merry christmas eve

it's christmas eve and it's starting to snow. how lovely is that?

i can't wait to give out presents tomorrow. it's my favorite part of christmas. this year has been difficult because i've been traveling like a crazy person and have felt very chaotic. normally, this time of year is chaotic anyway, but i've felt highly ungrounded and as an earth sign, that's a bit difficult to deal with. so i was out shopping today with all of the other last minute people. i managed to finish it all and tomorrow i will tell you about all of the great presents i gave my people. but not today. just in case one of them reads this entry.

sleep well and hopefully we will wake up with less cold and more snow. tomorrow will be a very merry christmas. because i think that the real meaning of christmas is family and presents. that church stuff isn't for me, but family and presents...i'm all for it!

filene's basement

i landed at logan airport today (in the lovely metropolis of boston, mass). i was supposed to meet one of the partners for drinks, but i called twice and ended up in voicemail. so i got to my lovely hotel and checked in. for some reason, i was doing well with my tipping. i tipped my minneapolis cabbie more than usual and the boston cabbie less than usual and was left with nothing for the guy who took my bags out of the cab. so when they were brought to my room, the guy got $5. which shocked him and me. at some point, it must all even out karmically, but i've got to get better about my business travel tipping. i digress.

so no message from mr. partner. and i am in need of pantyhose. not something i normally bust out. but tomorrow is a special day, requiring a business suit, skirt and all. and of course, i've put runs into all of my stockings because i am just not a "hose" kind of girl. i like my pants just fine thank you. so i run down the street and happen upon filene's basement. a treasure trove of holiday shopping. but in and out. i buy my pantyhose only to see that mr. partner has left me a voicemail. my phone didn't vibrate as planned.

i ran back to the hotel, hid my shopping bag in my room and mumbled some random excuse. he was fine. he was checking his crackberry. we had a drink and some apps. he headed off to his holiday party. i bowed out because of a proposal (which I actually finished on the plane, but he doesn't know that). and i am settling down to room service that includes new england clam chowder, caesar salad (with anchovies) and a sam adams.

guess what i forgot this time. comfortable pants. no sweats in the suitcase. will i ever get it right?

at home

i'm sick. i hate being sick. i think that i got sick on the plane coming back from columbus. recycled air will get you every time. i'm surprised that i didn't get sick earlier, actually.

hottie is writing a motion for summary judgment. he hasn't slept more than four hours the past two nights (putting in a bit more than nine to five) and if i don't give him the computer back, he's going to be up all night again tonight.

so that said, i guess this is the best i can do when i'm home sick. he just turned on the tv to watch the wolves. time for me to give up the computer. billing comes before blogging.

only in my dreams

So this morning i awoke to the sound of pounding on my door. it was the guy with room service breakfast. now this isn't something i indulge in often, but it seems the days that i do are also the days that i accidentally sleep in. so the pounding woke me from a dead sleep. in a minute, i'll explain how badly they ripped my off for breakfast. but before that, i'll explain the ridiculous dream sequence.

First, in my dream, all of the dogs I've known (even those in doggie heaven) were running around. So that was super cool. I got to see Copper and Molly and Liesl (PhD's recently departed pooch). Then, I was at some banquet, but we were all sitting on these benches (like park benches) and who comes up to sit next to me but DB. And we sit there acting like we are terse acquaintances and I suddenly dump water all over her legs. She had a skirt on, so it didn't wreck her clothes or anything...I just poured water on her shoes and legs.
DB: What are you doing? [yes, she would really say that with an attitude]
Me: It's the least I can do for all of the kindness you've lavished on me.
DB: Well look at the job you have now. You wouldn't have that...
Me: Funny, I know what you are going to say and you can shut your trap. I would've found out about this job whether or not I worked for you and I would've taken it whether or not I worked for you. You do not factor in to my current success.
DB: You were always so difficult.
Me: Not half as difficult as you.
So then she gets up and walks to another bench, where she sits down and proceeds to glare at me from afar.

And then the room service guy woke me up. And I felt better having doused her with water. Not that it will ever happen, but if it happened in my dreams, that's good enough for me.

For room service, I got a bowl of granola (because i love cereal for breakfast and never find good ones when I'm traveling) and coffee. For $6.00, they serve me one of those little boxes of cereal. These folks are making a killing. But at least they woke me up. Otherwise, I'd be screwed right now, well, not screwed, just asleep.

i really should go to bed now

I'm sitting in a westin in columbus (and i'd find you the link and put it up, but i really should go to bed). i'm super amped up and i don't know why. the last cup of coffee i had was at 1:30 pm. no coffee on the plane. one glass of wine with dinner. what the hell?

but here i am, my leg is tapping away and i'm all sucked into my wireless connection at the westin and if i turn around and look at the television (which is on and muted) i think that pat robertson might be on). i should just change the channel, but for some reason, cbn looked like cnn, which makes me think i need glasses worse than i originally thought. glasses and a watch battery.

my watch hasn't worked since i got laid off (at which point i should link to the first post in my blog...or the first section of my blog, but again, i should go to sleep and that would just take precious time). and since i can't get glasses or a watch battery in columbus at this time of night, i should log off, shut down and go to friggin sleep. but i'll turn off pat robertson first. and one more thing...i think this is the only hotel i've stayed in that has actually HAD a television channel featuring pat robertson. where am i? (yes, i know, i'm in columbus, but does that really answer the question?)

g'night

it's fifty degrees in pittsburgh today

it's amazing what a few degrees south will do. it was almost fifty degrees today when my plane landed in pittsburgh. i wasn't sure i'd make it through the landing, since the pilot decided to make a rather quick descent and sent my brain colliding with the top of my skull. but once my stomach returned to its normal position and the plane was safely on the runway, they gave us the weather report. ah...it's like springtime!

so after checking in, i wandered around downtown pittsburgh. now a sunday afternoon in a less than vibrant downtown can be a bit challenging. most places were closed. kauffmans was open. what's kauffmans, you ask? a department store that has no website, at least as far as i could find. if you can find their website online, leave me a comment because i'd like to check it out.

i was just browsing, no actual purchasing for me. when i returned to street level, dusk was descending. i started back for the hotel only to feel as if i was walking in zig zags (not like i was drunk, but block by block i began to lose my sense of direction.) luckily, i came upon a westin and asked for directions. i was close and my instincts probably would've sent me in the right direction, but i felt better knowing i was on the right track. i gave away some spare change because i just couldn't help but be enabling and i ended up back at my home away from home.

so i enjoyed some room service, a salad nicose with a sierra nevada pale ale. yum yum. and the hotel gave me my very own personalized card that thanked me for staying with them. will i ever get used to business travel? and i did ask to be moved to a room with a king sized bed. i mean, shit, if i have to be away from home for five days, i would like to sleep in style, even if my hottie isn't in bed with me.

so that's the report from pittsburgh. i hope that you are enjoying your part of the world. and now i'm going to try to work on my story. let's hope the internet isn't too distracting.

christmas in chicago

I've got only a minute to tell you of my recent travels. i attended the firm's holiday party in chicago last night. i was proud to not get wasted until the shareholders were safely at home and in bed. and i managed to close down the bar at 4 am after playing two terrible games of pool. terrible, but fun.

now i'm waiting for a ride from my chicago family so i can spend the day holding one of the cutest 7 month olds i know. she's soft and smiley and almost talking. what a nice contrast.

happy holidays from chicago!

vertigo

I don't know if this is like vertigo, but it's a weird thing and I'm guessing it has a name.

I was leaning over a railing yesterday, looking down three floors and my imagination went wild. I pictured myself falling over the railing and landing on the floor below. Of course, my brain worked it over for awhile. Maybe the railing would collapse, maybe I would just pitch myself over the side like in an action movie, or maybe someone would push me over and I'd flip over the side. And, not trusting my inner imagination to imagine without acting, I slowly backed away from the railing and met my friend for lunch.

I've had a similar feeling sitting in an exit row on an airplane. Especially if I'm stuck sitting next to the emergency door. I imagine myself opening the door while the plane is in mid-air, just to see what happens. I think about everyone getting sucked out of the plane and then ask to switch seats with someone, just in case I can't control my hand.

What's really strange, is that I've never done anything like that, ever. I've never jumped out of an open window in a highrise. I've never thrown myself off the roof of my house. I've never opened the window while in a swinging gondola. But I've imagined it. And I can't figure out if it means I have an overactive imagination or a low threshhold for risk. What do you think?