everything that could go wrong today went wrong, and it just kept happening. everything that i tried to do, got messed up somehow.

so, i went to seattle today, for the day, to do something important for work. but things didn't go as planned. first, i spent alot of time last night downloading movies onto my laptop, so that i could watch them on the plane. this morning, rushing around, trying to figure out stuff, i couldn't find my headphones to save my life. then, as i got on the plane i remembered that i lent them to jackie when she went home a month previous. so, i was bored the plane ride there, with nothing to do.

i left my apartment at 6am. by some stroke of luck, i made a 6:20 flight when the airport is 15 minutes away. without thinking, i parked in the "hourly" parking garage, and ended up paying thirty bucks for a day of parking. i got to the airport, and of course, everything that i was wearing was setting off the metal detectors. took off my belt, my jacket, everything metal, and still i set it off. i ran. and of course, the gate that i was departing from had to be the absolute last gate in the terminal. they were literally closing the doors when i ran up.

the plane ride sucked. the single serving coffee tasted like shit. i get to seattle, and the weather is shitty. my first trip there, and it's foggy and raining. what a great start.

the plan was for me to rent a SUV, drive from point A to remove servers from A. load into SUV and drive to B. install servers at point B, and return to airport for a 6:55 flight. i got there just after 8:30. go down to avis. hand them my "internim" license (a half sheet of paper from the DMV, becuase they have yet to send me my real license) and my passport, and state that i'm there for my car.

the guy looks at the slip of paper. looks at the passport. stumbles in his own stupidity (no, he didn't fall, he was just dumb) and calls the other guy over for help. the other guy looks at my passport, my "internim" license, and states: "we cannot rent you a car. your 'internim' license expired yesterday."

yesterday? fcuking yesterday? oh god. i am in hell. i go outside, and call jake. jake doesn't know what to do. i'm pissed. i go back inside, to talk to the avis people, hoping to beg my way into a vehicle of any kind, and they offer me a ride into the city. which, i take, figuring that it's better than nothing.

sometime on the flight, i started to think about my trip home tomorrow. (wednesday) and realize to my horror that i hadn't received tickets yet. i check the reservation printout. it says that the tickets were purchased, but there was no tracking number for the tickets. during the ride into town, i call sean. i get him to log in as me to cheaptickets, and check the reservation. it says "processing" with no tracking number to speak of. i'm really angry now. i call cheaptickets.

somehow, i managed to get through rather quickly. i explain the situation, and i'm informed that the flight that i was going to take had been canceled, and they had had a problem contacting me. the only number that they have for me is my cellphone, and no-one had called. i get irate. i tell him that i'm going to boston tomorrow, and he'd better find a way. he says that he'll look into it, and call me back.

a half hour later, i call again. speak to a different person. she can't look at the file, because the first guy still has it open. she says that she'll look into it, and call me. i stress that she has to call me or i'm going to get even more irate than i already am.

i call jake about how i'm going to get the equipment from point A to point B. he's got no clue, but is trying to have the people at points A & B figure something out. i call amanda, the uber-receptionist back in cambridge, to see if she can give me the akamai seattle number, so that i can call someone there for help. she puts me on hold, telling me that she's going to make some calls. minutes later, she comes back on the line with a phone number of this woman barbra in akamai seattle who's got a van, and is willing to help. piece a-b of the puzzle is solved.

i get to point A. i go to floor 8, suite 800. the door has the internap logo on it, but the letters saying the suite number are backwards, so it appears to say 008. i pull on the door. it seems locked. i pick up the phone next to the door, ready to yell, and the security guard motions for me to push the door. they are never puch doors. especially with a "pull" handle on the outside. i guess they put the door on backwards.

i sign in on the wrong sheet. i cross it out, and sign in on the correct one. i talk to the people. they seem to know what's going on, but the drill that i was fedexed to myself was not there. they had no idea where it was, but were willing to lend me their drill, which happened to be the exact same drill that i have. they tell me that the servers are on floor 18, and that i need to talk to greg when i get up there, and he'll give me access. i hit the up button. i get in the elevator. i look for the "18" button, but the numbers stop at 15. i get out, hit the up button again, and try another elevator. same thing. i go back inside, and ask where the hell floor 18 is. it turns out that i have to go down to the third floor, get out of the elevator, and go to a different bank of elevators to go up tp 18. this place is a fcuking maze.

i get up to 18. greg is not there. the only guy on the floor tries to call greg, but he's not answering his cellphone. i sit in the hall and wait. i call people to complain. i try to call james again, but aparently, he doesn't beleive in answering his cellphone. finally, greg shows up, and they have a hard time believing that i'm an akamai employee. i get angry, and try to explain that i'm pressed for time. finally, i get in to the colo, and unrack the servers, and clean everything up in just under 45 minutes. i stack the servers on a rinky-dink cart that they said i could use.

i go out to lunch with james, and he helps me for the rest of the day. it is great to see him, and i think in retrospect that he was the coolest part of the whole trip. i hadn't seen him in a rally long time, so it was good to catch up.

we go back to the maze at point A, and call barbra to pick us up. we bring the cart to the elevator and push the button to go down. as we are trying to push the overloaded rinky-dink cart onto the elevator, one of the wheels gets stuck in the crack, and falls off. the rest of the wheels fall on in rapid sucession. when we try to put it back together, it turns out that it's completely broken.

scratch that. we unload everything, and load it all onto a dollie not designed for carrying servers. we very carefully heft the whole lot into the freight elevator, and bring it to barb's car. we load up. we get lost trying to find point B.

eventually, we find point B, and meet up with the people there. we get badges. but, the badges are not just badges, they also have to do a handprint scan for the handprint scanners at all of the major doors. this takes forever. by now, it's way after two, and i'm doubting that i'm going to make the flight.

we get into the datacenter, and i'm amazed. it's beautiful. contemporary blue lamps hang from the ceiling. there's little flashy lights on the floor, flashing in a path, as if to show us where to go. (it ended up that that was exactly what they were for) we get to the cabinet, and it's empty. we need a shelf. they tell us that this is fine, they'll install it. we find my drill. aparently, i sent it to the wrong place.

it takes two guys literally an hour to install one shelf. james and i are just sitting around, dumbfounded at their stupidity. once they are done, it's easy. we rack the servers. we wire it up. done. less than 45 minutes. i start configuring them with james reading off the numbers. we speed through it all. and then, i call jake to tell him that i'm done, and it turns out that nothing works.

internap are idiots. they give us two lines in, so we split them between the machines. it turns out that one line is a backup for the other, and they won't work if you split them. we put them together, and get online, or at least my laptop is online. i IM jake in excitement. he tells me that the only machine that he can see is mine.

then we realize that we wired the whole thing wrong, and that we have to do it all over. we get it working, and i book it to the airport. i say my goodbyes to james, and run to the plane. i make it with time to spare. so, i call cheaptickets, because they never called me back, to find out what is going on.

i'm on hold forever. as i board the plane, and find my seat, i'm still on hold. i'm on hold through the air-mask and seatbelt demonstration. just as the plane starts to bavk up, signaling that i'm going to have to turn my phone off, someone comes on the line. i regretfully have to hang up on them.

the flight back was uneventful. i took some pictures, and watched a movie with the headphones that i bought at lunch. as soon as we land, i get back on hold again with cheaptickets. finally i talk to someone, and they tell me that they'll look into it, and call me back. i refuse, explaining that no-one has called me back yet, and i'll stay on hold until they figure it out, thank-you-very-much.

i'm on hold most of the way driving home. the lady poiltely comes back on the line telling me that they're trying to get me onto a different flight, and they're having peoblems with it. they're having problems... don't get me started. she tells me that she will call me back was soon as she knows anything.

and she did. now, i'm on a different airline, for the same price, leaving and arriving an hour later than planned.

at least the day is over. let's hope that tomorrow isn't a repeat.