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5 things make a post
May. 24th, 2017 03:39 pm1. I was in New Orleans Wednesday-Monday for my graduation -- technically I'm August 2016, but that means I get to go to the May 2017 commencement ceremonies, or at least that's what I got all the information for. Except not all the information, because I don't think they actually like...knew I was going to be there, since I wasn't listed in the program. So I probably should have figured that out first, but I'd expected that the graduation people would contact me if they needed my information. Apparently this is a problem for people who officially graduated in summer or winter and not in May, though.
1a. Graduations are a big deal to me -- academia can be so cerebral and so lonely and so internally focused, without a whole lot to show for it (especially in the liberal arts, where if you're lucky all you get are reams of paper and more likely you just have digital files and a lot of trauma), and having that kind of celebration and acknowledgment always feels huge to me. Especially because last year was such a horrific disaster, so being able to come back and be calm about it and not having to MOVE the next day (which happened at my undergrad commencement) was wonderful.
1b. The commencement speaker this year was Helen Mirren, and she was great.
1c. I got to see a lot of the classics professors I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to last summer (see again, horrific disaster), and that was great.
2. My mother found out about my tattoos, because I had a wardrobe malfunction after the hooding ceremony and the back of my dress slipped. She is...not happy. Actually, she went "how could you do something so against my culture?" which was not the reaction I was expecting because it literally never occurred to me?
2a. This was the day before commencement, and Helen Mirren actually ended her speech by talking about tattoos (I swear to gods it made sense in context), so I don't like. Know if that helped. At all. But it felt weirdly timely.
3. My flight out of New Orleans was delayed and a comedy of errors ensued. So, the original delay was only fifteen minutes and was apparently caused by mechanical failure, per the gate agents in New Orleans, and then the delay went to an hour, caused by weather, again per the gate agents in New Orleans. This left me with only twenty minutes between arrival in Dallas and my connecting flight to Seattle, which both I and the gate agent agreed was pretty undoable. So after some talking about options (because I had to catch the airporter to Ellensburg or be stuck in Seattle for the night, which put out getting on the next DFW-SEA flight), including spending the night in New Orleans and leaving the next morning, we agreed that I would get on the plane to Dallas, the airline would give me a hotel voucher, and I would get on a plane for Seattle the next morning.
You can see where this is going, right?
Upon arrival in DFW, the only Dallas agent authorized to make these decisions refused to give out any hotel vouchers to the twelve people who had been promised them, and then took about two hours dealing with various people (two groups of four, which were actually two couples each, and then another two girls around my age, and me -- the other singles gave up once it became clear vouchers were not forthcoming). It was...exhausting, especially because I wasn't entirely certain what was going on because they hadn't made a general announcement, just kept speaking very quietly. Because my gate-checked bag had been checked through to DFW rather than SEA I could have just picked it up and made arrangements myself, but I was still hoping to, I don't know, have something explained to me? Eventually the guy made it to me, and unlike the others I didn't want my already rebooked flight rebooked again, so he made the hotel reservations for me at a discounted rate, which was something, and it took about five minutes. And then I went to the hotel and ordered delivery (which took too long to get to me, ugh), and called Bellair to reschedule my reservation for the airporter to the next morning, and after that everything was smooth sailing except for the fact I only got four hours of sleep.
3a. Lessons learned: take the offer given to you in the city you're in if they can give it RIGHT THERE, don't count on the goodwill of someone who is not currently present.
3b. This shit happens so I'm not horrifically pissed off at American Airlines, the way some of the other people were; I got my flights rebooked without trouble and given that the really long delay was caused by weather I can see where they were coming from. It could have been worse, and I was fully prepared to spend the night in the airport if need be; it can't be worse than a convention hall and I've done that. I just wish that there had been more than one person dealing with the situation.
4. My mother went from New Orleans to Japan, so I came home to my father, who, having been left to his own devices for a week, somehow got coffee grounds ALL OVER THE KITCHEN, LITERALLY HOW. (Him: "It was easy." Me: "They're on the counter next to the cupboard where the coffee is, fine. And next to the coffee machine. But also on counters TOTALLY UNCONNECTED TO EITHER OF THOSE????")
4a. Within like three hours of coming home I became a cliche of "woman taking care of incompetent man," which may give some disservice to my father, but: I went grocery shopping, I made dinner, I cleaned the kitchen, I took out the trash; this morning I went grocery shopping AGAIN and I'm making dinner again.
5. We've got some weird-ass internet problem now that I have no idea what's up with: if my father turns on his desktop, every other device in the house, a.k.a. my laptop, my phone, and his phone (and my Kindle, which I need to take off airplane mode) loses the ability to connect with the wi-fi. This is unsustainable, but I have no idea how to fix it. I also have to reset the wi-fi by turning off the router (modem? I can't tell them apart?) after my dad turns his computer off. I've suggested that he unplug the ethernet cord from his computer and just use it on wi-fi and see if that makes it so I don't lose the internet, but so far he refuses to do so. I have no idea how to fix this. (And yes, I've tried turning the damn thing off and turning it on again, which does not work if my dad's computer is still on.)
5a. My dad thinks it's just the wind, which really like...doesn't seem like it should affect the internet this way.
5b. If this is still a problem tomorrow I'll call our provider, I guess.
1a. Graduations are a big deal to me -- academia can be so cerebral and so lonely and so internally focused, without a whole lot to show for it (especially in the liberal arts, where if you're lucky all you get are reams of paper and more likely you just have digital files and a lot of trauma), and having that kind of celebration and acknowledgment always feels huge to me. Especially because last year was such a horrific disaster, so being able to come back and be calm about it and not having to MOVE the next day (which happened at my undergrad commencement) was wonderful.
1b. The commencement speaker this year was Helen Mirren, and she was great.
1c. I got to see a lot of the classics professors I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to last summer (see again, horrific disaster), and that was great.
2. My mother found out about my tattoos, because I had a wardrobe malfunction after the hooding ceremony and the back of my dress slipped. She is...not happy. Actually, she went "how could you do something so against my culture?" which was not the reaction I was expecting because it literally never occurred to me?
2a. This was the day before commencement, and Helen Mirren actually ended her speech by talking about tattoos (I swear to gods it made sense in context), so I don't like. Know if that helped. At all. But it felt weirdly timely.
3. My flight out of New Orleans was delayed and a comedy of errors ensued. So, the original delay was only fifteen minutes and was apparently caused by mechanical failure, per the gate agents in New Orleans, and then the delay went to an hour, caused by weather, again per the gate agents in New Orleans. This left me with only twenty minutes between arrival in Dallas and my connecting flight to Seattle, which both I and the gate agent agreed was pretty undoable. So after some talking about options (because I had to catch the airporter to Ellensburg or be stuck in Seattle for the night, which put out getting on the next DFW-SEA flight), including spending the night in New Orleans and leaving the next morning, we agreed that I would get on the plane to Dallas, the airline would give me a hotel voucher, and I would get on a plane for Seattle the next morning.
You can see where this is going, right?
Upon arrival in DFW, the only Dallas agent authorized to make these decisions refused to give out any hotel vouchers to the twelve people who had been promised them, and then took about two hours dealing with various people (two groups of four, which were actually two couples each, and then another two girls around my age, and me -- the other singles gave up once it became clear vouchers were not forthcoming). It was...exhausting, especially because I wasn't entirely certain what was going on because they hadn't made a general announcement, just kept speaking very quietly. Because my gate-checked bag had been checked through to DFW rather than SEA I could have just picked it up and made arrangements myself, but I was still hoping to, I don't know, have something explained to me? Eventually the guy made it to me, and unlike the others I didn't want my already rebooked flight rebooked again, so he made the hotel reservations for me at a discounted rate, which was something, and it took about five minutes. And then I went to the hotel and ordered delivery (which took too long to get to me, ugh), and called Bellair to reschedule my reservation for the airporter to the next morning, and after that everything was smooth sailing except for the fact I only got four hours of sleep.
3a. Lessons learned: take the offer given to you in the city you're in if they can give it RIGHT THERE, don't count on the goodwill of someone who is not currently present.
3b. This shit happens so I'm not horrifically pissed off at American Airlines, the way some of the other people were; I got my flights rebooked without trouble and given that the really long delay was caused by weather I can see where they were coming from. It could have been worse, and I was fully prepared to spend the night in the airport if need be; it can't be worse than a convention hall and I've done that. I just wish that there had been more than one person dealing with the situation.
4. My mother went from New Orleans to Japan, so I came home to my father, who, having been left to his own devices for a week, somehow got coffee grounds ALL OVER THE KITCHEN, LITERALLY HOW. (Him: "It was easy." Me: "They're on the counter next to the cupboard where the coffee is, fine. And next to the coffee machine. But also on counters TOTALLY UNCONNECTED TO EITHER OF THOSE????")
4a. Within like three hours of coming home I became a cliche of "woman taking care of incompetent man," which may give some disservice to my father, but: I went grocery shopping, I made dinner, I cleaned the kitchen, I took out the trash; this morning I went grocery shopping AGAIN and I'm making dinner again.
5. We've got some weird-ass internet problem now that I have no idea what's up with: if my father turns on his desktop, every other device in the house, a.k.a. my laptop, my phone, and his phone (and my Kindle, which I need to take off airplane mode) loses the ability to connect with the wi-fi. This is unsustainable, but I have no idea how to fix it. I also have to reset the wi-fi by turning off the router (modem? I can't tell them apart?) after my dad turns his computer off. I've suggested that he unplug the ethernet cord from his computer and just use it on wi-fi and see if that makes it so I don't lose the internet, but so far he refuses to do so. I have no idea how to fix this. (And yes, I've tried turning the damn thing off and turning it on again, which does not work if my dad's computer is still on.)
5a. My dad thinks it's just the wind, which really like...doesn't seem like it should affect the internet this way.
5b. If this is still a problem tomorrow I'll call our provider, I guess.