June - Longest month evah - Thank heavens for Dave Mathews!

Here's Part 1 of 3 for HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION...

When I returned from the glorious Memorial Day weekend, I was back to the Client Flintstone nightmare. We weren't launched yet. I was really burned out (albeit a little more energized from the long weekend) and was ready to go postal. Then again, I think I had been ready to go postal on this project about a month into it. But that's partially my fault for not telling my boss that I was drowning. When I did get the help, I still couldn't get the water out of my lungs. But I wasn't drowning. I digress. Anyhow, I was hoping to be done with it soon, and I was. We had a company picnic party which I spent 20 minutes at since I had so much Client Flintstone crap to do, and really wasn't in the mood for having fun. As we reached the middle of the month, I began looking forward to my next brief vacation - going to see the Dave Mathews band in Saratoga Springs, New York. But it was a painful few weeks. Rep N and Mini Rep N were sending me 20 emails a day and were still not getting that they needed to start taking over the project more. We were a couple months past the initial launch date. There were several factors - besides the whole drama of drowing and not asking for help, the company didn't seem to notice. They had moved on to other more important things. I wanted to get Rep N to admit that they really weren't set up to manage 47 websites all at once. Their former company, it seems, held their hands all along the way. When we started the project, Rep N said that she expected us to do everything. Mini Rep N was totally overwhelmed, and wanted us to hold their hands. At Company X, we don't. We teach the birdy to fly and push them out of the nest. That's not to say we won't continue educating or help them if they are having a problem, but it's not my job to do their job. We even sent one of our best sales people out to be there to train them in person. That is something we normally don't do. The Big Enchilada made an exception for them. The trainer was there for two half days. There was a point when Rep N told Trainer Dude that she wanted him to do some homework. HOMEWORK? Are you freakin' kidding me? He's there to train THEM not work for them. She also told Trainer Dude that it was unacceptable that he wasn't staying longer and told him (not asked) to change his flight plans to stay longer. He didn't. When he came back, I felt vindicated. He sent out a really nice email about the pain he experienced in dealing with Rep N.

Anyhow, It was finally time for my glorious 3 days with Dave Mathews Band. The moment had arrived. I didn't book a hotel until the last minute, so the prices were out of the roof. But I didn't want to drive back the same night of the show, so we dealt with it. Stephanie drove again and we headed about 2.5 hours to New York. Saratoga Springs is home of the famous racetrack and of course everything there is very horse-themed. I would like to go back to check out the racetrack now that it is getting into the racing season. After settling into our hotel, we headed out to the venue. I had bought a parking pass online with the tickets, which was absolutely pointless. There was a gigantic line of vehicles streaminginto the parking area. Along the way, we met up with some drunk kid who was sloshing his way and words through the long line of cars seeking parking. There was an SUV behind us packed with chicks that he kept talking to. Finally, he sloshed his way up to our car and asked if we could give him a ride. I figured what's the worse he could do? Maybe he is a psycho killer who will slay us infront of all these people? Maybe he'll pass out or throw up in Stephanie's car? He was really harmless and we offered him a lift. Not much of a lift, as we were inching our way through the road to the show. He told us all about losing his ticket and getting a scalped one for almost $90. He was from St. Albans (north of Burlington) and was really excited to see Dave (as we were). He thought we were awesome for giving him a ride (Which we were.) Finally we dropped him off and parked. Once inside, we met up with Kyle (from work). We planted ourselves near the fence before the assigned seats and went over to Kyle. After a bit, I decided I was tired of standing (what was I thinking - it's a concert!) and planted myself for what was going to be a brief time. The crowds piled in so thickly, that I stayed where I was at because I didn't want to lug our crap over to where Stephanie was. She had a perfect view as Kyle's height prevented people from crowding around. It was just easier that way. Though threre are always diverse crowds at DMB, I think the average age around me was 25. And how dedicated they were! Knowing all the words to all the songs. Even the girls next to me who decided to take a pee (too many people to pass through to go to the bathroom) about 5 feet from me were DMB fanatics. The opening band was forgettable. So forgettable I can't even tell you who they were. Then Dave came on stage. Sigh. Amazing and wonderful as always. He sang mostly their oldies, and very few from Stand Up. However, he also played two new songs from an upcoming album. Stephanie had never been to a DMB concert before, and she had a delightful time. I had a good time too, though next concert I won't bring so much crap. I think I also got high from all of the people smoking up around me. I am not saying that was a bad thing. ha ha ha There are a few things I love about going to DMB concerts - The band is so appreciative of their fans and really seem to enjoy themselves. They always sound better live than in studio (which you can't say about many bands). The crowds are all relatively nice to each other and the band played and played and played. They played for over three hours! It was awesome! I love DMB! We even downloaded the concert, so I have a copy of the music to go with the memory.

As this is summer, and there are lots of large bodies of water, there are mosquitos everywhere, especially at dusk and in the warm summer evenings. Saratoga is no exception. The mosquitoes were abundant, and though I was still recovering from a mosquito attack a few days earlier, the mosquitoes didn't seem to care. They were relentless. And they seemed to like to bite in the same places I had been bitten previously. I had a bite above my left eye from a few days earlier and they bit there again. When I got back to the hotel, my eyebrow was a little swollen, but I didn't think much of it. I put a little ice and a cold wash cloth. I also put a little anti-itch cream because it was itchin' like crazy. I had a relatively peaceful night sleep, but when I woke up in the morning, I couldn't open my eye. I thought it was sleepers, so I went into the bathroom. You know those moments when you wake up in the morning and you are still sleepy and reality hasn't hit you yet? I was shocked to see my eyelid in the bathroom light. SWOLLEN shut like something out of a comedy film. It was hilarious, though at the time I was freaking out a bit. Stephanie was a little suprised as well. I tried more ice and nothing helped. We had planned on going to the Great Escape, but I was thinking with my eye, that wouldn't be such a hot idea. We decided to go back home with a stop to the G-store so I could tell them I wasn't coming in and to the emergency room to see if there was anything they could do. Once we got back to Burlington, Stephanie stopped at the G-store so I could call out sick...injured. One of the supervisors, Shorty McCoy (not thier real name), basically told me to suck it up. But here's my thought. Would you want someobdy helping you with your food whose eyelid was swollen shut the size of a half softball? I thought it was gross. But Shorty McCoy is a G-store lifer and I guess isn't bothered by such things. Shorty said that all they would do is give me some Benadril and send me home. She was right. At the emergency room, the cute physician's assistant and I had some nice laughs about how I wish he could drain it and how he wish he could drain it, or pop it up with toothpicks. I siad that reminded me of "A Clockwork Orange", and he totally got it. I think he wants to marry me. Well, he said he could give me Benadril and I declined the offer. But I didn't go to work, which I was very grateful for. The eye was swollen for a couple more days, but I did recover as Shorty McCoy predicted.