The Week in Review

The Week in Review, in which Brewgal details her experiences of September 8-15, 2008.

Monday: 5:45am -- Brewguy leaves on a jet plane for Los Angeles, where he will help Brother Surfer Guy and wife pack up to move to Walla Walla, Washington. He expects the truck will be mostly packed and ready to go. Sufer Guy and wife live in a 1 bedroom apartment. How much stuff can there be?
Brewgal packs lunches, gets kids to the bus stop and takes the Metro downtown to a conference where she wows the crowd with her riveting presentation on research not yet conducted. She leaves the conference early (4:30) to make sure she is home in time to pick up the little brewers.
4:45 – Brewgal is stuck on a train at Gallery Place behind another broken down train. They are “single tracking” trains at Cleveland Park.
5:15 – Brewgal begins to suspect “single tracking” does not involve finding the trains any actual dates.
5:20 – Brewgal contemplates calling her parents to pick up kids. Realizes that she is stuck on a train IN A TUNNEL and there is no cell phone service. She begins to calculate late fees and wonders if the aftercare takes credit cards.
5:22 – Train starts moving.
5:43 – Train arrives at Twinbrook. Brewgal’s SmartCard refuses to let her out of the station and as a bonus, her hips are crushed by the automatic gate. Discussion with station manager ensues. Brewgal contemplates writing to WMATA and asking them to rename it the IdiotCard.
6:22 – Brewgal arrives at aftercare with 8 minutes to spare. Little Brewer #2 is upset that Mommy has arrived because he was busy playing FoosBall. Brewgal takes deep breaths and tries to remember that Little Brewer #2 is 5.
Evening – Brewgal makes dinner, washes dishes, helps with homework, puts Little Brewers to bed, gets back on email to take care of some work issues.

Tuesday: Morning – Repeat of Monday (lunches, school bus, Metro, downtown).
Brewguy calls to say they are still packing the truck.
Evening – Repeat of Monday, without the stuck train. Brewguy calls to say the truck is larger than he expected (22 feet long) and that neither Surfer Guy or wife want to drive it. Brewguy will be driving the truck all the way to Washington state. They make it as far as Lost Hills, CA that day (about 3 hours north of Los Angeles). I sense the name is an omen and christen their group “The Donner Party.”
Brewgal once again is on email late at night trying to fix work issues that arose while she was at the conference. Brewgal is counting the days (15) until her research team partner comes back from maternity leave.

Wednesday: Little Brewer #2 agrees to buy lunch at school, so only one lunch to pack. Brewguy calls to say they are headed for Winnemucca, Nevada and that he is feeling bulky. He says he has been “hanging with the truckers.” Brewgal fears that a John Deere baseball cap may have been procured.
Brewgal sneaks in a few rows on Carrie’s Baby Surprise Jacket.

Thursday: Brewguy calls from Boy’s Burgers in Parma Idaho. Says they are 1 hour from Boise and should make it to Milton-Freewater that evening. His voice has developed a twang and “howdy” was uttered at least once.
Brewgal spends most of Thursday in meetings. Dinner consists of cheese toasties and fruit.

Friday: Brewguy and Surfer Guy unload the truck and drive it to Pasco for return. The Pasco airport is understandably suspicious about a large truck idling in front of the terminal. Brewguy is not arrested.
Brewgal breaks the house rules and allows dinner in front of the TV.

Saturday: Brewgal drives Little Brewer #2 to soccer practice. Upon arrival, she is chastised by the Keepers of the Soccer List that she does not know the coach or team to which LB#2 is assigned. This is notwithstanding the fact that the KSL have an actual list they could consult to answer this question, which is why they are called the KSL. Brewgal resists the urge to tell the KSL to bite me. After lunch, Brewgal drops LB#2 at a friend’s birthday party and takes Little Brewer #1 to the paint store to pick out paint samples for the foyer because Brewgal is tired of waiting for Godot to make up his mind about color. After the paint store, we go to Vie de France for croissants and Orangina, followed by a trip to the thrift store. Brewgal finds 3 partial balls of what she is sure is Nashua Wooly Stripes (enough for another BSJ) and 3 yards of super retro cool Danish fabric. Brewgal discovers Showtime is having a free preview and allows dinner in front of the TV (again) in order to watch Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End. Brewgal reconsiders the wisdom of this choice about 10 minutes into the film.
Brewguy visits wineries.

Sunday: Brewgal finds out her great Aunt Margaret passed away yesterday in York, NY. She contemplates going to the funeral but cannot because Brewguy is still away. Brewgal sends thoughtful prayers to family. Brewgal drags the crew into work to complete her technical review of contracts that need to be procured by September 19. Like time and the tides, the end of the fiscal year waits for no one. She gives the Little Brewers $1 each to buy whatever they like from the vending machine. They both choose Sour Patch Kids. Blech. At home later, Brewgal manages to knit 8 rows on the BSJ in progress.
Brewguy gets up at 5am to drive to Portland to catch flight back to Baltimore.

Monday: 1 am. Brewguy returns bearing gifts. The routine begins anew.