Diana's Diary

2003-07-13 - 8:37 p.m.

Getting There is Half the Battle / Blame Canada

Getting There is Half the Battle: Somewhere between Chicago and Ottawa, 7 July 2003, 1:41 p.m. EDT

Nightmare journey. Nightmare. To recap:

Delayed flights: 2

Cancelled flights: 1

Time spent wandering around ORD after being misdirected to wrong baggage claim by surly teenybopper gate agent: 45 minutes

Nervous breakdowns in front of kindly telecom-casualty-cum-airport-security-guard: 1

Hours spent waiting for luggage at ORD (without success): 2

Amount overcharged by ruthless mercenary cab driver: approx. $20

Nights spent stranded in seedy Chicago motel: 1

Number of blood-drenched men who followed me into elevator at seedy Chicago motel: 1

Average number of tries needed to get key card to work in door of seedy Chicago motel room: 16

Number of imagined headlines describing my murder in seedy Chicago motel room: 2 ("Business Traveler Slain in Rosemont Hotel" and "California Woman Found Dead.")

Hours of actual sleep had in seedy Chicago motel room: approx. 2

Number of times plane had to fuel up before leaving the runway at ORD: 2

Hours spent circling the runway: slightly under 4

Meetings already missed by getting stuck overnight in Chicago: 2

Odds of getting out of dreadful Monday evening cocktail party: pretty good

International telephone calls made from my cell phone while roaming: 3 (My expense report for this trip is going to be fun.)

Plans of ever flying through Chicago again (after my already-booked return journey): Zero.

Blame Canada: Home, 13 July 2003, 8:17 p.m. PDT

Well. Last week sucked. To the above tally, I can now add:

1 more delayed flight, 2 more hours circling the runway at ORD, 1 more international cell phone call made while roaming, and 45 minutes of harassment from a Canadian immigration official.

I think I'd be just as happy if they decided to just not send me to meetings any more. I mean, yes, when everyone else gets to go, I do feel a bit left out, but meetings in general just suck. And this time, I was so knackered from the ordeal it was to simply get there that I really wasn't in any sort of frame of mind to deal with the usual meeting bullshit. I was ready to kill by the time I was coming home on Friday. My flight between ORD and SJC was filled with screaming babies (seat in front of me and behind me, as well as other places throughout the plane). Thank God for Holden and Selena. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see them as I was when they appeared in the baggage claim to meet me on Friday night.

Yesterday, Selena had a bunch of people over for a baby shower. Two dozen very loud women. And our house echoes. I hid until most of them went away, because I'm still grouchy from my trip and not in the mood to deal with anyone.

I slept until almost noon today, which put me in at about 10 uninterrupted hours of beautiful, beautiful sleep. (Since I average 4 hours a night when I'm at meetings, I always have a big sleep deficit to make up once I get home--and it's worse when I'm dealing with a time change to boot.) The only remotely useful thing I've done today is wash my car and put on my new license plate frame. My car was filthy. I really should wash it more often.

I also need to go grocery shopping really badly. Yesterday I subsisted on baby shower leftovers, but today all I've had is Pop-Tarts that I bought before I left. I couldn't be bothered enough to make myself look presentable enough to go to the grocery store today. It's kind of amazing that I got out of bed at all.

I really don't want to go to work tomorrow.

I wonder if Friday is too soon to take my comp day.

Ugh.

-Diana Seaborne, World Traveller (and Sick of It)

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2003-12-16 - Ow! My Nose!
2003-12-15 - 'Tis the Season...For Moving
2003-11-17 - Rush, Rush
2003-11-03 - Apartment Hunting Sucks
2003-10-22 - Apparently, "nauseated" is a good look for me.

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