Category Archives: Life stuff

This is the single most important rule that I follow. You just never know who, where, when, or why you’ll end up working with or depending on people you meet.

I woke up at 4:30am to drive to SFO for an 8am flight. There’s an airport in Sacramento but I wanted to fly a direct flight to where I was going.

I hit some rain driving through Fairfield – that annoying misty rain.

When I reached the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza at 6:10, I found traffic backed up before the toll because of the metering lights. The annoying misty rain reappeared. Some guy in the Fastpass lane blocked traffic trying to push back into the Cash lane. Yeah, that guy…

Airport parking is $36/day at SFO, unless you want to park and take a shuttle. What a rip off. After I parked and was about to walk into the terminal, I saw the rear of my car protruded out even though I  pulled forward to nearly touch the bumper of the shiny blue Mustang convertible facing me. Then I saw he was pulled too far forward, probably because he didn’t want to have his tail nicked. I had to repark. Redneck.

I checked in for my flight. No aisle seats. I was stuck against the window for a cross-country flight. I pee a lot and started thinking how to time my bowel movements before boarding to reduce my annoyance of my fellow passengers, and my annoyance of their annoyance. Blah.

After sliding through security, I stopped at the Yoga room to stretch. A woman inhabiting the room already was breathing heavily then start clicking on her cell phone even though the sign clearly states – “No cell phone use.” Bitch.

I bought a salad and a coffee for breakfast. I only finished half of the salad before the flight began boarding, lugging a plastic crate of argula, cheese, and oily dressing with me. Midway during the flight, I finished the salad then dripped the remaining salad dressing on my shirt, tray table, jeans, wall, and floor. Lovely.

The Internet was exceedingly slow on the flight. I finally stopped what I was doing during the last hour to read.  Great.

An hour from our scheduled landing, the pilot announced that the tower placed us in a holding pattern because of weather in DC, but the good news was that we had plenty of fuel to circle for a while. Um, yeah…

The woman in front of me at the Metro station took a really long time to buy a $2.45 ticket. She paid cash and had exact change. This caused me to miss the train heading my way so I had to wait 4 minutes for the next train. The Metro never seems to have seats to accommodate people with baggage. I had to stand for nearly the whole trip.

I misread the directions Google Maps posted on my phone, so I exited on the wrong side of the station. Upon my exit, the machine informed me I needed to add $0.50 to my card. The machine only takes cash. I didn’t have a cent on me.

Emerging from underground, I heard “Umbrellas! $5! $5! Umbrellas $5!” I stepped aside, jammed my sport coat into my suitcase, and paid the $5. I told the woman that she should charge $10. “People willing to pay $5 are willing to pay $10.” I walked two blocks in absolute mugginess. The rain stopped because I bought the umbrella. Water polished the streets and accumulated nicely on the corners, forcing me to walk around and through the puddles at each intersection.

At the hotel, the front desk attendant confirmed my room – “Hello Mr. Sambucci. We have you for three nights in a King Bed Smoking Room.” I immediately fired back with “That can’t be right. I didn’t request a smoking room.” After a firm exchange, I attempted to negotiate something, anything to make up for the terrible inconvenience at paying $419/night for a room with two double beds instead of a king bed.

Once in my room, I paid the $14.95/day Internet fee and called someone using Skype with whom I was supposed to meet for coffee at 6pm, who emailed me to cancel the coffee earlier in the day but was happy to chat on the phone. Voicemail. I used Skype because I had only two bar reception on my cell phone.

(Mind you, none of this money I’m spending is mine, as I’m traveling for work.)

I did a in-room workout before my next scheduled call because the gym ceilings were too low.  Do hotels ever talk to guests that use hotel gyms when they design them?

Then I read an email from my wife. The body read – “Dammit. I hate this.” with a link to a CaringBridge website from a friend of ours. Here’s the opening paragraph of his post:

“We just learned on Friday that my cancer has returned. It’s in my lungs now, and it is terminal. My cancer is aggressive, so I probably have months, not years, to live.”

He has a wife and a three-year son.

How was your day? I gained a little perpective.

Yes. I am simultaneously brewing Turkisk and espresso for consumption.

Halloween started for me yesterday morning when I took a break at work to use the bathroom. On the way, I learned that the office hosted a pumpkin-carving contest. People were huddled around a few tables where the submissions sat on display. My first reaction was – “Oh, these people are in my way to the bathroom” – so I walked the group of cubicles and made my way to the bathroom another way.

Later in the day (on my way to the bathroom again), I walked by and really looked at the pumpkins. I chatted with coworker also admiring the art. Wow. There was a miniature Death Star, a larger pumpkin head eating a smaller one, and a pumpkin sitting on a toilet, reading the company health care benefits information, with its guts on a plate underneath it as excrement. Pretty darn creative.

I said – “I hope we’re using these people’s creativity at work somehow.” Then I thought – “I’m not sure if I’m jealous of these people that they have the time to do this or that I’m happy that I’m so busy that I don’t have the time to do this stuff.” Sadly I didn’t even take the time to walk back to my office to grab my iPhone to snap a picture of all of them. By the time I went back a third time in the day, most of the pumpkins were gone – people left early to enjoy family time. I think the answer is both.

I too left work early to meet my family and friends at the Downtown Davis Treat-or-Treat festival. All of the local shops host trick-or-treating in the afternoon. Kids and families everywhere. It. Was. So. Cool. Dads like me dressed in their work clothes with mothers and children parading around in their costumes. Remember spending weeks thinking and talking about your costume? “I’m going to be Spiderman” and “I’m going to be Harry Potter.”

In the evening, I walked the neighborhood with my son. I watched the families parading about the street trick-or-treating. Homes were well-lit to signal that there’s candy and joy to be had. I watched an old man sitting in his house watch me. He thought my son and I were trick-or-treaters so he stood up to prepare for the pending visit that never came. A young mother with her son sat stood outside of her house. We exchanged pleasantries about the Downtown Davis Trick-or-Treat festival and how wonderful of an idea it was.

Around the corner, two guys sat in lawn chair with their dog simply chatting. I walk by that house almost every night with my son and they are never outside. But it was Halloween. It was an excuse to act differently. Halloween was a special day for everyone for no other reason than we all decided that it would be a special day. A day to celebrate. A day to be creative. A day to make different. A day to break from our routine. We should do this more often.