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i was livid last night when i was looking over my e-ticket and realized BP had booked my stay in atlanta for 2 days. originally i thought it was going to be a one day event, maybe even come back that same day; nobody told me i'd be there for two days (surprise!), and the idea of being shipped down to georgia, trapped in atlanta, being forced to fix bugs, made me so angry i couldn't sleep (the coffee didn't help). so when i woke up this morning, i called the client to voice my objections. the PM was able to talk me off the ledge after assuring me that if nothing goes wrong during the install, i'll be on the first flight back to boston. i don't mind going down to atlanta; just that i realize now this is a business trip, and my time unfortunately is the company's time, so i can't do what i really want to do, which is to visit the world's biggest aquarium which recently opened up down there (within walking distance from where i'll be working).

as friday dwindled from day into night, the realization that i'd have to work this weekend became more evident. it's true there are a few functionalities that are still buggy - that's my responsibility, i don't mind fixing those - but even up to the end of the day, graphic assets and scripts were still being delivered to me, which was my fear exactly when i wrote the client e-mail alerting them of this possibility and ways to prevent it. throughout the day i heard a few, "you're doing a great job," but at this point i think they're just trying to assuage me because they can sense i'm at my breaking point. i don't feel any urgency on their part though; you think with the interactive installing on monday that they'd be at least a little bit worried that it's not completely done yet. maybe it's the fact that i'll be down there for the possibility of two fun-filled days during the installation that makes the managers sleep better at nights. you can bet i'm going to be in a pretty foul mood come monday, if i'm not already.

i took a break around lunch to go out and buy a birthday present for my sister. i got her a piggy finger puppet from nomad then a miniature austrian snow globe with a pig inside along with a piglet photo stamp all from joie de vivre. coming back, i saw a sign for fresh clam chowder at dimio and got a bowl ($5) to go. i thought my parents and i were going to have dinner with my sister, but by evening they came by and told me that my sister went out with a friend, so they brought over some food. after we ate, both of them were crashed out in the living room, still sleepy from jetlag. they left soon afterwards, which allowed me to camp out on the couch. figuring i'd take a short nap before doing some more work, i ended up sleeping for 5 hours, waking up at 1am.

don't worry, there's not that many bugs anyway, i'll finish them by this weekend, i'll go to atlanta, and then when i come back, the project will be mostly over, i'll get paid, and you'll never hear me gripe about them ever again.