The Anti Vacation: Day Three

Mr. MacTech... left at 8:00 AM again this morning with six other commuters in a friend's SUV. The traffic was worse than yesterday but they still made it to midtown in a reasonable amount of time. I spent about two hours shopping on the internet after they left. I was pretty pleased with the fact that most of the things I needed to buy offered FREE last minute overnight shipping. I'm expecting a pile of stuff tomorrow! After "shopping" I took myself up the street to Barnes & Nobles (instead of Amazon.com) to buy some books. I had them wrapped in the store because, hey, no lines. I ate lunch by myself on Seventh Avenue. Passing a toy store near 11th Street, I spied a toy Miele canister vacuum cleaner – perfect for Mr. Clean so I bought that too.
Daughter MacTech... has her office party later at Top of the Rock. Mr. MacTech... plans to just work late tonight and then call it a week. I can sit for grand-baby MacTech...while his father crosses the water to do the Manhattan pick-up around 10:00 PM.
I like this anti-vacation so far. The only real wrinkle is this: My mother planned to take a bus from Toms River, NJ tomorrow for her annual "Christmas visit extravaganza." If the strike is still in effect it looks like I'll be wasting a day driving down there, picking her up and going to the Chinese buffet at the shopping center (she'll insist) and then driving back to Brooklyn.
I'm not complaining.