Coming Home Friday
Dec. 15th, 2018 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdUp at 3 am, 3:15, 3:45 and 4. Took meds, packed the rest of my stuff, checked out of the hotel and asked for directions to the train station. One of the drivers gave easy directions, but the security guy said he had a shortcut, and showed it to me. It started at a gate which was locked, so I had to walk halfway around the parking lot, then the pathway he pointed out was on the wrong side of the platform. The driver's directions would have been shorter and faster.
But I was way early - 4:45 for a 5:55 train.
Nothing much to say about the ride to LA except I almost forgot to get off because this train continues on to Santa Barbara. Normally I would have booked SJC-SB and SB-SD but I'd already booked the LA train when I thought I was going to the Grand Canyon.
Sometime during the trip, the on-boarding company for my new job called to tell me the consulting company canceled the job. No reason given, they had simply withdrawn the offer. Also during the ride, email from a Roku recruiter wanting to contact me MOnday about the same kind of job I interviewed for last month. And I also emailed the recruiter with the consulting company who had asked me ab out another position, but had to back off when she heard I was on-boarding for the other job. So there's hope.
Had an hour layover in LA, stayed on the platform, which was a mistake, it was chilly and noisy up there, but the ramp down to the station (and up again) was not something I wanted to do with 20-lb pack.
Trip back I had a west side view, lots of pretty ocean, but filthy windows. Took lots of photos anyway.
Lunch was with two prep school students, a boy and a girl sitting across from each other, who spent the meal getting to know each other and ignoring me. The boy was overdressed and traveling business class, and was so full of himself it hurt. His folks were paying for him to go to a tiny Christian college to major in music, because he didn't want to compete with the talent at a bigger better school. He's sure to go far. NOT. The girl didn't talk about herself at all, she was too busy getting to know the boy.
Dinner was a different adventure. Two prep school students. boy and girl, traveling together, but they were already on dessert (FAIL for the wait staff) and next to me a woman about my age or older who was a for real musician (pianist) and also knew almost as much about desktop publishing as I do. She was on her way to Seattle to try to get her daughter to not do the role reversal thing which adult children often do to their elderly parental units. I expect her to succeed.
Just before Gilroy, we were running half an hour early, but Union Pacific messed with the signals and sidetracked us 3 times, so we arrived 5 minutes late into San Jose.
Timing was good from there on - light rail train arrived 5 minutes after I tagged in at the platform, and zipped along, skipping the two stops prior to mine.
The slog to the house was not easy, had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath.
Home, Spook was in the livingroom, until I let Spot out of his room. Spot raced around like mad, stir crazy. First order of business after I dumped my pack on the bed and took off my coat & hat was to put the food dispenser back together, reprogram it to non-diet mode, and set it up in the kitchen as a second food source. Also refilled the tank on his water fountain. And gave Spook, now in the cat tree, a handful of treats.
Took out another container of chopped liver to thaw. This time I'll divide it in half and put half back in the freezer. I can't eat a whole container's worth before it spoils.
Unpacked, put all the things away, and was streaming from 10:30-midnight. Spot has been yelling all night, racing around whenever I get up.
But I was way early - 4:45 for a 5:55 train.
Nothing much to say about the ride to LA except I almost forgot to get off because this train continues on to Santa Barbara. Normally I would have booked SJC-SB and SB-SD but I'd already booked the LA train when I thought I was going to the Grand Canyon.
Sometime during the trip, the on-boarding company for my new job called to tell me the consulting company canceled the job. No reason given, they had simply withdrawn the offer. Also during the ride, email from a Roku recruiter wanting to contact me MOnday about the same kind of job I interviewed for last month. And I also emailed the recruiter with the consulting company who had asked me ab out another position, but had to back off when she heard I was on-boarding for the other job. So there's hope.
Had an hour layover in LA, stayed on the platform, which was a mistake, it was chilly and noisy up there, but the ramp down to the station (and up again) was not something I wanted to do with 20-lb pack.
Trip back I had a west side view, lots of pretty ocean, but filthy windows. Took lots of photos anyway.
Lunch was with two prep school students, a boy and a girl sitting across from each other, who spent the meal getting to know each other and ignoring me. The boy was overdressed and traveling business class, and was so full of himself it hurt. His folks were paying for him to go to a tiny Christian college to major in music, because he didn't want to compete with the talent at a bigger better school. He's sure to go far. NOT. The girl didn't talk about herself at all, she was too busy getting to know the boy.
Dinner was a different adventure. Two prep school students. boy and girl, traveling together, but they were already on dessert (FAIL for the wait staff) and next to me a woman about my age or older who was a for real musician (pianist) and also knew almost as much about desktop publishing as I do. She was on her way to Seattle to try to get her daughter to not do the role reversal thing which adult children often do to their elderly parental units. I expect her to succeed.
Just before Gilroy, we were running half an hour early, but Union Pacific messed with the signals and sidetracked us 3 times, so we arrived 5 minutes late into San Jose.
Timing was good from there on - light rail train arrived 5 minutes after I tagged in at the platform, and zipped along, skipping the two stops prior to mine.
The slog to the house was not easy, had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath.
Home, Spook was in the livingroom, until I let Spot out of his room. Spot raced around like mad, stir crazy. First order of business after I dumped my pack on the bed and took off my coat & hat was to put the food dispenser back together, reprogram it to non-diet mode, and set it up in the kitchen as a second food source. Also refilled the tank on his water fountain. And gave Spook, now in the cat tree, a handful of treats.
Took out another container of chopped liver to thaw. This time I'll divide it in half and put half back in the freezer. I can't eat a whole container's worth before it spoils.
Unpacked, put all the things away, and was streaming from 10:30-midnight. Spot has been yelling all night, racing around whenever I get up.
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