Whiskey Doble

Chuck the Chicken was a victory, but the next day had it's own story

Papito and I had several things to do together that day. The big one was a meeting at the kidDOS school. The administration wanted to know more about Papito's expertise. All other plans revolved around that one meeting.

Early in the morning we walked with the kidDOS to their school. After that we went across the city to the office of Foreign Affairs, "Extranjeria." We wanted to request an earlier appointment to obtain the Foreigners Identification Card, "Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjeros, or TIE." The plan after that was to go and work in a little cafe where we can have Internet access (where  I'm at right now.)

We do not have internet in our house, because all home internet plans are with a 1 year commitment. So, we have to use the data plan from our cell phones to use our laptops at home. With this option coverage is not as good and we are also trying to keep the cost down. Every time we can go to "La Huella" (Calle Perez Galdos, 3), we go and work while we drink a coffee or tea.

At the foreigners affairs office we didn't have success. After about an hour of talking to people and sending emails, we got not response. So we decided to leave. As we were going back towards the cafe place, Papito remember that there was a rental car place he wanted to visit to get some quotes. So we made a little change and walked to the port to look for the rental car.

We had a pleasant morning of discovery, walking and learning. We went to the port, we almost made it to the rental car, but it was kind of far by foot. The time passed fast and we needed to head back towards the school for our meeting. On our way we decided we had time to visit a store a friend recommended that only sells frozen products. We stopped there, looked around, bought an ice cream bar and continue in our walk towards the school. Again, on the way, I had to stop on a bench in "Las Ramblas" to adjust my socks. We made it to the school and waited for our appointment in the lobby area.

The meeting was great. A fun time of sharing about Leadership. We walked out, kissed and say good bye. In Spain the typical greeting (hello and good bye) is with 2 kisses, one in each cheek, for both males and females. On the way home we stopped at a little church. This small chapel is beautiful from the outside to the inside.We quickly stopped at a shoe store. We went to the bread store, "Panaderia El Puertorealeño" (Principe called it Breaderia), where they bake all their bread and pastries and have a cafe area for people to seat. Then we went home. We had a peaceful afternoon. I worked on my cell phone, cooked, did some laundry. I have to do laundry almost every day, because our washer machine is very small and we have no dryer. We had dinner, and night routine. Everything seem to be in order.

That state of mind lasted until 9:05 pm. I had to place an important paper in a safe place. I though I will put it with my laptop, so I can work on that the next day. I went to look for the laptop... oh no, the laptop... I had no laptop. I lost it somewhere in the way during the day. My mind went blank. "Where is my laptop?", I asked my self thousand times. I tried to run back through my mind to the last place where I had the laptop.

I can see myself in my mind with my laptop in my arm. But I was not sure where I left it. The bread store! It was 9:10 pm. I knew they stay from 9:00 to 9:30 pm cleaning before leaving. So, I left running to try to catch them. The ladies where cleaning. I asked them about the laptop... "No, we have not seen it", was their answer. Oh no... I kind of went into despair mode. "What I'm going to do?", my mind kept on racing.

I love Apple Support. Any time I call them, their attitude is great and they are truly helpful. They explained all about "Find My Mac" function, how to lock my computer, how to set up a message for the people who would find it. It was a relief to know none was using my computer at the moment and that whoever opened the computer, would get informed that I was looking for it, and how to contact me.

The next morning we went to the school office. I was sure that I had the computer with me there. So, if it was not at the bread store, then for sure it would be at the school. It was not in the lobby... the secretary got the key to the office where we had the meeting... and it was not there neither. "Oh no, if it was not there, where?" We went step by step back. The computer was no place to be found. We decided to get back to the bread store, maybe for some reason is there.

We asked for the computer and YES, it was there. The owner had kept in the safe, and the afternoon ladies did not know about it. The owner also went to look on the security video and was able to see it was our computer. She was waiting for us. We had such a celebration. We hug her. We laughed. We almost cried.

So Papito said, "let's celebrate and have coffee and cake". We sat down to a table. There was about 8 to 10 other people there enjoying their morning coffee. As we sat down, and older gentleman came by and said to us, "Whiskey Doble." It's true, our celebration of a found laptop was worth much more than just coffee. And the adventure continues.

What a day, a "whiskey doble" type of day.
Vale,