Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Rough Week
Last Thursday I was packing for a business trip to Ft.Lauderdale Florida. It was snowing rather heavily outside. The news reported that accumulation was at three inches every hour.
That evening the news reported that a plane slid off the runway of Midway airport and into the street crushing several cars, injuring several and killing a small boy. That was a Southwest flight, the same airline that I was to depart upon the next day. I freaked out and called the Florida office and had them reschedule my flight for that Saturday.
My nerves were frazzled and I couldn't sleep well that night, wondering if it was a sign from God that my flight would crash. I tried to set myself at ease by considering that statistically Southwest shouldn't have another mishap for some time. But that didn't work, instead I thought about how statistically anything could happen, it's just a matter of when. So I went to sleep with my own demise on my mind.
I went to work on Friday and arranged things for the closing on the house that would take place the following Thursday. This was a pain since I had to make sure I was ahead of the game being that I would be in Florida over the weekend.
Saturday came and I flew to Florida from Midway. I got down there and found out my bags were inspected. I prayed that the server I was transporting wasn't damaged by the inspectors.
I had dozens of major problems at the Florida office, but somehow got them all fixed by the time I was to leave. I had to stay for several more hours than planned and took a later flight out of Ft.Lauderdale. on Sunday
Monday was supposed to be my day off. Instead I was bombarded with calls from Florida asking me mundane questions about things that had nothing to do with my trip. I also played catch up with the mortgage broker, real estate lawyer and insurance agent; I was a faxing machine. I ended up going to work to use their fax and ended up fixing PC's, installing programs, etc...
Today, I had to drive Missy to her internship. On the way from there to my work, a pulley on my engine froze and threw my serpentine belt off track. That stopped my power steering, water pump, and alternator. Luckily I was only a mile from work so I chanced getting there on my battery alone. Turning the steering wheel was a test of strength, I'm still sore from the effort. Somehow I made it to my parking lot at work.
I opened my hood to find the innards to be a green and brown mess. My radiator overheated due to no water pump and spewed anti-freeze all over the place. The serpentine belt was hanging from the pulley.
Hoping to get a replacement pulley I made it over to Pep Boys where they didn't have the part in stock. They called every one of the 100 Pep Boys stores in Chicagoland and finally found a store that carried the part in the far southside. They ordered it and it will be there by ten tomorrow.
My father promised to help me replace the part but my car can't be driven home and must remain in the parking lot over night. In order to get home I have to get a ride with my mother. I told Missy to take the train home. Hopefully I'll be able to fax whatever paperwork my mortgage company needs instead of delivering it in person.
I have to go to the bank tomorrow during lunch, hopefully after the pulley is replaced, in order to get the check I need for the down payment on the house. That night I have to go on the final walk through to make sure that the current owners of the house didn't wreck it. Then Thursday Missy and I go to the closing at the title company.
Good Grief!
That evening the news reported that a plane slid off the runway of Midway airport and into the street crushing several cars, injuring several and killing a small boy. That was a Southwest flight, the same airline that I was to depart upon the next day. I freaked out and called the Florida office and had them reschedule my flight for that Saturday.
My nerves were frazzled and I couldn't sleep well that night, wondering if it was a sign from God that my flight would crash. I tried to set myself at ease by considering that statistically Southwest shouldn't have another mishap for some time. But that didn't work, instead I thought about how statistically anything could happen, it's just a matter of when. So I went to sleep with my own demise on my mind.
I went to work on Friday and arranged things for the closing on the house that would take place the following Thursday. This was a pain since I had to make sure I was ahead of the game being that I would be in Florida over the weekend.
Saturday came and I flew to Florida from Midway. I got down there and found out my bags were inspected. I prayed that the server I was transporting wasn't damaged by the inspectors.
I had dozens of major problems at the Florida office, but somehow got them all fixed by the time I was to leave. I had to stay for several more hours than planned and took a later flight out of Ft.Lauderdale. on Sunday
Monday was supposed to be my day off. Instead I was bombarded with calls from Florida asking me mundane questions about things that had nothing to do with my trip. I also played catch up with the mortgage broker, real estate lawyer and insurance agent; I was a faxing machine. I ended up going to work to use their fax and ended up fixing PC's, installing programs, etc...
Today, I had to drive Missy to her internship. On the way from there to my work, a pulley on my engine froze and threw my serpentine belt off track. That stopped my power steering, water pump, and alternator. Luckily I was only a mile from work so I chanced getting there on my battery alone. Turning the steering wheel was a test of strength, I'm still sore from the effort. Somehow I made it to my parking lot at work.
I opened my hood to find the innards to be a green and brown mess. My radiator overheated due to no water pump and spewed anti-freeze all over the place. The serpentine belt was hanging from the pulley.
Hoping to get a replacement pulley I made it over to Pep Boys where they didn't have the part in stock. They called every one of the 100 Pep Boys stores in Chicagoland and finally found a store that carried the part in the far southside. They ordered it and it will be there by ten tomorrow.
My father promised to help me replace the part but my car can't be driven home and must remain in the parking lot over night. In order to get home I have to get a ride with my mother. I told Missy to take the train home. Hopefully I'll be able to fax whatever paperwork my mortgage company needs instead of delivering it in person.
I have to go to the bank tomorrow during lunch, hopefully after the pulley is replaced, in order to get the check I need for the down payment on the house. That night I have to go on the final walk through to make sure that the current owners of the house didn't wreck it. Then Thursday Missy and I go to the closing at the title company.
Good Grief!
# posted by T.S. Idiot @ 11:41 AM 
