It's Monday...

With a vengeance ;-). First of all, patgreene and I are in the midst of negotiating whatever our relationship agreement will become, leading to lots of emotional turbulence... tears and anger at times, embrances and kisses at others. It is not an easy process. This homework from our couples therapist has proved quite challenging... she may have overestimated our readiness to plunge in here, after the last session had seemed like such a breakthough.

Okay. Angst yesterday, then kisses, then more snippiness this morning (I'd delayed leaving in order to spend time with Pat, then discovered that she'd forgotten to tell me about a doctor's appointment). Then make-up again over coffee after taking our van to a body shop for an inspection. (One of the hardest things about all of this between Pat and I is that we truly love each other dearly, make a good team, keep each other amused and are good co-parents. Yet seem so far apart on other issues... )

So, then, off to the airport. Find an ATM, as I'm broke. My government travel card has been frozen as of yesterday for late payment (I'm $4K past due, still waiting for NASA to reimburse me for half of that so I can then pay BofA.). OK, fine. So I'll just get personal cash, enough to pay for tolls and incidentals and the JSC cafeteria in Houston. Then... the Bank of the West ATM in the terminal eats my personal ATM/Visa card. "Card inadvertently captured due to machine malfunction. Please contact your financial institution." The ATM's bank owner tells me that they won't service it for hours, and my card will be destroyed anyway. My flight leaves in 50 minutes, I'm not through security yet, and I'm penniless. So I call patgreene for help, a bit sheepishly. She responds quickly and without complaint (thanks, love!), picking up cash and dropping it by curbside. I have an old personal credit card that I can use for hotel and car charges. Fine. My bank says they will mail me a new card in 10 days.

On to security... 25 minutes before departure. I arrive at the checker... no driver's license. It must have been left in my jacket from last week's travel. Or in the ticket jacket, sitting on my desk at work. However, my NASA badge counts as Federally-issued ID, so I get through security. Naturally, the bag screener sees something funny in my laptop case, and they empty the contents and run it through again... leaving me to repack everything. Made it to the gate with less than ten minutes to spare. I don't know how I'll pick up my rental car without a license in hand, and heaven help me if I get pulled over by a cop in Texas. Good thing I didn't pack my lavender sport shirt...

Update: I tried Plan A with Hertz at Houston airport... smile, look distracted, hand the guard my agreement and NASA badge and hope that they wouldn't look too closely. Didn't work. Pat couldn't find my license at home. "Can I call you a cab?" the manager asked... it is 45 miles from IAH to JSC, an expensive cab ride. So I called directory assistance for Sacramento and called the Dept. of Motor Vehicles headquarters. I explained that I was stranded in Texas and that people there were looking at me funny and could I please get a temporary license FAXed to Hertz? Bless them... I take back all of those nasty things I used to mutter in hour-long license-renewal lines.