Friday the 13th
Usually Friday the 13th is a Good luck day for me. I've never had a problem with it before.
That ended today.
I rushed through my morning work so my desk would be clean before I left for work; I ended up working a little later than I'd planned, so I didn't get home until noon. That was okay, still had plenty of time...
NOT. I pulled into the driveway and noticed the back gate was open. Uh oh, I thought, Sam has escaped. No. He was inside sleeping on the bed, having allowed someone to KICK IN our back door and take our 32-inch flat screen television. Fortunately, apparently nothing else has been taken (including this laptop, which would have caused me Great Tearing Of Hair, since a) not paid for yet, and b) MY NANO IS ON IT!!!) However, only the television was taken, so there is that; we still have an old console TV in the back room which can be hooked up when I get home (cable, so no worries about the lack of HD), and I have to hope, pray, and trust that since the Tivo was apparently untouched (praise the Lord!), it will be recording my shows while I'm gone. I hope.
The TV was only three years old. We got it for our Christmas present the year before we had the house remodeled. *sigh*
I had to race around calling the police and TRYING to get hold of my insurance agent; fortunately the officer arrived to make a police report very quickly(and he was very nice), but I could only leave a message for my agent before Barb had to take me to catch my plane to Orlando.
So now I'm in the airport. I knew there would be a fee for a third bag, and I figured I'd suck it up, because, hey, I needed three bags coming home last time. I didn't realize said fee was FIFTY BUCKS. Yikes. So much for having any money to spend while I'm there. Fortunately, the ship basically gathers all your on-board charges and then charges at disembarkation, at which time my paycheck will be there so I'm not worried about that, and Mom usually picks up the tab for most everything else, and I'll have to be a leech this time out, because I'm so, so broke. Insurance will cover the broken back door and the TV, of course, minus deductible, but DAMN. Now I HAVE to stop putting it on the "eventually" list and get those security doors for the front and, apparently, the back as well.
I'll admit I know that Sam is a friendly, completely non-aggressive dog who would, of course, let anyone at all ransack our house, but I'd always depended on the simple presence of a dog to keep people out of our back yard. Bad idea.
(Seeing Jonathan in the bright daylight of the airport terminal tells me how dirty he gets sitting around the house... and my, I have greasy fingers.)
I didn't have a chance to eat before coming to the airport, as I planned, and I stopped being hungry anyway, after getting home and seeing everything; so I got here and was forced to pay for greasy airport food (speaking of greasy fingers).
Plus, while in the first week of NaNo I made impressive strides, this week I've done diddly squat, and my current word count is only 24,668. I also didn't finish my Writer's Group (or even start it, really) -- bad timing, having the deadline come in the middle of NaNo -- AND they just announced that the flight is completely full, and are asking for people to give up their seat. Why will airlines overbook like this? Sadly, I also didn't remember to check in online last night, so I'm in Group C, position 19 (and those who have flown Southwest know what THAT means).
So now I have to leave Barb to handle the insurance (I left a message for my agent and her the policy information), and I realized when I was standing in line at Security that in the midst of all the wackiness, I FORGOT MY iPOD at home. No music for me this trip (I have a few things on the computer here, but most of my music is on the external drive, at home). And thanks to the idiots who ruined liberty for all, my hands are all dry from being washed and my lotion is all in my checked baggage.
Whine, whine, whine.
At least the wi-fi at Sky Harbor is free.
I can't send an email here (although apparently I can receive it), so I wanted to send a picture of the television to Barb in case the insurance folks need it...
That ended today.
I rushed through my morning work so my desk would be clean before I left for work; I ended up working a little later than I'd planned, so I didn't get home until noon. That was okay, still had plenty of time...
NOT. I pulled into the driveway and noticed the back gate was open. Uh oh, I thought, Sam has escaped. No. He was inside sleeping on the bed, having allowed someone to KICK IN our back door and take our 32-inch flat screen television. Fortunately, apparently nothing else has been taken (including this laptop, which would have caused me Great Tearing Of Hair, since a) not paid for yet, and b) MY NANO IS ON IT!!!) However, only the television was taken, so there is that; we still have an old console TV in the back room which can be hooked up when I get home (cable, so no worries about the lack of HD), and I have to hope, pray, and trust that since the Tivo was apparently untouched (praise the Lord!), it will be recording my shows while I'm gone. I hope.
The TV was only three years old. We got it for our Christmas present the year before we had the house remodeled. *sigh*
I had to race around calling the police and TRYING to get hold of my insurance agent; fortunately the officer arrived to make a police report very quickly(and he was very nice), but I could only leave a message for my agent before Barb had to take me to catch my plane to Orlando.
So now I'm in the airport. I knew there would be a fee for a third bag, and I figured I'd suck it up, because, hey, I needed three bags coming home last time. I didn't realize said fee was FIFTY BUCKS. Yikes. So much for having any money to spend while I'm there. Fortunately, the ship basically gathers all your on-board charges and then charges at disembarkation, at which time my paycheck will be there so I'm not worried about that, and Mom usually picks up the tab for most everything else, and I'll have to be a leech this time out, because I'm so, so broke. Insurance will cover the broken back door and the TV, of course, minus deductible, but DAMN. Now I HAVE to stop putting it on the "eventually" list and get those security doors for the front and, apparently, the back as well.
I'll admit I know that Sam is a friendly, completely non-aggressive dog who would, of course, let anyone at all ransack our house, but I'd always depended on the simple presence of a dog to keep people out of our back yard. Bad idea.
(Seeing Jonathan in the bright daylight of the airport terminal tells me how dirty he gets sitting around the house... and my, I have greasy fingers.)
I didn't have a chance to eat before coming to the airport, as I planned, and I stopped being hungry anyway, after getting home and seeing everything; so I got here and was forced to pay for greasy airport food (speaking of greasy fingers).
Plus, while in the first week of NaNo I made impressive strides, this week I've done diddly squat, and my current word count is only 24,668. I also didn't finish my Writer's Group (or even start it, really) -- bad timing, having the deadline come in the middle of NaNo -- AND they just announced that the flight is completely full, and are asking for people to give up their seat. Why will airlines overbook like this? Sadly, I also didn't remember to check in online last night, so I'm in Group C, position 19 (and those who have flown Southwest know what THAT means).
So now I have to leave Barb to handle the insurance (I left a message for my agent and her the policy information), and I realized when I was standing in line at Security that in the midst of all the wackiness, I FORGOT MY iPOD at home. No music for me this trip (I have a few things on the computer here, but most of my music is on the external drive, at home). And thanks to the idiots who ruined liberty for all, my hands are all dry from being washed and my lotion is all in my checked baggage.
Whine, whine, whine.
At least the wi-fi at Sky Harbor is free.
I can't send an email here (although apparently I can receive it), so I wanted to send a picture of the television to Barb in case the insurance folks need it...