July 30, 2003
Wednesday!
Had grand intentions of sleeping in this morning, being as I have a cold and need my rest. Instead woke at 4 am with future plans swirling in my head. I managed to read them into submission and go back to sleep after an hour or so, but, wow, I hate the transitional stages of life.
On the other hand, Iowa has turned out to be very pleasant. Except for the part about walking out of a nice air conditioned building and being able to see the air because it's so humid. Other than that, it's lush and green, and the librarians SOOO nice (yesterday they were all plying me with orange juice and vitamin C - and lo and behold, I'm much much better today). I've even found some good restaurants here.
July 27, 2003
Dyersville
Having a great time with my best friend and former roommate Laura. On Saturday we more or less bought out Old Navy - which was having a great sale. Incidentally, whoever planned the retail layout in Cedar Rapids must love me, because there was a Perkins, and Old Navy and a Barnes and Noble all nestled up right next to each other. Between that and the Super Target, I was ready to stay forever. But today we pulled up stakes and headed over to Dubuque, which actually has a really cute downtown. On the way though, we stopped at The Field of Dreams, and got a couple pics of Louie and Bob sightseeing.
July 25, 2003
Driving makes me sleepy
I had all these grand and pithy things in mind to write, but it's all gone now. The weather has been glorious in Iowa thus far, and somehow driving through all that sun drenched corn just makes my eyes heavy....oh , I remember now- I got the worst ever service at lunch today (in one of those diners where they know everyone who comes through the door, except you). Once they got around to taking my order, it was pretty fast, but when I was ready to pay, I waited around while 5 restaurant workers stared at me (moderately apologetically) and occasionally called back to the kitchen "cash register", and the woman who was supposed to take my money bustled by doing mundane chores while pretending I was invisible. I comforted myself with the idea that they would feel the heat of my scorn in my blog this evening, and there, it is done. I feel much better now. On the other hand, everyone else has been really really nice here.
July 23, 2003
Travel Nirvana
I have found the very epicenter of grocery nirvana, and it's at the Target Supercenter in Cedar Rapids, complete with Starbucks. Everything I need or want in one big place. And when I came back to the hotel, burdened with my purchases, a nice man with an empty luggage cart was waiting by the elevator, and happened to be going to the room across from mine, do the fates get any kinder than this?
July 22, 2003
Snappy Turnaround
Wow, it's really sort of bracing to have a two day turnaround time before hopping on the next plane. It's amazing how focused one becomes. I was even packed with all laundry done last night. Of course, no telling what I've forgotten. It's been almost a month since I've travelled for work, I barely remember what it is I do out there on the road. So today the final schedule came out, and for the first time in two years, I can know for certain that I'm in town after the 10th. Crazy. But of course, everything after that is completely up in the air, time to start pulling the resume together. Eek. I'm looking around my apartment now and realizing that I've accumulated WAY too much stuff, and pretty soon it will all go in boxes to be stored during the next round of adventures. I wonder why I have so many gray hairs all of a sudden?
July 21, 2003
Some little pictures
Okay, here's the de rigeur sunset shot, and a little pic of Bob and Louie getting ready to snorkel.... (with some scenery in the background) both of these are from Maui.
July 20, 2003
Home Again
So apparently, if I don't post for a week, my page goes blank... interesting. Home again. The airport was CRAZY tonight, I had to wait in line 10 minutes just for a taxi home. Eek. I must say, I'm reluctantly home. When I was having my last desperate beach time this morning, I really considered missing my flight. But Iowa beckons. More tomorrow when I'm coherent again.
July 11, 2003
Sharks!
Saw my first shark today, so now all you jealous people can just relax. Mind you, I AM in a warm and happy place, and the shark took off for deep water as soon as he saw me, so I might be persuaded to go back out to the reef, especially now that I know not to linger outside his little hidey hole. But he was BIG, at least 5 feet, and fast. Eeek.
July 07, 2003
Eels!
Was up at the crack of dawn this morning snorkeling with my parents. Saw at least one eel (looks just like a snake when it's swimming around) and a big sea turtle.What a way to start the day. Very refreshing, but now I'm completely exhausted and useless for the rest of the day. However, there is a handy little internet cafe just down from the office. Perhaps I'll post some pictures later this week....
July 04, 2003
Fireworks!
Don't expect to hear from me too much for the next two weeks, cause I'm going on VACATION!!! Of course, I've already hunted out two internet cafes, but Ross has told me I'm not allowed to touch a computer for two weeks. I don't think I'll make it that long personally. In the meantime, saw some really pretty fireworks tonight ( I was hopeful of watching them from my balcony, but the Foundation turned out to be in the way, so we walked down towards Pete's, which was kind of a relief, as my near neighbors were throwing firecrackers and sparklers at the passing cars (always nice to know the general maturity level of my co-residents) and I got some pretty pictures. Here are two of them...
July 03, 2003
Katie Rocks
First of all - Kris' CSS class was excellent, it's sort of like getting a map to a city that you've been wandering around in blindly for a long time. But Katie is the one that held my hand and walked me through the transparency and the picture stuff, and I have to say, she is the VERY soul of patience. In other news, I met with Steph, Kristy and Gretchen for lunch today at Sushiland. I think that Paradise must be very like sushiland, with little tidbits of food running around on conveyer belts for all eternity. Steph has promised pictures.
Susie Needs a Photoblog
So I finally got around to scanning these pictures from my Oregon trip last night. This is right near Bandon, and my feet were freezing when I took this picture, because it was October, and I insist on walking barefoot on the beach. The tide was out when I walked out to these rocks, but came in rather suddenly while I was taking the pictures. I'm inspired by Aaron's newly redesigned photo pages. Well, I don't know how new they are, but new to me, cause I haven't looked at them in a while, and tempted to follow in his footsteps... in the meantime, here's Bandon, which, incidentally makes a really fine artisanal cheese....
July 02, 2003
Changes....
Many thanks to Katie for her patience and assistance with the tweaks to my blog. It's still not where I want it, but thanks to Katie, I can now play with it to my heart's content.
Sunset
Check out the sunset last night. I love my camera, not so keen on the powerlines....
July 01, 2003
Recycling Rant
People who live in my building are dumb. Every month we get a little letter from our management, stating very clearly what is and is not recyclable. The city of Seattle sends us catchy little magnets with pictures. And yet, every single time I go to the recycle bin with my little bag of presorted bottles and junk mail, I find the dumpster is full to the brim with castoff styrofoam, mixed glass and plastic (though there's a big sign that says "NO GLASS"), food garbage, and I, good samaritan that I am, always end up dumpster diving to remove this stuff to the proper dumpster, which resides a mere 10 feet away. Grrr. On the other hand, here's a picture of one of my plants, which has survived many near death experiences, and lived to tell the tale....
More photos
Not really much to tell today, since thus far it's been an uneventful day, mostly consumed with trying to find a coffee pot at work that still has coffee in it, while assiduously avoiding making any myself. I saw Spirited Away last night. Lovely movie, but I thought the girl who did the dubbing was a little strident and whiny. But then I understand from watching the extra stuff on the DVD that she was having a hard time fitting all the english words into the Japanese animation.
So here's another picture, because I like pictures. This is my friend Laura - who's living in Abu Dhabi right now, but is coming to visit SOON.
