Warning: The following is really long, and contains a whole lot of whining.
TL;DR - How I learned to live without my tablet and get tuberculosis, maybe.
It seems I should, perhaps, have prepared myself for this week the second the conference PR girl emailed just days before the conference and asked why I was no longer registered. Especially after they also lost my original hotel reservation, and put me in a hotel 14 blocks from the conference center. Should have been ready for this.
Hell week began with my husband's car's refusal to start. A rush to the airport in my car and by bus got me to the gate at the exact time they were boarding my row. Had I been stuck behind the family of six at security instead of just ahead of them, I might have missed my plane entirely -- the ultimate nightmare for a planner like me.
Rather than get a taxi from the airport at my destination, like a sane person, this masochist decided "Oh! There's a bus that drops me just a few blocks from my hotel!" It came every half hour, and only cost $1. What I didn't realize was that it required exact change. As I was running back into the airport to find someone to break a $10, my bus pulled up. Screw it. What's 30 more minutes in the biting wind with all my warm things packed away?
At the hotel, checking in went fine for the most part. The conference travel folks tried to pay for my room, which, I understand, is quite a no-no. I had them change payment, and spent the evening doing some work. The trip improved enormously after I found an awesome pub with not only queso, but delicious lamb gyros -- my superhero weakness, if you must know.
The next morning brought me to a tiny, hole-in-the-wall establishment will delicious breakfast tacos. I spent less than $5 on the most filling meal all week. I rode the bus to save the company money (you're welcome, by the way), this time managing to get dropped 2 blocks from the conference center. Of course, that's 2 blocks if the sidewalks on 3rd St. weren't closed down, which they were.
Getting my badge went perfectly fine, and I basically just sat and did work until the "press lunch." Good thing I still remembered which fork to use on the crappy salad! Further proving no one gave two shits if I was there, the conference planners put me at a table with Health IT people, which is in almost no way relevant to my interests.
Got a few tidbits from the marketing lady, but not much. The rest of the day was a terrible exercise in futility, as no one I actually wanted to talk to showed up until my boss showed up and said "but look I spent 5 seconds and talked to two, what's wrong with you?" I had been trying all day, but every nametag I saw was for someone who was either part of the conference or part of the press. By the time I ran into the boss, I was so crippled with anxiety that I was going to fail at my tasks and be asked to pay for the trip myself that I couldn't really think of anything but leaving.
Hopped a bus back to the hotel and the day suddenly improved. A member of my G+ knitting circle invited me to join her small knitting group at Central Market for dinner and knitting. A very welcoming bunch, to be sure. Thanks again, Noriko, if you're reading this. Best part of the trip by FAR. Spirits lifted, and ended the "meh"-ness that was Tuesday with optimism about the next day.
This doesn't seem too bad, does it? I thought the same thing.
The bus ride to the conference the next day was terrifying. Apparently 6:55 am is a BAD time to take the bus. I feel for homeless people, I really do. But being sandwiched between three who were muttering constantly and coughing --without covering their mouths, of course -- like TB patients who were dying RIGHT NOW tends to make me feel less charitable.
Made it to the convention center and ran into another problem. They didn't want to keep my bags, even though my confirmation email said they had that service available. I had enough of their shenanigans by this point and politely bullied them into keeping my bags behind the registration counter until the end of the day. Small victories.
Walked about quarter mile inside the building to get to breakfast. Sat with a couple of lovely gentlemen, got some contact info, did some work asking questions, etc. Fine and dandy. After breakfast, I did some more work, then went to do a little email dump to my boss with some ideas. I was trying to run entirely on pen and paper and Nexus, so my laptop was stowed in my luggage.
I found a quiet spot on the fourth floor to collect my thoughts and organize my belongings. I rested my Nexus tablet on what I thought was a flat surface. It was apparently not a flat surface, and before I knew what was happening, the thing had tumbled down four floors and was on the ground in front of a bewildered group of people.
No one was injured, luckily, and the guys poking around at the tablet looked quite embarrassed for me. In the spirit of "keep calm and carry on," I made my apologies to the guys holding my Nexus, swapped it for my laptop, and went to so some more work. It wasn't until I checked the time that I realized my watch had somehow gotten smashed. That wasn't even the breaking point. They are just things and, hey, at least I didn't injure anyone.
After all that, I sat next to the angriest Republican ever. I kept trying to steer the conversation toward IT stuff, but all he wanted to talk about is how after "8 years of a president who hates our country" money won't have any value, and we won't have any freedoms left (or something). Thank god some guy came and sat between us. Lunch was gross, and the afternoon was full of walking a lot and trying to find more contacts.
By the time I finished my work around 4, I decided to go to the airport and shoot off a final email. I was exhausted and had enough. Took a Taxi this time, because seriously, I am done with buses forever.
The airport's idea of "free wifi" was a limited, 20 minute trial which was just enough time for me to compose, but not save or send, my email and tell my husband when to pick me up. The plane got in late from Florida (no offence to the few people I know who live there, but I hate your state) so the flight was 5 minutes late. Now, normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, but in this case we got into the terminal at 11:05 instead of 10:55 as originally planned. So I missed yet another bus that only comes every 30 minutes. Stood in 34 degree weather listening to screaming children.
The bus was a terrible end to the conference from Hell. I'll just say the driver was slow and his radio chatter could have been eliminated. Plus, hey, bottleneck traffic coming out of Boston at almost midnight on a Wednesday for some reason. Some kind of road repairs, but I'm going to go ahead and blame Florida.
Made it home close to one and had to chase the cat into the basement, where she then proceeded to meow so loud we could hear her from bed. I crawled in bed around 1, but hubs was petting the cat until almost 1:30, so I didn't get to sleep until after he was back. Also, his car is still borked.
Had to actually come into work today, because HR decided my "non-review" should be an actual review. Oh, and I forgot to bring headphones.
I am so leaving at noon to help hubs deal with his car issues.
Seriously. Screw this week.
