Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Horrible, no good, very bad day...

Just a quick disclaimer...this is going to be a long post, so for the weak at heart beware...(that means you, damien)

You know the saying, "when it rains, it pours"? I have felt the full force of that obnoxious cliche this week. So....here we go. I flew to San Fransisco on Sunday afternoon for my interview with Google on Monday morning. My flight got in at noon so I had the entire afternoon and evening to bum around and a rental car to do it in. After stopping by my hotel to check in and being told by the snotty front desk person that check in time wasn't until 3pm (how was i supposed to know that? I didn't book my room, the nice people at Google did that for me) I decided to go into the city and see some of the sights. Little did I know that "going into the city" meant driving at least an hour. After driving an hour and taking a slight detour to a target i finally get into "the city". It was a 20 degree temperature change from my hotel in Mountain View and it was foggy and slightly misting. I'm driving around trying to find the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. No matter how many times I consult my mapquest directions or the map the rental car place gave me, it's no use. I basically drove an hour to drive my SFU. I give up and drive back to Mountain View and reach my hotel, tired, hot and hungry. I check into my hotel and order a pizza because i am far too tired to put forth the effort to go out and find a restaurant and i have a feeling the person at the front desk isn't going to be too helpful. So I spent the evening in my hotel room eating mediocre pizza and reading Harry Potter. Could have been worse.

Monday morning. I'm supposed to meet Camille Hart at 9:30 in the lobby of 1400 Crittenden at the Google complex. I present myself to the receptionist at 9:15.

"Hi. My name is Kelly Buie. I have a 9:30 appointment with Camille Hart." The receptionist types away at her computer and says to me,

"Camille isn't in today."

"......"

The next 40 minutes are spent trying to find out who i'm supposed to met with. Turns out it's a guy named Tom. Tom is in a different building. Tom has a meeting he needs to be at at 10:00. It's 9:50. He gets my cell number and tells me he'll call me later and we'll meet some time this afternoon...noonish. My flight back to Utah doesn't leave until 5:00, no biggie. I am to now wait for Jason. Jason shows up at 10:10. We have our little interview and after he asks me where I'm going next. I tell him, I'm supposed to meet Sheela to take the Admin test. Not sure which building or who Sheela is because no one ever tells me their last name. After figuring out what building Sheela is in i get back in my car and make the 5 minute drive to the other side of the Google complex to Sheela. Walking to my car, my heel catches on the steps and i almost do a face plant on the sidewalk. I settle for slightly tweaking my ankle. It doesn't hurt too bad so i ignore it and move on.

I present myself to the receptionist in the lobby. "My name is Kelly Buie. I'm supposed to meet Sheela to take the Admin test." (sounding familiar???) The receptionist looks at me
and says,

"Sheela who?"

Again..."I don't know." Because no one ever thinks it would be a good idea to tell me their last name and I, in all my smartness, forget to ask.

So the receptionist spends about 15 minutes trying to find Sheela and i'm sitting in the lobby watching people come and go. He finally finds sheela and she's only passed me about 4 or 5 times already. So i go in and take the Admin Test. It's two LSAT type logic games. But these aren't your typical LSAT logic games...i've done those. I can do those. They're hard but i can do them. The Google Logic games are like LSAT questions on acid. They make no sense. I do the best I can, which wasn't very good, and go to find Sheela. She's not in her office where she said she would be. Turns our she's gone to lunch and didn't bother to tell anyone that I was in there.

She shows up and asks if Tom has called me yet. Nope. She goes in to call him. Turns out he's in a meeting for the rest of the afternoon and won't be able to meet with me. I'll have to come back tomorrow. I politely tell her, "I'm flying back to Utah this evening." She gives me a blank look and goes back to call Tom. "He'll call you later this week for a phone interview. Thanks for coming in. Bye." doesn't even bother to walk me out.

It's about 1:30 at this point and i've got some time to kill before I need to return the rental car. I drive back in the direction of my hotel so i can get back to the airport. I get lost...again...thanks mapquest. I get some lunch at Togos (probably the highlight of my trip, sad yes?). I fill up the rental car and head to the airport...again, getting lost. (Mapquest, i hate you). I finally make it to the airport and i'm thinking...."thank goodness! nothing else can really go wrong at this point." I walk into the bathroom to change out of my interview clothes and they had just finished mopping the floor but didn't put up a "slippery when wet" sign and i'm wearing heals. Needless to say i go down...hard....on all fours. I'm embarrassed and in pain but i shrug it off. I change and go to my gate. My knee is throbbing and my ankle still hurts. As i'm sitting there waiting for my plain, my knee is getting larger and it's harder to walk. Awesome. I get on the plane and get home. I get a phone call from Google telling my that I didn't pass the Admin test (duh) and that they would not be pursuing my application.

Whoop-di-flippin'-do! After getting lost three times (thanks again, mapquest!), falling twice, hurting my ankle, banging up my knee and my hip...i really don't care that i didn't get the job working for the completely unorganized company that basically had no idea that i was coming.

I wake up on Tuesday and basically spend the entire day recovering from Monday. If i'm honest with myself, I'm disappointed that I didn't get the job. BUT thankfully i don't really have the time to linger on it too long before life forces something else for me to fixate on. Yes, it doesn't stop there.

I went to the doctor Wednesday morning. Turns out, no, I don't have PCOS. I have Hypo-thyroidism and Pituitary Cushings disease. What's that you ask? well...I'll tell you. After having an MRI (now that's a fun one) they found two "spots" on my Pituitary gland that will need to be surgically removed. The pituitary gland is located on the very front of your brain in between your eyes. yeah. my thoughts exactly. I have to do one more "test" to determine which of these spots, if not both of them, are causing the problem. To do this, they have to sedate me and stick something up my nose and take a blood sample from each of these spots. Sounds pleasant, no? After they've confirmed the source of the problem i then will be referred to a Neurosurgeon who will actually perform the surgery. It's a 2-3 day hospital stay and then recovery time at home afterwards. And because your hormone levels are normalizing you feel like crap for a while afterwards. Maybe i'll get lucky and i'll get my own personal McDreamy.

But wait...it doesn't stop there!!!! Trying to schedule this last "test". My doctor said to have it done at LDS hospital...LDS hospital doesn't accept my insurance. University of Utah Hospital does so we call them up. No one knows what this procedure is. They've never heard of it. It takes my doctor's office to call them and faxing over the doctor's order for it for them to find someone that does the procedure. Comforting...yes? So no one is all that familiar with this procedure and they're going to stick a needle up my nose, towards my brain....right.

This coupled with my general distrust and dislike of medical personnel in general, does not bode well.

3 comments:

Wendy said...

Oh, Kelly! You have had the hardest week. Bright side: Maybe someone's finally figured out what's really going on. Hypothyroidism is relatively easy to treat isn't it? As for the brain-related tests: I'm sorry. Hopefully they'll practice on someone else before they get to you.

Katie said...

Kelly- i'm so sorry... it has been so hard for you. i did laugh a few times when you said i hate you mapquest! but i'm sorry to hear about the surgery you will have to go through. what a hard time you have been having. we will keep you in our prayers and know that we love you and would do anything for you.

TheOneTrueSue said...

Oh, gosh. How awful (both the trip and the medical news) and frustrating. Keep us posted on the medical stuff, we will all be thinking of you.