U for Update

Hello, lovely reader. Since I haven’t posted in a while, I thought I give you all a quick update of what’s going on in Elle’s world:
School is going pretty well. Busy, as usual. I’m surprised at how quickly I’m catching on to a lot of the algebra concepts. I’ve somehow managed to maintain an “A” so far, but things get harder and harder every week, so we’ll see how it all plays out. This class is super accelerated, because it’s two classes—beginning algebra and intermediate algebra—jammed into one semester. We have lectures Monday and Wednesday evenings with the test(s) for the chapter(s) we’ve learned that week due Sunday at midnight (chapter tests are done online). It’s pretty intense.

The final for beginning algebra is next Wednesday, so I’ve got to find some time to study and practice problems from the first six chapters we’ve covered so far. Even though I’ve done really well on the weekly tests and the midterm, I still want to make sure that I’m comfortable enough with all of the material to do well on the final. In order to move on to intermediate algebra, one must get at least a “C” in beginning algebra, and judging by how far behind some of my classmates currently are, I think there are going to be very few of us (like maybe a dozen) moving on.

Psychology has been interesting so far, but I don’t like taking a Saturday class at all. Class meets from 1-4:30 Saturday afternoon, which seems entirely too long most of the time. The instructor spends the whole time lecturing on the chapter(s) we were assigned to read the previous week and possibly showing a video or two related to the material. Weekly homework is usually a chapter or two of reading, an online tutorial or two related to the material we’ve read (with a worksheet to fill out and hand in), and a video to watch and summarize (one typed paragraph). Overall, the class hasn’t been too tough.

I won’t take another Saturday class again unless I absolutely have to. I hate that half of my weekend is spent on homework and being in class. I typically spend Friday evening finishing up whatever assigned Psychology reading I haven’t finished yet and completing the online tutorials and video summaries. Then, I spend half of Saturday sitting in class listening to a lecture that’s just regurgitation of the material I’ve already read. It feels like a big waste of time.

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MusicMan’s sister and her husband were visiting from Hawaii recently, so we went over to his mom’s house for an obligatory family dinner. I wish I could be closer with my sister-in-law (SIL), but it’s hard when she lives so far away and her husband is a giant douchebag. Just to put it in perspective for you, the last time I saw sister-in-law’s husband (Dbag) was a couple years ago. They spent the Christmas after my sister was murdered here in Minnesota. In fact, the night they flew into town and we all met at my mother-in-law’s for family dinner, to meet in person for the first time ever, was the night my sister was killed.

At first, this bonded us all together quite quickly. I was surprised at the support sister-in-law and her Dbag gave me and the sadness they showed over the loss of my sister, whom they’d never met. But, a few days after Christmas and less than a week after I’d lost my sister, we had SIL and Dbag come to our house for the evening to have some drinks and hang out so that we could all get to know each other a little better.

During their visit, SIL’s husband (we refuse to call him brother-in-law because he’s such a giant douche), Dbag, spent part of the evening lecturing me about how we all had a responsibility now to make sure that Li’l D grows up to be a better person than his father (obviously!) and his mother (WTF?!)! He’s lucky I was still exhausted and in shock, because the conversation wouldn’t have gone as calmly as it did had I not been. In fact, thinking of it now makes me want to throat punch him, followed by a swift kick to the groin, while explaining to him what a great person my sister was and telling him that, if her son grows up to even be the slightest bit like her, he’ll be an amazing person, unlike Dbag.

During this recent visit, Dbag barely even spoke to MusicMan or me; except to tell us that one of our dogs, Lucy, is “out of control.” His reasoning was that she “attacked” his dog. First of all, his dog isn’t socialized to other dogs; unlike Lucy, who has regular daycare visits and overnight stays, resulting in her being a well socialized dog. As a result, SIL’s dog doesn’t really know how to behave around other dogs. Second of all, Lucy didn’t attack his dog. She tried to play with his dog, his dog snapped at her, and she responded in kind. A little tussle ensued, which MusicMan and I have learned to just let go for a bit to see if the dogs will work it out because usually they work it out themselves and everything’s fine.

Apparently, Dbag was unaware that dogs should be allowed to work it out (as long as no one was being hurt, which no one was), and he picked Lucy up by her harness and tossed her off of his dog. I was appalled, but held my tongue, keeping Lucy with me the rest of the evening. A few days later, Lucy started to squeal if she was touched the wrong way and she refused to jump up onto the couch or the bed. We knew something was wrong, but we didn’t know what. A vet visit and $75 later, we found out that she had a pinched nerve in her shoulder, likely a result of someone picking her up by her harness as though it were a handle. Thankfully, after a week of rest and medication to reduce pain and swelling, she was back to her old self again.

Needless to say, I was livid. I wanted MusicMan to march over to his mother’s house with the vet bill and a few harsh words to Dbag or I was going to do it. Instead, we decided it best to inform his mom as to what had happened, and MusicMan left Lucy at home when we went to dinner a week later to say goodbye to his sister and Dbag (lucky for him, I had class that night and couldn’t attend dinner at mother-in-law’s). Mother-in-law, who excels at passive-aggression, made a few digs at Dbag here and there during dinner, according to MusicMan, but I’m still not happy that no one (including myself) said anything directly to him about the fact that he had injured our dog and he is a giant douchebag.

I don’t typically hold grudges, but I’m so done with Dbag. Though I love and respect my mother-in-law, I will no longer run to her house for obligatory family dinners simply because sister-in-law and Dbag are in town, granting us simpletons the honor of basking in the glow of their presence. No thanks. Despite what they seem to think, and how other family members seem to act about their visits, they are not special. Since they can’t even manage to thank us for switching our schedules around to take the time to visit with them while they’re here, nor can they seem to manage to even fake enjoyment over seeing us, I see no reason to make a big deal out of their visits. The limited free time I have can be spent on much, much better things and with much, much better people.

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I’ve had a serious case of writer’s block lately, which is why I haven’t been posting as much. My carpal tunnel seems to be flaring up quite a bit lately too, which sends shooting pains up my right arm and the back of my hand and has my fingers constantly cramping and aching too. No good!

MusicMan has finally uploaded all of the Lake Tahoe photos, so I’m going to pick some of my favorites to post soon. I hope all is well in your world, lovely reader!

H for Home

Hello, lovely reader! Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been catching up on sleep and trying to get myself back into the daily grind after our short trip to Lake Tahoe. You’ll recall that I was scheduled to leave last Sunday (a little over a week ago) to head to Lake Tahoe for a software conference. There were no direct flights from Minnesota to Reno, which is the closest airport to Tahoe, so I had a connecting flight in Phoenix.

Like a good little flyer, I had arrived at the Minneapolis airport an hour and a half before my first flight was scheduled to leave on Sunday. When I checked my bag, I was told the flight to Denver was running on time, and I headed to my gate. I wasn’t going to Denver, of course, but I figured the agent had just misspoke.

The line to get through security screening was surprisingly short, which I was thankful for, because I was desperate for caffeine, and the coffee stand was just beyond the security checkpoint. Tempting me. Calling me. Mocking me: “You’d best done everything right, honey! The faster you get through security, the closer you are to me!” Going through security was rather uneventful. Except for the fact that I had forgotten to remove my laptop from the laptop bag before sending it through the scanner. Oops!! I felt really bad about the extra process they had to go through to deal with that, but the TSA guy was very nice, friendly, and understanding, which really kinda made my morning.

After all of the reading I’d done on how to prepare for airport security (and yet still somehow managed to forget the laptop thing; I know), I was worried that my underwire bra would set off alarms but thankfully it didn’t. When I got to my gate, people were grumbling that the flight to Denver had just been delayed half an hour. What a bummer for those poor travelers, I thought to myself as I took a seat to wait patiently.

When it was announced about half an hour later that the Denver flight was now scheduled to arrive an hour late, and that people on flight number 123 (not the real number) were to move to a different gate, I wondered why the Phoenix and Denver flights had the same number. I asked one of the helpful gate agents and was told that I was going to Phoenix by way of Denver. They were the same flight. News to me!!!

I was not at all pleased to hear that I’d be taking off and landing not twice, but three times, that day. And, of course, I was worried about missing my connection in Phoenix. I double-checked the time for my connecting flight and realized that, basically, an hour had just been shaved off my airport wait time. I’d still have over an hour to make my connection. Okay. Good. Still not happy about the whole Denver surprise, but what can ya do?!

The plane eventually arrived, a little earlier than expected, and we were off to Denver. I had forgotten how much I hate flying. With my sinus issues, the air pressure changes during takeoff and landing are super duper unpleasant. I felt like a zombie. I wanted to sleep so badly on the plane, at the very least to quit experiencing the unpleasantness of how my head was feeling, but I just couldn’t fall asleep. As a result, I didn’t get much of my assigned Psychology reading done on the plane. I wasn’t too worried about it though; I figured I’d have time to catch up while sitting in the Phoenix airport.

So, we landed in Denver and the four of us remaining on the plane were told we could switch seats and use the restroom before they started boarding new passengers for our trip to Phoenix. That’s right, lovely reader, we didn’t even get off the plane. I do have to give props to Southwest though. At first, I hated the whole no assigned seating, board in the order you check in madness, but it actually works out quite well. People get on the plane and into seats quickly. The flight to Phoenix was rather uneventful. Finally off of the plane, I had to walk clear to the other end of the airport for my connecting flight. Loverly. I could use the exercise though, after having been cooped up on a plane for what seemed like days but was really only about three hours.

I did a little reading and had a snack in the airport while waiting for my flight to Reno, which left and arrived on time. MusicMan was waiting for me in baggage claim (he’d arrived hours before I did), as was my bag (yay!!!), and we made our way to the rental car counter. After spending about twenty minutes trying to get the damn GPS in the rental car to work, we were off to Tahoe. It was an amazing and beautiful drive. We arrived at our hotel at about nine o’clock. We checked in, dropped our bags off in the room, and navigated through the hotel’s casino to find somewhere to have a late dinner. We fell into bed exhausted after having spent nearly the whole day on airplanes and in airports.

My first session of the conference wasn’t scheduled to start until late Monday afternoon. We were up early Monday morning, thanks to being used to being on Minnesota time; we were operating two hours ahead of Lake Tahoe time. Our hotel was literally right on the border of Nevada and California. If you walked out of the back door of the hotel, and crossed a little street, you were officially in California. We drove about twenty minutes into California to go to breakfast at a little café MusicMan had heard about. Again, the rental car GPS didn’t want to cooperate.

We were attempting to go to a diner called Ernie’s. The GPS, however, decided to send us to Bert’s. Apparently the GPS didn’t realize that we weren’t on Sesame Street, and as such, Bert and Ernie’s were not, in fact, the same place. After parking our car and looking around a bit, we were able to determine that Ernie’s was across the street from Bert’s, and we made our way there and had a fantastic breakfast. On the way back to the hotel, we parked at a beach and did some walking around. This is when we were finally able to take in the beauty of Lake Tahoe, and it was incredibly amazing.

Words cannot describe the exhilaration and beauty in being surrounded by mountains while standing in front of the clearest, most beautiful lake we’d ever seen. And that’s saying a lot, because we’re from Minnesota. The land of 10,000 (and then some) lakes; yet we’ve never seen one that can compare to Lake Tahoe. The scenery was like nothing we’d ever experienced before, and it was breathtaking. Once MusicMan is able to upload the hundreds of photos he took, I’ll select some of my favorites to post in a blog.

Overall, the trip and the conference were fantastic. By the time Wednesday rolled around, we were ready to go home to our dogs even though we weren’t ready to get back on a plane or to deal with airports. Our flights on the way home, once again connecting through Phoenix, were relatively uneventful. Well, except for the fact that Cologne Guy sat behind me on the flight from Phoenix to home. You know what I’m talking about, lovely reader, I’m sure of it. This guy smelled as though he had showered in a few bottles of his favorite scent. I am sensitive to colognes and perfumes as is, so this was beyond unpleasant for me.

Within an hour of being on the plane, I was feeling nauseous. It got to the point where this guy’s putrid cologne wasn’t only all I could smell, it was also all I could taste too. It was disgusting; completely beyond unpleasant. I was getting a seriously bad headache and feared that I might actually vomit. I spent most of the flight home with my t-shirt pulled up over half of my face to try to block out the caustic cloud of nasty that surrounded me.

Every time a flight attendant looked at me, I was worried that they were thinking that my behavior was cause for concern. That maybe I was some sort of spy with a nefarious plan for taking over the plane, and that I was hiding in my t-shirt to talk into the wire I was wearing. Thankfully that didn’t seem to be the case. Or maybe it was, but they were doing anything they possibly could to keep their distance in desperate attempts to avoid the caustic cloud of nasty that Cologne Guy created in our section of the plane.

Needless to say, I was incredibly thankful when we finally landed in Minnesota, and early at that. Our flight wasn’t expected to land until 11:25 pm, but we were in the car with our bags by 11:20, which was super nice considering that we both had to be up early to go to work on Thursday.

MusicMan’s BFF, Geoff, did an amazing job house sitting and taking care of our babies. We (and by that I mean MusicMan) worked our (his) butt(s) off to clean the house up for Geoff’s arrival and stay. We didn’t think we could come home to the house being any cleaner than we’d left it, but we did. Geoff decided to vacuum, wipe down counters, empty and reload the dishwasher, and clean up the bathrooms for us. There was literally no sign that he had stayed at all!

Thoughtful guy that he is he even washed the bed sheets he’d slept on and remade the bed for us! He left a note indicating that he didn’t think we’d want to deal with that after getting home so late. I was amazed. He truly went above and beyond! He could’ve not changed the sheets at all, or he could’ve thrown his “dirty” sheets in the dirty laundry basket and put clean sheets from the linen closet on the bed. But, no; he washed the sheets he’d used and put them back on the bed. What a guy!! I’m busy trying to come up with excuses for why we need a house sitter at least every other week now. He was that good.

Getting back into the daily grind was much harder than I thought it would be after only being gone a few days. I was a complete zombie at work on Thursday—simply going through the motions to make it through the day. Lack of sleep certainly played a part, but in addition to that, my head felt heavy all day and I was sure I felt a migraine brewing. I silently cursed Cologne Guy, though I knew it wasn’t completely his fault. The pressure changes from flying, and coming home to cold, windy, rainy weather after experiencing gorgeous weather for half the week, wreaked havoc on my entirely too delicate head.

I called out of work on Friday, because my head hurt so bad that I couldn’t manage to maintain my balance. After a day of rest and Vicodin, I was about 60% back to normal. I spent the evening catching up on Psychology homework. I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of the regular, normal, everyday routine again, which is really good.

I have some great ideas for blog posts brewing, and as time allows, I will type them up and get them out. I’ve amazed myself by managing to get caught up with all of my schoolwork. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it, and I’m proud of myself for it. I’m hoping this will give me more time for blogging, because I miss writing and I miss you, lovely reader. I have a midterm coming up, a week from today in fact, for the first half of algebra class. I’m ready for it. I’ve already reviewed all of my notes and taken the practice midterm, so now it’s just a waiting game. Despite not thinking I was going to be able to get caught up enough, I'm ahead of the game!

I’m working hard to get caught up on your blogs too, lovely reader. I hope you are doing well and look forward to hearing from you more as I start to post more! And yes, you should feel free to shout, “I TOLD YOU SO!” Because it turns out all of my traveling fears were unfounded. However, I maintain that I was at least prepared for worst case scenarios; I just thankfully didn’t have to deal with anything I’d try to prepare myself for!

S for Stresserella

I am a total Stresserella, lovely reader!! (Not to be confused with her prettier, more even keeled sister, Cinderella.) As you might remember, I’m leaving this Sunday to go to Lake Tahoe for a software conference that work is sending me to. I wish I were more excited, especially since MusicMan is joining me on the trip, but I’m just not. Because I’m overwhelmingly stressed!! I have a lot to do before we go: homework, cleaning the house, doing laundry, packing, etc. And, with a new class starting the day before we leave, I’m really starting to worry about getting behind on class work.

I was hoping to be at least a chapter ahead in algebra class by now, because then I’d have no worries about missing one whole week of class next week. However, I’m only about half a chapter ahead at the moment, so I have some serious catching up to do. With Psychology class starting Saturday, more homework is sure to be added to the mix. I’m starting to feel like I won’t have any free time while we’re in Tahoe, because any time that I’m not at the conference, I’ll need to be working on homework. That translates to this trip being anything but fun, which translates to me being a sad, sad girl.

I was thinking that, if I could get far enough ahead in math, I could create a cushion so that homework wouldn’t get overwhelming once Psychology started. I’m probably stressing more than I need to over this, because I’ve heard that the bulk of Psychology homework is staying on top of reading, but stressing seems to be what I do best. Since I’ve heard that Psychology class mainly consists of lectures, reading, and quizzes, I should be fine as long as I can manage to stay on top of the required reading each week. I’m confident that I’ll figure out a way to get further ahead in algebra; even if that means working on homework through lunch breaks at work, which isn’t ideal, but is an option I can exercise.

I should be able to do some reading and catching up on the plane and in the airport while I wait for my flights, because I have a connection in Phoenix both on the way out and on the way back. Unfortunately, all of my math homework and the textbook are online, so I can’t really do much on the plane. Technically, I’m not behind, so I shouldn’t really worry too much. I’m just not where I thought I would be is all. I hate when things don't work out exactly as I've planned.

Speaking of connecting flights, I’m super worried about that. It’s been years since I’ve flown anywhere, and I’ve never flown anything but direct flights, so I have quite a few concerns. Like: what if they don’t transfer my luggage from plane to plane? It seems that there’s a high likelihood that someone somewhere could mess this up, which could mean my luggage would stay in Phoenix while I go on to Reno. I will pack an outfit in my carry on just in case, but that’s only one outfit; I cannot wear the same outfit for three days! Not to mention that I’d have to go out and buy necessities like: makeup, contact solution, deodorant, lotion, etc.

Also, what if the planes aren’t running on time, causing me to miss my connection?! I have two and a half hours in Phoenix on the way out, so I should be okay there. You don’t often hear of flights running over two hours late. I think…I hope. On the way back, however, there’s only 45 minutes of wait time in Phoenix. The odds of missing that connection seem quite a bit higher, which is so not good. As it stands, if everything works perfectly and I make the connection, I’m set to land back in Minnesota at about 11:30 pm. That’s late; especially considering that I have to work the next day! Can you imagine what will happen if I miss the connection?! That would suck so hard!

I know that I really need to learn not to stress over the things I can’t control. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about either of these situations, so there’s really no use worrying about them. Unless the time comes. And then? I will lose my shit freak the hell out and maybe cry. Let's just hope that all of the pilots, baggage people, and all other airline/airport workers bring their "A game" and that everything runs smoothly.

MusicMan’s best friend, Geoff, is coming to stay at the house to take care of the dogs, which means the house has to be cleaned. MusicMan is going to take care of that this week, but I feel awful that I can’t pitch in and help. My housekeeping skills have been seriously lacking since I started school, and I feel just awful about it. MusicMan doesn’t seem to mind too much, but I don’t like feeling as though he does the bulk of the work while I do nothing. Well, not completely nothing—I do the laundry weekly and wipe down kitchen and bathroom counters daily—but I don’t do as much as MusicMan does to keep our house clean.

I’m super glad and relieved that Geoff was available to take care of the dogs for us. Sending them to doggy daycare would’ve been wicked expensive, and there are not many people we trust with our dogs. I know that sounds crazy and ridiculous, but they’re our kids. I’ll just leave it at that, because I learned long ago that if people don’t understand this, there’s no use in trying to explain it. Let’s just leave it at: we’re those people.

Our parents aren’t necessarily those people (at least not to the degree we are), so they were immediately out of the running. Also, none of them would be able to stay at our house with the dogs, which was ideally what we wanted. While Lucy isn’t very high maintenance, our rescued dog, Dexter, is. Dexter does much better, and would be most comfortable, in the environment that he’s used to. We wanted Lucy and Dexter to be with someone who will take care of them the same way as we would (or as close as possible, at least).

When we started thinking of who to call, we could only think of two people that (1) we trusted enough, (2) would possibly be available to do it without being too put out, and (3) don’t mind that the dogs sleep in the bed: Geoffy and CousinFriend. Since Geoffy is a single guy with no other obligations, we called him first. Thankfully he was available. I have two pages of notes and instructions ready for him.

I know that probably sounds ridiculous, but in my defense, half a page of notes is miscellaneous stuff like: make sure to jiggle the toilet handle if the toilet runs, how to clean up any “accidents” Dexter might have, and instructions for logging on to the internet, using the TV and remotes, etc. Also, we feed our dogs a raw diet, so feeding them isn’t just as easy as pouring kibble into a bowl. (Though we do feed pre-made raw food, so it’s not too time consuming either. It’s just that the food needs to be thawed overnight, portioned out, and cut up, and a clean bowl needs to be used for each meal.) This is the first time we’ll be away from the dogs for so long, and also the first time we’re leaving them in someone else’s care, so hopefully it goes well.

To summarize, I’m a total Stresserella and have a lot of things to get done in the next few days! Please keep your fingers crossed for me, lovely reader.

Have you ever flown with connecting flights? How’d it go? (And, if it didn’t go well, just pretend I didn’t ask.)