It was below 0 when I went to sleep at 4:30 in the morning and woke up at 6 so my mother and I could eat a free Grand Slam at Denny's. Afterward I planned to take my Grandmother to America's Best because she was complaining about her glasses sliding down and irritating her nose. But I was too tired and I crashed from 9 till about 1:30.

After surfing on the Internet, we got rolling around 3, where the outside temperature crawled above 0. I thought maybe we should just do this tomorrow, since it's already late and there really was no reason to go out now, it's not like I have a job or something important to do. But I promised her we would go, so we went.

The thing about America's Best is it covertly reinforces the adages that you get what you pay for and that they don't give too much of a shit about you if you aren't making money for them. They are more than helpful if you pop in and ask them to clean your glasses, but they'll make sure service anybody who has an exam or wants to get an exam. And unfortunately that means that more often than not there is a line, including today. I wasn't too infurated about it -- again, nothing to do -- but after 10 minutes it was pretty clear that they weren't going to move any faster. My grandmother, who apparently was pissed off that I trusted a place she wasn't familiar with when there was an optician around the block (even though I suspect he'll charge me $25 for adjusting her glasses because he's in a bad location and therefore gets no business), decided 10 minutes was enough and we bolted.

This is what I hate: Mentally listing all the reasons not to go out (it can be done another day, I might get into an accident, more miles on an old car), deciding to go out and resolving to get something accomplished, and then you don't even do that. I could've stayed home and finished up watching all the bonus stuff on Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Instead I put 15 frivolous miles on my car, making me 15 miles closer to an entire fluid exchange I don't have the money for. Plus I was tooling around the neighborhood on a cold day, which is always hell on a car. All that so my granny can leave in a huff for being made to wait.