Wow, what a day of mixed emotions.

First, the bad news. I was out of work yesterday, and in my absence word came down from the salesman that the product that I’ve been working frantically for the last two months to get out the door is no going to be provided to the customer by one of our competitors instead. This was immediately followed, of course, by the salesman pointing fingers and determining blame. Guess who’s getting caught in the crossfire? While we do share some of the blame for this one, there’s plenty to go around. Still makes me feel like someone pissed in my cornflakes. I’ve got another week’s worth of wrap-up to do on this one (since we’re technically “back-up/contingency” suppliers, meaning we might need to re-activate the product if needed), then I can wash my hands of it. Just one more reason I really don’t want to be here today.

On the bright side, we now have a house full of people! partran came in Wednesday night and I enjoyed hanging out with him yesterday (we also found a truly amazing French bakery right in Raleigh – the pain au chocolat are to die for!). Datahawk and hartree rolled in around 5:30 PM (after only getting a little lost). rustitobuckarrived at around 7:30 (after getting bumped from one flight and desperately trying to get bumped from another – those travel vouchers really add up!). linnaeus and Brophey came in around 10:30 PM (I think, I went to bed at 10 since I had to get up for work in the morning). takaza came to bed at 2:30 AM, and he said everyone was just heading to bed then. I’d guess that half the house is still asleep as I write this at 10:30 AM 🙂 I think the itinerary today is pretty low-key – a stop by local Apple Store and cruising Retail Hell. Just got a voice mail that mirkowuff, who was supposed to arrive around 1:30 this afternoon took a voluntary bump from American Airlines, thereby picking up a nice voucher from them, I’m sure. So he’ll be in at around 5 PM today.

This evening will consist of deliciously greasy burgers and milkshakes to die for at Pop’s, a local fast-food joint, we’re taking the group over to Ultrazone (which, according to the surfer dude on their answering machine, is now called “Battle Zone, the ultimate laser adventure”) for a fun night of laser tag and group bonding by shooting one another – yay!

So that’s what’s up right now. I’d say the good is outweighing the bad, and that’s a big help. I’m looking forward to the weekend and spending time with our friends here. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted when it’s all over, but it’ll be worth it!