Well now if this isn't a shining example...
1 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 26 May 2010 at 5/26/2010 03:25:00 pm.
...of how sometimes you just gotta have a little faith!
So as per yesterday's blog there stood I, all worried and stressing and down in the shyte... dreading my appt. with the Embassy folk today (for what reason, I have NO idea, it's just that in my old age I have started to just assume that when there's Government, there's gonna be turmoil). I couldn't even really relax yesterday & last night and was quite fretful this morning too.
Got to the Big House today, passed through all 384 gates & guards and friskers and scanners, and waited patiently for my turn, had a "this looks weird but hear me out" conversation regarding getting LJJ a visitors' visa, was funnelled off to someone else, then waited some more. In fairness to the Someone Else, they really did a lot of research for me right then and there on our situation ("the situation" being why are we only applying for a visitor's visa for her and not a passport & citizenship - long story, but there's a reason, yes, but to them this just looks tres bizzare) and ultimately after an hour of deliberation (and about 950 bucks processing fee - which i had to leave the premisis to go acquire... including 2 different ATM machines because one of them ran out of money... and then back through the 384 gates & guards and friskers and scanners), informed me that he has given LJJ a 2-year visa and that we can hold out on naturalizing her til 2011 if we want. Yay! This is like the best case scenario ever! Why did I doubt that it wouldn't be just fine? I don't understand myself sometimes. I just tend to assume the worst. Probably based on how things work around here & how I've just gotten used to it all.
And as the cherry on top, Dude at the Emb. was so nice and friendly and helpful, he even gave me the actual form we need to fill in in 2011 when the time has come to Yankee-fy this girl, as well as a very comprehensive explanation of how things work and the various options we have to consider regarding the kiddo's future nationality. Very helpful indeed.
So anyhoo, that was the last bit of hooey that we had to check off the list before hitting the road at the end of June. Done!
I have been interviewing gov't ministers this week for my thesis. That means I'm busy as hell. And work is up the walls again too. This leaves precious little time for things like banjoing, reading, pianoing, violaing, working out, relaxing, etc. And, we keep getting more and more work, at work. so I have no idea what my future sanity is going to look like but I think one thing I need to put into my sanity management plan is something like "only work on thesis on certain days". Because if i have to face that shit every day, as well as work, I swear I'm gonna jump off a cliff. Maybe a weekly routine would work. As in, "Monday = office/work, gym. Tuesday = home/thesis/banjo. Wednesday = office/work, gym. Thursday = home/work, cooking."... etc. But shit like meetings and site visits and picking up The Mr.'s slack because of HIS meetings, site visits, etc always wreck any possibility of planning any day of my life like that. Jeez.
Talked to El Hermano (aka The Bwuddaman) last night regarding our trip back. Considering he lives in KC (where we're flying into) it was always ARSE-sumed that he would be fetching us at the airport at 10:30pm when we arrived, and we would stay at his place that night (or rather, "whatever's left of that night by the time we get to his place"). Then he could schlep us over to the g'parents house the next morning where we are due to spend the day before heading back to the hometown (The G'pa is in terrible shape and basically on his death bed so it'll be important to spend as much time there as we can manage while back... if he's even still around by June). They live just around the corner from El Hermano, so it was all going to work out just fine and dandy. However, he just found out yesterday that his new job has scheduled him to be out in western Kansas that day (it's a Monday) and so he won't even be around to do the brotherly airport schlepping duty. Bollocks~!
He clearly felt shitty about this whole thing and I didn't want to make him feel worse than he already did about something that he can't control (since he just started this job he can't jockey his schedule around yet and hasn't even accrued days off yet) so I told him what the hell, we'll just get a hotel at the airport and rent a car, t'sokay. And then lo and behold about an hour after we hung up I had a FB message from his new GF (who i don't know at all) saying that she would be more than happy to come out at O-dark-thirty to the butt-ass-other side of the city and pick us up and take us back to his apartment where she could let us in so we can stay. AND if we need a car (which we do) she can organize us her dad's because he's having surgery around then and won't be able to drive anyway for most of the time we're there. Wow. So the Bwuddaman must have gotten busy fast. I'm flattered and honored that she would be so kind with her generous offer, but just feel really guilty and bad about taking her up on it. I mean we don't even know each other - I know she's in good with The Fam and they all think she's a good catch, but we haven't even so much as talked on the phone. What to do... what to do.... if it wasn't so damn late at night I wouldn't probably feel bad either, but 10:30... on a school night.... and what if our flight is delayed, and all that crap? It WOULD definitely be an advantage to be able to get back to El Hermano's apartment since it's so close to the G'parents. Hmmmm.... Oh well, it's something to consider anyway. But to make a long story short, I like people who give you the benefit of the doubt and offer to do nice things for those they may not even know. I choose to use this as a good sign regarding the Bwuddaman's new girl, and we should all be so kind once in awhile, no?
So as per yesterday's blog there stood I, all worried and stressing and down in the shyte... dreading my appt. with the Embassy folk today (for what reason, I have NO idea, it's just that in my old age I have started to just assume that when there's Government, there's gonna be turmoil). I couldn't even really relax yesterday & last night and was quite fretful this morning too.
Got to the Big House today, passed through all 384 gates & guards and friskers and scanners, and waited patiently for my turn, had a "this looks weird but hear me out" conversation regarding getting LJJ a visitors' visa, was funnelled off to someone else, then waited some more. In fairness to the Someone Else, they really did a lot of research for me right then and there on our situation ("the situation" being why are we only applying for a visitor's visa for her and not a passport & citizenship - long story, but there's a reason, yes, but to them this just looks tres bizzare) and ultimately after an hour of deliberation (and about 950 bucks processing fee - which i had to leave the premisis to go acquire... including 2 different ATM machines because one of them ran out of money... and then back through the 384 gates & guards and friskers and scanners), informed me that he has given LJJ a 2-year visa and that we can hold out on naturalizing her til 2011 if we want. Yay! This is like the best case scenario ever! Why did I doubt that it wouldn't be just fine? I don't understand myself sometimes. I just tend to assume the worst. Probably based on how things work around here & how I've just gotten used to it all.
And as the cherry on top, Dude at the Emb. was so nice and friendly and helpful, he even gave me the actual form we need to fill in in 2011 when the time has come to Yankee-fy this girl, as well as a very comprehensive explanation of how things work and the various options we have to consider regarding the kiddo's future nationality. Very helpful indeed.
So anyhoo, that was the last bit of hooey that we had to check off the list before hitting the road at the end of June. Done!
I have been interviewing gov't ministers this week for my thesis. That means I'm busy as hell. And work is up the walls again too. This leaves precious little time for things like banjoing, reading, pianoing, violaing, working out, relaxing, etc. And, we keep getting more and more work, at work. so I have no idea what my future sanity is going to look like but I think one thing I need to put into my sanity management plan is something like "only work on thesis on certain days". Because if i have to face that shit every day, as well as work, I swear I'm gonna jump off a cliff. Maybe a weekly routine would work. As in, "Monday = office/work, gym. Tuesday = home/thesis/banjo. Wednesday = office/work, gym. Thursday = home/work, cooking."... etc. But shit like meetings and site visits and picking up The Mr.'s slack because of HIS meetings, site visits, etc always wreck any possibility of planning any day of my life like that. Jeez.
Talked to El Hermano (aka The Bwuddaman) last night regarding our trip back. Considering he lives in KC (where we're flying into) it was always ARSE-sumed that he would be fetching us at the airport at 10:30pm when we arrived, and we would stay at his place that night (or rather, "whatever's left of that night by the time we get to his place"). Then he could schlep us over to the g'parents house the next morning where we are due to spend the day before heading back to the hometown (The G'pa is in terrible shape and basically on his death bed so it'll be important to spend as much time there as we can manage while back... if he's even still around by June). They live just around the corner from El Hermano, so it was all going to work out just fine and dandy. However, he just found out yesterday that his new job has scheduled him to be out in western Kansas that day (it's a Monday) and so he won't even be around to do the brotherly airport schlepping duty. Bollocks~!
He clearly felt shitty about this whole thing and I didn't want to make him feel worse than he already did about something that he can't control (since he just started this job he can't jockey his schedule around yet and hasn't even accrued days off yet) so I told him what the hell, we'll just get a hotel at the airport and rent a car, t'sokay. And then lo and behold about an hour after we hung up I had a FB message from his new GF (who i don't know at all) saying that she would be more than happy to come out at O-dark-thirty to the butt-ass-other side of the city and pick us up and take us back to his apartment where she could let us in so we can stay. AND if we need a car (which we do) she can organize us her dad's because he's having surgery around then and won't be able to drive anyway for most of the time we're there. Wow. So the Bwuddaman must have gotten busy fast. I'm flattered and honored that she would be so kind with her generous offer, but just feel really guilty and bad about taking her up on it. I mean we don't even know each other - I know she's in good with The Fam and they all think she's a good catch, but we haven't even so much as talked on the phone. What to do... what to do.... if it wasn't so damn late at night I wouldn't probably feel bad either, but 10:30... on a school night.... and what if our flight is delayed, and all that crap? It WOULD definitely be an advantage to be able to get back to El Hermano's apartment since it's so close to the G'parents. Hmmmm.... Oh well, it's something to consider anyway. But to make a long story short, I like people who give you the benefit of the doubt and offer to do nice things for those they may not even know. I choose to use this as a good sign regarding the Bwuddaman's new girl, and we should all be so kind once in awhile, no?
Labels: trip planning
Ugggghhhhhhh.
My positive attitude and "do right" attitude has just taken a beating and I'm standing on the cliff looking over at the sea of negativitiy below just FORCING myself not to jump into it and wallow around for awhile!
This primarily stems from A) losing my gym bag with funky fresh running shoes and best Nike workout shirt & Addidas workout shorts ever. B) Having to deal with one MISS ATTITUUUDE on the phone just now. C) Facing the turmoil that surely awaits me at the US Embassy in relation to applying for LJJs visitor's visa for our impending trip back home (I suspect there will be turmoil based on the OTHER MISS ATTITUUUDE that I had to talk to on the phone today about it).
1) I only lost some gym clothes and a couple towels, not a purse or a wallet or anything of value (although those were damn awesome Nike+ running shoes)
2) MISS ATTITUUUDE No. 1's boss had to call and apologize to me in person because she had it ALL WRONG.
3) I don't really know for sure that the US Emb. is going to give me turmoil, I'm just guessing... and you know what they say about the bridge you have no business crossing til you get there.
Anyhoo, the weekend was pretty slick and enjoyable.
Here's what went down.
Thursday we left in the afternoon for PTA. Had a trouble-free drive down south listening to a FASCINATING book by Chris O'Dell. OMG I can't believe what a treasure chest of Rock N Roll history this is... all these little details that I never knew about some of my favourite rockers written by someone who was right in the middle of all of it during the 60's & 70's... I just listen to this with my jaw on the floor, in a combination of amazement and jealousy that *I* couldn't be the one living HER life... sleeping with Mick Jagger, inspiring songs by people like George Harrison and Leon Russell.... and OMG like the ONLY Joni Mitchell song that means ANYTHING to me ("Coyote" of course, strictly based on its presence in The Last Waltz)... sure I try to make it a habit to not envy other people's lives, but hell I'll admit it - I would'a loved to have been in her shoes. OK except for the fact that the drug addiction gives me the willies. But otherwise... I also find it amazing how meeting one person at one specific point in time in your life can totally and completely fabricate your destiny for you. Always a favourite topic of mine.
Right, so we got down to P-town and spent the night in a nice guesthouse close to the Embassy of The Mr. so that he could walk over for his 8am appointment the next day. Then our World Cup tickets were fetched, our flight tickets for June were fetched, and we headed over to Ma & Pa P. for lunch and a general catch-up. They hadn't met LJJ yet and we hadnt actually seen them in over a year(!!!)
It was a nice afternoon with them and we'll be seeing them again in a month, so after lunch we headed off to T&L who live between the P's and Uncle A., and had coffee with them and the younglings played around for an hour or so, and then we pushed off to Jozi to Uncle A. for the night. Where Daniel & Mrs Daniel (his friends who came up to our place with him for New Years' this year) were also hanging out, and we all ate chinese food and drank Uncle A's roommate's hooch and had a smashing good time until the wee hours.
Then Saturday The Mr. & I toook Uncle A's motorcycle out for a spin since it was so sunny and cool and pleasant, which gave us even more inspiration to get the damn Harley parts sorted out so we can get it on the road prontissimo. Then headed off to pick up some of said parts from the HD shoppe, where I also acquired a nice t-shirt that was sitting right next to the help desk (this is how I buy clothes - they literally have to throw themselves at me... I don't believe in wasting my time going out to look for THEM... which is why I still have jeans from 5 years ago and stuff from the 90s in my closet. Which also will prove to be a problem related to the above missing workout clothes... ughhhh). And then it was back up to G-city all the while listening to more Miss O'Dell.
Then Sunday was a nice hash and braai thereafter, a really lovely day in fact, and then not much else to report other than having a nice long skype conversation with the BFF, HG.
Other instances of note lately have been The Mr's slowly tapering fondness for our dear country of residence. He has had a lot of work problems lately and is being tested to the N'th degree in terms of patience and benevolance. I feel really bad for him, but at the same time it means that something is lingering in the undercurrent related to the next chapter in our life-to-be, which I am curious to learn more about. Not that I can see anything uprooting us any time soon, but the days of "no point in thinking about the future now, let's just enjoy the present" are quite possibly numbered. And this always gets me interested.
Oh yes, and aside from all that malarkey, I am altering my pushup regime for the coming months. Talking to the HG on sunday, she informed me that the true FBI style pushup actually includes "nose to the ground". Now, mind you in my current daily count of 50-at-a-time (i.e. the month of May) I am going pretty damn far down to the ground... I maintain I am truly doing a real, live "Man pushup" here.... but admittedly no touching-of-nose-to-floor. So I have decided to try that for June, which should also help curb the resentment that is slowly developing as each addition of 10 draws the required time out longer and longer. I'm at about the one minute mark now. Surely when I do the nose-touching, I won't be able to pull off 60 at once, so that will kinda set the clock back (so to speak) to about 30 or so, I'm wagering, and I'll just start from there.
OK thats all I got.
My positive attitude and "do right" attitude has just taken a beating and I'm standing on the cliff looking over at the sea of negativitiy below just FORCING myself not to jump into it and wallow around for awhile!
This primarily stems from A) losing my gym bag with funky fresh running shoes and best Nike workout shirt & Addidas workout shorts ever. B) Having to deal with one MISS ATTITUUUDE on the phone just now. C) Facing the turmoil that surely awaits me at the US Embassy in relation to applying for LJJs visitor's visa for our impending trip back home (I suspect there will be turmoil based on the OTHER MISS ATTITUUUDE that I had to talk to on the phone today about it).
I dont know why, but I just have this really, really bad feeling that something really, really bad is going to happen. -shudder-
1) I only lost some gym clothes and a couple towels, not a purse or a wallet or anything of value (although those were damn awesome Nike+ running shoes)
2) MISS ATTITUUUDE No. 1's boss had to call and apologize to me in person because she had it ALL WRONG.
3) I don't really know for sure that the US Emb. is going to give me turmoil, I'm just guessing... and you know what they say about the bridge you have no business crossing til you get there.
Anyhoo, the weekend was pretty slick and enjoyable.
Here's what went down.
Thursday we left in the afternoon for PTA. Had a trouble-free drive down south listening to a FASCINATING book by Chris O'Dell. OMG I can't believe what a treasure chest of Rock N Roll history this is... all these little details that I never knew about some of my favourite rockers written by someone who was right in the middle of all of it during the 60's & 70's... I just listen to this with my jaw on the floor, in a combination of amazement and jealousy that *I* couldn't be the one living HER life... sleeping with Mick Jagger, inspiring songs by people like George Harrison and Leon Russell.... and OMG like the ONLY Joni Mitchell song that means ANYTHING to me ("Coyote" of course, strictly based on its presence in The Last Waltz)... sure I try to make it a habit to not envy other people's lives, but hell I'll admit it - I would'a loved to have been in her shoes. OK except for the fact that the drug addiction gives me the willies. But otherwise... I also find it amazing how meeting one person at one specific point in time in your life can totally and completely fabricate your destiny for you. Always a favourite topic of mine.
Right, so we got down to P-town and spent the night in a nice guesthouse close to the Embassy of The Mr. so that he could walk over for his 8am appointment the next day. Then our World Cup tickets were fetched, our flight tickets for June were fetched, and we headed over to Ma & Pa P. for lunch and a general catch-up. They hadn't met LJJ yet and we hadnt actually seen them in over a year(!!!)
It was a nice afternoon with them and we'll be seeing them again in a month, so after lunch we headed off to T&L who live between the P's and Uncle A., and had coffee with them and the younglings played around for an hour or so, and then we pushed off to Jozi to Uncle A. for the night. Where Daniel & Mrs Daniel (his friends who came up to our place with him for New Years' this year) were also hanging out, and we all ate chinese food and drank Uncle A's roommate's hooch and had a smashing good time until the wee hours.
Then Saturday The Mr. & I toook Uncle A's motorcycle out for a spin since it was so sunny and cool and pleasant, which gave us even more inspiration to get the damn Harley parts sorted out so we can get it on the road prontissimo. Then headed off to pick up some of said parts from the HD shoppe, where I also acquired a nice t-shirt that was sitting right next to the help desk (this is how I buy clothes - they literally have to throw themselves at me... I don't believe in wasting my time going out to look for THEM... which is why I still have jeans from 5 years ago and stuff from the 90s in my closet. Which also will prove to be a problem related to the above missing workout clothes... ughhhh). And then it was back up to G-city all the while listening to more Miss O'Dell.
Then Sunday was a nice hash and braai thereafter, a really lovely day in fact, and then not much else to report other than having a nice long skype conversation with the BFF, HG.
Other instances of note lately have been The Mr's slowly tapering fondness for our dear country of residence. He has had a lot of work problems lately and is being tested to the N'th degree in terms of patience and benevolance. I feel really bad for him, but at the same time it means that something is lingering in the undercurrent related to the next chapter in our life-to-be, which I am curious to learn more about. Not that I can see anything uprooting us any time soon, but the days of "no point in thinking about the future now, let's just enjoy the present" are quite possibly numbered. And this always gets me interested.
Oh yes, and aside from all that malarkey, I am altering my pushup regime for the coming months. Talking to the HG on sunday, she informed me that the true FBI style pushup actually includes "nose to the ground". Now, mind you in my current daily count of 50-at-a-time (i.e. the month of May) I am going pretty damn far down to the ground... I maintain I am truly doing a real, live "Man pushup" here.... but admittedly no touching-of-nose-to-floor. So I have decided to try that for June, which should also help curb the resentment that is slowly developing as each addition of 10 draws the required time out longer and longer. I'm at about the one minute mark now. Surely when I do the nose-touching, I won't be able to pull off 60 at once, so that will kinda set the clock back (so to speak) to about 30 or so, I'm wagering, and I'll just start from there.
OK thats all I got.
Labels: books
What a freakin cop-out!!
1 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 18 May 2010 at 5/18/2010 01:22:00 pm.
OK so it is clear that I am SO annoyed about this whole Delta-Airlines-BS related to them (and apparently every other american airline besides Southwest) having the nerve to charge me big USD for each bag that we shall be packing and bringing along with us on our upcoming North American holiday. I was so mad when we found out as we were booking our tickets, that I composed the following "complaint letter" that I submitted on their complaints' desk section of their website:
"I have just given the go-ahead to our travel agent to make our booking for us, so this is a pre-emptive email, even though our payment hasn't even been processed yet, but I nevertheless feel the need to say something about my negative experiences already:
I am writing to report that after several days of planning my family's 4-week trip itenerary from Southern Africa to the USA to specifically AVOID any use of Delta Airlines (because of the horrible reputation Delta has gotten from many South African travellers using it for flights between Johannesburg & Atlanta, as well as my parents' handful of negative experiences on the same flight), I am left with no other choice (due to seat availability and connections) than to use Delta for our internal USA flights. We were able to get SAA to New York and back, luckily. However, imagine my disgust when I then find out you are going to charge my family and I (there are 3 of us) TWENTY FIVE US DOLLARS PER BAG that we check in, on every internal flight we take, throughout the duration of our holiday. Need I say more? Remember, there are 3 of us. We are taking 4 internal flights. Where is this coming from? No other country we have ever visited, nor any other airline, has ever exploited our patronage nor robbed us as blind as this trip will. Do you realize we will be spending African currency while we're away, and that extra $25.00 per person per bag PER FLIGHT adds no less than (depending on how uncomfortably we can manage to squeeze our daughters' clothing into hand luggage) $150.00 onto our grand total, which equals nearly P1,000.00 in our money - which is enough to buy an entire round-trip airfare to any number of destinations from where we live!!
Not only does Delta already have the reputation where we live of having the most rude and unhelpful staff of any American airline, bad food, lost luggage galore, etc. (we are used to airlines such as Virgin, South African, Singapore, Emirates, etc which are all known for their gracious and polite personnel), now we learn we're going to get financially punished for having the nerve to bring clothes along with us on our vacation to the other side of the world. I find this a very negative start to the trip already, and we haven't even left yet. Thanks."
Right, so I ticked the "yes, I would like to receive a response" button.... just out of curiosity to see what the hell kind of retort and excuse they would give me for this blatant exploitation of customer patronage....
And lo and behold yesterday I got my "response" in my inbox. Ready for the crap?
Dear (Me):
It was with extreme disappointment for us to receive an email such as yours, which contains details of circumstances that have caused you to feel that our Flying Partner DL has in some way have not lived up to the high standard you rightfully expect. I hope you will accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that you may have experienced as a result of these occurrences.
I am sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with our partner services and the domestic USA baggage allowance which charges 1st Baggage in economy class 25USD and the 2nd Baggage 35USD to be paid at the airport, with a maximum 3 dimensions of 158cms.
Kindly note that, this allowance does not apply if the domestic flights connect from an international flight (combination tickets).
Candid feedback like yours enables us to identify specific areas of concern. Be assured that all your comments and concerns will be shared with the responsible executives for further improvement of our services.
Naturally you expect DL staff, to provide the very best service possible. It is inexcusable that you should receive anything else but polite, helpful and attentive behavior from any member of our staff.
In closing, I do hope that you will accept my sincere apology and not permit this unfortunate experience to continue to reflect unfavourably upon us. I am confident that we are capable of delivering the level of service you have every reason to expect, and given the privilege of serving you in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Some babe with a French name...
The Customer Care Executive
Africa Middle East
WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Talk about lousy attempt at a computer-generated NON-acknowledgement!!! OMG I just find that too lame to comprehend. Not to mention the email came from freakin Air France and not even Delta.... and who the hell is "our flying partner DL" anyway!?!?!? David Letterman?!!?? I'm talking about freakin Delta Damn Airlines here!!
ugh. why do I bother.
"I have just given the go-ahead to our travel agent to make our booking for us, so this is a pre-emptive email, even though our payment hasn't even been processed yet, but I nevertheless feel the need to say something about my negative experiences already:
I am writing to report that after several days of planning my family's 4-week trip itenerary from Southern Africa to the USA to specifically AVOID any use of Delta Airlines (because of the horrible reputation Delta has gotten from many South African travellers using it for flights between Johannesburg & Atlanta, as well as my parents' handful of negative experiences on the same flight), I am left with no other choice (due to seat availability and connections) than to use Delta for our internal USA flights. We were able to get SAA to New York and back, luckily. However, imagine my disgust when I then find out you are going to charge my family and I (there are 3 of us) TWENTY FIVE US DOLLARS PER BAG that we check in, on every internal flight we take, throughout the duration of our holiday. Need I say more? Remember, there are 3 of us. We are taking 4 internal flights. Where is this coming from? No other country we have ever visited, nor any other airline, has ever exploited our patronage nor robbed us as blind as this trip will. Do you realize we will be spending African currency while we're away, and that extra $25.00 per person per bag PER FLIGHT adds no less than (depending on how uncomfortably we can manage to squeeze our daughters' clothing into hand luggage) $150.00 onto our grand total, which equals nearly P1,000.00 in our money - which is enough to buy an entire round-trip airfare to any number of destinations from where we live!!
Not only does Delta already have the reputation where we live of having the most rude and unhelpful staff of any American airline, bad food, lost luggage galore, etc. (we are used to airlines such as Virgin, South African, Singapore, Emirates, etc which are all known for their gracious and polite personnel), now we learn we're going to get financially punished for having the nerve to bring clothes along with us on our vacation to the other side of the world. I find this a very negative start to the trip already, and we haven't even left yet. Thanks."
Right, so I ticked the "yes, I would like to receive a response" button.... just out of curiosity to see what the hell kind of retort and excuse they would give me for this blatant exploitation of customer patronage....
And lo and behold yesterday I got my "response" in my inbox. Ready for the crap?
Dear (Me):
It was with extreme disappointment for us to receive an email such as yours, which contains details of circumstances that have caused you to feel that our Flying Partner DL has in some way have not lived up to the high standard you rightfully expect. I hope you will accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that you may have experienced as a result of these occurrences.
I am sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with our partner services and the domestic USA baggage allowance which charges 1st Baggage in economy class 25USD and the 2nd Baggage 35USD to be paid at the airport, with a maximum 3 dimensions of 158cms.
Kindly note that, this allowance does not apply if the domestic flights connect from an international flight (combination tickets).
Candid feedback like yours enables us to identify specific areas of concern. Be assured that all your comments and concerns will be shared with the responsible executives for further improvement of our services.
Naturally you expect DL staff, to provide the very best service possible. It is inexcusable that you should receive anything else but polite, helpful and attentive behavior from any member of our staff.
In closing, I do hope that you will accept my sincere apology and not permit this unfortunate experience to continue to reflect unfavourably upon us. I am confident that we are capable of delivering the level of service you have every reason to expect, and given the privilege of serving you in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Some babe with a French name...
The Customer Care Executive
Africa Middle East
WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Talk about lousy attempt at a computer-generated NON-acknowledgement!!! OMG I just find that too lame to comprehend. Not to mention the email came from freakin Air France and not even Delta.... and who the hell is "our flying partner DL" anyway!?!?!? David Letterman?!!?? I'm talking about freakin Delta Damn Airlines here!!
ugh. why do I bother.
To quote the great R.L. Burnside.... "Well, well, well!"
My, aren't big things just happening right & left over here! Some good, some bad, some just... well, well, well.
First and least, the work stuff: Jr. handed in his notice today. We find this very bizzarre considering he is in debt up to his eyeballs, has no other job lined up, and a new material girl bride with no employment nor desire to find it. he only cites "personal reasons" for his decision, and took the last 2 days off to pray and ask God for guidence.... and to make some other opportunity appear in the next month. while we are totally bamboozled by the decision, he's obviously sad and conflicted and assures us we've been the best employers anyone could ask for, etcetcetc but it's just something he "has to do".... what? lose your house & car? well... okay! to each their own! but alas it's almost bittersweet as truth be told he HAS been the weakest link for the longest time, when it comes to our guys. we can DEFINITLY hire an improvement. but still, both me & the Mr. worry about the kid & what the hell's going on there. and then there's the annoyance of training new staff, them earning your trust, etcetc. ugggghhhhh.
then, there's the poor Mr. himself. basically on one of our more high-profile jobs, one of our subbies made a wee balls-up and since we employed him, naturally we're gonna get dragged thru the mud. and this is something that has been playing havoc with his sanity for weeks now. I feel really bad for him since this was one of his projects so he's the one who is fighting the fires and going down with the client. who, incidentally is being extremely unfair and blaming him for things that aren't true, ad nauseum, so that's just real bad vibes all around.
but on the brighter side, looks like our USA tickets are being organized right now- woo hoo!!! that makes me hap-peeee and gives us something glorious on the horizon to look forward to. who knows, the Mr. is undergoing so much pain & suffering on the work front now, this might actually be the one & only best chance ever for our friends & fam back home to secretly convince him to just stay there forever!!
hm.. what else developed... I can't remember...
I've got really good passionfruits & jalapeños in the garden?
we have a "surprise" public holiday tomorrow?
BBC comedy week has been extended to comedy month!!
I love British comedian Michael McIntyre!
oh yes. also on the unfortunate side of things, the gig I was going to play with Dave's band whilst back at home got cancelled because lead singer's gonna be gone. damn. but the informal gary's-basement-jamming events will still be on... and on fire!!
My, aren't big things just happening right & left over here! Some good, some bad, some just... well, well, well.
First and least, the work stuff: Jr. handed in his notice today. We find this very bizzarre considering he is in debt up to his eyeballs, has no other job lined up, and a new material girl bride with no employment nor desire to find it. he only cites "personal reasons" for his decision, and took the last 2 days off to pray and ask God for guidence.... and to make some other opportunity appear in the next month. while we are totally bamboozled by the decision, he's obviously sad and conflicted and assures us we've been the best employers anyone could ask for, etcetcetc but it's just something he "has to do".... what? lose your house & car? well... okay! to each their own! but alas it's almost bittersweet as truth be told he HAS been the weakest link for the longest time, when it comes to our guys. we can DEFINITLY hire an improvement. but still, both me & the Mr. worry about the kid & what the hell's going on there. and then there's the annoyance of training new staff, them earning your trust, etcetc. ugggghhhhh.
then, there's the poor Mr. himself. basically on one of our more high-profile jobs, one of our subbies made a wee balls-up and since we employed him, naturally we're gonna get dragged thru the mud. and this is something that has been playing havoc with his sanity for weeks now. I feel really bad for him since this was one of his projects so he's the one who is fighting the fires and going down with the client. who, incidentally is being extremely unfair and blaming him for things that aren't true, ad nauseum, so that's just real bad vibes all around.
but on the brighter side, looks like our USA tickets are being organized right now- woo hoo!!! that makes me hap-peeee and gives us something glorious on the horizon to look forward to. who knows, the Mr. is undergoing so much pain & suffering on the work front now, this might actually be the one & only best chance ever for our friends & fam back home to secretly convince him to just stay there forever!!
hm.. what else developed... I can't remember...
I've got really good passionfruits & jalapeños in the garden?
we have a "surprise" public holiday tomorrow?
BBC comedy week has been extended to comedy month!!
I love British comedian Michael McIntyre!
oh yes. also on the unfortunate side of things, the gig I was going to play with Dave's band whilst back at home got cancelled because lead singer's gonna be gone. damn. but the informal gary's-basement-jamming events will still be on... and on fire!!
Hit me with your best shot, monday.
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 10 May 2010 at 5/10/2010 10:00:00 am.
Ugh.
OK so the trip up to k-town was intense and full-on, and even though I wasn't the actual one doing the presentation etc., I am still feeling the burn from the whole week. Mainly I was trying to juggle research AND a grumpy 1-year old AND be on-call support for the project team, which doesn't sound like much but then if that's the case, why did i come back so burnt out? Oh yes, and then there were the extended days-full-of-driving-too-many-hours. blehhhh.
Regardless, we got home on friday evening and that's a good time to get home, because you don't have to go to work the next day. Of course this reasoning doesn't work for crap for me anymore since i'm in thesis mode and that means every day is a potential work day for me. And herein lies my really bad uneasy feeling:
when i'm NOT working on it, I'm feeling guilty about not working on it. Because there's no structure and i'm just left up to my own devices, I have no idea if I'm doing enough, just-enough, not-quite-enough, or plenty of work.
But regardless, friday night even with all-day-on-the-road fatigue, I managed to whip up a pretty freakin delicious linguini & clam sauce for dinner (why linguini and clam sauce? because there was NOTHING in the house that was eat-worthy after being so busy and away for so long, but there WAS a can of clams and some pasta & the basic white wine sauce makings, of course). It was delicious but of course not nutritious which gave me that horrible "I shouldn't be eating this" feeling - particularly after a week of lodge breakfasts & dinners, no exercise, and probably too many sundowners and bottles of wine. And also, everybody knows that when you eat linguini and clam sauce you GOTTA have a nice bottle of white to go along with it... I'm starting to feel the need for a detox week, honestly.
So then in an attempt to better my karma and self-worth and all that, I tried to make some research progress on saturday. And I went to the gym, which was highly necessary given the whole week without a gym or opportunity to go running, etc. Well sure there's always my morning pushups but that does NOT a fat-burning regime make! I am proud to mention, however, that here in the depths of the land of 50 pushups (without stopping) I am still holding my own and have massive (proportionally) triceps.
I am really enjoying saturday late afternoon/early evening workouts at the gym lately. It's totally dead in there (everybody getting ready to go OUT, I assume) and I've basically got no time pressure or reason to rush, so I tend to take my time and really get some quality workouts then. I don't even getting changed and driving back & forth anymore, which is always a litmus test for me of how committed I actually am with my fitness practice at the time.
Anyhoo, saturday night was pretty -meh- and I can't figure out if this was because there was just nothing to do, or because of the lingering guilty feeling, or because I knew what lay in wait for me the next day (my first ever Mothers' Day - of which I knew well before hand would be completely ignored in my house, and while other mommies were getting breakfast in bed and some sort of minimal recognition for their efforts in motherhood, I would be awoken to the sound of "hurry up! we're leaving in 30 minutes! can you dress the kid?!") but what can I say, it was just another lame saturday night but I made a pretty stellar steak for dinner (which of course warranted a stellar bottle of red).
Onward to sunday - naturally we won't talk about the occurrance of "M DAY" which pretty much consisted of me getting e-cards and text messages from everybody (which I was honestly not expecting - the concept still boggles my mind, actually) except The Mr., in fact he even went as far as to inform me that I am not his mother, but if I would INSIST, then he would TRY to do something NEXT YEAR. ugh. gag. moving right along....
But at the HASH, lots of fun ensued, including a champagne stop during the middle of the run (which actually I didnt even get to run, because it was my week to be on walking duty - zzzz) for the mothers..... and actually, just so no one got left out 'anyone who was either born from a mother, or made a woman a mother, or has a mother!' followed by a braai and much socialising. so that was nice.
Sunday evening I took the big dog for a walk by myself which was a nice change because we did a bit of obedience work, which we can't normally do when the other pups are with us. Peace & quiet with my big boy. Then was the obligatory call to the mother and the grandmother, and that was fine, and otherwise it's just a bunch of flight-pricing online for the rest of the evening. Oh, and I cooked my own dinner again and it was delicious. Mushroom pie in a spinach crust. yes! vegetarian success! and (well after the hash was over anyway +/- 2pm) a fully alcohol-free evening.
SO, moving forward on the trail of "how to improve this week"...
1. Dry out, by not comsuming any adult beverages
2. Every day accomplish at least SOMETHING in the research department
3. Find some way to get the gym in (in M-town on tues, so possibly have to do Thurs & Fri)
4. Drink lots of tomato juice
5. Suck it up an have a good attitude about flying all the way up and back to M-town AGAIN for tomorrow's meeting
6. Benevolence, benevolence, benevolence.
Well, in that case, how about some major breakthrough in the world of tomato juice. Always a happy subject.... I have now figured out a way to curb the old "attack of the munchies along the road to fitness". As in, everyone you're with is eating and snacking, and you've already had a decent meal and all this social eating begins to play tricks on your stomach and you want to start noshing even though you're on the road to fitness and all that's around you is chips and dips and bad bad baddies. Drink a bloody mary!! Why have I not thought of this brilliant idea before? Not only is it the healthiest drink (tomato juice is indeed a superfood) available, but it's also got some acidic magic going on in there that paints your tounge with taste-bud numbers which trick your tounge into thinking you're eating something savoury AND the thick consistancy and spiciness of it tricks your stomach into thinking you're eating chips! Everybody wins in this guilt-free, fat-free, tangy worcesterlicious experience! Think I'm talking crap? Well of course I most certainly am! But it works somehow (for me anyway). i'm a bloody mary convert. count me in!
OK so the trip up to k-town was intense and full-on, and even though I wasn't the actual one doing the presentation etc., I am still feeling the burn from the whole week. Mainly I was trying to juggle research AND a grumpy 1-year old AND be on-call support for the project team, which doesn't sound like much but then if that's the case, why did i come back so burnt out? Oh yes, and then there were the extended days-full-of-driving-too-many-hours. blehhhh.
Regardless, we got home on friday evening and that's a good time to get home, because you don't have to go to work the next day. Of course this reasoning doesn't work for crap for me anymore since i'm in thesis mode and that means every day is a potential work day for me. And herein lies my really bad uneasy feeling:
when i'm NOT working on it, I'm feeling guilty about not working on it. Because there's no structure and i'm just left up to my own devices, I have no idea if I'm doing enough, just-enough, not-quite-enough, or plenty of work.
But regardless, friday night even with all-day-on-the-road fatigue, I managed to whip up a pretty freakin delicious linguini & clam sauce for dinner (why linguini and clam sauce? because there was NOTHING in the house that was eat-worthy after being so busy and away for so long, but there WAS a can of clams and some pasta & the basic white wine sauce makings, of course). It was delicious but of course not nutritious which gave me that horrible "I shouldn't be eating this" feeling - particularly after a week of lodge breakfasts & dinners, no exercise, and probably too many sundowners and bottles of wine. And also, everybody knows that when you eat linguini and clam sauce you GOTTA have a nice bottle of white to go along with it... I'm starting to feel the need for a detox week, honestly.
So then in an attempt to better my karma and self-worth and all that, I tried to make some research progress on saturday. And I went to the gym, which was highly necessary given the whole week without a gym or opportunity to go running, etc. Well sure there's always my morning pushups but that does NOT a fat-burning regime make! I am proud to mention, however, that here in the depths of the land of 50 pushups (without stopping) I am still holding my own and have massive (proportionally) triceps.
I am really enjoying saturday late afternoon/early evening workouts at the gym lately. It's totally dead in there (everybody getting ready to go OUT, I assume) and I've basically got no time pressure or reason to rush, so I tend to take my time and really get some quality workouts then. I don't even getting changed and driving back & forth anymore, which is always a litmus test for me of how committed I actually am with my fitness practice at the time.
Anyhoo, saturday night was pretty -meh- and I can't figure out if this was because there was just nothing to do, or because of the lingering guilty feeling, or because I knew what lay in wait for me the next day (my first ever Mothers' Day - of which I knew well before hand would be completely ignored in my house, and while other mommies were getting breakfast in bed and some sort of minimal recognition for their efforts in motherhood, I would be awoken to the sound of "hurry up! we're leaving in 30 minutes! can you dress the kid?!") but what can I say, it was just another lame saturday night but I made a pretty stellar steak for dinner (which of course warranted a stellar bottle of red).
Onward to sunday - naturally we won't talk about the occurrance of "M DAY" which pretty much consisted of me getting e-cards and text messages from everybody (which I was honestly not expecting - the concept still boggles my mind, actually) except The Mr., in fact he even went as far as to inform me that I am not his mother, but if I would INSIST, then he would TRY to do something NEXT YEAR. ugh. gag. moving right along....
But at the HASH, lots of fun ensued, including a champagne stop during the middle of the run (which actually I didnt even get to run, because it was my week to be on walking duty - zzzz) for the mothers..... and actually, just so no one got left out 'anyone who was either born from a mother, or made a woman a mother, or has a mother!' followed by a braai and much socialising. so that was nice.
Sunday evening I took the big dog for a walk by myself which was a nice change because we did a bit of obedience work, which we can't normally do when the other pups are with us. Peace & quiet with my big boy. Then was the obligatory call to the mother and the grandmother, and that was fine, and otherwise it's just a bunch of flight-pricing online for the rest of the evening. Oh, and I cooked my own dinner again and it was delicious. Mushroom pie in a spinach crust. yes! vegetarian success! and (well after the hash was over anyway +/- 2pm) a fully alcohol-free evening.
SO, moving forward on the trail of "how to improve this week"...
1. Dry out, by not comsuming any adult beverages
2. Every day accomplish at least SOMETHING in the research department
3. Find some way to get the gym in (in M-town on tues, so possibly have to do Thurs & Fri)
4. Drink lots of tomato juice
5. Suck it up an have a good attitude about flying all the way up and back to M-town AGAIN for tomorrow's meeting
6. Benevolence, benevolence, benevolence.
Well, in that case, how about some major breakthrough in the world of tomato juice. Always a happy subject.... I have now figured out a way to curb the old "attack of the munchies along the road to fitness". As in, everyone you're with is eating and snacking, and you've already had a decent meal and all this social eating begins to play tricks on your stomach and you want to start noshing even though you're on the road to fitness and all that's around you is chips and dips and bad bad baddies. Drink a bloody mary!! Why have I not thought of this brilliant idea before? Not only is it the healthiest drink (tomato juice is indeed a superfood) available, but it's also got some acidic magic going on in there that paints your tounge with taste-bud numbers which trick your tounge into thinking you're eating something savoury AND the thick consistancy and spiciness of it tricks your stomach into thinking you're eating chips! Everybody wins in this guilt-free, fat-free, tangy worcesterlicious experience! Think I'm talking crap? Well of course I most certainly am! But it works somehow (for me anyway). i'm a bloody mary convert. count me in!
So I've been missing the blogging lately because we're in the north of the country for work and it's really busy up here - also I'm busy writing my research but here's a little snippet: I absolutely love Paul Shaffer's biography! we listened to it on the long long drive up here and it was great. So thanks to Bella for the recommendation. And here's another thing... it's scandalous! about two or three weeks ago, our ecologist (Ed) and his church were busted for being a little bit too loud in one of their services in a nearby village. Music of course. Well! Ed, as one of the elders of the church, was arrested along with a couple other guys & one of the local village chief's thugs dragged him off to the local traditional court and beat/whipped them both (across the backs as per traditional corporal punishment practice here is... yes this goes on all the time here). mind you this was highly deplorable considering the church had all the permits they needed for latenight music playing in the village, etc etc etc. Then they confiscated all the musical instruments, and closed down the church!
But! But rather than rolling over like a little puppy like most locals around here would do Ed has taken their asses to court!!! this is like the first time that a local tribal chief has ever been dragged through the courts. The first thing that happened was that the church was reinstated because they won their case based on the fact that they were doing nothing wrong. Now the second case going forward is against the Chief and his practice of beating (& ultimately permanently scarring) those who have actually done nothing wrong! This is big stuff here!!! All over the papers & such. Go Ed!! We can all only hope this ends up changing BW "tradition" that is just stupid & unfair & archaic. I mean whippings? come on. as SheofDC said "what, are we talking like Saudi Arabia here??"
But! But rather than rolling over like a little puppy like most locals around here would do Ed has taken their asses to court!!! this is like the first time that a local tribal chief has ever been dragged through the courts. The first thing that happened was that the church was reinstated because they won their case based on the fact that they were doing nothing wrong. Now the second case going forward is against the Chief and his practice of beating (& ultimately permanently scarring) those who have actually done nothing wrong! This is big stuff here!!! All over the papers & such. Go Ed!! We can all only hope this ends up changing BW "tradition" that is just stupid & unfair & archaic. I mean whippings? come on. as SheofDC said "what, are we talking like Saudi Arabia here??"
