Last night was Zeke's company Christmas party in Baltimore. We got into town around 5:00, got dressed, had a few drinks at the hotel bar, then headed to the historic
Belvedere Hotel downtown. They rented the 13th floor lounge which has a panoramic view of the city... it was beautiful! Last night was also the annual statue lighting ceremony, and we would have had a front row view of the whole thing, fireworks and all. But too bad we didn't know, we got there too late because we were having some pre-party drinks at our hotel. Oh well, there's always next year!
This was my first time meeting any of his Baltimore co-workers, and they were all really nice & fun. And I'm pretty sure we made quite the impression. Zeke's boss, Don Raider, is a handful. I really like him though, he's the kind of guy that keeps you on your toes and knows how to have a good time. As expected, around 11 p.m. and after numerous Crown and 7's, his name changed from Don to "Raider Power" and we were old buds. And true to form, we fed the DJ Patron shots, convinced him to pay some dirty south music, and showed Baltimore how H-Town does it on the dance floor to some Lil Flip and taught them how to Douggie. Talk about a way to get to know the office! Afterwards, we headed to a bar in downtown, but I honestly have no recollection of it. I know Zeke and I left full beers on the bar and pulled a ninja around 1:30 or so, thank goodness. A few pics from the night...
Bonding with "the help". Always.
Part of the view, that tall oil derrick looking thing is the tower they lit earlier in the evening.
Zeke's bartender crush.
At the last bar, Zeke pulsed out some $$ to cover the taxi. He ran over from the ATM with this weird look on his face and said "BABE... LOOK AT MY FREAKING CHECKING ACCOUNT BALANCE" I immediately almost panicked, we still have to pay rent! What happened?? But to our surprise, the machine must have read the balance incorrectly. $31,000??? I wish! We contemplated trying to withdrawal $30k and telling the bank too bad, but quickly realized that's probably not smart. But it was nice to pretend.
I woke up around noon in the hotel with a pounding headache and didn't know where I was. The usual post-christmas party antics. Right as I was getting our belongings together, the phone rang. I was sure it was housekeeping wondering when the heck we were getting out of the room since checkout was at noon. To my surprise, it was the front desk...
Hotel: "Hello, Mrs. Smith?"
Me: "Yes?"
Hotel: "Hello ma'am. I have been informed by valet that there is an issue with your vehicle, valet needs to speak with you immediately" (my heart started pounding)
Me: "An issue like how?"
Hotel: "With your car ma'am. There's a problem"
Me: "A bad problem?"
Hotel: "Mrs. Smith, just please come downstairs. The manager is waiting to speak with you in person"
Me: "Oooooookay. Great. Be down there in a sec"
I hung up the phone and yelled %&@$%@#&*??? Why? WHYYYYYYYY?? I mean, not only am I hungover and feel awful, but I swear, something ALWAYS happens to us! And we didn't even do anything wrong, just stayed at a hotel! And valeted the car so that it would be safe!
I threw on some clothes and ran downstairs. Me and valet companies don't exactly have the best history, and my poor car (Ally) has been vandalized, hit, nearly flooded... we don't don't have the best luck as an owner-vehicle team. I had n idea what to expect. I was greeted by a driver and very somber valet manager. I could tell something was wrong, they both looked uncomfortable, and all they said was "Please follow me ma'am". I didn't even want to ask, so I just followed them. So we leave the hotel, walk across the street to this lot behind a building, and there she was. Poor Ally. The rear passenger window was shattered... someone broke into my baby.
If your car has ever been broken in to, you know that it's such a violating feeling. What kind of ass much does that anyways??? I really hope there is a special place in you-know-where for inconsiderate people like that. Their 30 seconds of activities that will maybe get them $50 or $100 for selling the stolen items, leaves victims like me with hours of crap to deal with that usually ends up costing us $500 to fix and wastes your whole day. This is the third time now that we have had to deal with break-ins this year. The other two happened to Zeke in Austin. The first time they stole his GPS, which was understandable... don't leave the freaking GPS in the car. Lesson learned. But the second time, all they stole his $200 cycling shoes. Cycling shoes. Really? It's hard for me to picture a criminal by night, competitive road bike enthusiast by day.
I looked through the car to assess the damage. I'm proud to say that it wasn't the GPS that attracted them this time, we hid it in the glove box. But this time, Zeke's laptop bag that was the culprit. But it's bizarre... it's a black bag and was in the floorboard of the back seat, and it was dark, so how did they see it? So not only did they steal the computer bag, but more importantly ALL of Zeke's notes from his first month of one-on-one meetings with all of the DC and Baltimore staff, his checkbook, and I'm sure several other important documents that are irreplaceable. Now, we normally always take the computer bag inside, but we valeted the car and it was supposed to go in the covered garage. Which brings me to my initial reaction when I saw the car.
I said to the manager, "I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble figuring out why we paid $28 for your employee to valet our car in a garage, and it's sitting in an unsecured lot across the street from the hotel out of your line of sight". He tried to say that they park it in the lot for "guest convenience" so we could easily access it, to which my response was "Well sir, we didn't need access to the car, we told the driver that, so there in lies my question- why was the car not parked in the garage?" He didn't have an answer.
So I had to fill out a few pages of paperwork, and was thoroughly annoyed but I was still very polite. The GOOD thing is that they took care of everything. They immediately took the car to an auto glass repair facility to fix the window. He also said they would cover anything that was stolen since they left the car in an unsecured lot. I'm pretty sure someone is getting in a bit of trouble for that. They also removed the valet charge from our bill. We got to hang out n the hotel and sleep while the window was being repaired. I do give the hotel props for being so professional and helpful- it would have gone the complete opposite way. But it's still such a bummer that something like this had to happen, we wanted to be able to enjoy our first trip back to Baltimore as a couple.
Hopefully I won't have a horrible story to tell tomorrow... we FINALLY get our furniture and hopefully everything arrives in one piece and functional. I have seriously been praying that nothing goes wrong with our furniture. I would have a mental meltdown. So if you read this tonight, please say a prayer for us as well! I'm excited to get everything in the apartment and start "nesting". I hate that I have to leave Sunday, I won't really be able to get settled, but I'll have plenty of time after Christmas.
Zeke is passed out on the couch beside me, he was in bad shape today. We just can't do it like we used to. So I'm about to join him in the land of nod and get rested for the big move-in day tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and have all of my warm clothes! I'm been rotating the same 3 outfits for almost 2 weeks now.
I'll update you on our long awaited delivery tomorrow! Sweet dreams!
