Spud-nik

i don't travel as well as i used to. in the good ole days, i could take a trip and pick up exactly where i left off when i got home. now, however, it seems that every time i go somewhere, i need about 4 days to recover.

last week my company sent me to potato land to train some people how to sell in a foreign language. i was happy to go...until i realized my flight there left at 6:30 am (i live 20 minutes from the airport, plus the 10 minute shuttle, plus the 1 hours arrival before flight. ugh). i got berated by an irritable delta employee at 5:30 in the morning and then my flight, natch, was late, leaving me exactly 12 minutes to catch my connection in salt lake shitty.

i thought that since i'd gotten exactly 3 hours of sleep the night before that i'd be able to take a quick power nap on one of my flights. no dice. i arrived at the office around 10:30 am and, save a few breaks here and there, worked till 12:30--the next morning. of course i'd be tired from that. but even after a solid 7 hours of sleep, i awoke less than refreshed and took on another day chock full o' work.

i was elated to get out of the office for a few days. but even as i began to doze off on the plane home, we were struck with severe turbulence, the price of admission to denver's airspace in mid summer and an obvious sign from the sleep gods that i am not a chose one . i rushed to the kennel to pick up the monsters and headed home, where i promptly fell asleep around 8pm.

i figured that sleeping from 8pm to 6am would be sufficient to recover from 2.5 days of non-stop work. but 6am turned to 11am, which turned into 4pm, which turned into midnight and eventually to 10am on sunday. yes, i literally slept the entire weekend because of one little business trip. i didn't even cross time zones! but was all that sleep enough? nope. woke up this morning and headed to work, bleary eyed and exhausted. and, of course, i took a nap when i got home.

since i'm neither elderly nor narcoleptic, and i don't have mono or any other illness that causes fatigue, what on earth could compel a lively, active and healthy 28 year old to sleep nearly 2 full days after a trip to a destination only an hour and a half flight away? surely it isn't jet lag, 'cause i've had medical procedures that lasted longer than my flight. i'm completely stumped. i guess i'll sleep on it and see what i come up with in the morning.