Auld lang syne and some such crap

Happy New Year. I'm exhausted already. But for good reason. MS and Master Chew were here for the past few days. And except for a couple of moments, Chewie-love and Thor, Dog of Thunder got along very well. I particularly loved the moments where Chew was running circles around (and under) Thor while Thor stood looking at him with the face of, "I can't possibly go THAT fast."

TTW and Fibji came over Sunday and brought their Wii. Much hilarity ensued (MS will post said hilarity later). But I also woke up with "Wii arm" and "Wii back" the next morning, and realized how old and out of shape I actually am. We also had a wrist injury that night (Turg). I so can't wait for my Wii to arrive.

But now that all of the fun and drinking are done, it's time to get down to business. I took the rest of this week off to deal with my crap. My office is a total sty. I've dealt with some of my papers this morning, and have already filled a trash back full of stuff. And I'm not even close to done. I really need to stop making "filing piles" on the floor, because eventually (as had already happened), there will be no floor left.

I will be cleaning and tidying for the rest of this week. And I'll hopefully be able to find some organization by then.

I may even be able to find some time to relax. One can only hope.

Man. The office just sucks compared to the pool.

... or the rainforest.


Where gods sleep...


And the water comes in falls...



There's a heatwave in DC right now. I think I prefered the heat in PR than in DC. It was somehow more... satisfying.

American Airlines SUCKS!

And I am never flying on them again. Now, nothing can ruin the fact that I had a fabulous vacay with my fabulous girlfriends (more on this later, with pictures). But, I did come home on a very big downer. My flight was supposed to be at 5:35pm Tuesday. When I got to the airport, I was told that the flight was delayed until 7:20pm. That sucks, but I can deal. By the time I got to the gate, the flight wasn't leaving until 7:45pm. Also, a little bit longer, and I'm getting more agitated, but I can deal. Then comes the announcement, first in Spanish. The only things I recognize are 6:30 and mañana. Then it comes in English. The flight has been canceled for the evening and will not leave until 6:30am the following morning. The pilot has gone over his flying hours and the only plan they had was to beg the pilot to do the last flight. Yeah, THAT was going to work. So we all have to go downstairs, get our luggage and they would put us all up in hotels for the night.

I go to get my hotel voucher. Ask the guy what hotels they are putting us up in. He says the Best Western, why? I give him the "Oh, God, you've GOT to be kidding" face and say, "Well, there are certain hotels I would just rather not stay in, being a woman traveling alone and all." He books me at the Marriot. I wake up at the ass crack of dawn to get to the airport. Take a million years to get through security. Make it to the gate in time to hear the last boarding call. But get on the plane, get myself an emergency row seat with more leg room and quickly fall asleep. It's no time before we're landing in DC. I'm nearly home. It's 10:30am.

I go to baggage claim to get my one checked bag. And wait. And wait. And wait some more. There's a couple minutes pause. Then bags from another flight start coming out. WHAT THE EF?!? Where is my bag??? I go to the counter and find out that they have no idea where my bag is. It was never scanned. They assume it's still in the San Juan Airport, but they don't know for sure. This is the point I completely lost it. Standing at the counter crying my eyes out, totally frustrated with the whole ordeal.

I finally got home at about 1pm yesterday. Slept for almost the rest of the day. The good thing is they called this morning and have my bag at Dulles. They'll be delivering it later today. I'm glad for that. But this is the second time in three years that American Airlines has left me stranded overnight on the way back from Puerto Rico.

I'm never flying American Airlines again. They suck.

Update 12:55pm: My bag has been delivered. All is right. American Airlines still sucks.

Countdown to PR

I've been working my ass off to get all of my crap done. And I'm really exhausted. But I know, it will be completely worth it in 8 days, when MS, TC and I will be poolside at the El San Juan Hotel, drinking rum based drinks and reading Harry Potter.

Just. Eight. More. Days.

GAH!

I am so overwhelmed with work right now that I don't know where to begin and all I feel like doing is crawling back into bed and pray that it all goes away but then I wake up at 4:30 in the morning thinking about all the work I have to do that I get overwhelmed all over again.

*breathe*

I can't wait to go on vacation.

So, I took the week off

And this is what happens when I am left to my own devices when I have literally nothing else to do...


I received this puzzle for my birthday from Jay and Ang. I opened it yesterday thinking, "Well, I'll get the border done and work on it the rest of the week." I've never finished a puzzle by myself before (okay, JS placed one piece of this one). And things were going so well... well, I got a bit OCD and NEEDED to finish it. I started at around 3pm. I finished at about 1am.

The puzzle is 1026 pieces... and it's the history of chocolate.

No. But really. The lizard DID attack me...

Well, perhaps not attack, per se. Here's the story. MS, TC and I were sitting on a beautiful beach on Palomino Island at the El Conquistador Resort in PR. Under the shade of a mini-hut, umbrella type thing. I was reading and half-falling asleep and thoroughly relaxing. Then I feel this tickly feeling on my leg. I look down expecting to shoo away a fly or something. But no. I look down and there is a 6 or 8 inch lizard on leaning on my legs with it's front feet. Let's just say that at this point I made the most ridiculous, undulating scream to the effect of: WHAA-AA-AAH! One of those comedic, sitcom-like moments. Needless to say that the lizard quickly jumped off and ran away, likely quietly screaming about the crazy, loud chick. We had a good laugh after that.

At that point, there was really no falling back asleep, as we had all been jolted awake and I was hysterical laughing. So we went to lunch, which I lost later in the afternoon - but that's a different story entirely.

The lizard below is not the offending lizard, but one we saw roaming around while eating lunch:

Dreaming of Puerto Rico

I. Want. To. Go.

What happens in Vegas...

... stays in Vegas

Identity: Sigmund the Underwear Model from Zimbabwe
Visit: 4 days, 3 nights
Gambling balance sheet: -$0-

Everything else is between me and those who witnessed it...


Addendum: I am also minus 1 pair of pleather pants.