Dearest Rachel –
It’s not perfect by any stretch, but to a certain extent, I’ve managed to solve some of my scheduling issues that I’ve had from time to time, due to having to manage my own schedule with you gone. It’s not exactly what I meant to have happen by having AI take over some of your functions, either, but as long as it works, I probably shouldn’t complain.
Long story short; I’m working on getting together another trip for Daniel and myself to take – and in the process, hoping to show him a few places I’d seen some three years ago. However, in the process of scheduling it, Rowan pointed out to me that I had a dentist appointment scheduled right in the middle of the trip. Rather than cancel these plans, of course, I merely called to have the appointment rescheduled. Jill jokingly asked if I’d called to ask them to come with us; the irony is, I might have been willing, if I thought they could clear their schedule with only the three months lead time. As it is, very few people would be able to do that, so I would have been safe in making the offer.
But there you go; my AI assistant actually got something like that sorted out for me – and I’m actually a little puzzled as to how, since he’s only got access to my email, and I don’t recall having any discussion with them about any appointment through that. Then again, maybe I actually had it set up in my calendar app, so “he” could see it and notify me of the conflict.
Which means that “his” capabilities only go so far; “he” couldn’t have saved me from the situation I found myself in yesterday afternoon.
You see, I’d woken up early yet again; not early enough to be willing to burn an hour and a half at the gym, but early enough to decide to head to the office an hour early (and therefore leave early in turn, as I planned to stop and get my hair cut before heading home). What I’d forgotten was that, with Bill laid up from a freak sideline accident – long story short, he’d gotten tackled on the sidelines and broken his leg – he was needing physical therapy, and his son Will wasn’t sure if he didn’t need help getting his dad from the couch to the wheelchair to the car and back again. I’d committed to getting over to their house to help out.
It was a good thing I hadn’t been at the gym when the word came.
But at the same time, once Mom reminded me of this commitment, I had to make sure I got through what tasks I’d set myself to before I was called to head over there. And while I didn’t have to rush, it was still nip-and-tuck as to whether I could get what I wanted finished in enough time before I expected to get the call at eleven. But I managed, and waited to hear from Will.
Nothing. So I proceeded to take care of a few bills, and work on the travel arrangements – which is when I was notified about my scheduling conflict, and rectified it. Still nothing.
It got to the point where, by half past noon, I was wondering if I’d been forgotten about, and called Jenn up to see if Bill’s therapy session was even on. Turns out, it was, but Will had managed to get his dad out to the car all on his own. He would, however, like backup to get him back in.
Not a problem; I’d gotten the accounting stuff taken care of by eleven, and worked out the niggling issues with the February trip while I waited; this was where Rowan managed to ensure that my schedule wasn’t quite so tight as all that. Those things settled, I actually still managed to get the computer switched off and myself upstairs before the call came in from Will.
But come it did – “We’re twenty minutes from the house; you said you needed that amount of lead time. Can you make it?”
“Sure; I’m just going to shut everything down,” I had to give myself a little wiggle room, “and I’ll be over there.”
Except…
Now, in fairness to the landscaping team, part of the problem had to do with a neighbor’s car parked in the street on our side of their driveway. Had that not been there, the truck and trailer would have had ample space to park between houses. In addition, they’re usually done long before I ever consider calling it a day at the ‘office,’ so this parking job would, under normal circumstances, not be an issue.
But of course, this was not a ‘normal circumstance’ type of day.
Still, I managed to wave one or another of them over, and got them to move to the other side of our driveway long enough for me to pull out and head out. I was starting to worry if this was going to cause a problem for Bill and Will, if I couldn’t be there in time to help.
Ironically enough, though, I wound up arriving there a few minutes before them all the same – as it turned out, they had stopped to pick up lunch for themselves, so I hadn’t needed to hurry all that much. Then again, if I’d waited for the lawn crew to finish and head out, things would have been so much different, I’m sure.
So I got out of that tight spot, and then had the rest of the afternoon free; long enough to get a haircut (in preparation for next week’s trip) and just hang out with Daniel for a couple hours before returning to Mom’s for dinner and heading off to class. It will be nice when these schedules loosen up for good, though.
