Night One.

Yesterday I had the distinguished honor of staying up all night. The task would have been easy, save for waking up at eight in the morning and indulging in a day of airway travel. I made it to the airport at noon, and ended up at the hotel at eight thirty in the evening (nine thirty Lone Star time). If someone can give me a reason as to why we still have the Wright Amendment I would be grateful. I decided to visit Michaels before they closed - did I mention I forgot to bring something to do while I'm staying up the whole night - and had to choose between paint by number with paints that looked dry as the desert or a small cross-stitch pattern. I feel I chose wisely.

I also hit up tar-jey to pick up some dinner. While the hotel does offer complimentary breakfast and dinner, the latter ended at seven in the evening and therefore did me no good. And, this is the answer to the question why I did not go to a fast food place, I was craving vegetables. It must have been something about all that travel, but I wanted to eat a whole entertaining tray of veggies and dip. I ended up eating a deli sandwich that looked to have spinach, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and turkey on it. In addition, I picked up some steam-in-the-bag vegetable mix (my fancy hotel has a microwave in the room), and hummus and apples. I can't remember why I'm telling everything I bought. Oh, and I snuck some free utensils from the in-house Pizza Hut, because ain't no way I'm buying a whole box for a few meals.

The rest of the night was spent in cycles of stitching while watching television, nearly falling asleep with a pointy object in my hand, getting up to walk around the room and do silly walks to get my blood moving, and checking the time. As the hours wore on it became increasingly difficult to stay awake and stitch. I knew if I could just make it to six o'clock there would be a hot breakfast waiting for me downstairs. Somewhere around five, when I got really desperate, I took a shower and took a light walk around my floor. That bought me enough time and energy to stay awake until six. I can only imagine how haggard I looked compared to the business professionals loitering around in the lobby. Scrambled eggs and sausage gave me enough chutzpah to keep my lids open til seven thirty. I took the extra blanket and pillows and propped them up against the thankfully heavy curtains, blocking out any chance of sunlight peeking into my room. I laid my sleepy head down on a surprisingly comfortable hotel pillow and dreamt of pretty white lab coats.

I was woken to the sound of my phone ringing. My husband was calling to tell me there was an issue with my rental car. I debated whether to go back to sleep or retrieve the rental document from my car and give the company a ring. After choosing the first option and having no luck drifting back to dreamworld, I ventured under very sunny skies and obtained the paper I needed. A call to the rental company uncovered the issue - the sales girl had written part of the license plate in a black box on the carbon copied paper, and now the desk jockeys couldn't make out the plate numbers. Lucky for me, this call gave me just enough of a customer service headache to instigate instant sleep once I got back to bed.

My alarm rang at five in the evening; it felt much too early, even though I had slept all day. The free dinner had a salad bar and hot dogs, but that was fine with me. There were also free (and to some degree alcoholic) drinks, but I had left my drink punch card upstairs and I reasoned it would probably not be wise to imbibe then go to work. After some more stitching, I arrived at the facility at ten. I love working with someone new, and especially in a new place, because it gives me a chance to see how they do things differently, and if I can glean a more efficient way to do a task then all the better.

It did not get difficult to stay awake until around two in the morning. My partner then showed me the incredible coffe machine they have. I've never seen anything like it. It's a cross between a vending machine and a coffee pot. You select your coffee (free brew, not free lattes and mochas) then choose the strength, the amount of cream, and the amount of sugar. It even shoots a cup into place for you, then mixes everything together. I burnt my tongue just a little bit because it was just that delicious. I had two cups of glorious coffee and went back to work. Lunch for me consisted of water, a banana, and a granola bar. The rumors of not being particularly hungry on third shift were pretty much spot on. But believe you me, I was definitely ready for breakfast once I got back to the hotel at six thirty.

Right now, I'm waiting until the sun comes up a little more so I can get some vitamin D. It gets pretty cold at night 43 degrees) compared to the daytime (72 degrees). Until next time.