The terminal in JFK that is.
I guess it’s been a few years since I’ve been here, cuz now it’s hella nice! It feels clean and new, and there’s even a Muji store (must not buy, must not buy). There’s free wireless (obviously) and not a lot of fast food, which, while tasty, leaves a greasy feeling in the air.
I was starving when I got here, and thought some California rolls would do it for me. Nope. Had to have a yogurt and multigrain nachos too. But that guy’s fried rice still smells damned good. Mmmm, fried rice. Gaaaaahhh. . . Also got a sandwich for later. If I remember correctly, Jet Blue doesn’t sell food on board.
Yesterday and today at work were very stressful, the most stressful it’s been, I think. There is this external website that I’ve been working on, and it’s designed so badly that when I tried to change one thing, it totally crashed. I mean, the one thing was kinda big (the master template), but it shouldn’t be so easy to try and swap it out if it’s gonna make the whole thing go kablooey.
I probably shouldn’t have been treading the unknown, but for three weeks I had been asking various IT people for help, only to get the run-around. Meanwhile the powers that be were pressuring me to make the changes. So I took the reins into my own hands – and crashed the whole wagon.
The powers that be finally kicked IT’s butt, but then they were up my butt about getting stuff down. Hold up, mofos! Where were you a month ago when I was saying, “Help me!” Of course what I actually had to do took less than an hour, but everyone all up in my bidness, asking every 10 minutes for the status, made my blood boil.
Today in addition to that website, I had a presentation to work on for my boss. It was not a big deal, very straight forward. But there I was trying to work on that, these ITers bugging me every two seconds, and then the frigging alarm in our building decided to go off. Alarms are designed to be incredibly annoying – bright blinding flashing lights and piercing whooping sound – and ours lives up to that.
But I got everything done by 1:30, half an hour before I wanted to leave. So I went home early, tried to repack my bags so that my duffel wasn’t so heavy (little success), and caught a cab. Well, not before standing in the rain for a good five minutes with all my luggage. One cabbie tried to fleece me for $70 to JFK when it’s a flat fee of $45. Do I look like an idiot?
Luckily I had left a lot of time to spare because there was tons of traffic. Friday afternoon, rainy. Not a good combo. We drove on the local roads, including a very Hassidic part of Brooklyn. Crown Heights? Everyone had grocery bags, rushing home before sundown. It was interesting to see how carefully the men protected their hats from the rain. The bags and hoods seemed specially made. Then we passed a bakery and the smell of fresh-baked bread was to die for.
Despite all the traffic, getting through check-in and security was a piece of cake. There were no lines, a first for me. And I was so glad to be rid of my heavy suitcase and duffel bag, and to just have my backpack.
Wow, just 30 minutes till boarding. I thought how the heck will I get through the wait without being bored to death, but I guess yummy snacks and free wireless are the way to do it.