I saw Mick Fleetwood in Costco yesterday. For those of you who are too young to remember, that's the co-founder of Fleetwood Mac. Or as I explained it to my 11 year old niece. "You know the movie The School of Rock? The band that Joan Cusack likes? That's him". He's very tall, and exudes famosity.
Now before you all go trekking up to the Everett Costco in the hopes of seeing Mick Fleetwood, I should say that I'm in Maui, and he was promoting a line of wine from his vineyard (which is how I knew it was him). It was all very exciting nonetheless.
And meanwhile, it's 6 am (For me) and I'm wide awake, sitting on my balcony with my coffee watching the sunrise in a tank top and capris. How is that 65 here is SO much warmer than it is in my living room back home?
Pictures one of these days.
I've been terribly remiss of late - it seems that now that I spend my days juggling incomprehensible spreadsheets, my patience for email and blogging is short. However, I've just had a lovely weekend with the family, and am now on my way to Amsterdam. Well, Nijmegen, but at least two of my friends have thought that was in Asia, so to ban any confusion, we'll just stick with the former. This trip will mark a record for me - longest flight for shorteset turnaround. I will arrive on Wednesday and be home by Saturday, and during that time I'll even manage a 5 hour visit with my brother. Thank goodness for Economy Plus is all I can say. I expect there will be no tulip pictures forthcoming this time, but one never knows.
So, all those years I was travelling for BMGF I used to feel sorry for those businessmen who had to get on a new plane every day. Now I know that the whole things slides by in a state of numb exhaustion, until getting on a plane at the end of a day is no different from hopping in your car for the commute home, except home is another totally incomprehensible European hotel where the only way to turn on ALL the lights in the bathroom is to find the "General" switch located somewhere in the opposite corner of the bedroom.
Now, enough with the complaining. In the Milan office they have this amazing vending machine that's like a mini Starbucks. You can get anything you want from espresso to mocha, up to and including a macchiato. You can even control how much sugar it puts in. So far, the Milan office has also catered in the best lunch, but in Dusseldorf they took us out for dinner (one of the rare nights we didn't have to hop on a plane) and I got the "slaughter plate" (an assortment of fresh sausages that was almost too adventurous for me to eat, but I managed it with a little beer), and then we walked along the Rhine. Paris and Toulouse were delightful (we managed to get an early enough flight out of Toulouse just in time to see the sun set over Notre Dame as we ate dinner in Paris), and I got to spend much of the weekend in Rome, so city hopping aside, this has been a pretty amazing week. Pictures when I can find the energy to dig up my card reader.
Well, my calendar is once again updated, now that I have something interesting to put on it. It's back to Europe for me next week, mostly business, but I get to tuck in a weekend in Paris with my family, and an evening in Copenhagen with my brother, and maybe a Saturday in Brighton with my friends. I must say, Elite status comes a lot faster when I'm traveling to Europe every month than when I'm just hopping around the states every week. After this trip, I should already be first tier with United. And to think I almost had them book me on my former favorite, American. United even found my reservation for me. How exciting is that?
Well, I was enjoying a perfectly nice business trip in Europe (and I have some really amazing pictures of tulips from Holland, when I can manage to get them transferred on to the right computer) when they called us and told us to come home. The timing was perfect, since I was about to start the "new country every day" part of my itinerary, and wasn't looking forward to it. So, a little jet lagged and nonplussed, I am back at home. Pictures soon.
I was supposed to leave for Copenhagen tonight, actually, last night, but I've been almost too busy to breathe, and so instead I'm leaving tomorrow night (which is a good thing, since I was at work today until 4:00, and I haven't packed yet) and thus missing my brother's and niece's combined birthday party in Denmark, and instead spending a scant evening with them before flying off to Madrid. Well, I've updated my calendar, which will give you a better idea of where I'll be for the next two weeks. Watch for pictures. Anyway, 7 cities, 10 days. Should be very entertaining.
Yesterday for the first time ever, I brought my own lunch on the plane. I don't mean that I picked around the newsstand for candy bars and mixed nuts to make a lunch, I actually made a little sandwich and a bag of cookies and put it in the fridge the night before I flew and took it on the plane with me. And I have to say, it was one of the most satisfying meals I've ever had on a plane. It was so nice to eat something that I'd deliberately chosen, and not eat just because the flight attendants decided it was time to feed me.
Anyway, someone turned me loose in the mall today, and it was a scary thing. I haven't been in a proper mall in...well... months, and I could hardly contain myself. It's just a good thing they're only selling fall clothes, and its 91 degrees today.
Despite my short (40 minute) connection time in Chicago, I still made it to Southampton without a hitch. And I'd like to take a moment to reflect that international business class really IS all it's cracked up to be... I still didn't sleep, but on the other hand, I was fast tracked through immigration, and thus was able to catch the 9:45 bus to Southampton, even with some 20 minutes of underground labyrinth to get there.
I arrived at my hotel to discover to my delight that my room was all ready for occupation, and had the last hot bath I'll see for 2 months, followed by a six hour nap. I know, I know, I should try to stay awake all day so I can sleep at night, but being as I can barely keep my eyes open to type this, I don't think it's going to be an issue.
In four days, I lose my much coveted Diamond status with Hilton. No more will I graciously be swept up to the Dean Martin suite, no longer can I have lesser mortals booted from their reservation because I want a free stay when it's convenient for me. (Not that I ever did that, mind you). They've already sent me my Silver card (one giant leap down from Diamond). But in the meantime, I'm enjoying my last two days at the Embassy Suites in Ft Lauderdale. Working on the high speed wireless, eagerly anticipating the free cooked breakfast tomorrow. (Not to mention the happy hour). Oh well, it's been a fun ride, and lasted far longer than I ever expected it to.
Oh, and I can't really say I recommend America West. And try to buy food before you get on the plane if you DO fly with them because it really hurts to pay $5 for an airplane grade turkey sandwich, complete with slimy lettuce.
I meant to post sooner, but, left undisturbed for the day, I blissfully slept until 3 pm. Which, I have to say, is a little unnerving, being as I wasn't fully awake until 4:00, and dinner was at 6:00, with bedtime looming soon. But, after some 30 hours of straight travel, I think I can be excused. My day started in Bangkok at around 8 am, I was in Hong Kong by noon (HK time) and after running past the temperature sensors which showed my body in pretty rainbow colors on big monitors (to ensure I wasn't running a fever as I passed through Hong Kong) I jumped straight on the next plane for my 12 hour flight to LA.
I had a really lovely experience with customs, where they helped me with my luggage and smiled at me and didn't make me pay duty on the beautiful new laptop I bought in Singapore, and then I had 6 grueling hours to spend cooling my heels in the LA airport (and they are NOT designed for long stays). Then a 2 hour flight to Seattle, followed by a 1 hour wait in Seattle, followed by a broken plane, which meant turning the plane around and changing planes again, until finally I arrived in Eugene at just before 1 am , somewhat sleepy. I only slept until 11 the next day, and put in a moderately productive day (ie I read a couple magazines and watched some tv and ate birthday cake and opened my presents) but today, no-one was home to wake me, and I slept undisturbed from 5am (when jet lag finally let go its ugly claws) until 3. So I guess my taxes will have to wait another day.
Well, my evil plan to spend the whole of today vegetating in my hotel room did not work quite as planned, as it happened the latest check-out they could give me was 2:00 (since apparently somebody who actually wanted to pay for the room was checking in later), so I arranged my day so I could spend a nice peaceful couple of hours in the lobby bar checking my email. What I neglected to notice, however, was that they are doing a considerable amount of construction at this hotel, and today they're using jackhammers in the room next door. Not precisely conducive to peaceful contemplation, or indeed, accurate typing. If I can just grit my teeth for 30 more minutes I can go somewhere quiet, like the airport...
Well, I can't really speak for Miami - being as I spent much of yesterday in Ft Lauderdale (eating some really nice conch fritters and some fantastic pumpkin beer) and the rest of the time I've barely ventured forth from the Dean Martin suite - which has such a nice view it's hard to leave. I can't speak highly enough for this Hilton, which allowed me not only to extend my stay in the aforementioned suite by a day (even though I'm paying precisely $0 for the privilege) but is allowing me late check out tomorrow, so I have a roof over my head until I leave for the airport at 4:00. That mean two whole extra days by the lagoon pool. And all the free wireless internet that my battery will allow.
I am off the ship after a 5 hour customs and immigration fiasco which involved all those of us who were leaving sitting in a restaurant for 3 hours waiting to be given our passports. By the end we were all just punchy and silly, and it turned out to be fun, but I was never so glad to set my feet on dry land as I was today.
Now I'm sitting in the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami Beach (thank you once again to all the Hilton Points I collected in my last job) and, well, I'm in the Lobby Bar, since that's where the free wireless internet is... but my penthouse suite is quite lovely too. I'm told Dean Martin used to stay in that very same suite, but I'm not sure I believe it. It's nice and all, but it's not Dean Martin nice. It does, however, have a lovely view of the ocean and three separate doors out onto the balcony....
I have to say that Schipol airport is without a doubt the best airport I have been to, possibly ever. I must say, it's vastly improved since 1978, when my memory consists of sitting on hard plastic chairs being very tired and bored. Today I arrived after a 22 hour delay, and there's a lovely hotel in the secure area where you can rent a shower room, and being as I had four hours until my next flight, I took advantage of it. There are, furthermore, meditation rooms, communication zones, rooms with big comfy recliners and soothing pictures on a big screen tv, nice shops, pleasant areas, even the McDonalds has cozy couches and retro light up coffee tables. It's my dream airport. I wish I had 6 hours here. It's like Disneyport.
Today finds me at the Seattle airport, making use of their lovely state of wireless access in all terminals. It will surprise no-one who has recently flown Northwest, but we're experiencing technical difficulties, and now are three hours late leaving, and waiting for an "update". All is not horrible though. Originally I was booked in the second to last row in a middle seat (euuugh) of a DC-10, but the nice gate agents managed to move me to the second row window seat. Despite the restless little girl behind me who keeps digging her feet into my back, I'm pretty sure it's a good trade. There's an infant in the row in front of me, who I think is not likely to recline his seat onto my knees, so I'm as content as one can be in an economy class seat on Northwest Airlines. Fortunately , they handed us all vouchers and sent us out to wait in the waiting room, so at least my time in plane is not increased from 9 to 15 hours. I'm not sure I can face a second meal at Burger King today, but it looks like that might be my option.
Well, the bags are mostly packed, I've done all the last second shopping (and acquired a very lovely small wireless travel mouse which makes my heart happy). There just remains one load of laundry left between me and the ship. So goodbye once again to the Grouchy Chef (who is just as superb as I remember ), goodbye to the toaster oven and the days of pre- and post-lunch naps and stacks of trashy brain candy novels. It's back to the Med for me.
Home again after 24 hours of more or less constant wakefulness. I can't say it was a grueling trip home, because, due to poor scheduling on my part, I once again had to dip into my vast treasure trove of miles to book a one way ticket home and all they had left was business class. Sigh. I must say there's something to be said for sitting in a seat where even if I stretch out to my fullest length, I still can't remotely touch the seat in front of me. That and all the free drinks and constant attention is nice.
The one hour change in Dallas went remarkably smoothly (largely because we landed half an hour early), though the reclaiming of the luggage was like something out of a bad movie, they kept calling the wrong baggage claim for us and the flight from Cozumel, so every five minutes the entire baggage claim area would have to move en masse to the complete opposite end of the building. It would have been highly entertaining had I not been feeling the time crunch.
Then, in a further episode of poor airport design, customs led me directly back outside the insecure area, so I had to go through the xray machines again, along with everyone else who had just gotten off the planes. As it happened, I made my gate with minutes to spare, so it was all okay, but I wouldn't have wanted to attempt it without the extra half hour.
On a final note, the flight from Dallas to Seattle was stunning, we left at sunset, and chased the setting sun all the way home, there was pink rain, and orange fluffy clouds, and finally just a bright orange band all the way around the horizon for four hours. It's not every day you get to see a four hour sunset.
Today's my day to say goodbye to Brighton. I'd forgotten what a nice town it really is - heaving with culture and interesting restaurants, bohemian and cosmopolitan all at once. The weather's been fantastic (yesterday ended with a jug of Pimms and all my friends gathered in a nice sunny little square), and today I've struck off on my own for a final shop round and visitation of all my old haunts. It's funny how you can feel like you've never left a place. Anyway, tomorrow is a miserably long day of flying and changing planes in Dallas. Ick. Somehow they've let me book a flight with a one hour layover between flights, and I suspect I'm going to have to get my luggage, go through customs, and recheck my luggage during that time. That should be entertaining, to say the least. Stay posted.
I don't want anyone to think I'm living a life of idleness here while on "vacation" - I spent nine hours yesterday helping my friend Ingrid turn her drama studio from a soul destroying grey brown to a much perkier turquoise. I have sore muscles today that I never imagined existed. On the other hand, I'm getting my fair share of sitting around playing pool and going to the movies - went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday, which was very interesting to watch with an English audience, the places they reacted to were very different from the things I did. Anyway, it required a good pint of shandy and some ranting with my friends before I could contemplate sleep, but it was definitely an experience.
It's been about five years since I've been back here to visit , and it's nice to see that not much has changed significantly since I left ( aside from a proliferation of mini Tescos, which can only be an improvement). Anyway, it's lovely to catch up with old friends, and interesting to see how the dynamics change over the years. The weather has been idyllic, and we've been spending a great deal of time in pubs on the seafront, drinking pints of bitter. The best evening was spent parked under the sign that said "no barbecues" with our mini barbecue (next to fifty other people all doing the same thing) a pile of meat and a bottle of champagne, watching the sun go down over Brighton.
We always have our morning croissant and cafe creme at the same table in the same cafe overlooking the Jardins de Luxembourg. It's a fantastic place to watch the world go by and I'm starting to recognize all the little dogs that get trotted by the brasserie on their morning walks in the park.Tomorrow finds me getting up at the crack of dawn to go to Venice where I'll meet the next ship. I've been trying to work on my Italian, but it keeps getting mixed up with French in my head, so I guess it will have to wait.
Back in Paris again- where I must say the weather is far more congenial than it was in Copenhagen. I fortunately missed going through De Gaulle on the day the roof collapsed, though now I'm keeping a weather eye on the roofs of all new buildings. Four more days of glorious vacation and good food, and then it's back to the ship. Today all the museums are closed, so I shall be forced to go shopping.
All my bags are packed.... have spent the day trawling Target for the last items I can't live without for the next two months ( and somehow a sparkly lava lamp night light snuck into the basket amongst the other essentials). At any rate, here's the link to the bridge cam for the Diamond, and, as I'm to be teaching in the chapel, here's the chapel cam I have my private, and wholly unfounded, doubts as to how "live" the wedding cam really is, but there's the link anyway. So, goodbye to high speed internet for the moment.
Well, home again after 17 hours in planes and airports. I must say it was very difficult to leave behind a land of constant sunshine (when it's not raining) to return to the cold. When we landed in Eugene there was the most glorious sunset above the clouds, and as we descended it got darker and darker, until everything was in shades of dark grey and green. I really just wanted to turn around and hop the next plane for Tahiti. Having said that, it's a glorious sunny day today (Mom says it the first since November) and I slept like a baby in my big soft bed that doesn't have a split down the middle. I have to post some pictures (and an account) of this climb we did in Bora Bora on my last week. I hate to get out of sequence, but I was so busy packing the last few days there was simply no opportunity to post. Anyway, I'm back in the NW, planning to be up in Seattle in the next couple weeks or so, so if anyone wants to get together for lunch, email me.
4 months in Tahiti, and I still don't know the currency. Yesterday I had to stand in the internet cafe like a little child with my hand full of coins while the nice lady counted out what I needed. It's sheer laziness on my part, the big money is heavy, the little money is light and feels like play money, and it's all mixed up in my purse with New Zealand and American currency, so usually I just pay with bills.
So it looks like chances are good I might actually be going home at the end of this cruise. Having seen all the snowy pictures on everyone else's blog, I'm not sure I'm in any hurry to get there, but then, it is pouring torrential rain here, mixed with 90% humidity, so perhaps I'm ready for sweaters and fleece again.
So last night they opened up the spa for all the female crew, and we had wine and cheese and they put out all the spa products for us to play with. We ran around in our bikinis, sat in the Thallasotherapy tub, played in the fog shower and sat out under the balmy tropical stars drinking too much wine. I must say it was very nice getting out of the hot tub in the middle of December and not racing across a snow covered deck to get inside where it was warm. I sense the Christmas season is comencing on board, as the parties seem to be increasing their frequency. Tonight is the one year anniversary party for the ship up on deck.
Well, looks like I'm going to be in Tahiti a little longer than anticipated. I'm having such a good time (and none of you slackers apparently wanted to spend the holidays in sunny Tahiti) that I've decided to stay on until January 8th. I've been promised by everyone on board that Christmas will be a rollicking good time, and I'm not quite ready to leave the sun and the beach yet , so New Year's on board it is. After that, I get almost two months off before rushing off to join the brand new Diamond Princess to cruise the Mexican Riviera. I'll be sailing out of LA, so there's no excuse now for my friends not to come join me aboard.
Incidentally, I've gone a bit blonde today. Something of a miscommunication between me and the stylist, but I rather like it. I haven't had this much blonde hair since I was 8 years old. I'll post a picture when I get a chance. Look for a new web page after I get to Papeete.
Well, I can see the end is in sight, because the amount of time I'm spending on the computer is less and less. Thanksgiving was a bit of an interesting day, being as I am now pretty much the only American crew member left on the ship. It's funny what one takes for granted as an American, I had a remarkable number of people ask me "What is Thanksgiving for?", but we had a nice turkey dinner down in the Officer's Mess (though I had to explain cranberry sauce a few times) with Pumpkin gnocchi, and polenta with sweet potatoes in it, (but no mashed potatoes), and a really really yummy pumpkin pie for dinner. It lacked a certain fellow feeling and camaraderie - since for all my fellow diners it was just another meal in the mess, but they were prevailed upon to join in the Thanksgiving tradition of overeating and ordering two desserts. (THe pumpkin creme brulee was very tasty as well).
So last night after sunset found me on the top deck with "Alan the Stargazing Musician" picking out Scorpio, Saggitarius, the Southern and Northern Cross, Mars, Venus.... it's the first really clear night we've had for a while, so it was fantastic. Today I'm back in Rarotonga, but email is hard to come by this day, of course. Still loving life on the ship, I'm starting to get into a routine to where I have some free time. Short on time today though, as I'm in the expensive internet cafe. Today I have to go record "the morning show" with our cruise director, since signups yesterday weren't what they might have been, and he thinks a little heavier promotion will help. If nothing else, this job will get me used to being videotaped.
Well, I survived another sea day! I took Erin's advice (my apologies for the lack of hyperlink, it's just too complicated when I'm paying for slow internet access) and bought the pressure bands, and they seemed to work miracles. However, I was so exhausted after my teaching day (20 people showed up for my tips, Tricks and Timesaver's class, which was made inadvertently free due to a misprint) that I went down for a nap at 6 and slept through til 6 this morning. That and I've been staying up late trying to socialize, the other night I had a largely silent dinner with the Italian officers. I hoped that telling them I understood Italian would perk them up and encourage them to speak, but then they just said "Oh, we'll have to be careful" and spoke even less. But they were very chivalrous and bought me drinks, and expressed doubt that I could really be American, due to the fact that I liked anchovies, ate my pizza with a knife and fork, and drank espresso. The staff captain has offered me a tour of the bridge, so should that ever occur, I shall certainly describe the event here. Life on the ship is still good, I've offered to show the computer officer how to reset the BIOS on one of the internet machines (since he doesn't have the BIOS password) and he, in turn, is going to remind me how to ghost my laptops. I'm in an internet cafe today that seems to be largely run by a gaggle of children. At least I'm confident that they know how to work the computers. Well, that's enough for this posting. I like Raratonga - it belongs to New Zealand, so the internet is cheap here, thanks to the favorable exchange rate.
Imagine, if you will, swimming in a crystal clear aquarium, and that's more or less Bora Bora. I've done some fantastic snorkelling on this trip. The fish are perhaps a little sparse, but the variety is amazing, and the water is unbelievable. This morning when we dropped anchor there was an entire pod of dolphins off the bow. I'll post pictures (and there are some amazing ones) just as soon as I can find an internet computer that will let me attach a peripheral device to it. Katie, I do remember our code, and I don't need it. I really like it here. The hardest thing about the job is just being friendly and open ALL the time. One can get away to one's cabin, but it's hard to look out a tiny porthole when you know there's incredible scenery going by. It's an odd adjustment after having a job where I really had more solitude than I wanted, to change it for one where I have none. Hope everyone is well!
I'm loving Tahiti!! The cruise ship is fantastic and everyone is super nice. I'm also incredibly busy, so this will be short. Today's my first teaching day, though yesterday I debuted to the entertainment staff. They were fantastic, and we had a good laugh. The food is yummy, my cabin is cute and comfortable, and everyone on the ship has been fantastic so far. Not too seasick yet. I'll write more when I'm not paying passenger rates for internet.
I guess when my page goes blank, it's time to post again. Monday, the nice movers came and took away all my heavy furniture and big, overloaded boxes, but I guess I wasn't really emotionally ready for the move, because I left a lot of stuff out that should have gone in boxes, and my "empty" apartment is still half full of junk, and that means I'll be trucking it all up to storage by myself. Somehow my days have not arranged themselves to be conducive to packing. I took a page from Stephanie's book, and took advantage of Nordstrom's personal shopping service, and I highly recommend it. Despite a rather disturbing tendency to bring me flowing old lady clothes, my shopper did find some fantastic outfits for me, and we got it all done in under an hour. Very efficient.
I can't remember the last time I've been this scattered. I'm leaving little pieces of myself all over Seattle. I'm sincerely hopeful that I pull myself together before I leave for Tahiti on Saturday. If I'm lucky, I'll remember my passport.
In a fine capping moment to my final day of work for the Foundation, I found myself out in the hallway of my Hampton Inn, futilely trying to open my door with a key from a different hotel. Of course, it wasn't until I had deserted all my luggage by the door, questioned myself as to whether I had the right room, walked dazedly up and down the hall trying to orient myself, and ran down the stairs to the lobby where I saw that this Hampton Inn did not, in fact, give out snazzy gold plastic keys, that I realized my mistake, and tromped dejectedly back to my room, where the Hampton Inn key which had been resting quietly in my OTHER pocket, worked as expected.
On a lighter note, I was truly determined to stop at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN on my way to the hotel tonight. I pulled off at the appropriate exit, which was right next to the Hormel factory, and was immediately so overwhelmed by the smell of hot Spam, with an underlying whiff of something worse, that I laid on the accelerator and took off down the highway as though all the hounds of hell were after me. So sorry, there will be no pictures of the Spam museum.
Well, I just wore out my third suitcase in just over two years. In my time as a trainer I have broken the zipper on my first suitcase, utterly crushed the clasp on my hard sided case, and today, disintegrated another zipper on my third case. I didn't even know it was possible to wear luggage out until this job. Oddly enough, this is my small second case, and I was contemplating not bringing it on my last and final trip for the Foundation, as it's only a one weeker, and my training partner has sent all our supplies ahead of us, so two cases would almost be excessive. Oh, I have to stop before I get maudlin. I was just about to wander down memory lane, and that way lies madness.
Oh, and my apologies to Kent and Kirstin for taking so long about updating my links...
I just now got the official word, and I leave for Tahiti on or around September 19th. I'll be on board the Tahitian Princess at least until November 19th, and possibly until December. So make you plans, book your tickets, and come visit me! In the meantime, watch me roar around with my hair on fire while I try to get everything packed and moved into its appropriate storage bin, in the 5 days I have remaining that I'm not in Iowa. Bora Bora here I come!
Usually I'm an interstate girl. I just want to get to where I'm going as fast as I can, and I like having a known quantity of restaurants conveniently scattered along the way. No surprises, no combines putting down the middle of the road at 5 miles an hour, and all the exit signs tell me precisely what I can expect to find if I follow them.
Friday, however, found me in the middle of Iowa, with the nearest interstate about 50 miles away. My plan was to make a beeline for the I-80 then tackle the last 90 miles on 4 wide lanes of freeway. But somewhere along the way, the back roads charmed me. Everything was such a remarkable shade of green I felt like I was driving towards the Emerald City; the roads twisted here, rose there, and around every corner, something charming lurked to delight my eye. When the time came to head for the interstate, I found I couldn't bring myself to do it. I got out my trusty map, and plotted a backroads route that would allow me to bail to I-80 as soon as the little roads became too much for me. Oddly enough, that never happened. I drove through the sunset, utterly entranced by the soy and the corn, and twice I had a crop duster fly 25 feet over my head. I mourned the moment that I had to return to the freeway. I realized that, for all I see of the passing countryside on the interstate, it might as well be lined with concrete walls. Who knew that just 10 miles off the road lurk tiny little towns, unlikely stands of pine trees, and fields full of Oreo cows?
Life finds me back in Sioux City - a place I was hopeful I would never come back to, but it has to be said, it was the dead of winter the last time I was here, and I find it is vastly improved in the summer time. I almost felt a giddy sense of homecoming, returning, as I am, to the exact same hotel where I spent 2 weeks this winter. I must say, they've improved their internet access, and now I get FREE DSL in my room. That alone will make the extra miles I have to drive tomorrow worth it.
On another note, apparently all I have to do in Iowa is wish for a store, and it will appear. I went out for dinner tonight, looking for something besides the apparent McDonald's and Taco Bell. I was just thinking "I wish there was a Subway in this strip mall" and LO! one appeared.
It's indicative of a great (or at least a busy) weekend when I have no time to blog. First let me say to any of you trainers who may be staying in the Dubuque area, I have to recommend the Grand Harbor Resort and Indoor Water Park. So far I have the fastest internet, the nicest room, and the best amenities (Bath and Body Works everything) that I've had on this trip. It does require a high tolerance for children however, because they are absolutely everywhere here.
So anyway, another nice weekend house with a fantastic group of trainers, and I was able to indulge in my lust for cooking (but Stephanie, I missed you sadly while I was making (or rather, burning) the bacon, and cutting up apples for the little fried apples we made in Mass). We checked out at noon, and I thus arrived at the new resort far too early to check in. They took note of my cell phone number and sent me off into the wilds of Dubuqe, with a promise to call me when my room was ready. (Another note in their favor, they called within the hour), so I went off in search of some entertainment, which, largely thanks to Leah's influence, I found in Jo-Ann fabrics. I spent a happy hour perusing pattern books (a pleasure I rarely allow myself, as it usually ends in the purchase of $80 worth of gorgeous material which then languishes in my closet), and while I was raising my eyebrows at the new high cost of patterns ($14.95!!!) the lady across from me commented on the same. We fell into conversation, and before I knew it we're sharing details of our lives that I don't share with people I've known for years. It's interesting how it's easier to confide in a stranger than one's own friends. As a side benefit to our conversation, she pointed out that a lot of the patterns were on sale for $2, so I broke one of my rules and bought a couple patterns.
Then Ross and Wendy and Helena arrived after their long hot day of golf, and we went for pizza at my hotel - again - great pizza overlooking the indoor waterpark, where every 15 minutes the crowd below us would amass to stand under a giant bucket as it sluiced water down upon them, it was the most surreal thing. Alas, I have no pictures yet of the giant bucket in the sky, but I do have some from this weekend, and they shall be posted after some judicious editing.
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.
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.
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?
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?
This has been an exceedingly loooong day. I don't even know why I'm posting, but I feel compelled. I'm all the way over in Massachusetts now, back in New Bedford, in the very same hotel as the last time I was here. I think that's maybe the first time, no, the second time, I've ever stayed in the same hotel twice for this job...they even recognized me. I'm feeling very organized though, I already have my weeks groceries, and my ironing is all done. Oh, and Jeanne has comments now. Go check her out!!
Iowa's not so bad, so far..... Glorious green and sunny today, nice people, and, miracle of miracles, my library had done all their setup before I got there. Yay. I like Omaha more as I stay here, Kristy Johnson and I took a really nice walk by the river today, lots of fountains and landscaping. It was really very pleasant. We ended with another wander down restaurant row, everything smells sooo fantastic, I don't think I could eat at all the restaurants here even if I stayed two weeks. Sigh.
Yay - I have comments again. Once again, thanks to Kris Bell (who's racking up serious web karma). So Omaha. I'm finally here (after a rather long stop in Chicago due to weather - which meant three hours crammed into one of those little planes while we waited for the 30 planes ahead of us to take off). But I'm in the Embassy Suites for a WHOLE week, and the cute Old Town is just across the street. The restaurants there smell really really yummy, but I haven't sampled them yet. I like the Embassy Suites, but unaccountably they have my desk set fat from any visible phone jack, and the high speed internet is set up on a little corner table, where one could not conceivably work on a computer unless one was a contortionist dedicated to painful computing, but then again, how can one argue with free happy hour and hot breakfast?
Home again! 3 o'clock and I'm already in my jammies. Yay. I discovered today that Alaska Airlines still serves real food on its flights. Imagine my surprise, expecting the ever present "Bistro Bag" replete with nutri-grain bar and raisins, when instead I was offered a choice - a CHOICE - between french toast with fruit compote and eggs, or spinach and feta omelette. I didn't know that ANY airline was still serving real food. And I was in coach.... still 6 hours is way too long to sit on a plane. Especially if you're trying to edit the 9 million photos you took on the previous trip, and the person in front of you keeps bouncing their chair into your laptop. Grr. So now I'm home, and I think I have a cold. So back to bed for me, but I'm determined to make up a pot of Kris' famous vegetarian chili first. Which seems to be very good for colds.
If anyone is flying out through Boston in the near future - I have to say, I'm loving the airport Hilton , though their "skyway" to the airport is a bit fictitious as it involves weaving your way through two large parking lots that have no directions, and two skybridges, plus up and down several flights of well concealed stairs, as none of the skybridges are actually on the same level. It felt a little bit like those video games where you have to solve clues before you go on to the next level. Though I have to say, the skybridges, and even the garage stairs, were pretty spectacular. It was nonetheless, a 10 minute walk from the terminal to the hotel after I turned in my rental car, and that was walking briskly with no luggage. Needless to say, I will be taking the hotel van tomorrow morning. So I was all excited, because my room had an ethernet cable all set up on the desk, complete with instructions as to how to use it. So I plug it in - no link light. I call the help number, and eventually am told "high speed internet doesn't come down that far". Apparently, high speed access ends at room 1074, and I am in 1080. So I ask you- why do they provide ethernet cable? I guess I'll just have to content myself with playing with the Bose radio by my bed, or perhaps I'll sit and enjoy my stellar view of the bay and all the happy little sailboats......
Kris Bell puts me to shame, here he is blogging twice a day, and I can barely get my lazy fingers going every three days. I spent SUCH a lazy day on my Wednesday, I was supposed to go to the Whaling Museum "the biggest whaling museum in the world", but I just couldn't muster up a lot of interest in killing whales, and so went to Walmart instead - which always provides fine on the road entertainment. Except EVERYONE in the the store was grouchy and rude. At one point there were these two ladies gossiping in the aisle, taking up the entire aisle, and so I squeezed past them, murmuring a very polite "excuse me" , and then went to peruse the cling wrap. So as I stand there trying to find the cheapest roll, I hear the one lady say "let's move down there", and they come down and stand RIGHT between me and the cling wrap, and take up their gossiping again. I refrained from shoving them out of the way once I finally made my choice, but it was a close thing. And in a nod to what is apparently exercise week in the bloglists, I'd like to say that I have finally broken my 3 month hiatus from the treadmill, and worked out TWO whole days in a row (I find watching the food network while I work out makes the time go by much faster).
Took the redeye Tuesday, non stop to Boston. Which would have been great, because I had three seats to myself, but the angry hands of the sky gods were playing shake the plane for the entire 4 1/2 hours. Near the end of the flight it evened out enough that the hopeful flight attendants warmed up our breakfast scones, filling the cabin with warm cinnamony smells, and then got on the PA and said it was too turbulent for them to serve us, so we could grab them on our way out of the plane.
From there, sleep deprived and hungry, I hit the Sumner tunnel at rush hour (can you say 50 cars all funnelling into one lane in the space of 500 feet?) then wound my way through 3 hours of backroads to BEAUTIFUL Cape cod, (where all the restaurants are closed, because it's off season - and the ocean is angry and filled with cold looking surfers). I am loving Massachusetts, bad weather notwithstanding. This library is fantastic.
Yay! Back in Seattle again. Ran into Rebecca and Rachel in O'hare - after we'd all been sitting within 10 feet of each other for 15 minutes without seeing each other. Long, bumpy flight home, so I was happy to be on the ground. Ruth came and picked me up - it was so nice to have a friendly face to talk to, rather than the traditional conversation I have with the taxi driver about the weather. Then, the best thing ever - in my absence, Ross found my favorite song from my childhood - "Billy,Don't Be a Hero" - with which I used to torture my brother by playing it endlessly, over and over - and had it set up to play for me as I walked in the door. Now I'm torturing my neighbors with it - it cracks me up. Sooo, I've turned in my laptop for the XP upgrade, which means a fun week next week, reloading all my third party software. At least that should keep me entertained for a bit. Now, back to work on the site. Does anyone have any good ideas for how to make a calendar for the web. What I have so far involves way too much copy and paste into Photodraw, and doesn't really produce the result I want. I can see this is going to be a learning experience. At least I'm back home with my happy fast computer.