Dear whichever one of you asshats is in charge of scheduling dumptracks and ice plows,
Just a quick note to let you know that midnight is NOT the ideal time to send heavy duty equipment to forcefully scrape months-old ice stores from the edges of our street. Are city employees and planners all nocturnal vampires? If so, that's really neat, but I'd just like to remind you that most of the general public is not. Many of us prefer to sleep during the night hours.
I am sure there is a completely logical reason for needing to remove the ice. In fact, I do applaud the actual idea, just not the execution. I mean, sure...a wider street and clear drainage is certainly appealing...however, I'm pretty sure this could have been done during normal working hours when most people are generally awake anyway. There was no time-sensitive safety issue that I'm aware of so keeping our entire neighborhood awake for hours and hours seems just plain ridiculous to me. If your team is running behind schedule, don't try to make it up by keeping an entire subdivision awake.
If I were to go outside at midnight and start jackhammering my driveway, you can bet your buttons that my neighbors would complain and I'd receive some sort of fine from the city for breaking a noise by-law or some such thing. So why is it OK for a city team to come and make 10 times that amount of noise? It isn't. But you did it anyway.
It's not like Beechville is a community of all-night business or industrial traffic or any other type of situation that might work with this late night work....we are a community of 400 private residences and that is all.
Open your eyes and have a look around the next time you plan one of these midnight events. May your brain prevail and remind you that people need sleep. Show some respect.
Regards,
Sleepless in Beechville
Showing posts with label not sleeping is bad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not sleeping is bad. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Vegas - Saturday (which rolled right into Sunday)
Saturday was check-out day. It was also sleep-in day thankfully! I didn't have to get up until 10am...wooooooooooooooooo!
The bad news was that check-out was at 11am, and my flight outta there wasn't until 11:20pm. Ya, 12 hours homeless in Vegas. LOL. So, first I got a coffee and wandered around the hotel....the Circus has a whole floor dedicated to carnival games and stuffs for the families. So loud and hard on the eyes for that time of the morning. I thought I was waiting for my bosses to get a bite to eat, but when they called they had decided to lay out by the pool until it was time to leave for their flight. Unfortunately I had already checked my baggage and wasn't wearing appropriate sunbathing attire, but I joined them anyway to read my book, get some sun, and relax for as long as I could.
Once they left at 1:00, I decided to head down to the Fashion Show Mall and do some shopping (well, more like window shopping). The bellhop offered me some good advice and said I should take my luggage with me and check it at the bell desk at one of the more central hotels so I wouldn't have to cab it all the way back to the Circus. Good advice, I didn't know I could do that! So I got my stuff and went to Caesar's Palace with it.
Ended up starting my shopping in the Forums Shops because they were right there...and I had gone that way in search of food because it was now 2pm and all I'd had was a coffee and a treat size KitKat! I got a slice of pizza in the Forum food court (so far the cheapest casino food I've happened upon but it was still crazy expensive considering what it was!)....sat there and read my book while I ate, then refilled my pop to carry around while I browsed.
The stores are mostly way too high-end for me. I did finally visit the Coach store and that's about the only place where I nearly talked myself into buying something. I really would love to have one great purse that I can carry forever....but dishing out $700 US wasn't something I was willing to do. I couldn't even justify $250 for a great wallet. Lovely, but just not me. Oh well. I browsed through a few other designer stores, but I'm not a very good window shopper....so in the end I landed up at Bath & Body Works instead. Much more my speed! Bought lots of good smelling hand-soap for me and a friend. I would have bought more but I was worried it would put my suitcase over weight.
And after that, I just walked and walked and walked. Went outside to the Strip and made my way through a few hotels I had never been through. Got to the Fashion Show Mall, wandered the whole thing...still didn't buy anything...went to Starbucks, but even that was too noisy and I was starting to get exhausted. Sat by the lagoon at The Mirage for a bit, but it was closing so couldn't go in. Mostly I was just wandering so I wouldn't fall asleep.
I timed it so I would get to Treasure Island in time for the first Sirens show. I got a good viewing spot, but I was still standing up. What I wouldn't have given to sit down by then. After that I made my way over to the Bellagio to see a water show....too bad it was the same damn Celine Dion one I saw last year....I was hoping for something I hadn't seen yet. Oh well, it's still one of my fave things to see on the Strip!
After that I decided I'd had enough and went back to Caesars and got my luggage and headed for the airport about a half hour early. The scariest cab ride ever (well, second to the uber-crazy ride I had in Rome once). He got me there in record time I swear. Insane!
I figured getting there early would be a good idea because usually security at the Vegas airport is super busy and takes at least 1/2 hour....but not this time. I checked in, and because Westjet is in the main terminal now I didn't have to walk a mile or take the shuttle or spend forever at security. In fact, I was the only person going through security....they even had so few staff on that I had to push my own stuff through the xray machine. So, needless to say, I was at my gate almost 2 hours before my flight. Gah!
I got some fries, read my book, played on my computer (free internet access!), and chatted with some other folks waiting for the same flight. I was soooo tired.
I tried to sleep on my flight, but my bad neck/shoulder really wouldn't let me. I was already hurting from walking around all day, but any tilting of my neck resulted in my arm pain going through the roof. Not fun. But somewhere along the way I did fall asleep from shear exhaustion, which helped make the flight to Toronto go a lot faster.
When I got to Toronto and cleared customs, I immediately went to my gate and found a place to lay down. I think I actually got a hour or so of solid sleep...until the gate started to get busy and noisier. A really nice man covered me with his jacket while I slept...so nice of him! Then, just my last couple of hours back to Halifax. Tried to sleep again, but same neck problem. Meh.
By the time I got to Hali, it was almost 1pm here. So that would be 9am Vegas time....so I'd basically been up for 23 hours. Oh yippee. Got my luggage, got my car, stopped to get groceries (because I knew I wouldn't be in any shape to go out again later), got home, had shower, and then crashed for pretty much the rest of the day.
I hate time zones.
One day I'll get to make a Vegas trip for fun instead of work. I look forward to that!
The bad news was that check-out was at 11am, and my flight outta there wasn't until 11:20pm. Ya, 12 hours homeless in Vegas. LOL. So, first I got a coffee and wandered around the hotel....the Circus has a whole floor dedicated to carnival games and stuffs for the families. So loud and hard on the eyes for that time of the morning. I thought I was waiting for my bosses to get a bite to eat, but when they called they had decided to lay out by the pool until it was time to leave for their flight. Unfortunately I had already checked my baggage and wasn't wearing appropriate sunbathing attire, but I joined them anyway to read my book, get some sun, and relax for as long as I could.
Once they left at 1:00, I decided to head down to the Fashion Show Mall and do some shopping (well, more like window shopping). The bellhop offered me some good advice and said I should take my luggage with me and check it at the bell desk at one of the more central hotels so I wouldn't have to cab it all the way back to the Circus. Good advice, I didn't know I could do that! So I got my stuff and went to Caesar's Palace with it.
Ended up starting my shopping in the Forums Shops because they were right there...and I had gone that way in search of food because it was now 2pm and all I'd had was a coffee and a treat size KitKat! I got a slice of pizza in the Forum food court (so far the cheapest casino food I've happened upon but it was still crazy expensive considering what it was!)....sat there and read my book while I ate, then refilled my pop to carry around while I browsed.
The stores are mostly way too high-end for me. I did finally visit the Coach store and that's about the only place where I nearly talked myself into buying something. I really would love to have one great purse that I can carry forever....but dishing out $700 US wasn't something I was willing to do. I couldn't even justify $250 for a great wallet. Lovely, but just not me. Oh well. I browsed through a few other designer stores, but I'm not a very good window shopper....so in the end I landed up at Bath & Body Works instead. Much more my speed! Bought lots of good smelling hand-soap for me and a friend. I would have bought more but I was worried it would put my suitcase over weight.
And after that, I just walked and walked and walked. Went outside to the Strip and made my way through a few hotels I had never been through. Got to the Fashion Show Mall, wandered the whole thing...still didn't buy anything...went to Starbucks, but even that was too noisy and I was starting to get exhausted. Sat by the lagoon at The Mirage for a bit, but it was closing so couldn't go in. Mostly I was just wandering so I wouldn't fall asleep.
I timed it so I would get to Treasure Island in time for the first Sirens show. I got a good viewing spot, but I was still standing up. What I wouldn't have given to sit down by then. After that I made my way over to the Bellagio to see a water show....too bad it was the same damn Celine Dion one I saw last year....I was hoping for something I hadn't seen yet. Oh well, it's still one of my fave things to see on the Strip!
After that I decided I'd had enough and went back to Caesars and got my luggage and headed for the airport about a half hour early. The scariest cab ride ever (well, second to the uber-crazy ride I had in Rome once). He got me there in record time I swear. Insane!
I figured getting there early would be a good idea because usually security at the Vegas airport is super busy and takes at least 1/2 hour....but not this time. I checked in, and because Westjet is in the main terminal now I didn't have to walk a mile or take the shuttle or spend forever at security. In fact, I was the only person going through security....they even had so few staff on that I had to push my own stuff through the xray machine. So, needless to say, I was at my gate almost 2 hours before my flight. Gah!
I got some fries, read my book, played on my computer (free internet access!), and chatted with some other folks waiting for the same flight. I was soooo tired.
I tried to sleep on my flight, but my bad neck/shoulder really wouldn't let me. I was already hurting from walking around all day, but any tilting of my neck resulted in my arm pain going through the roof. Not fun. But somewhere along the way I did fall asleep from shear exhaustion, which helped make the flight to Toronto go a lot faster.
When I got to Toronto and cleared customs, I immediately went to my gate and found a place to lay down. I think I actually got a hour or so of solid sleep...until the gate started to get busy and noisier. A really nice man covered me with his jacket while I slept...so nice of him! Then, just my last couple of hours back to Halifax. Tried to sleep again, but same neck problem. Meh.
By the time I got to Hali, it was almost 1pm here. So that would be 9am Vegas time....so I'd basically been up for 23 hours. Oh yippee. Got my luggage, got my car, stopped to get groceries (because I knew I wouldn't be in any shape to go out again later), got home, had shower, and then crashed for pretty much the rest of the day.
I hate time zones.
One day I'll get to make a Vegas trip for fun instead of work. I look forward to that!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Vegas - Wednesday
er, well, I guess I should start with the fact that it was after midnight when I went to bed. You know how it is...all the stuff you want to get done before you go away. Emptying the garbage, washing up the last few dishes, cleaning the litter box, clearing up any last minute laundry, packing as much as you can. With the super early morning, I also showered and flattened my hair because there was no way that would be happening at 4am. Ya well, I thought I'd planned it out to be done by about 10pm, but it didn't work out. Such is life.
Then my alarm went off at 3:45am. Oh yippee.
I was a good girl though. Only the one snooze I'd planned and then I was up. Put on the clothes I'd laid out, and minimal make-up. Packed up the final things into my suitcase, did one final check through the house, pet the cat, and I was out the door by about 4:20. Blech.
Thankfully the drive to the airport at that time of the morning is a breeze, so I was there in just about 20 minutes and the Park N Fly wasn't busy at all. I got a parking spot right away and the van was actually right there waiting for people. I was in the terminal handing off my luggage by about 4:55, which was 5 minutes earlier than I was aiming for.
Of course, security was also ridiculously quick due to the lack of people at that time of day, so I was through and to my gate much earlier than needed. (So annoying that you have to be there so far in advance of your flight even at that time of day!) I read my book for a while and ate my Kashi bar, but I inevitably gave in to Starbucks because hell, if I have to be awake and waiting I might as well be caffeinated! (I had planned to wait until I got to my layover in Montreal, but such is life.)
My flight was at 6:20 and thank God it left right on time.
Upon arrival in Montreal, I had to clear customs. It was a breeze time-wise (connecting flights get to budge the line!), although for the first time ever the guy really grilled me about what business I was in. And of course I didn't have business cards or anything to prove it because we had new ones made and they were with my bosses in California. In the end I guess he decided that if I was going to make something up, it wouldn't be that I work for an internet advertising company as a sales assistant, and that I would be going to Vegas for an attorney conference. LOL.
After that I just had a bit of time to kill, so I found food and then just wandered and then vegged at the gate. I had planned to try to do some work, but they wanted my first born for internet access and it was wicked slow so I scrapped the idea.
I tried to sleep on the flight, but let me tell you....the plane seats were the worst thing to happen to my screwed up neck/arm yet. OMG. Not comfortable. Pain-freaking-full. Argh. Mostly watched TV, wiggled in my seat, and chewed my Mentos. I tried Robaxacet but it didn't do anything for me.
Arrival in Vegas was easy-peasy. It's a cool place to fly into. It was only about 11am there so it was interesting to see everything in daylight from above. It's sooo cool how level and spread out the city is, and how it just abruptly stops at the foot of those desert mountains. The Strip obviously isn't as glamorous to see during the day, but it's still a wild view because of the hugeness of those buildings compared to the rest of the city. Luckily, luggage was fast, and I got a cab right away (usually I've flown into the other terminal and the cab line takes forever).
The hotel wasn't quite so simple. Our bosses got us to use Travelocity to stay at Circus Freaking Circus. Obviously not my choice, but I'm not arguing with the people that are paying. (FYI: this is the fourth time I've gone to this conference and prior to this we stayed in the hotel that was hosting the event....The Wynn or The Bellagio...so this was a total let-down.) It's not even the fact that it's not a fancy hotel....it's the fact that it's way hell and gone at the far end of the Strip (past the Stratosphere) and it's a family hotel so it was crazy kids and tour bus central. Annoying. Oh well.
My issue was that they didn't have my reservation. Ya, the hotel said they never got it from Travelocity and asked me to call them. Nice right? So I spent 20 minutes on the phone...where of course they blamed the hotel...and then had to wait for the hotel to confirm everything and finally get me settled. At least they were super friendly and got me an early check-in.
I had planned on showering before meeting the new bosses, but because of the wasted time checking in I'd only been in my room about 10 minutes when they arrived and called to go for lunch. So a little freshening up was all I got. Thankfully the new guys are really nice and we are informal so casual was all good. We met up and just went to one of the hotel restaurants.
After that they went about some business so I went to have a nap and a shower. My nap was mildly successful but I got interrupted twice....once when Kristoff (coworker and friend) showed up and called my room to let me know and again when DBF's folks called to set up a time to meet for coffee (ya, they were on vacation in Vegas the same time I was there...how odd!). So I gave up on the nap and decided I might as well just start getting ready, which worked out because we decided to go to our work event a bit early and the timing wound up being perfect.
Kristoff and I headed over to the Bellagio where our bosses had already gone and set up our booth and started looking around. Nice. We've set that booth up more than our fair share of times, so it was great to see the guys take the initiative and just get it done. Besides, I was in a party dress and strappy heels! :)
As usual, the cocktail party was quite nice and super fun. Open bar! And a whole table of fresh crab, shrimp and salads. Yummmmm! We met up with a couple of our clients who are always good fun and good business, as well as some other exhibitors from previous years who are also fun and helpful with networking. We were there for a few hours, then when they closed that up, we headed into the hotel for some shared sushi and a couple of cocktails. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one that was tired after that....so we headed back to the Circus and I was tucked into my bed by midnight.
Hmmmm....so with the time difference I was basically awake for 24 hours. Sweet.
Then my alarm went off at 3:45am. Oh yippee.
I was a good girl though. Only the one snooze I'd planned and then I was up. Put on the clothes I'd laid out, and minimal make-up. Packed up the final things into my suitcase, did one final check through the house, pet the cat, and I was out the door by about 4:20. Blech.
Thankfully the drive to the airport at that time of the morning is a breeze, so I was there in just about 20 minutes and the Park N Fly wasn't busy at all. I got a parking spot right away and the van was actually right there waiting for people. I was in the terminal handing off my luggage by about 4:55, which was 5 minutes earlier than I was aiming for.
Of course, security was also ridiculously quick due to the lack of people at that time of day, so I was through and to my gate much earlier than needed. (So annoying that you have to be there so far in advance of your flight even at that time of day!) I read my book for a while and ate my Kashi bar, but I inevitably gave in to Starbucks because hell, if I have to be awake and waiting I might as well be caffeinated! (I had planned to wait until I got to my layover in Montreal, but such is life.)
My flight was at 6:20 and thank God it left right on time.
Upon arrival in Montreal, I had to clear customs. It was a breeze time-wise (connecting flights get to budge the line!), although for the first time ever the guy really grilled me about what business I was in. And of course I didn't have business cards or anything to prove it because we had new ones made and they were with my bosses in California. In the end I guess he decided that if I was going to make something up, it wouldn't be that I work for an internet advertising company as a sales assistant, and that I would be going to Vegas for an attorney conference. LOL.
After that I just had a bit of time to kill, so I found food and then just wandered and then vegged at the gate. I had planned to try to do some work, but they wanted my first born for internet access and it was wicked slow so I scrapped the idea.
I tried to sleep on the flight, but let me tell you....the plane seats were the worst thing to happen to my screwed up neck/arm yet. OMG. Not comfortable. Pain-freaking-full. Argh. Mostly watched TV, wiggled in my seat, and chewed my Mentos. I tried Robaxacet but it didn't do anything for me.
Arrival in Vegas was easy-peasy. It's a cool place to fly into. It was only about 11am there so it was interesting to see everything in daylight from above. It's sooo cool how level and spread out the city is, and how it just abruptly stops at the foot of those desert mountains. The Strip obviously isn't as glamorous to see during the day, but it's still a wild view because of the hugeness of those buildings compared to the rest of the city. Luckily, luggage was fast, and I got a cab right away (usually I've flown into the other terminal and the cab line takes forever).
The hotel wasn't quite so simple. Our bosses got us to use Travelocity to stay at Circus Freaking Circus. Obviously not my choice, but I'm not arguing with the people that are paying. (FYI: this is the fourth time I've gone to this conference and prior to this we stayed in the hotel that was hosting the event....The Wynn or The Bellagio...so this was a total let-down.) It's not even the fact that it's not a fancy hotel....it's the fact that it's way hell and gone at the far end of the Strip (past the Stratosphere) and it's a family hotel so it was crazy kids and tour bus central. Annoying. Oh well.
My issue was that they didn't have my reservation. Ya, the hotel said they never got it from Travelocity and asked me to call them. Nice right? So I spent 20 minutes on the phone...where of course they blamed the hotel...and then had to wait for the hotel to confirm everything and finally get me settled. At least they were super friendly and got me an early check-in.
I had planned on showering before meeting the new bosses, but because of the wasted time checking in I'd only been in my room about 10 minutes when they arrived and called to go for lunch. So a little freshening up was all I got. Thankfully the new guys are really nice and we are informal so casual was all good. We met up and just went to one of the hotel restaurants.
After that they went about some business so I went to have a nap and a shower. My nap was mildly successful but I got interrupted twice....once when Kristoff (coworker and friend) showed up and called my room to let me know and again when DBF's folks called to set up a time to meet for coffee (ya, they were on vacation in Vegas the same time I was there...how odd!). So I gave up on the nap and decided I might as well just start getting ready, which worked out because we decided to go to our work event a bit early and the timing wound up being perfect.
Kristoff and I headed over to the Bellagio where our bosses had already gone and set up our booth and started looking around. Nice. We've set that booth up more than our fair share of times, so it was great to see the guys take the initiative and just get it done. Besides, I was in a party dress and strappy heels! :)
As usual, the cocktail party was quite nice and super fun. Open bar! And a whole table of fresh crab, shrimp and salads. Yummmmm! We met up with a couple of our clients who are always good fun and good business, as well as some other exhibitors from previous years who are also fun and helpful with networking. We were there for a few hours, then when they closed that up, we headed into the hotel for some shared sushi and a couple of cocktails. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one that was tired after that....so we headed back to the Circus and I was tucked into my bed by midnight.
Hmmmm....so with the time difference I was basically awake for 24 hours. Sweet.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Decaf
Last night I was out for coffee with a few of the girls from my neighborhood. Lovely to get out of the house and have some chit-chat.
Fall is upon us I suppose, as indicated by Starbucks bringing back the everloving Pumpkin Spice Latte. I'm not ready for it to be Fall, but I'm certainly ready for one of my favorite seasonal drinks.
I ordered decaf (as I always do after about 5pm). The cashier wrote decaf on the cup. The barista said decaf when she called out the name and handed me my drink.
My groggy, achy, tired head begs to differ.
I stayed up late talking to Mom on the phone, then puttering around the house, then reading my book (Time Traveller's Wife...just so you know). It was after 2am when I turned out the light....but it was after 4am the last time I looked at the clock. And I wasn't even dozing....just tossing, turning and getting annoyed.
Then the sun came up and the neighbor's weiner dog went on a barking rampage at 7:30am when their daughter was leaving for school. Grrrrrrr. I tried to keep sleeping, but after that it was just an hour and a half of half-assed dozing.
Sleep is not my friend these days.
Fall is upon us I suppose, as indicated by Starbucks bringing back the everloving Pumpkin Spice Latte. I'm not ready for it to be Fall, but I'm certainly ready for one of my favorite seasonal drinks.
I ordered decaf (as I always do after about 5pm). The cashier wrote decaf on the cup. The barista said decaf when she called out the name and handed me my drink.
My groggy, achy, tired head begs to differ.
I stayed up late talking to Mom on the phone, then puttering around the house, then reading my book (Time Traveller's Wife...just so you know). It was after 2am when I turned out the light....but it was after 4am the last time I looked at the clock. And I wasn't even dozing....just tossing, turning and getting annoyed.
Then the sun came up and the neighbor's weiner dog went on a barking rampage at 7:30am when their daughter was leaving for school. Grrrrrrr. I tried to keep sleeping, but after that it was just an hour and a half of half-assed dozing.
Sleep is not my friend these days.
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