Thursday, September 29, 2005

It Started Out Like Any Other Wednesday....

I made myself get up, though I really didn't want to. Got going, got the boys going. Heard on the news that there was a big wreck on 85 (as usual). Got ready, went out to wait for the bus. Waited. Waited. 10 minutes past it's time, I put little kid in the car, and dropped him off, again (happened twice last week). Was late from waiting for the never-seen bus, and the radio traffic reports are saying how bad the wreck is; they said that Tuesday, too, and I actually got to work 25 minutes early (they were all stuck in it behind me - I went around). So I finally get to work after 95 mind-numbing minutes in the car, witnessing some of the stupidest things I have ever seen (yeah, you in the dumptruck and the car hauler that both decided to block all lanes - I'm talking about you), and find myself in software release hell. Actually, that started Tuesday, but it definitely had not improved overnight, and I had people from both coasts hollering for something they couldn't have. So I do what I can with that, then move on to more clean-up in prep for the move.

I go across the street to our other building, prepared to throw a whole bunch of stuff out; we (our division) do not want/need it, but we will give the other division a chance to screen it, just in case they need it. Well, I'm explaining this to "the Gatekeeper", and she's all, "I don't know, I'll have to talk to somebody". Fine, whatever, but for now, give me a place to stack this stuff, because I want it out of the cabinets that we know we are taking for our use. No dice. So I agree to make a copy of my list, with all of the pretty colors and the key to what those colors mean, and they can let me know later. So off to lunch we go.

The place we go is one of those where they ask every body if they have to go back to work, or if you plan on spending the afternoon. Uh, yeah, I have to go back - who doesn't, and how do I get a job there? We finally get a waiter, and he finally brings our water and takes our orders. The food finally shows up, and my co-worker's plate is just huge. There wasn't a dinner option of that on the menu, so we didn't think anything about it. Well, after I had been done for some time, the waiter finally reappears, and then goes to produce our checks. When he comes back, he hands hers over, and it's $12! It was supposed to .50 less than mine. So when he finally comes back to take our money, we ask him about it. So he disappears again, and comes back 10 minutes later and mumbles something about maybe not having to pay for it at all, because it's in the computer that way and he doesn't know what to do. And did the manager come talk to us? Uh, no? We finally get out of there, paying the correct amount, and leaving a quarter as a tip. What a moron-a-palooza! So we go back to work.

When we get here, I take care of a few things, and then get the boss and go back across the street to discuss this morning's issues. The Gatekeeper has apparently already left for the day. So he rifles through all this old stuff, and keeps mentioning stuff from when I was in elementary school, and keeps on going on and on. No real conclusions are drawn, but I do have a half-assed plan, so we come back over here. He then wants me to go to his office, he has some stuff we could look at to possibly help us decide what to do with the stuff (I thought we'd already decided - I was on the verge of throwing it out, after all). So, for the next mind-numbing hour, I sit there and watch him flip through old document after old document, not really knowing what he's looking for, or why. Then I go back to my office, with my brain hurting. I surf the net a while, making up time for being late in the morning, then finally give up on that, too. So I leave.

And it takes me an hour to get home!!! I could swear I've already sat in traffic... oh, wait, I have, but this time, it sprinkled, so we've lost our minds for an entirely different reason!! I finally get home, and then I have to argue with an 8-year-old to do his homework, and write lots of notes to send back to his teacher. Thinking about that right now, I have no idea if he put any of that in his bookbag this morning; I bet it's all sitting on the living room floor still. Oh well, flunk me for being a bad parent. And I really, really wanted to sit on the couch and stare at the tv, but DH was already spread out all over, and the chair had kid in it. I sat at the computer desk for a few minutes, for lack of something better. Then I went to my room for awhile, but that was boring, so I went back out and made the kid get out of the chair. Then, finally, nothing for a few minutes. They all actually figured out it was fend-for-yourself night without me having to tell them - miracle. I had a bowl of Lucky Charms for dinner. Yummy. Not. So then I figure I need to check e-mails - home and work, for sw and bead issues.

As I am e-mailing one of the girls in my bead-buying group, I check a couple of the items I have ordered, and realize that they have DOUBLED in price!!! SHIT!! What I have in my order (placed Monday with the group, but it won't get sent to the company we buy from for a few weeks still) I had budgeted to spend no more than $60, and it will now cost me $118!!! That's my entire budget, not counting the other things I have to get! Beads won't do me any good if I don't have clasps or string to put them on! WTF happened? It had to have happened on Tuesday; I was just in there looking Monday, as I was entering my order. this morning, I broke out my 2000/2001 catalog, and these prices have been pretty much the same since then - they have changed the way they are packaged, but the price is within a few cents of where it has been for 5 years. And they are glass; I expect fluctuations in gold and silver items, but not a doubling in GLASS! Has glass suddenly become endangered? Shit! So now, here I am, trying to start a business, and these items are a cornerstone of that business, and I am trying to do this out of my own pocket. Man, this sucks. So I send another post to my group, begging for help to meet the best price breaks on these, so I can keep my order intact - if we get the best break on all of them, it'll be $80; I was prepared to pay the middle break (60) before they doubled. I didn't want to sound whiny when I sent it - I've been trying to drum up support on these ever since the buy opened, but I'm not getting much help. Our buy lead is out of town for a week; hopefully, when she gets back, maybe she can call our rep and ask them what the deal is. Well, at that point, all I could do is wait to see what happens next week. CRAP. Dammit. Oh well. And of course, DH says, well, you need them, right? Get them. Yeah, I'll just get them. And do we not get the tags for the car, or not pay the electric bill, or skip one whole side of the family this Christmas? I just want to know why now these had to DOUBLE; they've been static for 5 years, and I could see a small increase, but double? I've looked, and can't find them cheaper - these are now about the same as most of the others I've found, but the others I've found do not have bulk pricing, so these are now actually more, if I were to buy them 1-2 at a time. So I try to concentrate on Lost and Invasion, and go to bed to finish watching.

As I am turning off the light, as per my usual routine, I grab the chap stick off of the table. Of course, I drop the damn thing behind the bed, in the land of the Killer Dust Bunny. And the only way for me to get it is to move all of the pillows and such, reach through the headboard, and feel around. I found something squishy (yuck), something fuzzy - dust bunny, or ball of cat hair - same thing - then finally got it. Man, I was DONE. I stared at the TV for a few more minutes, then rolled over and went to sleep.

And things were going pretty smooth this morning. Right up until I broke my toothbrush right in two. I was using the handle to push the toothpaste up in the tube - I do it all the time - and it snapped. Oh, there's no way in hell I'm having another yesterday!! Ain't going to happen, folks. So I do my best brushing with it (it has that stupid rubber coating on it to make a better/pretty grip - whatever - so it's holding together), but it's all wonky and waving - I feel like a cartoon person trying to brush with a rubbery brush. But the bus showed up, I got to work on time, and there's not a lot going on; my sw release isn't going on, either, which is a problem. I don't know if there is anybody home in our Maryland office - none of them have signed off or sent any e-mails or anything os far today. I'm going to go home today and take a nap. I was meaning to get my hair cut, but I just don't think I can suffer that kind of trauma right now. I must've been really, really, reallllyyyy bad in my previous life....

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