A little this, a little that

I've been escaped from the office and I've been busy. Dahey and I got Bubba from camp and took him on a road trip.

We're not the Griswolds, but we had a similar adventure on this trip. I inadvertently only read some reviews of the Hotel Hell we stayed at. I missed the good ones that said "Don't ever stay here."

It was really, really hot where we were. I packed lots of drinks in the truckster just in case.

The first clue we were in Hotel Hell was the neighborhood once we got off the highway ramp. It was sketchy. The lobby of HH looked decent, but I'm always a little concerned if they have doors to the outside, especially if the neighborhood is not so good. When you have to ring the doorbell to get into the lobby at night, it's not good.

Next, we got a non-smoking room with cigarette burns in the comforter. And if that wasn't enough, crumbs were on the floor (between the beds).

The room had a slightly musty odor and the air conditioning wasn't on. We turned it on, I inspected some more. There were no bedbugs or any other visible bugs and the in-room fridge looked new and was COLD. I got the extra strength Febreeze out and sprayed the room. I knew it would come in handy someday (have carried it, but never used it). I figured it would get better. It didn't.

All night we heard noise from the AC the room temp never went below 85 degrees. It was horrible. On top of that, there was a lot of noise from the parking lot. When that got quiet, the trains came by.

I probably slept about 4 hours all night. Needless to say, once the boys fell asleep, I booked another room in a nearby town for the second night. In the morning, I told the hotelier we were checking out.

We went off to see the sights and had fun. We even saw a movie while we waited for the check-in at the new hotel.

Our new hotel was an oasis. I checked everything then took a nice shower, so I could go out into the heat and sit at a baseball game.

It didn't matter. With more air conditioning and a clean room (and bathroom) I could tolerate anything.  Even a 110 degree heat index!

Now, it's back to staycation.  It's going to be fun.

Stay tuned!

Daily gratitude

Some days seem worse than others, but when I look around, it really isn't so bad.

1. I can afford to pay for my mistakes --traffic and parking tickets--without fear of going to jail.

2. I can go to work without fear of death while I'm there doing my job.

3. I am reasonably healthy. I woke up today.

These privileges are not afforded to everyone. So I go out happy I am who I am; imperfect as it is. I'll take it!

Enjoy your Wednesday.

The joys of jury duty

Jury duty can be a blessing, or a curse.

Some of the perks/hazards/interesting things: 
 
1. It gets you out of the office. Plenty of interesting folks hang around courthouses. And even more pay traffic (or parking) tickets.

2. You could get sequestered.

2. You know it will get interesting if the folks can't follow directions at the metal detectors.

3. It's also sad seeing the little old people there (many because they need a conservator.)

4. At lunch time, you can eat, shop and roam around. (Lunches for court staff under an hour are rare in our neck of the woods).

5.  Finally, you realize that your job's not so bad after all, your family's not totally silly and the food at the Hotel cafeteria really is pretty good.

And soon enough, it will be time to go home again, back to reality.

That is all...stay tuned.

You know it's going to be an interesting day...

When there are so many people going to Starbucks via drive-thru, that the line is backing out into the street....at a major intersection.

I'm just waiting to see a) when I can escape and b) when a traffic cop is coming to stop this mayhem, since there are plenty of places to park.

So glad I'm going to work...