Back in Buffalo

Greetings everyone from Buffalo NY. I made it home yesterday, but not without a bit of a fiasco.

All in all, my flights were on time yesterday. Unfortunately, my laptop battery didn't last me through all 3 of them, so I was a bit without entertainment on my last flight. During two of the flights I had to sit near some young children traveling with their family which wasn't that pleasant, but it wasn't too bad. The day was a draining one for travel; being in 4 airports in one day isn't fun. But like I said, not much went wrong. At least until I went to get my bags in Buffalo.

In short, they weren't there. I waited and waited and waited and they weren't coming around. I went over to the baggage claim office and waited to talk to a representative, who was helping others who seemed to have had the same problem. I reported my bags, and the rep told me they were scheduled to arrive Thursday morning at around 11:09. So, weary and hungry, Jackie and I went home. We stopped at Louie's for some BBQ wings that she had ordered for me around 9:30, and by the time we got there they were almost closed, but they still had the wings. We watched some TV and I ate wings, and then I went to bed. This morning I got up around 9:30, and Jackie and I went to get breakfast at Pano's. I was feeling overall exhausted. Not in an "I want to sleep" way, just in an "I don't want to do anything" way. I only ate about half of my breakfast, and felt really apathetic toward everything. I think this amount of work is really taking its toll on me and the stress is causing my feelings and emotions to just sort of vanish. I guess that's what happens when you're tired. I drove Jackie to work so I could use her car, and went home.

I showered and that made me feel better, then got ready for my phone interview. My interviewer called a bit late, which didn't bother me much but made me nervous, because I knew I had to still go to the airport and get my stuff, and then get to class at 3:45. Finally she called, and we talked for a while. In the middle there was a fire alarm on her end so she had to hang up and call me back 15 minutes later. We talked for about another 20 minutes, and I asked her some questions as well. On the whole I think the interview went very well, though at times I stumbled over my words and had trouble explaining myself. But I'm hopeful, and we'll see if they offer me an in-person interview probably within a couple of weeks. So after the interview, I called Northwest Airlines to see what was up with my baggage. My claim number didn't work on the automated machine, so I got transfered to a representative who looked it up for me. She told me that the flight it was supposed to come in on this morning had been canceled! So it's not going to get here until, at the earliest, 4:15, and that I should call back around 4:30. So I still don't have my luggage, which contains some teaching supplies that I need to go through evaluations. This is ridiculous. I wonder if anything else will go wrong during my runs.

So now I'm sitting up here, in this very hot apartment, sweating from the heat and from worry, with a slightly nervous stomach that won't go away, and I've got to go and teach classes tonight. Then I have to teach 3 tomorrow, and then, of course, it's off to San Jose again. I think the only thing keeping me going is the hope that I might get this job at Google. And despite how crappy I feel, I must admit it does feel good to be home.

Later,
Alex