Downward Spiral

So here's where I rant about the streak of bad luck that's been hitting all of a sudden. Tuesday morning I found out that my boss has been mobilized by the Army and worst case scenario is going to be that he leaves this Sunday. Everybody's freaked out, myself included. I mean it's not like he's easily replaceable. There isn't another person in our group that has the ability to step in and just take his place. He has too many balls in the air at any one time to just pass them along to someone else. All the project handoffs are going to be quick and messy. Something's going to fall through the cracks and I'm not looking forward to that. It's a logistical nightmare. I'm not even going to get into the fact that from now on I'm going to have extremely limited guidance on some very challenging projects that are coming up. Believe me, I'm stressed right now. I hate making mistakes and I'm a bit concerned that I'll wind up making more of them.

This isn't even touching on the fact that I consider him a good friend. He's been a fantastic manager and I can't help but feel whatever arrangement we're able to come up with to fill the gap until he returns from active service, is going to be sorely lacking. He's got a lot on his mind right now and I don't blame him if work isn't in the fore-front. He's got a young family and Sunday, when he's supposed to be leaving, is his daughter's birthday. That really sucks. The poor guy is scrambling right now and I feel pretty bad about that.

So we were dealing with that all yesterday. This morning I figured I'd get to work early and see what I could do to help. So I leave for work about 15 minutes before usual, pull out of the apartment complex and start booking it up the hill to the intersection. This morning, unlike most mornings, there was a cop car hidden at the top of the hill. And he clocked me going 49 in a 35. I blame VDOT because they build every road in the city as if it needs to be a 4 lane divided highway. I live on that road, it could have been a goddamn donkey-cart path and still done it's job effectively. How is someone not going to drive fast on that road when the only one like it back home was called I-95? Speed limits are all politics, I drive according to the conditions. And the conditions of that road were suitable for Indianapolis.

Back to the story. I got pulled over, and I was polite about it because I knew I had been speeding so I deserved to be given a ticket. The police officer was polite to me in turn. We bid each other good-day and went our separate ways. There were better things I could spend $150 on, but speeding tickets are just a tax for driving the way you want to. I've accepted that and I moved on. I didn't get too far.

Almost to work, I was riding along with the flow of traffic following a silver Ford Fivehundred, license plate number "JVW 3397", when a hard object (read: rock) struck my windshield and pounded a 10 inch crack into it. I swore.

Now many of you know, I'm a pretty quiet guy. I don't get worked up over much but when I saw that my windshield was toast I went off. I cursed, I shouted, I made obscene gestures to all around. Some poor old lady in her giant maroon Buick just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as I unleashed both barrels of my fully extended digits. I feel a little bad about traumatizing someone's grandmother, but casualties happen.

These situations on their own I could deal with. But to have my entire work environment stood on it's head one day, and then have a $400 drive to work the next, that's just God telling me he doesn't like me. I can take the hint.