AlpineJay
10-01-2005, 12:01 PM
So yesterday was a pretty bad day for me. First off, the big project that I had at work which was for yesterday was cancelled without any good reason on Wednesday, then was put back on by the project manager late night on Thursday. This meant that I basically wasted time at work on both Wednesday and Thursday when I could have been preparing for the project, which meant that I had to come in early on Friday and work doubly hard to finish it all up. All in all, I wound up spending around 9 hours when the project realistically could have been finished in three hours' time with ample amount of preparation - and this was with the project beginning at 3pm rather than the usual 5pm slot because my boss was willing to bat for me and make a couple calls to yell at people for their grossly inconsiderate manners.
I had long planned on going home to NJ and had asked that I get some extra guys working with me on this because it was a fairly large one. But, with the cancellations and assignment of tasks going to other members on my group, they were unable to help me out. More work for me, bleh.
So I got to leave work around 9pm for a drive to New Jersey, typically a 3 1/2 to a 4 hour drive from Boston. Along the way, I had the worst time trying to find radio stations that were broadcasting the Yankees/Sox game, so I basically heard loud static along with faint voices to try and find out what was going on with the game. I finally found the station at the top of the ninth to hear the Yankees lose. Bad.
Around Bridgeport, CT, I realized that I had forgotten to bring the key to the house in NJ from my apartment. Now, the purpose of this trip was to check on the house because both my parents are in Korea - we have family friends and relatives checking up but I had to get the held mail, sort out the bills, and get a haircut (yes, with 4+ years in Boston I've only gotten haircuts in NJ from my barber except for like two bad hair situations - it's an excuse to come home and see the family every now and then). The time then was around 11:15, and me not knowing the contact information of anybody who may potentially have the house keys were probably long asleep.
At this point I had a couple options racing through my head:
1. Turn back to Massachusetts, driving back roughly 2 1/2 hours, get the key, and come back down to NJ (I had to come back down by Saturday morning because I had to pick up the mail before the Post Office closed AND I wanted to catch the Yankee game at 1pm) - this was dismissed rather quickly.
2. Drive down to NJ, sleep in the car for the night, take care of my business with the mail and get a haircut and drive straight back up to NJ probably around late afternoon - also dismissed because I wouldn't get to see the game. Another altnerative on this one was to call our family friend in the morning and get the key off of them.
3. Call a friend and crash at his place - too late to do this, and also most of my friends have moved out of town and no longer are within reasonable distance.
4. Drive past my northern NJ hometown, proceed right to Bethlehem, PA to Lehigh University where my brother is, who has a key. Get the key from him, and basically add another 3 hours to the drive.
5. Call a 24-hour emergency locksmith and pay 150+ dollars to get in.
After getting in touch with my brother - which was a feat in and of itself because it was Friday night and I was shocked that he wasn't already out and messed up - I decided for option 4 and changed the route accordingly.
I got to Lehigh around 2am, got the key from my brother, and literally turned around right away to begin the drive back up to NJ. This was done basically because I didn't want to spend the money for a locksmith, and didn't want to burden anyone else with something that I can't blame anyone else but myself for. I got back at 3:15am, 6 hours and 45 minutes after I departed Boston, with a tired body but a key to the house.
I woke up, ran my errands, and watching the game as I write this. The Yankees are up 7-2 today, it's pretty warm, and I feel surprisingly rested at the comfort of my home (albeit empty). I have a feeling today's gonna be a better day. :)
Oh but what a day yesterday was.
I had long planned on going home to NJ and had asked that I get some extra guys working with me on this because it was a fairly large one. But, with the cancellations and assignment of tasks going to other members on my group, they were unable to help me out. More work for me, bleh.
So I got to leave work around 9pm for a drive to New Jersey, typically a 3 1/2 to a 4 hour drive from Boston. Along the way, I had the worst time trying to find radio stations that were broadcasting the Yankees/Sox game, so I basically heard loud static along with faint voices to try and find out what was going on with the game. I finally found the station at the top of the ninth to hear the Yankees lose. Bad.
Around Bridgeport, CT, I realized that I had forgotten to bring the key to the house in NJ from my apartment. Now, the purpose of this trip was to check on the house because both my parents are in Korea - we have family friends and relatives checking up but I had to get the held mail, sort out the bills, and get a haircut (yes, with 4+ years in Boston I've only gotten haircuts in NJ from my barber except for like two bad hair situations - it's an excuse to come home and see the family every now and then). The time then was around 11:15, and me not knowing the contact information of anybody who may potentially have the house keys were probably long asleep.
At this point I had a couple options racing through my head:
1. Turn back to Massachusetts, driving back roughly 2 1/2 hours, get the key, and come back down to NJ (I had to come back down by Saturday morning because I had to pick up the mail before the Post Office closed AND I wanted to catch the Yankee game at 1pm) - this was dismissed rather quickly.
2. Drive down to NJ, sleep in the car for the night, take care of my business with the mail and get a haircut and drive straight back up to NJ probably around late afternoon - also dismissed because I wouldn't get to see the game. Another altnerative on this one was to call our family friend in the morning and get the key off of them.
3. Call a friend and crash at his place - too late to do this, and also most of my friends have moved out of town and no longer are within reasonable distance.
4. Drive past my northern NJ hometown, proceed right to Bethlehem, PA to Lehigh University where my brother is, who has a key. Get the key from him, and basically add another 3 hours to the drive.
5. Call a 24-hour emergency locksmith and pay 150+ dollars to get in.
After getting in touch with my brother - which was a feat in and of itself because it was Friday night and I was shocked that he wasn't already out and messed up - I decided for option 4 and changed the route accordingly.
I got to Lehigh around 2am, got the key from my brother, and literally turned around right away to begin the drive back up to NJ. This was done basically because I didn't want to spend the money for a locksmith, and didn't want to burden anyone else with something that I can't blame anyone else but myself for. I got back at 3:15am, 6 hours and 45 minutes after I departed Boston, with a tired body but a key to the house.
I woke up, ran my errands, and watching the game as I write this. The Yankees are up 7-2 today, it's pretty warm, and I feel surprisingly rested at the comfort of my home (albeit empty). I have a feeling today's gonna be a better day. :)
Oh but what a day yesterday was.