Thursday, March 10, 2005

Am I REALLY that stupid?

Don't answer that. Here is the story:

I have a friend who has been in Afghanistan (with the US Army) for almost 2 years. He has a wife and 2 kids who I promised to look in on from time to time. A couple weeks ago I realized I have not talked to his wife in almost a year! Racked with guilt, I finally called her to see how things were going. My timing was actually good, as they are moving to a new house in a different part of town. Since I own a big truck and a flatbed trailer big enough to hold a car, I immediately offered to help move them. Here is where I am stupid.
I took a days vacation from work and said I would call later for the details. I called last night to find out when she wanted me over there. She said "five". I assumed that she had also taken the day off work, so "five" meant five AM. (I know you can see this coming) I thought that was a little strange so I said something intelligent like "Five? really? That's pretty early" She said I could come over whenever. So I said "How about six?". She said that was fine. I tell Mrs Gorilla that she needs to take the kids to the sitter early in the AM because I will be gone and promptly get in trouble. (She is extremely not into sleep deprivation of any kind) I picked up the trailer that we keep at my dads house so it would be ready for the morning. I get up at 5:30 am after about 4 hours of sleep, and stop at a gas station for a dose of caffeine and a nasty breakfast burrito. Check and check. I get to her house, spend 5 minutes backing the trailer perfectly into place and trudge up the stairs to the front porch where I notice...no lights! After a few moments of foggy morning-confusion it finally dawns on me that five meant five PM. So here I sit. Blogging instead of sleeping. At least Mrs Gorilla will be able sleep!

(And just to add insult to injury, I have ended up burning a vacation day for nothing as I could have easily got back from work by 6 PM!)