A taste of NJ ham, and more...

So I'm in New Jersey - for the next 28 hours or so. I left Maryland after work at 5pm on Friday, and I'm driving back after a family function, probably around 8 or so on Sunday. I couldn't get Friday off - everyone else was taking that day off, and someone needed to work. I could have - and probably should have - taken Monday off, but decided against it. We do have a couple projects at work that I'm kind of in the middle of, and a consultant coming in that week, so I figured it would be good to be in. I also have this completely false belief that if I work hard, don't take days off, ect it will get me somewhere. Of course, there are two problems with this - the first is that promotions don't happen where I work unless someone either dies or retires, and even if I was some sort of computer Jesus, able to repair hard drives by the laying on of hands, there still is no position for me to ascend to. The second is that promotion involves playing office politics, something I've always sucked at.

I'm in NJ because of a family function- my godparent's 50th aniversary party. There are a bunch of family members coming who I don't normally see, so I figured it would be good to make it. I also went to a hamfest this morning in Piscataway - it's about 20 minutes from the 'rents, and it seemed silly not to go. I didn't buy much - a trackball for myself and a couple Polycom accessories I'm hoping are worth something on eBay. It was small, and it was mostly radio stuff, but it was fun. I ran into a few people from the NY area who are usually at the MD fests, one of whom asked me if I was lost :)

So Friday morning I had to drop the cat off at the vet, where I'm boarding her since bsom, who usually and generously checks on the Nibblet for me while I'm away, is also away on his "vacanymoon" anniversary trip. Getting her there was a chore - it took me about an hour to get the poor little furball into the carrier - I think at one point I was on the floor sobbing, wondering if I was going to get fired over my inability to make it into work on time because I was chasing the cat around. I was worried I was going to hurt her, but I couldn't figure out how to get her in. I tried force, I tried bribery - treats, turkey, toys. Finally, I went online and found a suggestion that you tilt the carrier on it's side and lower the cat in, and after a few tries it worked. I'll be picking her up Monday morning before work - hopefully she'll have done ok with her time in cat prison.

So tomorrow night I'll be driving back to MD. I feel kind of bad choosing work over the 'rents, but I could have not come up at all, and I will be back in Jersey in a week and a half for 4th of July.