(no subject)
Feb. 1st, 2004 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geekchickToday is Boomtime, day 32 in the season of Chaos, 3270.
Catching up, sort of:
978 messages in the WomBAT folder, probably at least that many in the Elbows folder (I was too scared to look and deleted it sight unseen), and skipping 1000 appears to only take me back to the morning of Jan. 26. First I should cull out actual mail I need to read from my inbox, then I can worry about the rest later. Some laundry, some unpacking of suitcases, some packing of boxes, and some trying not to kill myself on the 1/4-inch of ice that's still coating my entire driveway and most of our street.
Bits about the trip:
My coworker and I accidentally ended up on the same plane; we aren't supposed to travel together, so we booked on separate airlines. This trick would've worked, except that it was a codeshare flight. Oops. Actually it was nice, the flight was no more than half full. I finally got to see "Under a Tuscan Sun" (twice, actually: once going out since they had time to show two films, and again going back), which is a fabulous movie that's going on my "must pick this up" list.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brian1789 and patgreene kindly picked us up at the airport and shuttled us to the hotel. On Sunday, K. and I tried to go set up the office downstairs, where we discovered that our five crates of supplies were there, but the keys were not. Apparently the hotel engineering staff didn't have bolt cutters, so once again brian1789 came through by finding a place to rent them for $6. Locks cut off, we got set up and then went out to try to see the butterflies (a bit too chilly and overcast to see much activity) and then down to the beach, then later out to meet folks for Thai. Monday I had dinner with luwenth, whom I hadn't seen in many years. I'm bummed I didn't get to meet mactavish on Sunday; maybe next time I'm out I can arrange something earlier in the day.
By far the biggest problem we had during the week was people from other meetings coming by and stealing food that we had put out for our meeting attendees. My coworker got cussed out, seriously, by one woman from the free seminar down the hall when K. told her that she couldn't have a muffin since they were only for our meeting attendees. Some of the hotel sales staff came and watched for a while and told us that they'd never seen any group of people so aggressive about stealing other people's food even after being told they couldn't have it and while having to reach over signs saying that food was for [company] members only and to climb over barriers to get at it. Seriously, there were at least two people that I saw (and so probably more) who ducked around the back and climbed over some chairs and trays we'd set up to block the way to get at the food. For the record, just because it's sitting outside a meeting room does not mean it's free; in fact, it probably means that the muffin and cup of coffee you just took cost somebody at least $20 per person. I'm sorry your free seminar down the hall didn't feel like shelling out $2000 for breakfast food for you; if you want to pay us our annual dues, you too can have some of our bagels.
Other than needing a bat to ward off muffin and coffee thieves, there was comparatively little High Drama that needed to be taken care of, I thought. There was a lot of running around to be done, and while there were about three billion fires to put out, few if any were big issues. I even managed to get to spend all of Thursday in a meeting I'd wanted to attend. Good thing, too, since I found out I'd gotten action items the previous day and really was glad to be around for some of the discussion leading to additional action items on Thursday.
Tuesday was a 15-hour day, Wednesday was at least 16, and the rest were at a minimum 12, so I spent most of the week exhausted. I got back to my room on Tuesday at around 9:30 and went nearly straight to bed; I read for a bit and was passed out by 11:30 or so. Thursday night I was unconscious by about 11:45 I think. This is why I say that the annual meetings aren't really a particularly good time to make social plans generally, as during the week we're continually having to be "on" for 12 hours or so and then are expected to do some socializing with the meeting attendees on top of the company dinner on Wednesday nights. In spite of, or maybe because of, the exhaustion, I spent the week having really weird dreams as well.
patgreene and brian1789 again were kind enough to shuttle me to the airport by way of brunch at Hobee's and the requisite trip to Fry's (my laptop battery is no longer holding a charge and needed to be replaced). I am most appreciative. The flights back were absolutely packed, and I discovered to my chagrin that I couldn't upgrade to first class even though it was technically a USAir flight, since the plane itself was owned by United. The flight out of San Jose was late and so I essentially walked off my first plane and straight on to the second (which was only a good thing because the connecting flight was boarding three gates away rather than on the other side of the Denver airport). Actually it's good that it was late, because my itinerary said it was a 2:30 flight, while the schedule at the airport said it was supposed to be 2:05. How...unfortunate that would've been. I had also neglected to contact C. beforehand, figuring I'd call from my layover in Denver and leave a message about where to meet up at Dulles. As I walked off the plane, I discovered that my cellphone must've gotten accidentally turned on in my bag on the flight out and so wouldn't even power on. I didn't have time to find a payphone, so I figured I'd just fly home and hope I could remember his cell phone number to call from a phone at Dulles. By the time I got back, there was just enough charge in my phone to call and arrange for a meeting place (which is good, since it was 10 degrees and I hadn't brought my coat). Then on to home and a solid sheet of ice in the driveway and on the street in front of our place. Woohoo. Now I get to try to catch up with stuff I missed; wish me luck.
Catching up, sort of:
rm Mail/wombat rm Mail/elbows http://www.livejournal.com/~geekchick/friends?skip=1000
978 messages in the WomBAT folder, probably at least that many in the Elbows folder (I was too scared to look and deleted it sight unseen), and skipping 1000 appears to only take me back to the morning of Jan. 26. First I should cull out actual mail I need to read from my inbox, then I can worry about the rest later. Some laundry, some unpacking of suitcases, some packing of boxes, and some trying not to kill myself on the 1/4-inch of ice that's still coating my entire driveway and most of our street.
Bits about the trip:
My coworker and I accidentally ended up on the same plane; we aren't supposed to travel together, so we booked on separate airlines. This trick would've worked, except that it was a codeshare flight. Oops. Actually it was nice, the flight was no more than half full. I finally got to see "Under a Tuscan Sun" (twice, actually: once going out since they had time to show two films, and again going back), which is a fabulous movie that's going on my "must pick this up" list.
brian1789 and patgreene kindly picked us up at the airport and shuttled us to the hotel. On Sunday, K. and I tried to go set up the office downstairs, where we discovered that our five crates of supplies were there, but the keys were not. Apparently the hotel engineering staff didn't have bolt cutters, so once again brian1789 came through by finding a place to rent them for $6. Locks cut off, we got set up and then went out to try to see the butterflies (a bit too chilly and overcast to see much activity) and then down to the beach, then later out to meet folks for Thai. Monday I had dinner with luwenth, whom I hadn't seen in many years. I'm bummed I didn't get to meet mactavish on Sunday; maybe next time I'm out I can arrange something earlier in the day.By far the biggest problem we had during the week was people from other meetings coming by and stealing food that we had put out for our meeting attendees. My coworker got cussed out, seriously, by one woman from the free seminar down the hall when K. told her that she couldn't have a muffin since they were only for our meeting attendees. Some of the hotel sales staff came and watched for a while and told us that they'd never seen any group of people so aggressive about stealing other people's food even after being told they couldn't have it and while having to reach over signs saying that food was for [company] members only and to climb over barriers to get at it. Seriously, there were at least two people that I saw (and so probably more) who ducked around the back and climbed over some chairs and trays we'd set up to block the way to get at the food. For the record, just because it's sitting outside a meeting room does not mean it's free; in fact, it probably means that the muffin and cup of coffee you just took cost somebody at least $20 per person. I'm sorry your free seminar down the hall didn't feel like shelling out $2000 for breakfast food for you; if you want to pay us our annual dues, you too can have some of our bagels.
Other than needing a bat to ward off muffin and coffee thieves, there was comparatively little High Drama that needed to be taken care of, I thought. There was a lot of running around to be done, and while there were about three billion fires to put out, few if any were big issues. I even managed to get to spend all of Thursday in a meeting I'd wanted to attend. Good thing, too, since I found out I'd gotten action items the previous day and really was glad to be around for some of the discussion leading to additional action items on Thursday.
Tuesday was a 15-hour day, Wednesday was at least 16, and the rest were at a minimum 12, so I spent most of the week exhausted. I got back to my room on Tuesday at around 9:30 and went nearly straight to bed; I read for a bit and was passed out by 11:30 or so. Thursday night I was unconscious by about 11:45 I think. This is why I say that the annual meetings aren't really a particularly good time to make social plans generally, as during the week we're continually having to be "on" for 12 hours or so and then are expected to do some socializing with the meeting attendees on top of the company dinner on Wednesday nights. In spite of, or maybe because of, the exhaustion, I spent the week having really weird dreams as well.
patgreene and brian1789 again were kind enough to shuttle me to the airport by way of brunch at Hobee's and the requisite trip to Fry's (my laptop battery is no longer holding a charge and needed to be replaced). I am most appreciative. The flights back were absolutely packed, and I discovered to my chagrin that I couldn't upgrade to first class even though it was technically a USAir flight, since the plane itself was owned by United. The flight out of San Jose was late and so I essentially walked off my first plane and straight on to the second (which was only a good thing because the connecting flight was boarding three gates away rather than on the other side of the Denver airport). Actually it's good that it was late, because my itinerary said it was a 2:30 flight, while the schedule at the airport said it was supposed to be 2:05. How...unfortunate that would've been. I had also neglected to contact C. beforehand, figuring I'd call from my layover in Denver and leave a message about where to meet up at Dulles. As I walked off the plane, I discovered that my cellphone must've gotten accidentally turned on in my bag on the flight out and so wouldn't even power on. I didn't have time to find a payphone, so I figured I'd just fly home and hope I could remember his cell phone number to call from a phone at Dulles. By the time I got back, there was just enough charge in my phone to call and arrange for a meeting place (which is good, since it was 10 degrees and I hadn't brought my coat). Then on to home and a solid sheet of ice in the driveway and on the street in front of our place. Woohoo. Now I get to try to catch up with stuff I missed; wish me luck.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-02-01 03:03 pm (UTC)I spent the week having really weird dreams as well.
Do you remember anything about them, like underlying themes?
home and a solid sheet of ice in the driveway and on the street in front of our place
You wanted a taste of big weather, dear.... (ducking)
Anyway, good luck in catching up and recharging.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-01 05:03 pm (UTC)Only vaguely remember details, and very little about themes. I'm sure they were all due to stress, there was some action movie type stuff going on in at least one of them.
You wanted a taste of big weather, dear....
Melted snow isn't big weather. What happened was that it got just barely warm enough to melt some of the snow, and then it promptly froze again, so there's now a sheet of ice on everything. Snow I'm okay with, ice left from where our management company didn't bother really cleaning the streets and instead just packed down the snow I'm not so much okay with.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-02 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-01 08:48 pm (UTC)No, I don't know when I'll be in your area next. :/