Where Am I? (aka Dazed and Confused)

I'll give myself three guesses.

1. San Antonio? ...Nope.
2. Washington, DC? ...Nope.
3. Abilene? ...Nope.

Oh... this is home. Which is apparently in McKinney. This seems oddly familiar.

Vacation Means Not Thinking of Titles

So, the San Antonio trip/presentations is done, the DC trip and presentation is done, we picked up Bryce, and now we're in Abilene. It's been a packed two weeks! And for once, I've been mostly off-grid--which is both disturbing, and nice. I've been rediscovering the use of the phone for things like checking museum hours, and enjoying the silence of a hotel room with nothing but a comic book in hand (the internet connection having gone bad, and me having not the energy to complain). But a break from email, even for just three days, was a great way to relieve some stress (momentarily, however, as there will be four times as much to deal with when I log in tomorrow).

The DC trip was fantastic--I had a great three days of vacation with Alex and all four of our parents, seeing many thing I didn't have time to see before. And then the FDLP conference was really great--it's nice knowing so many people now. Plus, my presentation went so well and was so packed (upwards of 100 people!) that I was asked to give it again in KC in the spring--w00t! And since Alex's parents stayed while I was in conference, Alex had people to go out and have fun with, which left me feeling at ease about attending meetings I needed to. And even gave me a few hours after my presentation to decompress with that comic book mentioned (Jack of Fables vol. 1, which was as great as I expected). Then I watched part of two of my favorite movies, Star Trek: First Contact, and Stargate (not as great as the series, IMHO, but still awesome, particularly the beginning).

Bryce was waiting at the airport when we got there last night, which was awesome, if surreal, and we spent this morning laundry-ing, re-packing, and catching up on Stargate Atlantis episodes. I think the series will truly be great, now that Sam's on it and they've got the potential for a nice Locutus-esque storyline with Dr. Weir. Oh, and I also re-read Y: The Last Man vol. 1 so that I could then read vol. 2--and man, that series is not overrated. I can't really place my finger on what I like about it so much (unlike Fables), but it's just a heck-ton of fun and fast-paced beyond belief.

Now we're all at the Grand Admiral's place (i.e. Jared) in Abilene, playing Wii and doing a large amount of giggling. I had to take a break to do some work and re-connect to the internet, but I think next I'll read some of my "for-fun" blogs and then sign off. I'd like to take that "vacation = relax" philosophy seriously for another day, considering that tomorrow I need to do some serious homework catchup, type up my conference notes, etc. Sigh.

Geekery

I... want... this.

"...thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates."

That is all.

Ick, I'm Sick

So, who called that this was going to happen? I spend a week with a couple of 14+-hour days at work, complete a major project, welcome my husband safely home from a foreign country, and dodging about ten coworkers with various instances of colds and bronchitis... so, yeah, my body decided Sunday night it had had about enough of that.

Well, that and then already being tired and achy on Sunday, I nevertheless pushed myself through the paces on DDR Hottest Party for our Wii. My humiliatingly, husband-laughing-gut-bustingly bad paces. Probably didn't really help the whole energy level... but gosh darn it, they have "Hot Stuff" on the soundtrack. You know I can't resist a disco siren call like that. (Fair warning to DDR n00bs like me: turn off the hand motions until you've got some semblance of skill. Trust me.)

So yesterday I spent the day... sleeping. Wow. Imagine that!

Here are the pros of being sick:

• Getting sleep.
• Discovering that Burt's Bees Hand Salve is also effective on a chapped-from-too-much-Kleenex nose.
• Reading a new book from one of my favorite authors. (I might mention that this favorite author is, to my relief, still alive, unlike Madeleine L'Engle, Robert Jordan, or well I guess I had no hope with C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkein. Still, it's rough when most of your favorite authors will never produce something new. Good thing I've got Jasper Fforde to add to my list.)
• Getting work done. (Er, ooops--but really, I needed one uninterrupted day of solid work to get a lot of updates done on the ALA GODORT website. Sad thing is, I'm still not done--I blame the crummy CMS and my lackluster internet connection.)
• Being so rested that I write most of three presentations without really trying, because I suddenly have the energy to be excited about my topic again. And it not feeling like "work."
  

Here are the cons of getting sick:

• The chapped nose. And the fact that before I tried the hand salve on it, for some reason I tried peppermint lotion... owwwwww!
• Feeling more thirsty after drinking something. Which makes me want to drink less, which of course is not the best of ideas when sick.
• Realizing that I have three major tasks to complete before Friday... not counting finalizing three presentations for next Monday. And trying to relax and get better and not freak out about it all, considering that similar circumstances are what got me sick in the first place. Riiiiight.
• Having cable and realizing that most of the time, TV still sucks. (Although that does make me feel better about spending my days at work instead of vegging out on the couch.)
• Forgetting to call my mom on her birthday, because I slept through most of it. (Luckily, she's a forgiving mom, and didn't realize I didn't call her, until I called her today to apologize.)
• Oh, did I mention being sick? That's a huge con, right there.

The Falcon Has Landed

(Er... the falcon being Alex.)

He called at 4:30 am to let me know he was in Paris, and I just got off the phone with him--he's in Helsinki!! It's odd how he seems closer now, over the phone, than he did when I dropped him off at DFW airport, when he was still in town for two hours. The beauty of cell phones and global communication, eh? And my husband is now officially an American Airlines Advantage Platinum member, and he's terribly pleased with himself making it to that point before I did. Hmph.

Monday morning is proving to be much more fun than yesterday afternoon--lack of sleep and coffee are much more my normal routine, I guess. I did complete my homework last night, but not all my work-work, so I got to work a bit early to start on that before my meetings begin. And a huge thanks to Tihleigh, who chatted me up last night until I was cheery, as well as let me know that I wasn't pathetic for feeling sad. And another huge thanks to Gayla, who is graciously hosting me tonight and tomorrow, so that I don't waste time and gas commuting home for no reason (particularly since I work until 9pm both tonight and tomorrow). I'll be back in McKinney Wednesday to catch up on mail and housework, since I will end work at a much more normal time.

And I'm wearing a new Audrey Hepburn shirt today--who can't help but feel a little glamorous when wearing such a gal on your shirt, I ask you?

Goodbye, Buddy!

Bleh.

So here I sit on my bed, laptop in lap, completely ignoring all the homework and work I have to get done before Monday morning. Because every time I try to concentrate on work/homework, my brain panics and starts to think about Alex. Which is ridiculous, because at this point he's still in Dallas. He doesn't board for another half hour, and he doesn't take off for another hour beyond that. Sigh.

So I am seriously wondering how I'll get myself to concentrate on the things I need to do, instead of continuously distracting my miserable self with the internet, comics, and the fact that I've got "The Empire Strikes Back" in the DVD player in front of me, and I don't have to leave the bed to enjoy any of these distractions.

Yeesh, and I have chocolate next to me, too. All I need is ice-cream and I'd be classic break-up mode girl. Geez. And here I used to have no problem living alone--I guess I had a much smaller apartment, then. And it wasn't so quiet, considering I lived near a college campus. And, y'know, the bed was too small to feel empy.

Yes, get used to this. Because if I have any time to blog this week, it will probably be more sniveling about how sad I am that my best friend is gone. If it sickens you, you can just come back Friday, when I'll probably start relaying all the awesome adventures Alex went on without me. Sigh...

Okay, seriously--who can I get to kick my butt about this work/homework stuff? Yeesh!!

Preparations

This morning, I dutifully did my homework. Then I spent several hours looking up relevant online info for Alex's trip. Then I double-checked my list of things to get for him, loaded up the Dreamsicle (yay! she's back!!) with Goodwill donations, and I was off.

I'm back, almost four hours and six stops later. I spent the most time, predictably, at Walmart. I got little travel-sized things of whatever we hadn't already bought for our last trips, luggage tags, large ziplocks, and that Tide stick I've been wanting to try out. Then, since Wally World didn't have a passport holder or flip-flops of any worth, I trekked further south and hit Bed, Bath and Beyond (no dice), Sports Authority (flip-flops), Half-Price Books (also no dice), and Office Max (passport holder).

Now, I'm sitting here unloading scads of photos off of seven SD cards (7.25 GB worth). Because my Nikon and my backpack are going to Finland with my boy--dangit, if I can't go, at least I can con him into taking photos for me.

No, I didn't play hookie today. I used some of that ever-present comp time, and I scheduled it last week. It was supposed to be the big cleaning-house to prep for that whole getting it fixed and then put on the market thing... but Finland takes precedence.

Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!

Arrr, my mateys!
May ye enjoy this day of celebratin' with a pint of grog.

My pirate name is:

Bloody Mary Kidd

Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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