I vote UK. But I also cheer that no matter where you go, we will be here! Yay, Intarwebs.

congrats, -t!

ita, your work sounds like a giant ball of suck. I'm sorry.

My work officially ended today. Well, ended for a few weeks. We are packing kids in the car and driving to points north. Grace's sick from last night is freaking me out so we will spend an extra day here, then drive to the Bay Area on Friday. Saturday AM I'd love to have breakfast with people there. We'll be in Arcata that evening. Then Portland on Sunday. Seattle on Monday. We'll be in Gig Harbor for 4 days. Then Boise. It's exciting but exhausting.

Also, in totally exciting gossipy news. The plant manager at my school was fired for being caught in flagrante delicato by students. Who videotaped it. A new plant manager started and the only thing I could think was, "Maybe this means we won't have to deal with floors that are never cleaned." Friends, this new crew stripped my floors. And mopped. And put down 4 coats of wax. SWOON.

My bar for work happiness is low.

consuela, I'd love to work in DC (but not for a former employer) or UK. I hope both or either offer firms up.

Good luck on the job prospects, Consuela! And I hope you are able to have some time to just rest this week. You certainly deserve it.

I'm anxious about the weather tomorrow. That it will screw up Bob's flight home just like the last time he flew a few weeks ago (and we were having the conversation about worrying about traveling family members on here)! He didn't get home until 3 am-ish last time. And this time we only have the rental car so I either pick him up or he gets a cab. And cabs are sort of unreliable in this town. Worry!

BWI cabs are usually too spendy compared to the guy I hailed, but they are there. So rest on that. BTDT, many times.

Stripped, mopped, and waxed floor is pretty exciting in my book! That sounds like a bizarre situation altogether, but yay for the floors.

And that sounds like a ton of driving, Kat. I don't know Gig Harbor, but the rest of those places I've thoroughly enjoyed. Saturday mornings, it's kind of unlikely that I will be able to get myself anywhere, but keep me in the loop for breakfast and I will try.

Okay!

Although frankly the UK sounds far more appealing than DC, I must admit...

A note of caution, though. HS2 is a huge political and environmental football, and currently it doesn't really seem clear if, when and how things are going to proceed. I could easily imagine the project turning into some bureaucratic nightmare, if it isn't already.

See especially

[link]

and

[link]

Also: I'm so sorry for your loss, Consuela. Grief is one of the most exhausting states I have ever experienced. Go easy on yourself.

Can someone tell me the name of the boyish blond gladiator in the first season of Spartacus? I don't want to risk spoiling myself by looking too hard.

Do you mean this guy: [link] ? That's Varro.

Dammit, I fell asleep sometime during the second overtime and missed the game-winning goal tonight.

At a meeting to discuss putting together a stopgap brochure, the new and wholey moronic DD's only contribution was on updating the mission statement. Um, bwuh? Yeah, it sucks, and is ridiculously vague, but it's also board-approved. So she sends me what she's been sending out in press releases. Which turned out to be the exact same mission statement with a preface of "40 years of blah blah" and followed up with "open all year from dawn to dusk".

Thank you for playing, come back next time.

But the frightening thing at that meeting was the ED talking about how there were four different versions of the mission statement floating around.

No. No, there is only one. Whatever else you are seeing is bullshit and an individual's (who no longer works here) personal interpretation. And please don't foist your own new personal interpretation on me until you get it approved by the board. Because we are not an art gallery, we're an arboretum.