Y10 D278

I slept weird last night. Like woke up in the middle of the night sideways weird. I haven't done that in a long while. I also realized that I wasn't even under all the sheets. I don't like that. It was a rough night.

My day was okay. I was supposed to have 20 maximum in the class yesterday, had 23. Ran out of manuals. Ran out of giveaways. Oh well.

Got a burrito and quesadilla on the way back to the hotel and paid for it for the rest of the night with horrible indigestion. So bad I ended up eating nothing solid for dinner. It was a half day of teaching yesterday and the Mexican food was for lunch.

No upgrades for my flights tomorrow. Which sucks big monkey balls. Today I will be attempting to teach a class from the hotel room which will be oh so interesting given the internet here. I am not going to stress out if it doesn't go well. Not much I will be able to do if it isn't good quality. Shouldn't have scheduled a class while I was on the damn road. Sorry.

When class is done tonight I have to go right to bed. I have a 2 hour drive tomorrow morning and need to be out of here by 1am. So up at 11:30pm, out of here by 1am, get to DTW at 6:45pm EST. Oh boy.

Y10 D277

Trains crawl past my window.
Blowing their horns so loud.
The screech of the wheels against the rails.
Does it ever stop?

The answer is no. No it bloody doesn't. No matter where you are in this town you can hear the train. All the time. Ugh.

I did sleep better last night but now I feel a cold coming on. Fun.

Got through day two with my group. No issues. We finished at about 4:20, got out of there about 4:45 due to follow up questions and the like.

Stopped for El Pollo Loco. It was good.

Watched tv, went to bed.

Today is a 1/2 day with 20 folks. I can get through it. I am more worried about tomorrow's group. Remote class from a hotel room. Good times.

Let's hope I get some upgrades for Friday's flight. Not counting on it, but one can hope.

Y10 D276

I slept so bad last night it's not even funny. It was tossing and turning all night. So much that I literally moved the mattress off the box spring by a good 2-3 inches. The air in here is so dry and hot I couldn't get comfortable at all. Fun times.

Yesterday wasn't horrible. This first group is pretty sharp. 10 out of 15 showed and they are a pretty technical group. They got through all the material and we finished around 4:15. Right where I would want us to be. There's one guy who is a little slower than everyone else, but not so much that it's a problem. His co-workers are jumping in to help him which is great. The room is laid out well with three TVs set up to make it easy to broadcast. I was pretty happy with the setup.

After class I went to target for a couple of things including lunch for today. This town is a ghost town and doesn't have much to offer near by unfortunately. Most of the class actually goes home at lunch because everything is close by.

For dinner I went to a sushi place and ordered udon but it was too hot to eat and I ended up bringing it back to the room to get it to cool down a bit.

Watched some tv and went to bed around 9.

B worked on the basement some more. She is painting the rest of the walls and it's looking really good. I can't wait to get home on Friday and see how it looks. She is kicking butt on it. By this weekend we will have a completely done space. Took forever, but it's almost there.

Day two of this group and then a half day with a large group tomorrow.

Y10 D275

Yesterday morning turned into the worst clusterfuck ever. Partly due to my screw up and partly due to the weather. At around 3:05am I realized my driver hadn't texted me yet to say he was inbound. He has been very good about texting when he is 20-30 minutes away. Just to be safe, I went and double checked the reservation only to find I fucked up and set it for today instead of Sunday. Son of a bitch. So at 3am I had to wake B up and make her drive me to the airport. That isn't the horrible part. I mean that sucked for her, but she was able to handle that. It was the road conditions. Given that she has been in at least three accidents this winter when someone else was driving, passenger anxiety attacked. It was rainy, wet, icy, and foggy all at once yesterday morning and that was too much for her to handle. She had a full blown tears down her face anxiety attack. It was a rough 30 minutes until we reached the airport. Bad. Real bad. Luckily we made it, she took surface streets home and got back safely. Unfortunately the cats decided since we were all up they were up and when she tried to go back to sleep they had other ideas. No sleep for her. It was just a very rough long day for her overall.

For me, it was a long day too. My first flight was okay. I got my upgrade and had breakfast and took a brief nap. My second flight was rough though. First, the Admiral's Club in the terminal I was in was closed for renovations. I didn't feel like walking all the way to the other terminal and ended up just sitting in a booth at a closed Chik-Fil-A. There were 35 of us on the upgrade list and I was 22nd so no chance for me on that flight. I took my cramped little seat and suffered through it for 4 hours.

Finally landed around 1pm PST after getting up at 1:30am EST. But THEN I had a 2 hour drive to the client. 2 hours and 10 minutes to be exact. And no, there was no airport closer. Trust me, I looked. So I drove and drove. I finally got here around 4pm PST.

Got checked in, ironed, and realized I forgot to bring mouth thingies. Sigh. Had to go find a Rite-Aid. Found one, had dinner at a serious old-school steak house. Got back to the room around 6:30.

I managed to stay awake until 8:30 at which point I collapsed. B was busy last night too. It was her sister's birthday (she is officially a teenager, woo?) and they surprised her with the Hamilton tickets. B said she cried like a baby. Runs in the family I guess. So she ended up having a good end to a rough day.

Now this week I have 15 people the next two days, 20 on Wednesday, then a class from the hotel with 12 on Thursday. Oh boy.

Y10 D274

We watched an excellent movie last night - Into the Spider-verse. Holy shit it was great. Great story, awesome cast, good graphics. 100% recommend. That was how we spent our evening. I went to bed pretty much after we finished at 8pm.

During the day, we went to home depot, target, payless shoes (got two pairs of work shoes dirt cheap since they are closing), lunch, and I think that was it. We got a lot done.

I slow cooked ribs all day and am paying for the sauce this morning. I need to literally eat bread the night before a trip don't I?

12-14 hours of travel today. 8 of it in the air. I have one upgrade. High winds going down, let's see if I even make it out of here.

Y10 D273

Ah nothing like having to get up early on your one day off so you can check in for a flight. Good times.

Day three of class is done. Man this was a rough week. Full 100% utilization with good sized classes. Next week more of the same. At least I am pulling my weight around the company. Go me.

We finished around 5:30. Then I cooked dinner. Chicken thighs in teriyaki sauce with rice, fresh broccoli, carrots, and pineapple. Came out really well. I was happy about that.

Did laundry. Need to put clothes away today. Finish packing for tomorrow.

Watched Doom Patrol. Man, I thought Titans was good, but this show is better. Maybe because it has more 'adult' characters than Titans, but overall they are both good shows. Titans will be back and I hope Doom keeps going. 13 more episodes in season 1 to go.

Went to bed around 11:30 because that's just what time it was by the time I settled down. Fun stuff. Today I am minimizing what I do since it is my only day off. Let's see how that goes.

Y10 D272

I'm running behind today. I woke up at 1:45, then again at 4:30, then again at 5:50. I should have gotten up then but I was so tired from all the other, I fell back to sleep until 6:30. Ugh. I still have 3.5 hours until class so yeah, no issue there.

Speaking of class, day two went fine, if not long. I finished at 5:48 last night, made dinner, and finally around 7:30 sat down to relax, but oh wait, B has some shelves to hang in the bathroom. Oh boy!

10pm came so quick and I fell into bed. Good times.

Y10 D271

We changed the time of this class to accommodate one particular student. Guess fucking what? They showed up late. 10:17. Mother. Fucker. I knew they would too. Asshole.

My day was that. 10 until almost 6. Then I ordered some dinner from the BBQ place next door because I sure as hell wasn't cooking and B was at bingo. Watched some tv. She got home around 10:15 and we both went off to bed.

I wish there was more to say, but that really was my day. More classes added in April, May, and June. All different times. How the hell am I supposed to have a life with this schedule? Whatever.

Y10 D270

I am almost gave up on my class yesterday. I came so close it wasn't even funny. We didn't finish the material. I was screaming into the void half the day. It was one of the worst groups I have dealt with in a long time. I truly hope I don't have to teach them remotely again. Onsite, fine, but not remotely. They don't know how to handle themselves. Horrible time.

Finished at 4:30. Made dinner. Watched TV. Went to bed.

Today begins three days of 10-6. Fuck this.

Y10 D269

I hate this group of students. Some groups should not be done remotely. I know I am a broken record but it's true. We need to start enforcing some rules. "Beginner" students with no fucking computer skills, large groups in the same room, and stupid idiots should all be taught in person and not like what I had to deal with yesterday. I have the same group for another day today. Oh boy! Fuck.

Then it was confirmed, 10-6 the rest of the week. I fucking hate that. What I hate is that six other students are being disrupted just to make one potentially large client happy. Watch, they will show up fucking late tomorrow regardless. 

After class we went out with B Mom and BF as it was B Mom birthday. We all went to Benihana and I suffered through sitting at a teppan table. Horrible experience. Shitty food. But they were happy. So be it.

By the time we got home it was bed time. Lovely.

Y10 D268

Praise be, my basement is in a state where it can be used. I am no longer embarrassed to bring someone down there. It took WAY longer than I wanted it to, but sweet bejeebies, it is done. Here it is for you to view. Go back and look at the before pictures to be really amazed.

So that obviously was my day yesterday. Having to wait around for him to get here at 10, then sitting around while he worked on things. Me, every so often going down to clean up around him. He finally finished around 3 and then I went to work. I had to move that game table, the other furniture, clean up, vacuum, sweep, etc. I finished around 5, just as B was getting home from her baby shower. We had some food together and then we both read for a bit. She was cold and ended up getting into bed around 8. I followed shortly around 9:45.

A very anti-climatic finish to the weekend.

Today and tomorrow I have 8:30 - 4:30 classes, then Wed-Fri I *may* have 10-6 classes. They might be 8:30 - 4:30. I don't know, We will see if my boss is willing to fuck up six people's schedule just to make one person happy. Regardless of the times, I am full all week and then I leave on Sunday for Merced.

It started snowing around 4pm yesterday and hasn't let up since. I would say a good 4 inches of snow has fallen. Maybe today I will get a power outage? We shall see.

Y10 D267

We had a fun day yesterday. Got up did normal morning stuff and then around 11:45 headed out to Frankenmuth, the little Bavaria of MI. It's about 90 miles away so not so far as to be annoying, but far enough that the drive home is rough.

We got out there around 1 and started our day at Bronners - the 361 day out of the year Christmas store. They out the CHRIST in CHRISTmas. No, that's their slogan. I know I should hate this place, but it's so cheesy I love it. There's nothing like hearing carols in February. We got some nice new ornaments for the tree this year.

Then we walked around the downtown shops, got a bunch of silly stuff like cherry BBQ sauce and other dumb things. We even took the time to go to the Frankenmuth historical museum and learned all about the town. It was actually kind of cool in a goofy way.

The highlight was dinner at the Zhender's house. All you can eat fried chicken dinner. I added on livers and onions. Mmmm. Tasty.

All in all we had a fun day, headed home around 7 and got home a little before 9. Did our evening stuff and got into bed by 11. Full day.

Today our floors are supposed to be done. I will believe it when I see it. B has a baby shower to go to today. I get to hang out while he does our floors. Fun times.

Y10 D266

Got my damn class done. Whew! Finished it around noon. I almost wish I hadn't because that meant I got dragged into the vortex that was B. She was on a mission to tackle everything on her to do list. The minute I wasn't working, I got sucked in to things. Cleaning, organizing, running errands. It was non-stop.

She did accomplish a few important things:

- Made an eye doctor appointment
- Got tickets to HAMILTON!

Yep, that's right. In March her, her mom, and her sister will be driving to Chicago for Hamilton. They're not the world's greatest seats, but at $120 a pop, she took what she could. Good seats were $400+. They will be in the heart of the theater district. I got them a hotel for the night and the hotel I got is literally attached to the theater. No having to go outside and she can wait at the stage door for autographs. She's pretty stoked.

I was getting pissed at my boss in the early evening. Apparently we have some west coast client who is a whiny bitch and wants us to change the times of our classes to accommodate them. Yeah, he did that.  So there was all this back and forth bullshit and it looks like I have to work 10-6 three days next week. Fucker. Then he wanted to know if I would do an 11:30 - 7:30. Um, fuck you? Shit, I barely tolerate 8:30 - 4:30.

Watched some tv, relaxed, did some work in the basement to prep for tomorrow. Tomorrow is when we SHOULD get our fucking floors finished. Fucking contractors. This is why people hate you. You think I am a whiny bitch about work hours? HA. They make me look like a saint.

Today we are off to Christmas store and fried chicken. I need a little adventure dammit.

Y10 D265

100 days to go and we begin year 11. Wow. Just wow.

Worked pretty hard yesterday. Got my stuff *almost* done. I have a bit more to do today though. I need to finish because starting next week I am booked three weeks straight including a road trip. Much better than wondering what's going on, right?

After I finished working we took a ride to Barnes and Noble. B wanted to get a book for a baby shower she's going to on Sunday and I wanted to get a book from one of the author's I like. Mission successful. We both got what we needed. We also stopped at B's favorite hippie store for her to look at crystals and the like. It was a valentine's gift from me to her. Bitches love rocks.

For Valentine's day we also had heart shaped pizza for lunch/dinner. It was cute and all but hard to eat. Whatever, it made her happy.

Our floors should be getting finished today which means we can work on cleaning up the basement this weekend. YAY! I am really happy about that. On Saturday though, we are planning to take a ride to the Christmas town. We figure it will be nice and dead because the weather sucks. Have the famous fried chicken dinner and do some ornament shopping.

Y10 D264

Sorry, been doing some work already this morning and been distracted. Been up for like an hour dealing with some emails and stuff. I am working through some date issues on a file and needed to respond to those things first before anything else.

We have a new squirrel in the backyard whom we are affectionately calling "Super Chonk" because he is a big motherfucker. He is like three times the size of the other squirrels, black as night, and has no fear of the cats. He walks right up to the glass door daring them to mess with him. He's a big boy. He's out there right now shoving his head into the snow to find the food plate with no cares. I have to admit, he's a little scary.

Made it through class with only one moment of flickering. It caused me to drop the line on one of my machines, but the other held and I didn't lose the group. Whew. Class went the full time and finished around 4:45. It was a long, full day for sure. The group was good. A couple of duds, but otherwise no issues.

B went to bingo so when I was done with class she was already gone. I watched some TV, ate dinner, and waited for her to get home. Went to bed around 11.

Today I have to finish this class I am working on because otherwise I won't have time until the second week of March.

We should get our floors FINALLY finished tomorrow. This weekend we can work on putting that room together and be done with it thank goodness. I am getting tired of it. I need it cleaned and shit put away before I lose it.

That's about all that's going on right now. Excitement. Woo. The snow keeps coming like bad K-Tel hits. Let it come. I'll just stay inside until it melts.

Y10 D263

Woke up to more ice. I spent an hour last night shoveling away the first layer of it just for more to come tonight. But I am glad I did. Ice is a lot heavier than snow. I can't imagine having to do twice as much. We also have power this morning which to be honest is a bit of a shock. Around 6 last night the electric company sent out a dire warning about the possibility of losing power during the night. Good times. But now we are ready! Heavy duty flashlights, I know where the think blankets are, wood for the fireplace. We are good. The only thing I couldn't prepare for is still teaching class today if there had been no power. I did warn my co-workers I might have to reschedule my class if at 9am I lose electricity. Luckily my boss actually went to UOM and is quite familiar with how the world is out here. He knows the evil that is an ice storm.

I spent the day alternating between a sick B and working on my new class. I was stuck on getting one thing done but finally cracked it around 4:30. Whatever I had on Saturday made its way to her finally. She was nauseous all day and finally around 5 let it all out. She felt much better afterwards but it still was not a pleasant evening for her. While taking care of her I accidentally saw my VD present. We ended up exchanging gifts. She got me a Rockstar lightup bar sign we had seen in a curiosities shop a while back. We're going to hang it in the basement because we're nerds.

Went to bed around 10:30. I have to admit, my sleep schedule has improved greatly since we've moved. Of all the unintended side effects of moving, that is a pleasant one. No grumbling here on that.

Full day, 9-5 class, full students. This is going to be a long one.

Y10 D262

I woke up and heard this weird noise outside. At first I couldn't tell what it was until I realized it was freezing rain against the window. JFC. It also apparently snowed more during the night. Next pay period I am buying a damn snow blower. I can't go out there again and do the whole shovel shovel thing. It's killing my back. I just looked at the weather and it's going to be this way all day. I don't think we need to leave the house for anything. Thank goodness we went out last night after my class for groceries. We don't have a lot in the house, but we have enough if we didn't want to go anywhere for at least a couple of days.

I am very envious of my friend Steve who is headed to Tasmania this weekend. That potato will have high 60s to low 70s. Butthole.

You know, I was thinking about something yesterday when he told me he was off to Australia - I can't remember the last time I had a drink. HA. There's something I thought I would never say. I thought of it because I had some really nice Tasmanian wines when we were in Melbourne (almost a year ago now, wow). But that got me thinking, was that the last time I had a drink? I am sure if I dug through these entries I would find something, but regardless, it's been a while. A good long while. Months and months. Amazing.

I spent the morning working with an upcoming client. My boss warned me they are needy and boy he wasn't kidding. These are the kind of people who are worried about EVERYTHING. We aren't even doing their class until the 18th and they wanted to pre-test the connection and the environment. WTF? Do you know what I have to do on my side to bring up servers and the like? Just for someone to connect for 30 seconds and go 'looks good'?? That was two hours of my day yesterday.

After that I taught a class of 10 until 4pm. That went well. No issues there. When I was done with class we headed to the store, grabbed Chili's on the way home, came home and relaxed.

Today I have to work on my two final new classes. I have today, Thursday, and Friday to finish. I think I can do it.

Y10 D261

There's something immensely satisfying about waking up one minute before your alarm goes off. You know that feeling. It just makes you feel like you know your own body and its rhythm.

My illness has mostly passed which means not the flu, but definitely food poisoning. Fun.

We got a good deal accomplished yesterday. Due to his injury, we weren't able to get the floors finished, but the MBF (mother's boyfriend. I figure that's an easier designation) did at least come over to pick up the baseboards we needed and deliver them. We did 12 foot lengths of PVC baseboards because it's a basement and we wanted something waterproof/resistant. The floors are waterproof and now the baseboards are too. He didn't put them all on, but he was able to put on the one wall where we wanted to move the bookcases. That was a big one for us. Thanks to him at least getting that wall done, we were able to move all four bookcases over to that side. It really makes the area look like it's coming together. I also cleaned up the used boxes of flooring and started moving some other stuff around. We're getting very close and should have things settled down there this week. Wish us luck on that.

We took a quick ride to the grocery store around 11 and picked up some bread and other little odds and ends. My big journey out in the last 5 days. I moved 2500 miles and still don't go anywhere. Sigh.

It started snowing around 4:30pm yesterday and dumped a good four inches on the ground. Once I have finished my morning shit I am going outside to shovel the driveway so B can get out and go to the chiropractor. I have a meeting from 10-11 this morning and then a 1/2 day class from 12-4. It's technically a 9-1 PST class but I had to pick it up from one of my co-workers. Whatever. I only have that and one more on Wednesday from 9-5 this week. But I also have two more classes to finish that we want to roll out March 1st and I need a good four to five days to finish them up. I am hoping to get at least one more done this week.

I am limiting my diet to BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) right now. And I had chicken broth for dinner. BRAT just means anything bland, boring, and not going to kill your stomach. Chicken broth is on the agenda.

B is having a bit of a stress right now. Her mother is back in the hospital for chest pains and her grandfather is having complications from his surgery. He has developed pneumonia and is having trouble. She is probably going to have to help them both out this week. Watch kids, drive people, grocery shop, cook, etc. But guess what? This is exactly why we moved here. Everyone keeps asking why the hell we moved to MI and this is it people. It's so my poor wife doesn't have massive guilt when something happens to her family and she's not here. Speaking of family, I should check in on my sister.

Y10 D260

I just had the worst 24 hours of my life. From when I got up yesterday until B found me on the bathroom floor at 7:30am, I had vomited 6 times, and had horrible diarrhea three times. She dragged my ass to bed where I stayed until 1:30pm. I couldn't keep anything down. Even liquids were coming back up. At 1:30 I thought I was feeling better and offered to help B out with stuff she was doing for the party. One thing she needed was to go to the store and get some instant cream of wheat. Her grandfather is also doing poorly right now and he can't eat anything solid. I agreed to go to the store but came right back in the house. B looked at me quizzically and simply turned around and showed her that I shat myself. No, seriously. Guess I was not feeling any better. Stripped off my clothes, showered, went back to bed. She ended up going to her mom's party by herself. I managed to move from the bed to the couch around 6 and had some saltines and chicken broth. BARELY kept that down. I did some research to see if I am dealing with flu or food poisoning. Based on how I am feeling today, I am going to go with food poisoning. Specifically Clostridium Botulinum. It is one of the few bacteria that manifests in 12-24 hours (most others take days which people don't realize), symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, chills, fever, and fatigue. AND you can get it from (wait for it...) potatoes baked in aluminum foil. Which is EXACTLY what I had for dinner Friday night. Motherfucker. B got home around 8, found me on the couch, and dragged me to bed. I tossed and turned all night, but I do feel better this morning. Not good enough to eat anything, but good enough to function.

Meanwhile, my basement is still not done. Not only because the BF h ad to go to the party too, he cut part of his finger off while working on the floors and had to go to the hospital. Yeah. It looks like my basement won't be finished until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Even when I don't hire an official contractor, I still have to deal with contractor issues. Sigh. It's looking great down there, don't get me wrong. I just want it done so I can take care of the rest of the room.

Not sure what I am doing today. I don't want to strain myself that's for sure.

Y10 D259

While yesterday was a whirlwind of insanity, it's important to point out that this morning has started with vomiting and diarrhea. Lovely way to start the day. I also think I am running a fever. Good times.

So back to crazy town yesterday. Starts off with the whole paycheck issue. It was on Wells' side fortunately. Got it squared away and resolved by around 7:30. I was then able to pay bills and the like. I also went to the eye doctor to pay a bill (no, they have no online payment and I am about to mail a check) then to the store for some flashlights. I haven't really needed good ones because power is more stable in other parts, but now we need them.

Things calmed down a little bit and then the BF came over (B's mom's) and he started on the floors. I had stuff to do with needy client and took care of that from 11-12. At noon, we headed out to home depot. There we got a cabinet for the bathroom and a dolly. The dolly was for us to switch fridges. That's where the bad things happened. We had water line issues, needed parts, couldn't fit things through the door, it was just a fucked up situation until around 5pm. We got it done, but things were a mess. Towels all over, bits and bobs laying around. We left it all and went to dinner. When we got back I dealt with everything. Including booking a trip at the end of the month in the middle of nowhere.

Went to bed exhausted at 11 and now dealing with being worn down today. Fun. Here's some pics to show you before and after of stuff. Enjoy.

Y10 D258

Um, where's my fucking paycheck? It's 6am EST, that shit should be in there by now. Wells was up and down yesterday so I don't know if it's their delay or my company's delay at this point, but frankly I don't care. Where's my fucking paycheck? I don't put up with idiots like I did yesterday out of the goodness of my fucking heart.

For those who wished B a happy birthday yesterday, thanks. For those who didn't, oh well.

Finished my classes. Dealt with some needy motherfuckers who I am teaching in two weeks. What about this? What about that? Shut the fuck up needy bastards.

Power outage at 10:40 last night. Fuck this electric around here. Shit sucks. Had to shut down all my machines. Still need to turn things back on.

More needy bullshit today. But first, where's my money bitch??

Y10 D257

My back hurts this morning. My back hurts because I am fat and old.

Taught my class. Went fine.

Took B to Rainforest Cafe. She enjoyed it.

Floors still not done.

One more day of class with this group.

Getting overloaded with new clients who want custom bullshit. Not happy.

So done.

Y10 D256

Taught all day yesterday. 8:30 until about 4:10. Scheduled for 7 students, 2 were no show. Almost all of the class was PST which is fucking stupid. Why take a 5:30am PST class if you're not going to be able to get up on time? I could tell immediately who was PST by their interaction level. The first part of the day sucked. Things got better in the afternoon though.

After class I took care of my hair and did some cleaning for B. I also dealt with emails up until about 7pm from my boss who is apparently finally doing his job. We lost one person recently on our team and now it's starting to hit. I have like three fucked up sessions coming up as a result. Whatever. I will get through them.

Went to bed around 10:45.

Y10 D255

I am currently in a fight with Avis. Let's see who wins. They charged me $1300 for 3.5 days of a Toyota fucking highlander. I am fighting them tooth and nail on this one. I am also working with American to get one portion of my trip refunded due to them cancelling all my flights. I have a feeling that will be easier. Sigh.

Had multiple meetings yesterday. One of which was a almost 3 hour mentoring session with Kohl's. They really like me there as of right now and I am playing that good will to get us a nice long term relationship. That was an enjoyable amount of my day.

The other meetings were all sales type meetings with sales type people where all I did was sit on the call so they had a resource available. Sigh. Bunch of BS.

Made chicken for dinner. Paid bills. B painted, I didn't. Have regular classes the rest of this week. B's birthday is Thursday but we are going out to dinner on Wednesday because that's what she wants. Then on Saturday we are going to her mother's birthday party.

I miss not having any social interaction. Seriously.

Y10 D254

I hope everyone enjoyed their foosball game yesterday. I hope one team did better than the other. Go team!

We pulled the trigger on the basement. We met up with B's mom and BF and loaded up his truck with 20 boxes of flooring. $1200 later we were good to go. Now obviously to get them installed. We're going to pay the BF to do the job. It's not so much we can't do it, it's I don't want to waste another weekend doing it. Plus I don't have a saw or some of the other smaller tools needed to complete the work and I would rather not buy them for just this one thing. It will be cheaper and easier for me to pay someone to do this.

We did some more painting and prepping in anticipation of the floor. This included moving all the games, all the cat stuff, setting up a new cat area, etc.

Speaking of cats, we introduced everyone yesterday. So far no deaths. Not everyone loves each other, but they are tolerating each other. Best we can ask for around here.

B gave me a treat last night; she agreed to play scrabble with me. She did really well even though I could tell it was a stretch for her. I was impressed with how strategically well she was playing the board. She was even ahead of me at one point.

Went to bed around 11. Couple of meetings today, then full classes the rest of the week.

Y10 D253

Most important thing for today - it's the kid's birthday!! Wish her a happy birthday if you think about it.

I knew I should have bought a new house. Guess what I came home to? A fucking backed up utility room sink which is backing up to the kitchen. Now I need to call a fucking plumber to figure out what's going on. And no B, I am not waiting for one of your fucking family members to come over and fix it.

So let's back up.

Friday
Went off to the client. Finished day two. This was a really good group. Things they said to me at the end of class:

"Best training ever"
"You made data fun"
"I can't wait to go back to my desk and use this"

So yeah, while it was a pain getting there, it was worth it. I also may have sold them on some one on one onsite mentoring in March. That's pure profit.

Got back to the hotel around 6 and went down to the fish fry. The fish fry is an all you can eat fish (cod, perch, or walleye; baked or fried), potato pancakes, soup, salad, fries, and coleslaw for $12.95. It brings out all of the locals. The restaurant was 80% local, 20% guests. But it was good and the service was okay.

Got back to the room and went to bed at 8:30ish.

Saturday
Up at 1:30, got ready, left at 2:30, arrived at airport at 3. Dropped off the rental car and just found out they raped me. The agent in Chicago told me $300. I thought that was for the entire trip. NOT PER DAY. I just got a bill for $1300 for a car rental. I am going to be in so much fucking trouble. I didn't mean to do this. Fuck me.

Got on my first flight. I was the only elite customer. Was pretty funny. Had two hours to kill and for a good 45 minutes of that I was the only person in the Admiral's club. Boarded my second flight and it was me and one other guy in First Class. We had an entire flight attendant to ourselves and the other guy fell asleep so basically I had my own personal attendant. Suck it coach customers.

Got home, dealt with B and this sink stuff. Can't do fucking laundry because it's all backed up. Went to get stuff to try and flush it. No workie. Went to a library book sale. Got chinese food.

FUCK I am now just so pissed off. I hadn't looked at the Avis bill until now. Fuck. Between that and the sink, this day is going to fucking suck.

Y10 D252

Class went well. Had a fish fry for dinner. Sleep at 8:30. Up at 1:30. Leaving soon. Travel day. More tomorrow.

Y10 D251

I have such the headache this morning. Heat all night. Forced air spilling all over me. The heater in this poor room hasn't been able to shut off once. It's not as cold as it was, but it still isn't pleasant here that's for sure. I just looked and it's currently 0 which is a serious improvement over the -20 it was when I left here yesterday for the client. Yeah, you read that right, -20.  I went outside to go to the client yesterday and nearly fell over. I forgot gloves and trying to scrape ice off my windshield without them was pure hell. I had to sit there for a good 15 minutes before the heater on my car could even make a dent in the windshield. Not a fun time.

I managed to make it to the client without issue. I did stop at a quickie mart on the way and grabbed gloves. They are work gloves but they were better than nothing.

The client is good. 13 people showed up, all women. Matter of fact, the majority of the people in the section I am working are women. I am teaching the product development group in the middle of the product development building. A nice change from my usual IT crowd. You can also tell this is the midwest; very basic white girl names on a lot of these ladies. But they are really nice, paid me a ton of compliments, and are eager to learn. I can't ask for anything more.

Finished at 5 and got back to the hotel around 5:40 to walk right into the middle of the Saltzman-Rosenblat wedding. Nope, not kidding. A traditional Orthodox Jewish wedding was happening at the hotel on a Thursday night. Go figure. It was crazy. A few hundred people all milling about with kids and noise. It was a mad-house. But since they were setup in a ballroom, the restaurant was at least quiet and empty.

Had diner, hit the room, bed at 10. One more day. Have an early flight out tomorrow and the weather should be accommodating. I should make it home with no issues. We shall see. But first, day two.