It's Monday...

[jay]

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.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Okay, I got exhausted just *reading* about your travel woes. I'm so glad you got where you were going, after all that! Hope things improve.

-J

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks... although after I got here, my NASA badge cracked at the top clip. So I bought some cyanoacrylate adhesive ("superglue")... fixed it, while getting the stuff on my fingers. It won't come off, it is touching the keyboard as I type this. And I'm going to bed now... ;-)

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Okay, that was NOT your day. But now it's another one, and that's something, right?

-J

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

It's Tuesday... (grateful smile)

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

OMG. *pets you* Poor Baby!!!!

And in the future, don't put your ID in your ticket jacket. That's how Akien lost my ID a couple of years ago. In Memphis. ;^) (The nice man who found it mailed it back to us. It arrived a couple of days after I stood in the DMV line again--of course).

Yay for the DMV! Who'd a thunk it???

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

It can't be all that bad if in the end it results in you petting me... (ducking ;).

I'm pretty sure that my license must be in last week's ticket jacket sitting on my desk at work, if it isn't in the lost-and-found for Northwest or at Minneapolis airport... you were lucky that someone nice found yours! I shudder to think, after the way yesterday went...

And the DMV... (goggle). Who would have expected them to be flexible, responsive, and willing to waive requirements in an emergency? Coming just before 5pm, their time?

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I am so glad that bureaucracy worked in your favor this time.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Um, not to add to your travel woes, but... I just hung up a blazer that had been left on top of the black suitcase, It looked like your good blazer. Had you been intending to take that?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Only to the cleaners ;-).

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Remember what I said about wanting to go on travel to get away from home for awhile? Forget I ever said it... (ruefully).

GEEZUS

[samtosha.livejournal.com]

Next time something like that happens, call us. In cases like that, we can make arrangements to help you out, especially with something like a ride from IAH-about 12 miles north of my house-to JSC. Those are definitely unusual and unplanned circumstances and I would have been happy to help you out of the jam. I will email the phone numbers to you. But you got a car right? You don't need a ride from JSC to IAH or anything like that, do you?