Sunny San Diego

As I mentioned, last weekend I was in San Diego for a meeting. The conference was good, and we were actually accepted to give a platform presentation on some of the work I've been doing (I didn't give the presentation, but my name was on there!). It was well received, and some good constructive comments were made too. It was nice to take a step back and look at the 'big picture' of what I've been doing, especially since I feel like I've been getting lost in the day-to-day lately.

Anywho, Grad School Girl came to the meeting too, which was spectacular (if you remember, I was in her wedding last summer). Since we don't live near each other anymore, it was great to get a chance to hang out and catch up with her. Made me realize how much I miss her and her hubby. I also made a new friend - her coworker who came to the meeting too. We tried to not get into too much trouble (especially after the open-bar reception they hosted!).

During the day, I was pretty tied up with the conference, leaving HH to explore on his own. But it was nice to have dinner and walk along the water together in the evenings, and on Saturday, we did manage to squeeze in a trip to The Zoo. We were planning to check out the Wild Animal Park, but it was quite a ways from the hotel and without a rental car, the zoo won over. But it was all good, because the zoo was fantastic. It's huge, and had tons to see! We only spent a couple of hours there, but could have easily spent the entire day (damn conference!). We peaked in at Balboa Park, but just didn't have enough time. We'll just have to go back.

We also got a chance to hang out with Tim and Amy, who I knew from the old pharma days (and his sister too, who's a total sweetheart). Seeing them made me realize how much I miss them too! We had a fun night though, exploring the Gaslamp Quarter, eating yummy Italian dinner at Bella Luna, and being rude beotches at Dick's. I was planning on sharing the lessons learned, but it looks like he beat me to it! That'll teach me to slack!

Brain Hurts

My brain hurts. Work is insane right now. I'm trying to keep up with my four (million) jobs, half of which are ending so I'm going to meetings and working nonstop to find future funding and/or new projects/jobs in case (or rather WHEN) it really ends up falling through; the other half of which are flourishing and demanding WAY more than my actual funded percentage. I feel stretched so thin right now. And silly me for still wanting a LIFE through it all. Believe me, I do NOT make enough money to make up for being worked like this.

Ah crap, off to another meeting...

My brain hurts.

Stuck in San Diego

I had a conference to go to for work, in San Diego. Since the conference went through the weekend, Handsome Hubby flew out from Friday to Sunday (since my hotel was covered for the whole time and all we had to pay for was his flight). He'd never been to San Diego, so we thought this made for a good excuse reason to go. I'll post more about the trip later, but for now, deets on our traveling debacle...

We were supposed to get home yesterday. Just as we were getting ready to check out and leave for the airport, HH got a call on his cell from 'Jason,' from the airline. Turns out the first flight was already very delayed and he was calling to re-book us for today. My first thought was that I was so glad they called so that we weren't stuck in the airport. This way, at least we could enjoy the rest of the day in sunny San Diego. But, my second thought was that this 'Jason' fella seemed a bit shady. Or, just very unprofessional.

First, I had never heard of an airline directly calling customers to re-book their flight (NOT that I'm complaining). He was very non-nonchalant about the whole thing, and had a very "yeah, man" kind of attitude (you know the type). One of our major questions was about being sure our extra hotel night was going to be covered by the airline. He didn't seem to know anything. One would think that if calling customers to re-book like this is standard practice, he must have dealt with this question before. I would guess, close to 100% of the time??? Well, apparently because it was Sunday, there was no customer service to call, and the only way to get any answers would be on the airline's website. (And I HIGHLY doubt that would have been helpful in our specific situation) But, Jason assured us, that we could just stay at the hotel we were at and talk to the ticket counter folks the next day. He simply advised us to be sure to get to the airport early. Despite asking him repeatedly for someone else to talk to or another number to call, that was the best he could give us, so that's what we did.

Turns out, our instincts were right. Apparently, that was not standard procedure. I'm not sure if Jason calling us directly wasn't normal, but the hotel situation was certainly NOT normal (which we figured already). So, after an hour of patient determination on our part, and the ticket counter woman walking back and forth to 'the office' we finally got our check. Phew.

The rub? HH was forced to take an extra day of leave since this wasn't his business trip and we haven't received any compensation for that. So, as my mother would do, I'm planning to write a letter! We'll see what comes of it...

Clubbin' It

Last month we ventured into the City once again for LawerGirl's birthday (yes, I'm behind on my posts, I know). And, as before, several lessons were learned by the end of the night and I thought I should share...

Lesson 1. Be prepared to pay the cover even if the club's party-planner does say he's got it all taken care of. Club party-planners are not to be trusted.

Lesson 2. A coat check is not only for coats, but luggage too. Which is very convenient if you don't want to be haulin your overnight bag around da club (which is detrimental to a girl's game).

Lesson 3. If a lovely gent buys you a rose from that sketch dude walkin around tryin to make a buck, appreciate the thought and don't even try to preserve it. That rose is not makin it out of da club alive for you to scrapbook. Let it go.

Lesson 4. Having a dispute in da club? Don't take it outside, take to the floor... the dance floor. A dance off is the only respectful way to settle it. And please, respect all that IS the dance off... if you lose, take it like a woman.

Lesson 5. Ladies - tired of dodging puddles of unknown scuz in the bathroom of da club, while holding your pant legs up as you hover over the seat? Problem solved: just roll up the bottom of the pant legs! Why did it take 27 years for me to learn this???

Lesson 6. When hitting McD's on your way home from da club, don't expect to be able to just walk into the restroom. You ain't in the burbs no more! That shnizzle requires a token from the cashier.

Lesson 7. Drunk dialing friends and family members is the BEST! Unfortunately, yes, it can be a bit unsatisfying if no one is home (or they're just punting you to the voicemail). But keep trying! Maybe by call #23 you'll get someone and that'll make it all worth while.

One thing that's constant in life...

... is change. And last week I got some news that my job situation will once again be changing. Due to the building costs of the ongoing war, Bush (and his administration) has to make up for it. What does that have to do with me? 50% of my job is funded by a HRSA grant, and we just got news that it's been cut. Awesome.

Apparently, even though we are meeting our goals and our class has been very successful (DIRECTLY providing services to the underserved community), we're too little to get special attention. Just tell that to the underserved men and women who thank us for providing wellness fairs in their community. Men and women who don't have health insurance and can't afford to go to the doctor; who thank us for being there, to take the time to talk to them and educate them about heart disease, diabetes, nutrition, exercise, and disease prevention; to listen to their stories and provide them with resources and support that are easily available to the middle and upper class, but not to them.

All I have to say is, "Thanks Bushie, you're doing a helluva job."

She will be missed...

My thoughts and prayers are with Bob and his family. Mary was a wonderful woman with a very bright spirit.

Happy First Anniversary...

...to Truly Outrageous. Wow, it's been a year already. I know I'm still just a babe in the blogging-world, but it's still pretty cool to me. I wasn't sure I'd keep up with this at all when I started, so a year seems pretty good!