It's one of Those Hondays

I should have never left the house this morning! My first clue was at 2am when I woke up in pain. But no, I wouldn't take the hint. Since today is the all-important non-progress meeting and because I had the dozen copies of the Meeting Minutes, I had no choice but tough it up and go to work. So I took a pain pill. It's my favourite brand - contains codeine and caffeine, awesome combination for me.

Dealing with pains early in the morning typically means my deadline for leaving the house is shot to hell. So I got in the car 30 minutes later than my self-given deadline. At this point I should have just gotten out of the car, stepped back in the house, and stayed there! Instead, I called WL and announced my impending lateness. And off I go on my merry way, or at least I wanted to believe that.

Two turns before my destination as I reach a red light and slow down, a coffee addict behind me decides this is a good time to take a sip and spill her coffee. So your assumption, NN, that coffee drinkers are harmless creatures has just been shot to hell. I've been rear ended by a coffee drinker who was so high on caffeine that she got out of her car and immediately admitted, "I'm so sorry, I just spilled my coffee."

So that's what had me shaken this morning. Mybrid took a hit in the back bumper, and then there was chain reaction of hitting the guy who was stopped at the light in front of me. Thankfully, that guy was really nice and admitted that the damage on his bumper was existent and he drove off. But my back bumper has adopted the colour of the coffee addict's car.

So here's my short rant about you coffee addicts - is that one sip really worth it on a 40mph road with street lights? Can you not wait till you reach a full stop to take a sip? That cup of coffee just cost you $200+. No drink can possibly be worth it, can it???

So yeah, admittedly the damage from this meeting of the Hondas isn't huge, and besides a slightly shaken self and a sore back for a couple of hours this morning, I'm fine. But the waste of time of going through phone calls between me, her, and the respective husbands, was just unnecessary.

Mybrid's husband: "I understand our wives ran into each other this morning, and not in a good way."

Coffee Addict's husband: "Seems that we both have issues with wives and accidents."

At this point, I should have done an about-face and headed back home, or to the ER, or any place besides work. But no, I don't take hints very well. I called WL and left him a message, "Been in an accident, bit shaken, but will be there shortly." I got there soon enough, got inside the trailer and borrowed WL's camera for evidence shots to email my husband. Well, here's the thing, emailing 3MB on a dial-up connection that keeps dropping me off is not my idea of a good time at 7am.

At 9am our non-progress meeting was scheduled to begin, but since our manager did not show up at 8:45am I was left behind to wait for him and sign him in when we enter the government facility, while WL went ahead to the meeting room. Our manager arrived at 8:55am ("Took a wrong turn"), so we quickly entered the back door to the building, only to be greeted by a former-friendly-now-not-so-friendly guard who says, "You can only sign visitors at the front of the building. Go around to the main entrance." We're not too happy, and start heading out and around the building when WL calls me and says, "I forgot the dozen copies of Meeting Minutes in the trailer, can you go get them?" So I head back down the hill, grab the folder, and proceed to lock the door. Key refuses to cooperate and decides to stay put. I start my battle with the key and the knob as our manager is observing this quite comical fight from the top of the hill wondering why I'm wasting time trying to make him laugh. Eventually I give in and leave the key in the door hoping no one will consider breaking and entring into our trailer. ("I should have never left my HOUSE!")

We got to the meeting 10 minutes late, and I started up my 4 year old laptop. The 4-year old begins to act like one. The cursor got stuck in right margin hell and would not budge. So I shut down and turn it back on, meanwhile trying to write down some of the points discussed. 4-year old thinks, "Oh wouldn't it be funny if I made her think the cursor is fine and five minutes into her typing I play with her and disable the mouse entirely?" So mid-meeting, I slam my laptop shut in frustration and recite to myself, "I should have NEVER left the house!"

Meeting is done, we get back to our trailer. I need some music to calm my nerves a bit. I plug in my 8 day-old MP3 player, turn it on, and hear an odd buzzing sound. I think to myself, "Ok, I don't recall recording any songs with bees in it, what's going on?" I look at the screen and it's stuck in the middle of a song. So I push the off button. Nothing happens. I soft reset. Soft reset. SOFT RESET! Nothing. Keeps coming back on to the same place in the same song. Can't turn the #(@*ing MP3 player off. I look at the screen again to read the song's name: "I'm the gutter type." (from Living Out Loud). This about sums up my feelings at that point.

WL recommended I call the company Customer Service, which is fine, except that our trailer is on a Dial-up connection and to find the Customer Service phone number through ten web pages was excruciating to say the least. [Note to self: Next blog topic - dial-up connection]

While I wait for the web page to come up I decide to take a Fanta break. Did I mention I should have stayed home today? Fanta takes a liking to the trailer floor without asking me first whether there are any paper towels in this stinking place.

It's almost 2pm and time to go home and I think in relief, what could possibly go wrong now, when my sister-in-law calls me and says, "Don't forget tomorrow is your parents' Anniversary." DOH!!!

I finished the conversation and my cellphone beeps at me - "Battery dead." What the #(@*! So when I got into my car, I had to plug my cellphone to the charger, which meant the GPS and PDA had to run without charging as I find my way to the Repair Shop. Everything is just fine at this point, until I am about to head back home and the GPS dies on me. But I can't charge the GPS and the cellphone. So I opt for the cellphone. Meanwhile I try to zoom out of the map on my PDA so I can find my way back home from a visual display of what was supposed to be my route back home, when my PDA dies, too. I should have NEVER LEFT THE HOUSE!

Oh yeah, and before I left the office, in a last effort to cheer myself up I opened my personal email, and there it is a 1MB email (don't forget the dial-up) from pw with the subject line: "Tough day at the office." [Elastic Band]

Coffee drinkers - harmless my @ss!