I think I'll probably end up flying into Houston and road-tripping both ways with Dana.

Good plan. IIRC (and if it is still true) NYC is one place you can get direct flights to, fwtw.

So curious about the brotherly doucheyness now! Not enough to hunt through Facebook on my phone while I should be wrangling spreadsheets, though.

I think it's close enough to pick up time to go wait for my liunch? Maybe a few minutes more, waiting there is not really better than waiting here...

sumi, that's really good news!

flea, what a great house! N V

Jilli, glad Copenhagen has recognized how fantastic you are.

Tom, my family did that shit too. I remember specifically one time I was told to clean a bathroom and had no idea what to do, as I had never even seen anyone clean a bathroom before. I don't think they were deliberately setting me up to fail; that would imply cleverness or the ability to plot something. I think they just couldn't be bothered with actually teaching me anything. They just wanted me to be able to do it when they wanted me to. And I too have always had a lot of trouble when I'm put in a situation where I don't know what to do or how to do it, and I can't get anyone to just tell me. "Just dive in and figure it out" is fun when it's a DIY hobby project, not so good when a person in authority is gonna flip their marbles if it isn't right. In related news, I want to trade in my boss for a sane human being. She's assigned me a task that I've never done before, I have no idea how to do it, three times she's changed the parameters (which she would deny doing), and she's giving me NO guidelines or anything. I'm gonna get an ulcer.

Yay Sumi.

Back off, family Jerkwads!

I am going out for Indian food tonight even though I have a lot of food at home I could be eating. I haven't had Indian in a while, so I am looking forward to it.

Does he think mean-spirited comments are really just good-natured ribbing?

ion, do I need this tee? [link] I think I might need it.

I think he honestly means it, but I'm not sure. It's hard to tell when the default is bitter-ass dillweed.

I think you need it, aurelia. As do lots of folks hereabout.

In related news, I want to trade in my boss for a sane human being. She's assigned me a task that I've never done before, I have no idea how to do it, three times she's changed the parameters (which she would deny doing), and she's giving me NO guidelines or anything. I'm gonna get an ulcer.

How do we have the same job?

"Just dive in and figure it out" is fun when it's a DIY hobby project, not so good when a person in authority is gonna flip their marbles if it isn't right

Hubby was a lot like this. He knew how to do so many things and he thought they were simple and obvious, that he thought I was being deliberately obtuse when I couldn't do it or I was trying to make him mad. Apparently his first wife was a practitioner of this type of bitch-fu. We never truly resolved the issue, but I think he bit his tongue more often. There are many reasons why I despise that woman and make no effort to involve her in my life.

To this day, I hate being in situations where I don't know what's expected of me

This indeed. When I was in college I didn't care about the course content or difficulty, all that really mattered was whether or not the instructor had a detailed syllabus or could make the expectations clear. If given clear direction I can do anything, guessing what the heck you want from me, not so much.