Just a quickie

My project at work, which had a deadline of today - sort of - is not going well. I am having all sorts of strange glitches that the software vendor has never seen before. Of course. Unless some miracle takes place in the next few days, this project will not be completed before I depart for Merry Olde England. At least my boss understands it's not my fault.

Yesterday AM I called the resort in Scotland and the one in England at which we will be staying. They had both sent me these little forms wherein I could check off the things I would be needing during my stay (crib, high chair, food pack) and mail it back to them. I never got around to mailing it, so decided to phone in my needs. The food pack costs 10 pounds. I had no idea what it included, but assumed it was stuff like tea, coffee, salt and pepper maybe...who knew. So, first call is to Scotland. She was very nice, but really hard to understand. I think I got a preview of how communications might go while we're there.

She: mbgltdld dlek Kenmore Club skadf.
Me: Is this the Kenmore Club?
She: Yes
Me: This is Gina E. We are arriving on May 14. I have not sent the paper back saying I would like a food pack, so I wanted to call to let you know that we do want one. Can you tell me what is in it?
She: tay, butterrrrr, eggs, milk, mmmblglfkat
Me: Sounds great. We'd like that please.
She: D'u have u'rrrrr rrrrrreservation number?
Me: Not on me. Can you find it by our name?
She: I'll give it a go. When r u arrrrriving now?
Me: May 14
She: Herrrrre it is. alrrrright then. got u doon fur a food pack. Thank u.
Me: Thanks very much.

Then I called England:

She: Wychnor Park Country Club. May I 'elp you?
Me: This is me... we're arriving on May 20, blah blah blah
She: Do you have your reservation number?
Me: Not with me. Can you look me up?
She: I'm not sure, love, but let me give it a go. Your name is (I tell her and spell it)... you are arriving when now, sweetheart? (I tell her the date) Thomas and Gina?
Me: Yes, that's us.
She: Here it is! Great. Now what was it you wanted?
Me: Can you tell me what is in the food pack?
She: Bread, butter, milk, tea, jam, it's quite nice really, love.
Me: Yes, we'd like one please.
She: Alright then, sweetheart. I have you down for the food pack. And we'll see you on May 20th then.
Me: This is our first trip to the UK.
She: Oh, you'll have a lovely time. The Americans really loov it here with all the history and all. It's really quite loovely here.
Me: Well, thank you very much for your help.
She: Thank you now, love. And you have a safe flight over, now. We'll see you soon.

So, I think we'll manage find in England, but I'm not so sure about Scotland. Half of what the gal said I could not make out at all. And she was not nearly as animated and friendly as the English gal. I guess we'll see when we arrive. But it's nice to know what the food pack contains! It's much more than we'd anticipated and should make breakfasts pretty easy.

Jonathan had his dorm lottery Monday, during which students put in for the dorm room they want for the coming school year. If you want to stay in the same room, and your roommate does too, you get it automatically. If you don't want your same room, or you do but your roommate won't be your roommate, but you want to stay in your same dorm, you get dibs over an "outsider". If you're going into a different dorm, your chances of getting a particular room are based upon a combination of points (1 for each year you've been at school) and your lottery number (a random number assigned by computer). Jonathan's roommate won't be back next year so he couldn't call same room. He also didn't have anyone picked to room with next year, so he decided he wanted a single room. It will cost about $400 more than if he had a roommate, but since he'll only be on campus for one semester, and he promised to pay the difference, we okayed that option. Since he's staying in the same dorm, he had no trouble at all getting the room he wanted. It's just down the hall from his current room, and will be a great room for him. Not having a roommate has its pros and cons. He won't have to deal with anyone else's mess or sleeping habits or noise, but it might get kind of lonely. Fortunately, he's right next door to the showers so there will be a lot of activity right outside his door. I think it will work out well for him. So, pretty much all the deadlines have been met for next year, with the exception of my completion of the renewal FAFSA, which I will do today.

Now....off to work on my glitch-filled project.