Friday before a 3 day week!

SWEET!

I got here around 9:20 today - the commuter rail was running late. No idea why.

I am so sleepy today. I feel like I could nap for 100 years.

Not much to report, sorry for the suckiness of the post, but it's not like anyone is reading it anyway!!

new record

I got to my desk at 12:15 today. I was quite impressed by my lateness. I met with my psychiatrist, I was late, then she was late, then I got stuck in a downpour waiting for a bus, then a friend came and got me and I went to her house and hung out with her and her kitty cat (who puked all over the place) before I went to wait for the bus again. It finally dropped me off, but crossing the street was near impossible because of construction. I just grabbed lunch on my way in - I need to put in some serious face time at my desk for the rest of the day!!!

late again!

just like I am meant to be! I got to work this morning at 9:45 and all hell was breaking loose. I felt like such a jerk for being so late, and I don't even know what my problem was. I did get home late last night and was TOTALLY stressed out, and took my sleep aide late, so those things in combination could be the reason, but normally if it's important that I get to work on time, I do.

All-in-all it was a good day, and I got a lot done. I have a metric butt load of school work to do though, and I am really stressed about it, but that's how I work best!

Tomorrow I will be in really late because I have an appointment with my psychiatrist. I really like her, and I am hoping to switch my meds around and maybe be a little happier and more productive. We'll see.

what was I thinking?

So, I signed up for NaBloPoMo, with no consideration at all for the fact that I don't have a computer at home... How on earth to I reconcile that??

I am in a training today. Not only was I on time, I also went to work first for about 45 minutes, got a few things done, then rushed over here. I am feeling pretty crappy and dizzy today, but I am here and learning DreamWeaver!!

I guess that's all. Back to your regular schedule starting... now!

Saturday

Today was a pretty good day, except getting woken up this morning for no reason. I did some cleaning and went grocery shopping, where my husband got into a physical alteration in the parking lot. That was fun. Yesterday I left work at 4:50, then when I got to the bus stop I realized I didn't have my bus pass. I searched high and low for it, to no avail... I didn't leave work again until 5:20, which is not enough time to get to South Station for the 5:40 train... It would cost me $228 to commute for the 12 days of work I have left this month. I was a little panicky!!

Fortunately I found it... in my pocket. I also managed to catch my train since it was running late. Thank God!

Good news!

Today I was spectacularly late, for stupid reasons. It makes up for the rest of the week.

First of all I wasn't allowed out of bed until 7:04. As cute as my kitty is, he doesn't have that much power over me, but my husband, with a single arm over my torso can render me immobilized. SIGH.

So, I left the house at 7:17, which gives me just enough time if I really, really hustle. And, at 7:23 I realized that I left my banana bread on the counter at home! Well, I didn't stay up past my bedtime baking to be the only one to NOT bring any food in today (one Friday every month all the assistants bring treats), so I went back.

I got on the 8:00 train and made decent time into South Station. Unfortunately "Due to Police Activity at broad WAY we are experiencing delays in service." Then, being lazy like I am, I decided to take the bus from Harvard Square and IT decided not to drop me off at my stop! I got to work just shy of 10:00am, when I could have been there at 9:30! (Or, 9:00 if I wasn't an idiot.)

what the hell?

I was at work on time AGAIN today. I think I will have to come in at approximately noon tomorrow to undo all the damage I have caused by continuing to be at work on time.

Next week is going to be SAH-WEET! No work until Wednesday and I have a Dr's app. on Thursday so I won't be in until noonish. What a week, eh? Then, it's Thanksgiving.

I am not looking forward to the holidays. I feel like a major scrooge, but we're broke, I'm depressed and I'm too busy for this crap!!

Anyway, just a minor rant for today. Maybe tomorrow I'll be happy and post something upbeat!

Ahhh, Wednesday

I got in EARLY today, at 8:55. What is up with that?! That is despite having to wait for the cops in Attleboro because apparently 4 people refused to pay for their commuter rail ride.

I am actually busy at work today, which I love and hate. Lots to keep me busy, but I need to carve out some time for school work.

I'm spending some time with my mom tonight, which ought to be a good time. We need to talk about her finances, because she is going to do some crazy big things and wants advice. Like I know anything about money!!!

Lovely morning

I was woken up this morning 45 minutes before my alarm went off. I was very cranky. Of course I had no excuse to come in late after that, so, here I am. I even waited for a second, less crowed redline train and made it in on time.

I have a training from 10-2 today which will keep me entertained for most of the day, which is good. I have been pretty stressed out, so being distracted is a good thing.

Here is my rant for today: Someone wrote into the Metro complaining about the Providence Commuter rail and how they don't collect fares and then the MBTA complains about not having any money. Lo and behold, they made an announcement this morning about overcrowding because a bunch of people were stood up by the Amtrak train and ended up on our train instead and I never once saw a conductor collecting fares. Um, what?! Seriously, if the train is crowded with tons of people that don't usually take the train, isn't that tons of revenue? I mean, I would want to be a conductor cramming through overcrowded aisles to get money from grumpy people... but that's why I'm not an MBTA conductor. Grr. I am lucky because I get a monthly pass for just over $100 / month, but I still can't stand knowing that my pass is going to keep going up and up and up while others keep not getting charged.

This morning

I did good today, and got to work for 9. I almost got into an altercation with a sniffler on the red line. I swear he was baiting me with his sniffling, but I gave him my look of death, and he tried one more super loud sniffle, then 9 other people glared at him. Lo and behold, he had a tissue, and used it, and I was not required to maim anyone before 9am. I have loads of work (school and work) staring me in the face, plus tons of housework that needs to be done. I don't know what I would do with myself if I wasn't able to be constantly distracted by things such as blogs, cuteoverload.com, stuffonmycat.com and icanhascheezburger.com.

This is my motto, I have it posted by my monitor. That also looks a lot like my cat to boot:

Sunday

This weekend was a short weekend with the girls, which means that I should have a nice, peaceful Sunday. I am not holding my breath. I didn't get much done yesterday, but that is the story of my life. I need to get my butt in gear for school work, and stop reading novels by the dozens. This is who I have read recently. I do not claim to be proud of myself:
Harlan Corben
Candice Bushnell
Jane Greene
Meg Cabot
Mil Millington
Stephanie Klein
Nicholas Sparks
Jude Devereaux
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Dennis Lehane
Jennifer Cruise
...there has to be more than that, I've been averaging 3-4 novels/week. Hmmm...

Saturday

So, of course, I had no internet access all weekend because of that dumb "hurricane", of which we were not recipients, but nonetheless, the small amount of leftovers we got managed to make Comcast, with their tenuous at best service, curl up into a little ball and quit. But, just because I couldn't post doesn't mean I could write!

Today we may or may not have a busy day. My husband was supposed to work, but got out of it and we're just going to spend the day together the 4 of us. We were going to go bowling with my mom and my niece and nephew, but my mother sent my niece off to a carnival and decided to take my cousin (aka the Spawn of Satan) with us instead. We declined.

I need to get a lot of school work and house work done, neither of which I am looking forward to. I also have to gut two computers and stick their bits into a 3rd, so I can have one functional computer. I'm not a very good geek, however, and I fear it will look more like Frankenstein than a laptop when I've finished. Blargh.

2 down, 28 to go!!

So, I was at work on time this morning. I am very proud of myself, but I am leaving at, like, 1:30 today, so really, what excuse do I have to come in late??

I am giving my to-do list, which is overwhelming me right now. Either typing it out will make me feel better, or make me crawl under my desk.

1) write a 3-5 page email quitting church
2) find a new church
3) actually do some work at work (those bastards)
4) create an online survey, distribute it, get people to take it, analyze the results, write a paper, make a presentation,
5) prepare another presentation for the SAME CLASS (both due before Thanksgiving)
6) figure out how to pay the bills, then pay them....
7) ... nevermind, this is depressing me

All late, all the time

I have been spectacularly late to work this week. Today I got in at 9:41 because I put the tea kettle on "simmer" instead of "high" this morning and I was about to rush out the door when it occurred to me that my water, it was not ready for my tea bag. So, that pushed me beyond the threshold for possibly catching the train on time.

Yesterday I was almost on time, and pretty much within my 15 minute cushion, but I had to get driven to the train station.

Tuesday was good, I just didn't get out of bed until 7:30. Luckily for me, all public transit was fubar because of the Sox parade, so even if I had wanted to get in on time I wouldn't have been able to.

I can't remember what my excuse was on Monday, but I'm sure it wasn't a very good one. Fortunately I blended right in, since the Red Sox took the World Series Sunday night everyone and their mother was wondering around this place like a zombie. Fortunately, I fit right in.

UGH!

This week and last week were pretty bad. Let's see what I can remember:
Today: got to work at 9:20. Woke up at 5 for no reason, laid in bed until 7, got on the train on time, and then the train got in late, creating a domino effect...by the time I got to Harvard Square at 8:52 I could have walked, but I was already exhausted.

Thursday: Got to work at 10:45. Had an appointment from 8-10, waited for the bus for over 30 minutes before it showed up and squirreled me off

Wednesday: Planned to go in for 8, woke up late, got in at 9. Had to get a co-worker to cover my butt on that one!

Tuesday: Slept late, got to work late. I must have, first e-mail went out at 9:36. Oops!

Monday: ...must have gotten to work on time, since my first email went out at 9:13

Last Friday: first email, 10:08. I vaguely remember being that late coming in...

Last Thursday: came in late, but knew I'd be late. Had a Dr's appointment

Last Wednesday: out sick. So dizzy and miserable. Blah

Last Tuesday: Late, late late. Recovering from Holiday. Blargh

Last Monday: No work! Holiday! w00t!

This week

So, yesterday was pretty good. I needed to leave the house by 6:30 to drop my stepdaughters off and drive into Boston for 9:00. I woke up at 6:20 - oops! I was at work by ten past though, and that included an unexpected re-fueling, getting lost in Providence (AGAIN!), finding on street parking and walking from there. I even got out of Boston and drove to Warwick in 75 minutes!!

Today was a NIGHTMARE... I planned to wake up at 4:45 and take the train in and hit the gym for about 90 minutes before work. I just couldn't get out of bed, and when I did I couldn't get moving. I finally ended up driving to the train station to catch my normal train which was going to be 25-30 minutes late. Needless to say I was seething. The train picked us up around 8, and I got to work around 9:30. I want to be pissy about it, but the guy that tried to jump onto the moving train and is in the hospital, not to mention the other 1,000+ people who were late to work were probably having a worse morning than me.

It's really important for me to keep things in perspective - the last time the MBTA made me super late was when that guy shot his family and then committed suicide on the tracks. Not only were multiple lines affected for hours (thousands of commuters) but here is a guy having such a bad time of things he's killing himself and others, not to mention what it must have been like for the survivors...

Anyway, hopefully a story will be up tomorrow and I will link to today's drama.

Okay, so here's the deal

My schedule has me working a 35 hour week, Monday - Friday, 9-5 with an hour lunch. I have a long commute (1.5-2 hours each way) and I take public transportation. Coupled with the fact that I am NOT a morning person, it's pretty hard for me to get to work on time. As it is, this SHOULD be my schedule:

Wake up between 6:30 and 7:00, leave the house (with caffeinated tea in hand) by 7:10. That gives me 22 minutes to walk the 3/4 of a mile to the commuter rail station. (I am a slow walker when I am awake, so imagine me just waking up!)

This train is supposed to come at 7:32 and arrive in Boston at 8:16. The Red Line is supposed to run every 6-9 minutes. It is supposed to take 15 minutes for the Red Line to get to my stop. It's supposed to take 20 minutes to walk from the T stop to my office building (or, when I am lazy the bus should get me there in 15 minutes, allowing time to wait for the bus). All told, there is no reason why I cannot make it into work at 9:00 every day. Except that nothing ever really works like it is supposed to (for the sake of... reality... I will not call anything less than 15 minutes "late").

So, a great alternative would be for me to take the train that leaves a little earlier, that way if I run into a snag I am not stressed out - departing 40 minutes earlier should get me to work by 8:30. I can't seem to get myself out of the house by 6:30 though, and the days when I can't get out of the house by 7:10, I catch the 8:00 train and get to work around 9:30.

These are the things that can, and often do, derail my plans on getting on schedule and sticking to it:

• I am an insomniac. If I can't fall asleep and get enough sleep, I can't peel myself out of bed.
• I counteract this by taking an extended release Xanax each night

• Taking my 10-hour Xanax too late. Then, I'm all groggy and can't peel myself out of bed
• My cats are being cute and want to snuggle in the morning (read: daily problem)
• My husband is awake, or we have the kids, meaning I have to stay out of people's ways or help someone get ready
• I can't find something. Usually my train pass. It's usually in my pocket.
• this includes, but is not limited to: cell phone, wallet, comb, brush, toothbrush, shoes, keys, cat food, breakfast, something to pack for lunch
• I counteract THIS by trying to do everything the night before. So, my bag is packed, the Splenda is in the travel mug with the tea bag, the tea pot is on the stove, my shoes are somewhere I will trip over them, etc.
• I have to shower in the morning
• Again, the night before is a big help
• The train is late getting to me, or late getting to the train station
• The subway is sluggish
• People are stupid
• Need to run an errand in the morning and nothing actually OPENS until 9:0)
• Too lazy to walk, bus is late

A couple of years ago I started realizing that I have some zany things happen to me on public transportation, but almost always it's still my fault that I get to work late. I am going to chronicle my adventures and see where it is and isn't my fault, and what I can do about it.

For anyone that is curious, I get out at 5:00 and go like a bat out of hell to be back at the commuter rail station for the 5:40 train home. That usually arrives in Attleboro at 6:20 or so, and either I get a ride from there, or walk and get to my house around 6:45 each night. Door-to-door, my day is a 12 hour one, provided I don't have anything to do at night. Which, I usually do.

This week in a nutshell

Out of 5 days this week, I was late 3 of them. Monday I strolled in around 9:20 and Tuesday around 9:15. Both days I needed to hit the bank and for some reason it took FOREVER. My weekend was a hectic mess, so Monday morning I felt as though I hadn't had any downtime and I needed to run about 1 billion errands Monday night. I ended up canceling plans with my best friend, who I have spent 45 minutes with in the last 6 or 7 months, but I did squeeze in a bubble bath, a trashy romance novel and snuggle time with the kitties.

Wednesday and Thursday were "good", meaning I got to work when I intended to, but man did I hate it. One of my guys needed photocopies distributed by 8:30, so I came in for 8, and got here by 8. Wednesday wasn't SO bad, but Wednesday night I went out and didn't get home until late, so Thursday morning was pretty painful.

I didn't get home last night until 11:30, didn't fall asleep until 1:00am, so when it came time to disentangle myself from my cats I couldn't do it. Then, I couldn't drag myself out of the shower. I took a later train and got to work at 9:30. Not bad considering I did work significant overtime this week.

Bottom Line: late to work 60% of the time this week, fault: mine.