My job has a heavy travel component at times and the heavy travel season is upon me right now. I will spend more work days out of the office in training, site visits, and conferences than in the office. These are all overnight trips for up to a week at a time. After an exceptionally grueling weekend of ensemble performances and birthday parties, I had to wake up early on Sunday to pack and leave for the airport. So many things kept going wrong that I was forced to leave my house sans either breakfast or coffee.
I finally arrived at the airport in a right awful mood. A bag full of uneaten food ended up in the trash, the result of a poorly conceived stop at a McBarf drive thru. I had to check a bag which meant I had to pay $15. There was one screener at the airport and there were, count 'em, THREE families with small children who all acted like they had never been in an airport before. Furthermore, I was scheduled to fly in one of those commuter jets because my destination is only an hour away by plane and, apparently, no one likes to fly on Sunday afternoon or something.
Although I have plenty of work I am behind on, I decided to purchase a book and read it while finally drinking some dark, rich, fully-caffeinated coffee. I don't even care I am abusing adjectives because like all addicts, that first sip made all the pain go away. My job could go and do something anatomically impossible to itself.
About 30 minutes before boarding, the customer service clerk at the gate announced that the plan sent was even smaller than the one originally scheduled. I have flown on the original plane type and that was a pretty awful experience. When she asked for flyers with flexible schedules, I immediately sprinted to the counter.
For waiting a measly two extra hours for the next flight to City With Wind Like No Other, I received a nice voucher good for a roundtrip flight to anywhere in the continental US that this cruddy carrier flies.
I cried from the joy of it all.
But, there's more! The next flight was a normal sized plane and the clerk upgraded me to Economy Plus so I had a nice comfy seat at the front of the plane. I felt like a rock star since I am normally relegated to the row closest to the rest room or seat most likely next to a sullen smelly person. The middle seat in my row was free meaning I had room to really spread out my elbows and I received my tasty beverage before those poor souls stuck in the cheap seats did. Gosh, I need to get bumped more often.
So, Pixies, how goes life with you this week? Who's bringing the bodily fluids? Who will walk home with the Cluestick Brigade? Whose wit will win the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award. Perhaps, you have a less dramatic whine and the Old Skewl Prize is for you.
this post brought to you by the letter W and a steadfast refusal to finish the report that was due last week so please, Pixies, give me lots of worthy whines to distract me in my big hotel room in the heart of City With Wind Like No Other and spotless bathroom
35 comments:
Sheesh, Miranda. Now I am hoping my week will not turn out like yours.
I am flying tomorrow (Whining Day) to the Second Most Dangerous City in Mexico for a meeting, which promises to be exceedingly dull. How many whines were in that solitary sentence? A bunch. Add to that that I will be away from the Sweet Baboo for three days and two nights, the longest ever so far (sniff, sniff). And I will be stressing my brain trying to speak Spanish. And I will be stressing my introvert. And I will be at said meetings, beginning with breakfast at 6:30 am, and ending with a retirement "party" at 9:00 pm. That is a looong day. And, minor but significant: the person picking me up from the airport and transporting me across the border makes me want to pull my hair out, one by one.
Aaaah. That's some hopefully pre-emptive whining.
Antiwhine: when I return home, grandma will have come to the rescue, and hopefully will have the fridge on its way to being full of leftovers, the Traditional Daytona 500 Snacks made for the husband, and the Sweet Baboo good and spoiled.
wait just a darned minute. people can get upgraded to seats that work for humans, just for spending extra airport hours? and what is this grandma, who fills the refrigerator with food and spoils everyone in the house? cheated! i've been cheated all these years!!
hope both of your trips go well, though, miranda and esperanza!
Wow Miranda, that travel whine turned itself around. I hope the trip home is quiet and comfy or full of compensating upgrades.
Esperanza-oh, I hope it goes well. It will go well. Maybe you'll even enjoy some of it.
I don't have any travel whines, except I don't have any travel in my future. I did get to visit the City With Wind Like No Other (Big Shoulders, etc) over the weekend. The closest I come to a whine is that American Girl is too well prepared, processed, presented. I was fascinated, yet it was ridiculous too.
My whine of the week is that I am volunteering for the yearbook committee at preschool. I am even chairing, which is OK. I am trying to avoid long email threads that don't decide anything. I am trying to minimize meetings. And I think we're under control - we have a plan, a schedule, everyone seems happy. And wouldn't you know the one mom who couldn't make the meeting is just not on the same page? She sends demanding emails, but she doesn't read replies. She seems to want to make everyone else re-volunteer for things they have already agreed to do.
And I am thinking of all the good managers I've ever had to think how much to fix and how much isn't really bugging anyone but me. Ugh. I have been thinking a lot about going back to work and office politics is not something I am looking forward to.
As a personal whine, I think I trying too hard to find points of agreement with my committee because I don't want to seem bossy.
Antiwhine: the baby is 5 months old! I love it. What a great age. I just want to share her with everyone, as long as they don't make her or me ill.
ok, now i'm ready to whine. i decided to get more connected about my SILfH problem -- early dementia, difficult person, wtf do we do -- so i tried hooking up with a group that everyplace referenced as a wonderful resource. sadly, i ended up on a listserve that seems more oriented to end-of-life issues than batshit SIL's. there were about 70-80 emails today, not counting the extremely long one covering the previous 24 hours with this group. G mail shut my account down for "unusual activity."
and it was the *wrong* list-serve; evidently, there is one closer to what we need. i can hardly wait to see what happens tomorrow.
sarah -- yay about yearbook! boo on that mom.
Such an up-and-down week for me here...
On the one hand, I have a fully-booked week, with an adult Girl Scout meeting tonight, a craft workshop tomorrow, try to find time to pick up Offspring's girl Scout cookies tomorrow, my regular troop meeting on Thursday, and cookie booth on Saturday. This is all in addition to the mundanities of the week like "work" and "sleep."
On the other hand, my meeting tonight was over at 8:45, which is UNHEARD OF. These are the meetings that usually break up at 10:30. When we're lucky! My craft class is all prepared for, and if everyone comes, I stand to make class fees AND commissions!
Back on the bad hand, I was passed over for a thing at school that I felt pretty sure I'd do well in because I was one of the top two contenders for last year. Not only didn't I do well, I wasn't even a contender.
On the good hand, I was asked to participate in another professional conference, this time in Baltimore! So, trip for me! We are not flying this year, though -- we're taking the train! So, two things in one that I've never done before: never been farther than DC, taking an overnight train trip. (I once took a train from Wiesbaden to Munich during the summer I spent in Germany, but it only lasted a couple of hours, and the Euro rail system is MUCH different from the US trains, or so I've heard.
Wait -- how many hands was that? I think I'm over my limit...
So, I can't decide whether or not to be bummed this week. I think I'll go with "cautiously optimistic."
I am not traveling anywhere, despite having spent hours upon hours trying to print boarding passes from SwissAir for a friend this week. She had to go because her friend is dying. It is very sad and makes me want to cry.
I had a sucktastic week. On Wed I went to doctor who wanted to put me in hospital because I wasn't really breathing. And you know, breathing is necessary despite what Freddie Kruger told you. But despite her evil plans, I talked Dr into letting me go home IF I would take double my lasix for a full week and do absolutely nothing but lay on the sofa and pee every 15 minutes.
So I've spent the whole week peeing and peeing and yes, I'm breathing better, but am still in full Congestive Heart Failure and can barely do anything. Which makes my life harder because sleep... I needs it bad. DR told me to sleep in snips, which is what I've been doing, but it is killing me. I need more than an hour at a time.
Son is sick with fever and is a slugabed driving me nuts. He wants me to wait on him. I can barely do anything for myself, waiting on him is not an option. I wish he would go to school instead of nagging me to use the TV and computer.
Plus side: NPR interviewed me for Morning Edition this week, which should be on either Friday or Monday. My real name is used, so I'm not posting a link to it, but if you listen to a story about people buying packaged foods, and the hippie mom at the end who cooks everything by herself...well guess who? First thing Daughter asked is, "Are they paying you?" That child gives me a world of laughs.
My blog stalkers have decided that I'm not only crazy, but too crazy to parent and should have my kids taken away. Because it's so easy parenting teens and obviously mine are the Worst Teenagers In the World.(tm)
Oh, and landlady? Whole bottom of driveway was removed by snow plow and she has refused to fix it. There is now a 7" drop between driveway and road. Now that's not TOO awesome, is it?
greetings pixies with traveling whines and non-travlers alike.
Whine: Stoopid National Church people who can't manage a simple address change. And they run this entire denomination how????? Argh.
Whine: the jump from 20 to 30 hours a week was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. I feel like such a major wimp. But I'm tie-tie and uber-cranky once I get home. I think once I adjust to 30 hours, I'll be staying at that level for awhile. Full time may as well be Mount everest at this point.
Whine: Lent. Can I skip it this year? Pleeeeeeeze????
Anti-whine: I have a job.
Sue, I say yes, skip Lent. Or make a pledge like "give up staying at work when I'm tired."
I ditto Madeleine re: Lentishness.
Whine: The return of Fucking Aladdin to the movie rotation at Chez Mystere.
Anti-whine: The introductin of Oklahoma! to the movie rotation at Chez Mystere.
I'm thinking we should match up some of the songs on dates: Everything's Up-To-Date In Kansas City goes with A Whole New World.
I'm Just a Girl Who Cain't Say No and You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me.
Arabian Nights comes out to Oh What a Beautiful Morning
margalit for the morton salt award.
AW: the stuffed animal sacrifices are working; sister has a couple of interviews, including an in-person 3d interview! woo-hoo!
thank you all for your continued patience with my relativinous whines. we know we can't take on legal responsibility for SIL, and taking her into our home cannot happen, but my beloved keeps getting calls [from doctors, his mother, his sister's first husband, lawyers] about how he HAS to do something about her. NOW.
i'm trying to get information about having a non-family conservator appointed. there is a county office that will do an official investigation once someone gets a legal proceeding started. there are people who make their living serving as conservators, but i do not know yet how to identify possibilities and check them out -- the down side is that their fees will drain SIL's savings down, but [a] not as fast as she's spending it, and [b] she'll presumably be in a safer situation with someone else managing her affairs. we also need to identify possible living situations. it could be really a mess to start proceedings without understanding the process fully and having a plan in place.
AW: now that i've got contact going with the wonderful resource, they are having social workers get back to me with information!
AW2: a court investigation might also be a chance for her to have a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, finally. SIL has lifelong problems, and her mother is diagnosed bipolar. i think this is important for deciding treatment/care options.
thanks again, you wonderful pixies, for listening.
lis is STYLIN' with her movie reviews/analysis! it's been close to 10 years since aladdin was in rotation at our house, but i bet i can still sing the songs. LOL
daughter's best friend's mother adores oklahoma. over holiday break, they had us and another family over for fondue and a viewing! it was a hoot.
Anti-whine: Our former secretary is stepping up while our present secretary is out of town. I heart this woman so much. I really don't know what I would do without her.
Whine: Lent is still definitely going to happen. Crap. I like the idea of giving up working when I'm tired. What a novel idea!!!! Can it be done? Stay tuned pixies, for the next episode of "As Sue Decides the World Can Turn Around Someone Else" because I've played the role long enough. Definitely. *quietly returns to her zen/prayer corner*
Hugs and good thoughts to all the pixies. Good news about SILs job interview kathy a. - i hope that works out.
(((margalit)))
esperanza - stay safe on your journey. I'll be thinking of you.
Hugs to margalit, Sue (can you give up Lent for Lent? too meta?), kathy a. (but yay for the AWs, especially finding the right resource that doesn't generate huge amounts of email and does have helpful social workers!).
Buena suerte, esperanza. Miranda, great opening. Hope both of you are finding excellent distractions in your hotel rooms.
Big AW: the kiddo's play got nominated for a ton of awards, including one for Ensemble! He is just thrilled, and we are very excited for our friends at the theater.
AW: I am just kvelling every time I watch him in the show. He had a bit of a rocky start, but has come so far and has been giving great performances. And he is loving every minute of it.
tiny W: he wants to do this for a living, and I worry because I know award-winning actors who still have two or three jobs to pay the bills, but I would want to be supportive if this does turn out to be what he does. But, he's in elementary school - last year he wanted to play for the Red Sox when he grew up - so I won't worry more than a smidgen. Time enough later.
W: way the heck too many fireplacing migraines, b/c my jaw is apparently all-spasm, all-the-time
AW: TMJ doc prescribed a "very very very mild dose" of a muscle relaxant, and after the first dose, hey! I could open my jaw pretty wide! Hopefully it will not make me feel woozy, but so far, so good.
I forgot - Liz, love your Aladdin / Oklahoma! pairings!
How about Prince Ali with Surrey With the Fringe on Top?
Genevieve - I like it!
I'm so happy about the awards! That's fabulous. Good on you for not letting tomorrow's worries take over today.
And bonus points for good anti-TMJ drugs.
Genevieve - what Liz said - all of it. Soooooo glad you got some TMJ relief. I never had actual TMJ, but close enough (the lowest masseter muscle, right above the joint) - ouchie supremo.
Anti-whine: I did a stretch in yoga that about half the class couldn't do. Me. The one who hasn't stretched, like, anything, in oh.....twenty years or so. Will wonders never cease?
Anti-whine: Got one service for Lent planned out. I guess it's going to arrive like a train right on schedule whether I like it or not, so I may as well pack my bags and get on board. *le sigh*
Honestly, I think the problem is that I'm just starting to feel so much better, and Lent is so fireplacing depressing. If I believed in hell, I would so be going there for saying that. Srsly.
Sue, perhaps you can spin giving up Lent for Lent into a service? Or too shocking? Love the concept. Hope that the 30 hours adjust for you.
Kathy A - I hope you find the right conservator. Having someone who knows the system might make all the difference. Good luck and best wishes.
Hang in there, Margalit.
Klee - you sound so busy. Good luck! It sounds petty, but I wish my daughter's troop did just a little bit more than 1x month. But I suppose I should volunteer for that...but let's just say GS brings out complicated whines.
Genevieve: Aw, I love how proud you sound of your son. TMJ is awful - hope the drugs work.
Liz - I think we have short attention spans. We usually have TV in rotation, but rarely movies. But then again, movies on repeat grate on me badly. (my husband, Lion King, college, etc etc etc.) I have to watch Oklahoma again, Aladdin is still lodged in my brain.
I was cruising along today, overwhelmed by too much grading and too many social commitments, but overall - SSDD. Then I got an email from a friend of mine who has been fired. This in itself is not that big of a deal because he was unhappy there and he is getting one hell of a severance package. What sucks is that it appears he's seriously considering going expat. Like, China.
It was hard enough when all my friends moved to other states, now they gotta go to other sides of the planet? Was it something I said?
Many hugs to Liz for the Aladdin tunes. Personally, I've had the free credit report renaissance fair song in my head for, oh, a week now. And I'm not trying to one-up here - I actually like the FCR song.
Doctor called during Lost tonight. First, NOBODY calls during lost. I mean really, the nerve. And of course it's bad news. I'm going into the hospital tomorrow. For probably a week. I have NO childcare, my backup person is in Switzerland. I'm going to leave the kids at home, I think. I don't really know what else to do.
My heart is totally failing and they have to try some new meds to see if they'll work, but it's all IV and catheterization and all sorts of other horrible things.
My daughter, who is pretty selfish on a good day, will not lend me her Itouch so I can at least get on the net while I'm stuck in my hospital bed. She's a real delight, that one.
And oh, next week is school vacation.
OMG, I'm so screwed.
Sue, I think you should give up Passover for Lent and Lent for Passover. Confuse them!
Hugs to everyone! Safe travels, esperanza
Whine of the week for me: I actually got things together and planned dinner for every night this week, carefully making sure that the beginning of the week meals would leave leftovers for lunch too. Only Tuesday the chicken turned out to still be mostly raw at dinner time (!). Leading to fish sticks and frozen fries for dinner. Then last night a run to Costco meant we ate pizza there instead of eating Wednesdays food or even Tuesdays. I now have too much food, much more than we can eat before it goes bad. We'll pack it up and share ... but I'm frustrated that after finally getting my act together we still ended up eating non home cooked stuff.
margalit -- find a backup backup person, stat! Two teenagers, on break, alone in the house? Not good.
JenR, oh, the irony of it. Hate when that happens.
And I know it is Thursday now, but. Yesterday, la la la warm and rainy, la la la melt away the giant snow banks, happy happy. This morning? Water in the basement, of course. Up through the drain, never had that before. Urgh.
((( margalit ))) i'm with madeleine about finding backup.
(((margalit)))
Liz - my new favorite song is "I'm Just a Girl Who Cain't Say No: You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me." Dont pair 'em, blend 'em!
As for me, I lost five days of computering to a virus from the hotplace, and have now been taken down by a cold. It's making prep for next week's on campus interview a little hard but hey, ON CAMPUS INTERVIEW = ANTIWHINE!
((margalit))
whine: My online friend from Australia's parents live in Marysville. They're ok physically, but the town pretty much doesn't exist any more.
anti-whine: The recovery act is a lot better than I thought it would be. Not perfect, but low-income people didn't get totally screwed for once.
oh, elizabeth. what a disaster in australia. i'm glad your friend's parents are safe, but what does OK mean when their town is essentially gone?
i'm also hopeful about the recovery act; not for a miracle cure, but it's better than it could have turned out. my state, though, remains a financial mess. our local school district is closing 4 schools; the controller is holding payments in various ways; etc. etc.
Hey, everyone, it's BONUS WHINING WEEK! I was in meetings rather late and I also decided to sit with a friend in need so I will have to post awards later. Thanks for your patience.
ok, why not. as i heard yesterday, the state controller is going to withhold payments to me, as well as a gerbillion other people, for an indefinite period. and as we heard today, the line of credit on our house just got suspended, no reason given, but they say it's not personal. taxes are due in 2 months, and plans A and B just got tossed out the window.
as a bonus -- i work at home, and my city informed me yesterday that there will be demolition, tree removal, and construction all happening within a block of my house for the next 10 months. just shoot me now.
Oh, kathy a., I feel you. I also work from home and detest tree removal and construction. Demolition usually doesn't last very long and is interesting to watch, but chain saws and hammers are the pits.
As is paying your own tax installments. Best of luck on finding plan C. (C as in credit card? I hope there's something better available.)
Hey, kathy a., do you think you'd get anywhere by writing a polite note explaining that if the state can't pay your wages, you certainly can't pay your taxes, so you'll need an interest-free extension?
Downward spiral and all that, but sheesh, it's ridiculous.
Wah! Blogger ate my whine!
I typed out a long, rambly whine -- typical of me -- and the upshot of it is that I lost my cookie form. The one with all my orders on it. So, I was greatly afraid that I was going to have to bite the bullet and eat the cost of 162 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, but I sold about half of them today! Crisis averted!
One parent even came in and bought 12 boxes! Now, if I can just keep from eating the rest of them!
madeleine, i suspect not, but i need to talk to my tax guy as soon as i can get my paperwork together -- a lot of his other clients are in the same boat. also, the fireplacing bank may hear a piece of my mind, once i find it again.
ooh, klee -- can i buy some cookies? have not run across any GS's or brownies yet, and my NEED FOR THIN MINTS IS DESPERATE.
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