Best. Monday. Ever.

Had to wake up today, which I didn’t really need to do last week while the kids were home from school. As I struggled to get back into a morning routine I found myself knocking everything over in the kitchen. I just couldn’t get out of my own way.

I had a 9:30 meeting so I decided to run some errands real quick. Well, that was the plan anyway. I sat in my car, turned the key and….nothing. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what the problem was and soon enough I knew: dead battery. Turns out that someone had turned the interior light on in my car and never turned it off. So, no errands. I decided to just take my coffee and breakfast and start my work day.

After my early meeting I had another meeting and in between I was trying to put together a new presentation on SQL Server memory. And all along the way little things just seemed to be “off”. For example, I paid for 2-day shipping for the new memory sticks for my laptop and found out that 2-day really means 3-4 days, if I am lucky. It seemed like it was just going to be one of those days.

And then it happened.

It started with just a tweet:

But what a tweet that turned out to be for me.

You may (or may not) recall that last November I was given a Golden Ticket. I was selected to be a part of the NASA Tweetup for the STS-133 mission. As the original delay turned from a few days into over one hundred days my chances of going back dwindled. When STS-133 was finally declared a “go” I couldn’t get back for the February launch.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

And then that tweet today. I sent my email and Stephanie told me that they had a spot open and decided that the easiest way to get someone to fill the spot would be to find someone who already had been cleared. Thus the reason for asking about anyone else from STS-133. I was happy to give a tentative “yes” but I needed to check a few things first.

Could I get a flight? Sure! Could I get an affordable flight within the right schedule? Yes! Could I even cash in on some miles, meaning I would not pay more than a few dollars?

Yes.

Uh-oh. Game on. If I could fly, and not have to drive all night…then I was fairly certain I could make this work. Next up was telling Congress (blog | @femmefoto) that I was going to be busy later this week. Then it was rearranging my work schedule and support days. Finally it was making certain I could get a rental car. Along the way I was trading emails with Kendal Van Dyke (blog | @SQLDBA) telling him to leave the door unlocked for me on Thursday night.

I had a way to get there. I had a way to get around when I was there. And I had a place to keep the wind off of me. Oh, and I had a front row seat to watch a few humans be propelled into outer space. And it took about 45 minutes to pull it all together, from the time of that tweet until all my arrangements were booked (well, the first class upgrade came in a little later, not sure that counts against my total time here).

All in all, it was the best Monday ever. And soon, it shall be the best Friday ever. Want proof? Check out where I will be at 3:47PM:

I can’t wait.