Murphy's Law in Salt Lake City

        I could use this first post to give evidence from my past that would indicate that Murphy (of his law's fame) is not following me, but I couldn't come up with anything.  You will just have to trust me when I say that when things went wrong before, I was really capable of handling it, and just mentally on top of things enough so I could say things like...there was nothing more I could have done.  Something has happened in the last year to stop me from saying that any more.

          I am writing this from the airport in Salt Lake City UT.  The process of getting here was not very well organized.  I am reminded of the line from the princess bride "Lemme explain...no...that will take to long...lemme sum up." My hubby bought a priceline vacation for a ski trip/conference to Salt Lake City.  Round trip flights departing on a day I could not leave.  So we buy me a one way ticket to meet him, add car drama here and driving drama there, and I arrive in SLC happy as a clam.  Today I am supposed to be leaving, having had a wonderful time with my wonderful husband in the mountains.

But I am not leaving, I am starting this blog and reevaluating my life.

      We arrived at the SLC airport early for once, returned the car without incident only to get to the ticket counter to find that because I did not utilize the first flight of my round trip ticket we booked through priceline.com the whole reservation for me had been canceled.  The hubby gets his tickets just fine.  Cue the increase in blood pressure and the lame jokes to keep us from snapping at each other or the ticket counter lady.  When my breathing was under control We called priceline only to be told there is nothing they can do.  The representative even kindly gave me a tutorial on how to book one way using the site so that this problem wouldn't occur in the future.  (I've got news Priceline, it won't happen again because there is no way I'm ever using your inflexible service ever again....and I encourage others to do the same)

        At this point its clear that I will not be on the flight home with my husband but we won't acknowledge this yet, opting to go back to the ticket counter lady and see if I can sell a kidney to get on this flight.  As it happens no amount of money will get me to Kansas City tonight.  I don't want to cry in front of this woman, but really I am now stranded here in Salt Lake City and I haven't seen my baby in 5 days!  The beautiful woman who works for Delta, seeing my distress and understanding that I had indeed paid to fly with them books me for free on the next available flight.  It leaves at midnight flys to Atlanta has a 5 hour layover and  gets me to Kansas City at 8:30 am tomorrow morning.  We collect our things and thank her repeatedly (it will be important for the rest of the story to know that my husband collected our ids and paperwork and I took the luggage)  To my husbands credit he never flips out and is even able to encourage me to stay calm, gosh I love him!

        The Hubs kisses me good bye and races to meet our original flight.  Now I have to find a way to get from Kansas City to Columbia.  No problem right.  There is a shuttle service that runs back and forth to Columbia from the airports, I'll call them!  Impressively all of the shuttle trips are booked until 1:30pm.  This just isn't going to work, I have class at 1:30, and I am not traveling for a total of 14 hours  only to wait in kansas city for another 5 its just not happening.  So I call the rental car company who helped us for this trip.  The nice man gets all of my information and then his face falls. "I'm sorry mam' there are no cars available at the Kansas City Airport, you should call (other company)". 4 rental car companies later it is apparent that there are no rental cars available in Kansas City.  None, not one car.  So now I have found a way to get to KC, but I can't get from KC home.  Luckily we reach my sister and work it out so the Hubs can stay the night in KC and she can come pick us both up in the morning.

Its time for dinner at this point so I decide to go through security so I can get to the good foods.  I put my hands in my pocket to grab for my ID.  OH GOD WHERE IS MY ID!!!!!!!!!  Now I am frantically digging through all of my possessions with no ID in sight.  There is no way to get to my really late flight to be picked up by my sister so that I can go to class on no sleep! I felt sick, that sick sick feeling that comes with the knowledge that you lost something really important and now you will never see home again.

         That's when I remember that my wonderful Husband picked up our paperwork and IDs at the ticket counter.  He is now thousands of feet in the air and cannot be reached.  In total despiration I spill this entire story to a TSA agent, who called his superviser.  She asked for any photo ID that I had (Student ID, all credit cards and video rental cards were pulled out)  I then had to have the dreaded scan, the full pat down and then they tested every surface of my belongings for any sort of particles that are harmful.  And they let me through!  I have never been so thankful for a TSA pat down in my life.  I couldn't stop thanking those guys, and they were really nice about the whole thing! Which brings me to now looking at 12 more hours of waiting to start a very full day.

Tip of the day: Priceline.com sucks and TSA rules (Bet you've never seen that before:>)

Statement of Purpose

After many many years of declaring to my husband that I have nothing blog worthy to say, I am breaking my silence.  I have done this for many reasons, for one I have gone back to graduate school, second I have begun the adventure of parenting, and third it is quite clear to me that I am loosing my mind. 
I tell stories of the stupid things I have done to my friends (and really any one who will listen) and by the end they are usually rolling in their seats saying "Only You Charvel!".  But lately these instances of incredible absurdity are on the rise.  Either I have a brain tumor or the stress of a hectic life have finally made me snap.  Any way the purpose of this blog is to catalog my process of my mental degradation for the reader's amusement (and possibly have a record to turn into a medical professional should the need arise)
*please know that most of what I say on this is me attempting to see the humor in all of this craziness, I really don't want to whine ;)