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trip and aftermath
August 04, 2008
Meh. We went where he wanted to go, did, for the most part, what he wanted to do, ate where--and when--he wanted to eat, and spent interminable hours in the car.
I did manage to pick the hotel. Naturally, he found tremendous fault with it.
We visited a place called the Air Zoo. We drove all the way to hell and gone out in the boonies to a car museum, only to have him see the size of the crowds and punk out.
We swam at the hotel and had dinner at a place called The Craftsman Chop Company. Very good food, nice atmosphere and decor, excellant service, and ridiculously low prices, by our Chicago-area standards. That was pleasant.
I was got the chance to visit one bead store. Not, of course, the one I had wanted to visit, but oh, well. (I'm not stupid. I know it's not about me, it's about controlling me.) Anyway, I went to "The Beadin' Path" in Richland, and I found a few cool things. Again, really reasonable prices compared to what I'm used to. I spent $35.00, but what I got would have cost about fifty around here. Assuming I could even GET the stuff around here.
Sunday morning, we got up early and drove up north of Grand Rapids to Rosie's Diner in Rockford, his choice, of course. I had the cobblestone french toast--very rich with apples, walnuts, and cinnamon (and raisins, I think). It was very good, but the coffee was weak and the sausage was grey.
And I got to go to a berry patch and get some lovely blackberries and red raspberries, as well as some new red potatoes. On the way back home, we stopped at the Round barn Winery and I got some Pinot Gris for me, some Reisling for E, and a bottle of their DiVine Vodka for P. He tried stopping at a Harley dealer for a shirt, but the placed wasn't open on Sunday, so he didn't get a souvenir.
It was a traffic battle coming home through the city. We got off at Touhy and stopped at Al's Italian Beef for lunch, and to take a break from traffic. We got home about three or so, and I unpacked and relaxed for the rest of the day.
heinous day.
One is always punished for taking a break. My shit day started when I realized I was almost all the way to work, and it was still dark as the middle of the night. Weather reports to the contrary, I had figured out it was going to rain the minute I tried to put weight on my right ankle, a/k/a �my weather bone�. But the sky looked like more than rain�it looked positively filthy.
I beat the storm in, though--and the minute I arrived at my desk, I got more fun. I was pressed into phone coverage due to a certain associate and her usual Monday-morning hangover call-in. So instead of getting my work done, I got to deal with a variety of system issues and bitchy users.
And then, about 9:30 or so, things got truly evil.
Power Failure. Massive, catastrophic power failure. And since our location houses servers used by folks all over the USA, and even some of our partners in India?
Nobody could work. Or see, or breathe, for that matter. That hellhole is a dark and airless tomb when the power goes.
We ended up without power for three and a half hours�and without our actual systems for another two hours on top of that. And the fargin� bastiges wouldn�t release us to go home.
So Our Lady Queen of Busywork decided we should all clean our desks up! To keep busy!
And (par for the course) my reward for keeping a desk that doesn�t look like a pigsty?
I got to clean a different desk. The spare one in the corner where everyone throws all the manuals and references in a big, sloppy, heap.
Also�no lunch unless you brought it (I never do on Mondays), because the cafeteria was, of course without power too. And I work in a place where there is nothing you can go out for that is close enough to manage on our criminally short lunch breaks. I ended up eating the world�s stalest slimfast bar, purchased from the little store they have in the basement. Nasty.
So normally, I�d be headed over to the chiro after work, to get myself all crunched and cracked and snap, crackle, popped back into human form, and after a day like today, I certainly could use it. Except�
His shitty sense of timing strikes again. I had to go pick up the dog from the kennel after work�so no chiro for me today. Sorry, back! You�re out of luck!
So yeah, pretty shitty Monday.
Now, having vented, I just want to stretch out on the bed and snuggle my pooch. Mr. B is on board for it, so I'm going to just that.
Reading: "Blood Memory", by Greg Iles. A thick brick of a thriller, set in (pre-Katrina) NOLA and Natchez, MS. Normally, I'd really have a handle on a book at page 268--but with this one, there's almost 500 more to go, so we've just scratched the surface of the story.
Beading: No beading this weekend, as I was out of town. But there was bead shopping!
Surfing: The Fug girls.
Listening: NPR.
At Random: click here
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