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Okay. It can snow now.
So, anyway, I have been working 10 hours a day (minus Thanksgiving) for a couple weeks now. I have been either at school teaching, doing class prep for next semester, or working on design comps for the new school catalog pretty much all the time.
Yesterday started out too early, and badly. I had to get up to get the oldest cat to the vet for some blood work, and since he had apparently just used the litter box when I scooped him up to put him in his carrier, they had to keep him to get a urine sample. Cat free, I decided to stop off at Tully's and surprise Ron with latté and cinnamon rolls (he had the day off.) (I also ended up with the boxed set of Martha Stewart's favorite Christmas music, but we don't need to mention that to him....)
I had the drinks in one of those cardboard carriers sitting on the passenger seat. Now, I see catastrophe in pretty much every situation, so it is not like I did not see that potential for them tipping over. I honestly thought I had them situated so that they were nice and stable. I was wrong. They tipped over toward the crack between the seat and the back as I crested the hill on Aloha headed down hill to 23 (I think it was the transition from pavement to cobbles that did it) and while I got them back upright, I had to dodge an Escalade full of pre-teens being ferried to Holy Names and was not able to secure them, so I am headed down the hill with two 16 ounce drinks teetering on my passenger seat and of course the light is green at the bottom of the hill and as I make the sharp turn onto 23rd, the entire container, drinks and all, hit the floor of the cab. Drinking hole down in both cases.
And drain entirely.
I am on 23rd in the tail end of rush hour traffic and there is no where to turn off that is not up a hill or down a hill and I have 28 ounces of non-fat milk draining into the carpet of my pickup.
By the time I got home both cups were almost empty.
Meanwhile, I was swamped with work preparing for the catalog presentation today, so poor Ron ended up having to take the truck to Pink Elephant to have the ex-cons clean the carpets. I don't think they did a very good job. It still smells like coffee and milk. Of course, like Ron said, he told the cashier what the problem was, and the cashier handed the keys off without relaying that information. I will probably have to have the interior detailed when I get the truck winterized in a couple weeks.
What an expensive couple of drinks.
Which we didn't get to drink.
For the rest of the day I printed out comps and pasted them up. The weather is too icky for going outside to use spray mount so I used this cool gun full of tape adhesive (apparently scrapbookers use them a lot... I need to find the professional version, apparently they are better quality.) Anyway, it was really easy to use, but I ran out of adhesive about a third of the way through paste up and had to make another run to the store for re-fills. I had forgotten both how expensive, and how much waste paper you produce, doing print design. Anyway, the presentation came to 21 boards and looked pretty darn good if I say so myself.
I presented my concepts to the client today. They were very excited and liked my favorite design best. I was very relieved and quite pleased. It is always nice to have someone see your work and be excited about it. Now they show their boss. I'm not expecting that to go well (which has nothing to do with me) but that is okay. That is just how the business works. I made my client happy and did some really great work. Anything else at this point is gravy.
Anyway, I need to get to prepping for my next class.
Yesterday started out too early, and badly. I had to get up to get the oldest cat to the vet for some blood work, and since he had apparently just used the litter box when I scooped him up to put him in his carrier, they had to keep him to get a urine sample. Cat free, I decided to stop off at Tully's and surprise Ron with latté and cinnamon rolls (he had the day off.) (I also ended up with the boxed set of Martha Stewart's favorite Christmas music, but we don't need to mention that to him....)
I had the drinks in one of those cardboard carriers sitting on the passenger seat. Now, I see catastrophe in pretty much every situation, so it is not like I did not see that potential for them tipping over. I honestly thought I had them situated so that they were nice and stable. I was wrong. They tipped over toward the crack between the seat and the back as I crested the hill on Aloha headed down hill to 23 (I think it was the transition from pavement to cobbles that did it) and while I got them back upright, I had to dodge an Escalade full of pre-teens being ferried to Holy Names and was not able to secure them, so I am headed down the hill with two 16 ounce drinks teetering on my passenger seat and of course the light is green at the bottom of the hill and as I make the sharp turn onto 23rd, the entire container, drinks and all, hit the floor of the cab. Drinking hole down in both cases.
And drain entirely.
I am on 23rd in the tail end of rush hour traffic and there is no where to turn off that is not up a hill or down a hill and I have 28 ounces of non-fat milk draining into the carpet of my pickup.
By the time I got home both cups were almost empty.
Meanwhile, I was swamped with work preparing for the catalog presentation today, so poor Ron ended up having to take the truck to Pink Elephant to have the ex-cons clean the carpets. I don't think they did a very good job. It still smells like coffee and milk. Of course, like Ron said, he told the cashier what the problem was, and the cashier handed the keys off without relaying that information. I will probably have to have the interior detailed when I get the truck winterized in a couple weeks.
What an expensive couple of drinks.
Which we didn't get to drink.
For the rest of the day I printed out comps and pasted them up. The weather is too icky for going outside to use spray mount so I used this cool gun full of tape adhesive (apparently scrapbookers use them a lot... I need to find the professional version, apparently they are better quality.) Anyway, it was really easy to use, but I ran out of adhesive about a third of the way through paste up and had to make another run to the store for re-fills. I had forgotten both how expensive, and how much waste paper you produce, doing print design. Anyway, the presentation came to 21 boards and looked pretty darn good if I say so myself.
I presented my concepts to the client today. They were very excited and liked my favorite design best. I was very relieved and quite pleased. It is always nice to have someone see your work and be excited about it. Now they show their boss. I'm not expecting that to go well (which has nothing to do with me) but that is okay. That is just how the business works. I made my client happy and did some really great work. Anything else at this point is gravy.
Anyway, I need to get to prepping for my next class.
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Did I ever tell you my horror story of being the designated driver for the groom & friends, driving their sorry hides home?
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Some time around 1990 or so, my best friend from high school was getting married. I lived in Toronto at the time; he and the fiance lived in Cambridge, ON, less than an hour's drive to the west. The best man and many of the groom's more obnoxious friends all lived in the vicinity of Kincardin, a couple of hours' drive due north of Cambridge, on the shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. I offer this information so that you'll understand why (a) they needed sane/sober drivers, and (b) why the road trip was rather lengthy.
The stag party the night before the wedding was really more of a beach party at the best man's family cottage. They underestimated the number of people attending however and quickly ran out of light booze. That's when they really starting hitting the hard stuff. In their inebriated state, they also created a vile concoction: a combination of peach schnappes and chocolate milk.
I'm not making this up.
Not being a drinker at all and knowing that I'd have to be chaperoning these people home some hours later, I caught a couple of hours' sleep in the car while they caroused. Around 4 AM, I was roused so I could take them back to Cambridge. Most were still conscious & active enough when I squeezed them into the best man's station wagon: one in the front with me, two in the back seat and the passed out one in the back.
The first half-hour was pretty good, actually. They were feeling no pain and all of them promptly fell asleep/passed out so I didn't have to contend with a bunch of drunken sods telling me at great length what a great sport I was for hauling their sorry asses home. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes after they fell silent, they started throwing up.
Actually, the passed out one in the back --never did know his name-- threw up first. It was a wretched stench of soured chocolate milk with schnappes. Utterly vile. The stench almost made me throw up too. Unfortunately, it did start a chain reaction with the rest. All of them threw up at least once in the remaining 90 minutes' drive. Even driving with the windows open did not help.
The bride was none too impressed with the hung-over bunch the next day. We had to park the best man's car two blocks away from the church so that the roiling stench wouldn't spoil the otherwise flawless wedding. I doubt that car ever smelled right again.
Coffee and milk doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it? :-)
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no, no, I can't say it does....