another recording basically telling you that all reps are busy, you must either press #1 to go back to the main menu, or the call will be disconnected. In total, it took me about 45 minutes to get through by using my redial button on my phone…continually pressing and repressing until I got through. Below was the dialog from the phone conversation.

Since I am typing this several hours after the fact, I won’t be able to capture the details and nuances of the call. I was going to try to type the dialog between the representative and myself, but instead I will just summarize.


Basically, I was about to be given the run around, until I reminded the representative that the application required a Notary Republic stamp for the signature. My signature date was the same date I mailed off the application…and that was not in May. With that, she put me on hold, and then returned to tell me that I would have my NYS teaching certificate in 2 weeks. Now, I just need to find a teaching assignment.