Delaware - Part Three

I've never really lived out of a suitcase. The longest time I've ever spent in a hotel was less than a week, and this "trip" is going to be 4-5 times longer than that. I've never been in one long enough to put away my clothes into the hotel closet, and I've definitely never been in one long enough to do laundry. I've also never cooked in a hotel before.

Today, I've done all three.

It's a bit odd that it took me about five days to get everything put away, but I actually took everything out of the bags the first night I was there. I was just using the couch as my chest of drawers...not the actual chest of drawers and closet.

But, since today is my first lazy day since I got here, I decided it was time. I also didn't bring enough undershirts or underwear to go another day without doing laundry, so I took care of that as well.

Remember that the hotel put me at the far end of this complex, and the laundry room is int he middle of it. So I woke up this morning, after I threw all my worn clothes into a bag, and I walked down to the laundry room. Even though we've been to the grocery store and Target, I hadn't bought detergent. Luckily, on my way to the room, I ran into one of my coworkers who kindly lent me some.

At home, I typically do laundry over the course of a Sunday. Today, I didn't really have that kind of time. The walk to and from the laundry room isn't terrible, but it is annoying so I decided to have breakfast while I waited for my first load to wash. I was able to do my second load while I finished up breakfast, and then I set up the dryer.

And that's when I made the mistake. It was a dollar in coins to run the dryer, and I paid for it. My clothes were already inside, and as soon as I inserted the coins, the "in use" light came on. I thought the machine was on (it sounded like it was), and I even touched the side to see if it was vibrating.

Since the dryer takes about 40 minutes, I decided to walk back to my room for a bit. When I came back, I noticed that my clothes were still wet. Very wet. I didn't have that many clothes in there, and it was almost like it hadn't run.

That's because it hadn't. I noticed there was a "push to start" button on the dryer that I hadn't pressed. And since I'd waited so long, my dollar expired. Not exactly my brightest moment.

But it gets better. When I got back to the room to fold my clean clothes, I realized that three socks were missing. I had to go back to the laundry room again to get my three socks back.

So I walked to the laundry room. Ran the washing machine and ate breakfast. Came back to the room to wait for the dryer. Went back to the laundry room, noticed that dryer hadn't even run, and actually set it to dry. Walked back to the room again. Went back to the laundry room to get the dry clothes. Walked back to the room. And, finally, went back to the laundry room to get my three socks before I returned to the room for the final time.

First time wasn't the charm.

After all that walking, I was hungry again. While I forgot to buy detergent at the store, I didn't forget to buy food. I bought some burger patties, and I decided to have one of them for lunch. I pulled out one of the pans, and realized that I didn't have any vegetable oil.

And instead of doing the right thing and just eating something else, I decided to go with it. The meat had its own juices, and I was sure that the pan would be fine.

Wrong.

I knew immediately that there was a problem as the meat stuck to the pan as soon as it hit. And then, as I was passed the point of no return, I struggled with it as the meat cooked. And while the burger cooked and was eaten, the pan is a bit of a mess.

Two pretty dumb mistakes on the same day. But, again, it's my first time.