Maxine Monday

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The day the snooze died.

I am a notorious snoozer with my alarm clock.  I play games with myself, my clock is never set for the right time, and I hit the snooze the same number of times in the morning, every work day, and get up at the same time - and it's really much earlier than my clock says.  I know it, but in my sleepy brain in the morning, I can't quite figure out what the real time is so I get up, not wanting to take a chance.

Crazy, I know.

This morning, my snooze died.  My snooze button has been getting harder and harder to use - press down in the middle .. no .. on the right side .. no .. left side of the button .. wiggle it .. it was starting to defeat the purpose of using the snooze button.

This morning - it would not turn off.  My worst nightmare - turning off my alarm before I actually have to get out of bed.  But I did it this morning.  Then of course I set my cell phone for the time I wanted to wake up - and promptly went back to sleep.

Tonight I unplugged my old, tired, dusty little alarm clock and replaced it with another one I had laying around.

Goodbye old friend.  You played my games with me for a very long time, you humored me, yet still woke me as needed.  The other alarm clock will never quite be the same as you.

Farewell.

Maxine (it's still) Monday

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What's in a name?? A LOT when it's YOURS!!

My last job, within the first year (of 25) I had abbreviated my name out of self-defense.  Had this
conversation today, and last week, and the week before that ...

Me: Hi, this is BetteJo calling from (lalalala).  May I please speak with So&So?
Other person: Sure.  I'm sorry, you said your name is Bette?
Me:  Yes well, BetteJo, actually.
Other person:  Okay Bette, hold on and I will find her for you.

Will someone explain to me why, when I give my name, when I even give it a second time - specifying that it is actually different from what the person is calling me, they STILL shorten my name????

With the new job I thought, okay, I will give my real name a try.  We will see what happens.  I mean - with kids being named things like Apple and Bronx, how hard is it to get someone to say BetteJo?

Pretty doggone tough, apparently.  So apparently I have to go back to -

Me:  Hi, this is BJ calling from (lalalala) ....

ARGH-H-H!!!

Maxine Monday

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Over it!

Cold.  Record cold.  Went into work this morning, against my better judgement.  Saw a car that had hit a wall on the expressway, another with a fire truck and ambulance along side.  There were several cars pulled over with flat tires when I got to work there weren't nearly as many cars as usual.

Giggled with the younger co-worker who literally had pajama pants and tights under her dress slacks, as well as 2 fleece jackets under her coat.  COLD.

Still, you're there - you work.

One of the bosses decided we needed to have a call at 4:30 (I generally leave at 5:00) which lasted till 6:00.  6:30?  It's a blur.

Out to my car there was my boss (not the one who who arranged the call) in his car, cranking and cranking but not starting.  We tried to jump it (by we I mean HE) and that didn't work.  He decided to let me give him a ride home since it's close to where I live and at the point - he realized he had lost his keys.  The car wouldn't start, it was well below zero - he'd already been outside longer than advisable and his keys were missing.

Ai yi yi.

Meanwhile, my daughter was stuck in an Amtrak train with her husband, hours from home on their way back from her mother-in-law's house.  The train immobilized by snow drifts and God knows what else, information has been scarce.  They started giving people free food which is never a good sign.  At

Except it was at night and there was more snow
and we were coming from the opposite direction ...

least they were warm and were apparently able to charge their cell phones because Dani had been texting me a good part of the day.

Back at my car, my boss decided to just go home.  Leave the car there and go home to his warm house where he had another car in the garage.  So I drove.  A mile away from the office was a car nose down in a ditch where he had obviously parked his car precisely on the grill - with his back end up and flashers flashing.

We stopped.

Boss-man (I am protecting his identity so he will not be incredibly embarrassed by losing his keys in the space of 6 square feet) went and checked with the guy - he was okay, triple A was on the way - thanks.

On our way again.

Slow and steady, Boss at his house and me at mine, and my daughter and son-in-law - still stuck on a train.  By that time they were waiting for a tow - they had already been towed backward for a while, were hoping for another tow - um - anywhere.

I am tired, it's been a long day.  But how do I sleep when it's beyond frigid outside and my daughter and husband have been stuck on a train for over 12 hours - on a trip that should have been 4 to 5 hours, tops?  Argh.

So.  How's your day been??

** Update - Sometime around 3:00 am they managed to get the train to a station where Dani and Dan were put on a bus bound for home.  All told - after the 1st reservation was cancelled on Sunday, the train leaving late on Monday morning, being stuck, bused, driving from the train station to pick up their dog - they made it home about 8:00 am this morning.  See details here!

Maxine Monday

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And it's snowing again.

It IS pretty.

                If you're looking at it from the inside.