On the road next week

I have to go to Topeka, fucking Kansas. Proof that Kansas is hell - the zip for the Hotel and client site are 66604 and 66606.

Last night I received all of the information I was supposed to have over two weeks ago. I called my boss and said something along the lines of, "I have no bill category (for time/expense) entry, I have none of the information (including Hotel info) that I was promised. Please tell me if this project is delayed." Which is the polite version of "send me the information today or I cancel my flight and reschedule your client." If I did not have the emails waiting when I got home, the next message would have been, "I have canceled my travel plans. Please tell the Account Manager to reschedule with the client."

I do have to thank the local account manager (C), as he suggested calling my boss (K) and saying the other account manager (M) has not delivered the promised information. I told him I did not want to be negative with K, since he was not the one responsible for the delay. C said if M is not delivering, K gets to deal with it. Escalation is sometimes a good thing. Within 3 hours of my voicemail to K, M sent what I needed. That is good, but it still pisses me off. M should have had his shit together two weeks ago and given me that information, the fact that I had to have his peer tell him to do it is very annoying. Unless M never considered that I would reprioritize his shitty little project.

There is still hope. Maybe Kansas will turn into a festering sink hole and I will not be able to go. Oh, wait, isn't it already?

Furthermore, helping fuel my rage, this is a fixed-bid project. My company is going to lose almost 20% on the travel costs compared to if they used someone from Kansas City. And my role is not supposed to be all about the billing, goddammit. I should have known better. I should have lied my ass of and said I have way too much other billable work to do. Which is pretty much true now, but it wasn't three weeks ago.

ETA: Oh, Fuck! Westboro Baptist Church is in Topeka. Maybe there will be a protest and will accidentally run over some of those useless fucks.

Meme

( meme stuff behind cut )

Downloading

bruce_schneier posted this link earlier today:



It is even funnier when you find the misspelling.

Awesome

Many thanks to mattmn who alerted us to the Sci-Fi music concert by the Minnesota Orchestra. It was a great time! The music was wonderful. George Takei has a fantastic speaking voice and provided introductions to much of the music. The Assistant director was conducting tonight and she is very passionate about the music. I do not think I have seen any conductor move as much with the music as she did.