Exhausted and stinky after 17 hours of trudging though airports, I was pleasantly surprised by the newly remodeled room I'm in. Nice tiled shower with rainfall spray.

Now I've got 3 very long days ahead of me before flying home on Friday.

Fingers crossed about the weather.

Seriously- if someone is in the dreaded middle seat on a crammed flight, BOTH of the side people shouldn't be crowding in. Each of them have another scant inch.

I said fuck it and upgraded my very late connection. Much more pleasant.

A mere 2.5 hours after that, I finally checked into the hotel.

After a 2nd fairly horrific day of travel (I left my house at 5:15am to make a 7:45 flight that didn't take off till almost 10am, then I missed my connection and ended up in a godawful middle seat at the back of coach), I got my bag that arrived yesterday.

I don't want to be alarmist, but destroying two of the Great Lakes in the endless pursuit of yet more money seems to be a worthy time to hit the panic button.

Stringent laws with harsh penalties (that are enforced) need to be put in place.

Wisconsin is bordered by Superior to the North, and Michigan to the East.

The local news stations are reporting on how "many data centers" are planned for Wisconsin.

An absolutely HORRIFYING thought struck me:

They're gonna suck the lakes dry/pollute completely if not stopped.

Used the time driving home, when not cursing out idiots driving like the roads were dry and clear (they were neither - and slamming on the brakes with several inches of slop on the road is a VERY bad idea) - a bit of caution goes a long way- to think about the great lakes.

Took a nap this afternoon after packing a different carryon (the backpack was making me nuts. Plus, I don't trust the checked bag situation, so wanted to ensure I'd have a couple of outfits + clean underwear).

Will try again in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Spent another hour on the phone with the airline, finding out about my checked bag; the hotel, getting the reservation updated; and the idiot at the rental car place, where I'll save 50 cents by not arriving today.

I had a bad feeling last night. That bad feeling was correct.

And even though the hotel is a scant mile from the office, I'd still need to be up by 6:30 in order to ablute myself and get to the office by 8:30.

So I made the choice to leave the airport & drive home through extremely slippery, sloppy road conditions. Yay.

If I land at midnight, assuming no further delays (there were MANY further delays for incoming planes), best case scenario would be getting to the hotel at 2am.

Which means my exhausted self wouldn't fall asleep until 3am at least.

New text: flight delayed 5 hours, and we've rebooked you onto a connecting flight that departs before you land. Or you can fly to Detroit, then Newark, then to your destination and land around midnight.

Hideous drive to MKE, the closer I got, the worse the roads were.

Then, after my ass was already parked in the outer reaches of the SuperSaver lot, I get a message: Flight to ORD delayed an hour.

OK. I checked my bag, go through security, get coffee & a sandwich.

Plus there's needing to dress like Nanook of the North leaving home. Which is gonna be deadly sweltering at my destination.

Thinking I'll crank the heated car seat to high on the way to the airport in the morning.

Completely disrespectful to refuse to attend training sessions and then demand I walk them through step by step of a complicated process.

Oh, and some of these same people are continuing to attempt to access the old instance.

The old instance with the big ass banner in red that says DO NOT USE. 🤦‍♀️

Like God fucking dammit.

I held 9 training sessions. Recorded & published them. Updated doc. Sent emails.

Built a deck. Sent it.

At some point this is on your lazy ass wilfully disregarding information you need to do your job.

I'm drowning because you are "too busy" for a 1 hour KT session.

It is clear that I'll be devoting yet more brainpower to attempting to get the new, more complex change management process (discovered 2 new things not properly working today) taught to the teams next week.

I'm very excited to see everyone. One person in particular I cannot wait to see.