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Exhausted

Thanks to some help from a higher-up, I had rather a major coup today with respect to my grant project, albeit not something I can talk about here at the moment. It’s a good thing and will give my application (and the project, if funded) terrific credibility, but the timing was…ummm..a might inconvenient, coming a little more than a week before the application is due.

My next ten days or so just got a lot more complicated. It was already pretty nuts to begin with and I’m already pretty thoroughly worn out. It’s going to get worse.

Better try to sleep some now.

No limits?

So I keep hearing these radio ads for some Walmart/T-Moblie phone plan. For $35 or something (I can’t be bothered to look it up) you get “unlimited talk, text, and web.” A few seconds later there is reference to “unlimited web for the first 250MB.”

Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t that constitute…well…a limit?

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I know I’m about a year late to the party but I met Portlandia tonight and it makes me happy.

Thirty seconds in I laughed out loud at “Portland is a place where young people go to retire.”

And then I laughed out loud many more times.

I haven’t done that in a while.

It was nice.

So…

My stress level is pretty much off the chart right now to begin with and will be for the next ten days or so.

What does not help is long, rambling 25-minute phone calls from my dad, strategically placed at the precise moment when I’m trying simultaneously to deal with work, a busted computer monitor, and the fact that apparently everyone who’s ever worked in mortgage lending at Bank of America is either an idiot or a flake who can’t return phone calls or email. Or both.

I liked my dad much better when he hated using the phone. And I liked Bank of America much better when…well…I never liked them, but at least I used to never have to interact with them either.

Yes, I realize this is a completely pointless rant, but I needed to yell about it somewhere before going to bed after not getting a damned thing done all night. It was a really bad day. I may need another Portlandia.

 

Randomly Wednesday

Since I’m unlikely ever to move back to California nor to be married, yesterday’s ruling has no personal impact on me. But it may impact a lot of people I know. And it’s kind of cool that a federal court–albeit probably the most liberal federal court there is, in a rather narrow ruling–has now actually ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.

I’m mildly worried that the this path to the Supreme Court may be starting a bit early. That might lead to an premature and unfavorable ruling which would cause problems for years to come (sort of a Plessy v.Ferguson for the 21st Century). But I’ll go ahead and be excited anyway. The time will come soon. However, let’s also not lose sight of the fact that even the most basic nondescrimination legislation is still not in place in a lot of states–my own, for example.

More exciting news for a Wednesday night:

  • Happy discovery: Coming off my AT&T family plan doesn’t necessarily mean losing my grandfathered unlimited data plan. Cool, eh?
  • Grant application season craziness is almost over. Will they be crazy enough to give me a quarter of a million dollars? We’ll find out in June.
  • Got approved to so a presentation at ALA in Anaheim this summer. Anyone wanna go to Disneyland?
  • I continue to hate Bank of America. But that’s not news.

Plan B

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I guess I won’t be going to Clifton’s on this summer’s LA trip after all. I somehow missed the story about its having been sold. I’m glad the place is to be preserved (and as a cafeteria, yet) but I’m always suspicious of renovations, particularly in gentrifying areas. I love the decor but I also love the dowdiness and I hope it doesn’t get sanitized too much.

This brings up another preservation issue as well: The modern facade was actually in place for much more of Clifton’s existence than the original. Which is really the more “historic” version? But it’s too damned early for me to think about that.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

Spending my Saturday night setting up my new phone. It’s sort of like watching paint dry. But I’m still excited.

A friend just texted me that apparently all the rock and roll drag queens of my misspent youth will be at the big queer bar in Greensboro tonight, including Atlanta’s (and formerly Greensboro’s) very own Lily White. For a brief second I considered going just to see some old friends. Then I contemplated the logistics of driving thirty miles each way (a drive I already make five days a week) in the cold (19F tonight) after being up and busy since 7AM (I was scrubbing the toilets by 8:30) and bed started seeming much more appealing. And after the last time I did so, I  sort of promised myself I’d never walk into a North Carolina queer bar again, anyway.

The new phone is now functioning nicely and I am in fact going to bed. I really don’t intend to do much of anything when I wake up either. I finished most of my grant stuff on Friday and celebrated that night by taking myself out for lasagna at Cagney’s. Today was about errands and taking care of things. I will continue the celebration tomorrow by not working (for the first Sunday in three weeks), not thinking about family stuff, and maybe not even leaving the house. Siri and I may spend some time together, but that’s about it. I’m rather looking forward to it.