Nope, Dana.

Bah.

I expected work today to be stressful, but not this stressful. We had a surprise round of layoffs late this afternoon, losing the last 3 people hired. Our office lost the assistant I share with a fellow manager, a great guy who's really industrious and gets along well with everyone. Ugh. I'm beginning to worry about maybe needing to get a resume updated.

Ouch, Matt.

...maybe I should think again about that Big Boss gift.

I have a ticket to Kathmandu, Nepal via Doha, Qatar, in July. flail

Direct from Doha to Kathmandu? Wow.

How are you traveling from Kathmandu to Thimphu?

Direct Dulles to Doha, crazy layover, direct Doha to Kathmandu according to the tickets. I can't quite figure out the hours in flight, too many time zones. We have separate tickets on Druk Air from Kathmandu to Thimpu via the tour organizer (our tour of 3!) Bhutan regulates its tourism tightly, but my presence makes us legit.

I still can't believe my mom agreed to this. She HATES flying. She's done the flight from Miami down to Peru, but the tales of the flight into Thimpu would appear to be a deal killer. But she warmed up to the idea after the Folklife Feast even as it warned her off, to my surprise. Maybe I'll take my spare vicodin, just in case.

Um, and anyone have suggestions to spending 7-10 evening/overnight hours in Doha? Get a hotel for the overnight? Just me, I'd wing it and endure , but my parents... If it were daylight hours, I'd look into tours/souks. But inbound is 7 pm at best (7 hr) and outbound is definitely a sleep-thru it. Hotel for the 10 hour?

I'd say hotel. I think it's nice to have a place to shower, brush teeth, relax that isn't a super public airport space. and maybe some sleeping.

I think my own position is secure as long as we want the capacity to do production at all (I'm now the only person in the company who can do page layout, I've always been our only illustrator, and I have done print coordination in the past though I'm not as good at it as my co-worker). But I'm worried that pay cuts may be in our immediate future.

I know we can likely buy our way into showers and really comfy chairs at the airport via special lounges. But I sent off an email to the Doha concierge service asking about that shit. I don't know whether to worry about my mom more on the inbound or outbound. Dad, well, he did Mongolia for cripes sake! No cushies. Mom isn't up for that. Her arthritis is going to act up from the flight alone. So if springing for a bed and shower at an inflated rate for a few hours twice? Eh. And if I can get a shower too? Heh. I can go without, but hotdamned, if I were travelling alone, I'd so buy a shower and mattress for $100 after 20 hours if I could afford it (god knows, when I couldn't I was resentful and stinky.)

Of course, I'd be the one getting no sleep because I can't sleep thru my dad's snores, so I might as well stay at the airport.