Ash the Mighty

I’m not saying that I actively despise flying, but that’s only because I’m sitting here hoping to be able to do so in the very near future and I don’t really want to piss off whichever god happens to preside over heavier-than-air travel (and yes, there MUST be a god of it, because I still maintain that it just shouldn’t be possible). But I will say that I would rather be pretty much anywhere else at this moment, up to and including seeing a doctor . . . and we ALL know how much I enjoy those.

Why do I hate it so much? Well besides the afore-mentioned fact that it just shouldn’t work, there’s the fact that it frequently DOESN’T. I’m not talking about planes falling out of the sky or anything (though that happens too, and I’m not thrilled about it). I’m talking more about the alarming regularity in which travelers (you know, just like me) find themselves stranded in random airports all across the country/globe, with nothing to do but sit in incredibly uncomfortable plastic chairs and just kinda stare at each other.

Now I admit that it’s hard to place blame on any human the issues that we’re having here. Parts of Colorado have had in excess of 30 inches of snow in 2 days, and so it’s hard to keep an international airport open and functioning at capacity in those circumstances. That said, the woman who is sitting next to me had her flight routed TO here from their original layover destination of Las Vegas. Just checked the weather, there are no issues there. I mean, it could be there were security or other unknown issues with that airport, but really? REALLY? When there’s a state-closing blizzard going on that is stranding people and canceling flights? You re-route here?

OMFG. A woman just carried a monkey onto an airplane. No, I’m not kidding.

OK, I’m done. This day just got way too insane. Just. Wow.

~Ash.

Well, Arizona is finally changing seasons. How do we know? Because I’m feeling like hell. Set in last night that I started feeling like crap, and then it just got worse. Me sleeping in did nothing to help. Well, it helped a LITTLE, but not recognizably.

So that’s fun.

In other news, I’ve started my new gig at work (and hopefully I’ll even be able to make it in come Friday). It’s interesting but HARD work. I am definitely learning so much more than I have basically since I first started in this department. Every day it’s something new. And we’re not just talking department procedural stuff. No, we’re talking these really intricate scripts that I’m learning how to modify and write myself which can make the servers and Plesk (the control panels that most of these servers run) do truly amazing things.

As usual, I can’t really go into too many details cause it’s work and all, but it is pretty cool. It would just be nice if for most of my week there were some more people there. Just the down side of working the third shift . . .

ANYWAY. That’s all I’ve got. Gonna go get take a short nap and see if that makes me all better . . .

Take care everyone,
~A.

There are all sorts of reasons, even some good ones, for people not doing their jobs. They’re being inundated with work (maybe other people aren’t doing their own for example), they’re untrained, circumstances beyond their control are causing their own jobs to be impossible to be completed.

But when it’s just flat out NOT. GETTING. DONE . . . Makes an AshMonster see red.

Now two things have happened recently which makes me a little angry. One happened to my dear friend Meggan, and it’s something that isn’t entirely the other person’s fault, and it’s something that actually happened to me as well, for all that I didn’t blog about it. For the last week, Meggan and her family (including her darling newborn, Ruby) were in Hawai’i for the Ironman Triathlon finals which her father was competing in. When trying to return home, her flight was delayed by over 24 hours, and she was told she would need to sit in the VERY warm airport lobby with a small baby. This. Just. Doesn’t. Work. Like I said, this exact thing happened when my family was in Hawai’i two years ago and they similarly just kept us there despite knowing it would be HOURS. If you know of this delay, you arrange a cheap motel or SOMETHING. If there’s a small child, you DEFINITELY figure something out. Don’t just shrug your shoulders, you heartless cows.

Then there’s me. I can’t get into TOO many of the details because it’s work related, but suffice to say I will not be spending ANY money for the next two weeks due to a paycheck SNAFU, at which point I will get a HUGE one. Has there been an apology? No. Was ANYONE prompt in addressing the situation? No. Did anyone even address the situation at all until I went in and raised hell four days after I originally pointed out there was a problem? Um, no. I was of course livid and am only slightly less so now. Really . . . it’s a timecard. It’s NOT that hard to mess up. I ensure I punch in and out. You just have to ensure that it’s not been messed up in any other way, people.

SO ANYWAY. That’s just some of the hi jinks that ensue when unmitigated incompetence is allowed to roam free. So please, lock up your incompetence. The person it hurts may be someone you love.

~Ash.