Chemgk’s blog

I have been pretty much feeling like an idiot for the last two weeks.  I can't seem to do anything right.  I have no idea where I put my car keys, I don't know where my favorite shirt is, I can't remember how much I spent at the grocery store, etc.  I can't focus at work and my work is suffering because of it.  I like a guy...but I don't think he likes me as much (and now is not talking to me for some reason).  All of this shit running through my head.  I can't sleep.  I'm an emotional eater, so I have been eating like crap.  This morning, I stepped on my headband that I must have thrown on the floor last night.  It broke and jammed into my foot, so I have a huge gash in my foot.  As I was blow drying my hair this morning, the extension cord burst into sparks and flames.  I get to work and I have a report that someone is now officially pissed that they don't have.  Someone just shoot me and put me out of my misery. 

Continuation of my post from yesterday...

Tuesday (Will this conference eat me alive?)

Tuesday was the first day of the actual conference.  Today I managed to actually show up a half hour before the conference registration was to begin, so that I could get a seat.  I actually had a seat at a table and was able to log on to work and be online to pull up references, etc.  Today we had speakers from the European chemicals agency (ECHA), the European Commission, the UK Competent Authority, a Chemical Agency, EPA and other government types. This was actually very informative, a lot of information, but very good.  I have found that this is going to be quite a challenge.  I felt a little less intimidated today.  I ended up befriending another woman at the conference and we had dinner at a cute little place called Café Luna in Dupont Circle.  It was nice to talk to someone who was in a situation similar to mine.  Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.  It’s amazing how these conferences can be so draining. 

Wednesday (The Last Day – or so I thought)

Wednesday was a great day as it was a chance to hear what is going on the industry side of the directive compliance.  It was nice to hear that others are in a similar situation.  That they also feel the directive is not very “cut and dry” and that there are far too many things still left undecided.  About 9:00 AM I get an instant message from one of my co-workers that American Airlines has cancelled over 500 flights.  I whip out my itinerary, send her the flight number and yes, folks…my flight has been cancelled.  My company pays a travel agent to sit in our building…but she is not helpful at all. My co-worker went down there to see if she could get me on another flight, but all she did is snap at her and tell her that I am booked on flight for Thursday and that there were no other flights out.  Of course, that got me all riled up, so I called the main travel agency and asked them to help me.  The girl stated that Jennifer was in the office today, and I informed her that apparently Jennifer was too busy to help me.  Yes, they found someone to help me.  I ended up staying the night and booking my own hotel.  I had a 10AM flight the next morning on American.  I went to dinner, got back to the room about 10PM and found out that my flight for the next morning had been cancelled too.  I immediately called the travel agency and got booked on a United flight that left later in the day.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t assign me a seat, so I was worried that I wasn’t going to get on that flight either.  I finally fell asleep around 1AM and got up at 7AM. 

Thursday (Will I make it home or not?)

Thursday was a challenge…just from my shear exhaustion and fear of not getting out of DC.  I know…I should be glad to not be at work.  The problem is, when I am not there, the work does not stop.  So, while I have been out this week, the work has continued to pile up…not to mention that my co-workers have ants in their pants about when I’m going to be back.  I did finally get out of DC on a United flight, but we got to circle outside of O’hare airspace for awhile due to high wind gusts.  I arrived home at 4:30 and I went to bed at 6PM and got up at 5AM. I am home safe and sound and got to sleep in my own bed. 

Oh DC…how I did enjoy you, but how I did enjoy the comforts of my own bed.  Chicago is my home, but DC is a great place to visit…just don’t fly American. 

Kristine chose the topic of BAD for today's SPF.  This is not a picutre I took...simply because they were all out of service for repair.  I have had an interesting week due to the issue surrounding the repair of the American Airlines MD-S80 airplanes.  Lack of sleep and stress over how I was going to get home from Washington DC has exhausted me.  So here is my idea of bad this week:

S80_takeOff

I have been trying to get to this post all week.  It has been a hell of week...where to start?  Here is a perfect example...I was supposed to be on an 8:10 flight back to O'hare this evening and I'm still here.  With that...let's start at the beginning. 

Sunday

I was running so late.  I was worried I wouldn't make my flight.  I left my house at 4AM (after no sleep), had to drive to work, then be at the airport by 5:30 AM.  I was on the shuttle from the extended parking lot by 5:25AM, I don't know how I did it, but I did.  I had enough time to grab a soda and some gummy lifesavers for the flight.  I really wanted a coffee, but lately my stomach gets funny when I fly, so I need to have something sweet (hence the gummy lifesavers) and water or diet soda.  When I left Chicago, it was a balmy 50 degrees (at 6:30 AM)...when I arrived in DC, it was 43 degrees and rainy.  UGH! 

I was at my hotel by 10 AM and checked my bag with the concierge to head out for a day of sightseeing.  Unbeknownst to me, it was the traditional Cherry Blossom Marathon, so the tour was running about 2 hours behind schedule.  There I sat in the rain for 45 minutes waiting for the tour bus.  Fortunately, it was just one of those annoying misty rains and not a torrential downpour.  I rode the bus for about 3 hours, did the whole loop and then Arlington Cemetery.  I was so exhasuted I almost fell asleep on the bus twice.  When the bus returned from Arlington, I got off at the National Museum of the American Indian.  If you have never been there...it is beautiful and worth a visit.  I will have pictures posted to my flickr site as soon as I am back in Chicago (I grabbed the wrong cord). 

I left the Museum around 5:00 and headed back to the hotel.  I was so exhausted, I fell asleep and didn' wake up until 8:30PM.  I just didn't feel much like doing anything, so I ordered pizza and did my monthly report for work.  I turned in for the evening around 11:00PM, as I knew Monday would be a taxing day. 

Monday (AKA Preconference Day from Hell)

The reason I am in DC is for a conference on EU chemical regulation...with special emphasis on the REACH directive.  For those who may read this and have no idea what the heck I am talking about...it is a directive in Europe (which is equivalent to a law in the US) that states that any chemicals being imported in the Europe must be registered.  There is a lot more to it than that...but trust me, you don't want to know.  The meeting began at 9:30 AM, so I figured that if I arrived at 9:00 or so, that I would be fine....well, I wasn't.  The meeting was overbooked and they didn't have enough seats, so I ended up at some odd seats on the side, limited internet access and pretty much felt like I was left out of the discussion. 

Well, after listening to all these people talk, I pretty much felt like I was completely unprepared for this directive and that I was the dumbest person in the room.  This exhausted me.  So, I spent the entire day feeling like an idiot, getting conflicting stories on what the directive actually states and to top it off, I got a huge blister from my shoes. 

After the session, I limped my way across the street into the CVS for some band-aids and then to the Elephant and Castle pub for a healthy dose of Smithwicks and some pub food.  I then hauled myself back up the hill to my hotel and crashed for the evening. 

To be continued...(I have to go and catch a plane...hopefully)

I really am not ready to leave tomorrow (4 days in DC for training).  I'm not packed yet.  Still need to complete some work.  Really would like to just say forget it...but that's not possible.  I'll update tomorrow!  Off to wrap up the packing portion!

So, I am a little late, but I'm here!  I was trying to think of what to post in relationship to trianges.  I went flipping through some photos trying to get an idea...when I ran across the photo of my apartment building.  I look at it every day and I know that it is Tudor style...but sometimes I forget about the angles that are there.  It reminds me that I somtimes need to look past what is apparent.  Here it is...

Courtyard

Welcome back to SPF!  The awesomeness that is Kristine has issued the challenge of NUMBERS.  Let it be known that I am not a "creative" person...but I can tell you all about numbers.  They surround me every day.  Today I decided to show you my challenge for the year.  In 2007 I managed my first big project, one that required me to keep a budget and monetary spreadsheets and pretend that I actually understand accounting.  So for my SPF NUMBER display...I give you the evilness of the project expense tracking spreadsheet.  I should include a photo of my new best friend in accounting who helped me with this evilness every month!  Have a great weekend everyone! 

Numbers

One of my favorite bloggers is Kristine at Random and Odd (www.randomandodd.com).  She used to do this thing called Stuff Portrait Friday, where she gives you topic and you post a photo and then comment on her blog.  Well folks, she is bringing it back and I'm so excited.  I never had my act together enough to do it, but I'm going to try and participate every week.  It should be much easier now that I have a crackberry.  It has a pretty decent camera for a phone and I can post photos on flickr mobile...which makes it fun.  I have also found my self taking some pretty interesting pics with it. 

This week is your favorite photo.  This is a picture of my parents.  It one of the best photos I have ever taken and it is such a good picture of both of them.  They have been married 37 years.  I hope I can find the same someday.  Happy Thursday...but I'm out of town Friday, so I have to do this today.  (I'm still trying to figure out this mobile blogging thing)

Mom and Dad at OSU Northwestern Game

So, I believe it is a cardinal rule of happy hour that "what happens at happy hour, stays at happy hour".  Of course, one of my co-workers does not feel this way.  There was a discussion about one of the people in my department (who is particularly annoying and grates on my last nerve) and some comments were made (and not by me).  Apparently, those comments got back to my boss and of course...I got blamed for them.  I'm so gonna kick his ass.