Drowning, Not Waving

I've signed up for a trip to Scotland this coming June. Yeah! That's a definite plus. The potential down side you may ask? As I discovered at the info meeting, most of the other folks taking this trip are old enough to be my parents...or older. The only folks near my age were the local weather chick and her hubby. I should mention the trip is sponsored by a local tv station.

Let me put it this way, one of the ladies asked the following question in all seriousness.

"Do they speak English?"

Holy crap. Granted, there are local tongues about, but really, most of the freakin' world speaks English at this point. We're the only industrialized dicks on this planet who can't be bothered to put an emphasis on learning other languages. Other important issues covered included the availability of bathrooms, the availability of food (we get to roam around town and fend for ourselves for lunches which to me sounds heavenly), and how late will we be out. I can't wait to see how these people react when it's still light out at 10pm in the northern part of the country.

Still, I am desperate to take a trip since my original plan had to be pushed back a few years. Plus, this trip only covers Scotland and we will get to see many places that I didn't get near the last time I was there. I consider myself very lucky to even have the chance to go so I'm going. I'm afraid I won't be able to bring back whiskey for all of you as we are only allowed to bring one bottle per person on the plane (in checked luggage I believe)...this was also a major talking point at the meeting.

In other news, I'm still behind at work...hence the title of today's entry. I went in early to try and make some headway. I had gotten to where I'd accessed the two piles of boxes from last Mon. (I am not kidding people) when UPS arrived and promptly dumped 50 more boxes on my sorry butt. GRRRRRR!!! We are "only" getting 125 from the big boys tomorrow and maybe I'll get lucky and not get my ass kicked by UPS. I'd really like to see the back wall of my receiving area before Easter. The uber came back Mon. just after the truck had been delivered and seemed surprised to see all the boxes. I wanted to shake him really hard. It's not like the boxes went away for the weekend to go skiing and came back in the wee hours of Monday morning. They'd been there this whole time so I don't know how you'd miss piles and piles of cardboard looming over you. I asked if we could have another person come back for a few days. Not surprisingly trying to "replace" someone who works 40 hours and is freakishly efficient with a newbie who works anywhere from 8-12 or so just doesn't quite get the job done.

Alright, don't bitching...for now. If you have the time I recommend the following:

Superbad--out on DVD today.

Imperial Life In The Emerald City--I am about halfway through this great book that talks about how and why Iraq got so messed up after we invaded. It's amazing just how boneheaded the Bush administration can be. Why bother, for example, to hire someone who has expertise in rebuilding after a military action just because they are a Democrat when you can hire a 24 yr. old who you found out about from their attempt to get a job at a Conservative think tank? Logic was sorely missing throughout most of this process.