May 2008 Archives

Today I went to the endocrinologist for my quarterly diabetes checkup. I was worried about traffic, because they are doing some sort of bizarre and complicated construction project on the road that my doctor's office is on, so I was pleased when I realized they didn't have it down to one lane today. The weather was lovely, and I even scored a great parking space. And then I went to check in. "Hillary Penguin?" the girl at the receptionist desk said. "Um, your appointment was yesterday." Whoops. I didn't realize that 37 was the age where senility started to set in! I have never done anything like that before. I just put it in on the wrong day on the calendar, I guess, but wow did I feel like a moron.

Luckily, they were able to squeeze me in anyway. In fact, I think I had to wait less than I usually do. The doctor even said, "I was so surprised, because you're just not the sort of person who would not come and not call to cancel." Which is true. I'm not that sort of person. I don't make mistakes like that! But this time I did.

In other duh news, did you know that postage rates went up last week? I didn't. Yep, 1st class stamps now cost 42 cents, not 41 cents. I wish I had known that before I mailed my gas bill off last week, although luckily, they seem to have some sort of amnesty for people like me, because it didn't come back to me.

Now I'm wondering if idiocy happens in threes, like so many other things. If so, the next few days could have the potential to deliver a really whopper of stupidity. I sure hope this is a short term burst and not the start of a longer trend. Time will tell.

We’ve come to the end of a perfectly lovely holiday weekend. I’d lament my return to work tomorrow, but the last three days have been so nice that I don’t even care that I have to get up and sit in traffic, tackle a long list, and most likely try to pack five days worth of work in to only four.

I had a specific plan for my weekend. Saturday was to be chore doing and errand running day. Sunday was to be spent celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary. Today was to be dedicated to laying about reading books, and perhaps napping. Well, my dad called up on Saturday morning and basically insisted that I invite him over today. I didn’t want him to come over. I wanted a weekend where I didn’t see anyone or go anywhere. Particularly not my dad, and particularly not when he wanted to discuss his efforts at estate planning. But I had no choice, and in the end we had a pretty nice visit. I’ve always said that if my dad could be content to just hang out with me rather than trying to shove an agenda down my throat, I’d be happy to do that. And that, mostly, was what he seemed to want today.

So even the thing I was dreading turned out to be ok. And everything else – all of the stuff I actually wanted to do – was wonderful.

Both my back and my front gardens look neat and respectable again. The hooks on the fence in the backyard no longer display empty baskets with dead plants in them, but instead are proudly holding petunias and greenery and some flower I can’t identify. The one lone azalea that survived last summer is now surrounded by other plants. Weeds were conquered, and impatiens were planted. Guess how many trips to Home Depot it took to accomplish this. Three! Yes, three, because I am apparently incapable of estimating how much mulch I will need, plus we ran out of lawn & leaf bags.

I got some reading in, including two Hamish Macbeth mysteries, recommended to me by Dorie. They are very enjoyable. A part of me is now ready to pick up and move to a small highland village. Next up is Already Dead, recommended by Chris. If nothing else, blogging has definitely expanded my reading horizons.

I did some baking, although I had a cookie disaster. The PB&C cookies did not turn out well. The inside-out ice cream cake did. And really, it was fitting that we had cake as our anniversary dessert.

I am now officially caught up on back episodes of Lost and am ready for the season finale this week. I conducted a successful splinterectomy on one of my toes. We took Seamus for a nice hike in the woods. We relaxed. We hung out. And of course, celebrated the aforementioned anniversary. In fact, the reason I had such a good weekend is because I was lucky enough to marry such a good guy. John, I love you so much. Thanks for a wonderful weekend, six years of wedded bliss, and 13 years with every day better than the one before it.

So I came back from Vegas, and it was very, very good to be home.

My plane was delayed, which meant I got stuck at McCarran Aiport for a while. Southwest did a wonderful job of quickly getting everyone's bag checked, and then all of the passengers for all of the flights were sent off to stew in the noisy, dirty, smelly, crowded pit of hell that is the C terminal. Every flight seemed to be delayed for one reason or another. The flight to LA, Oakland and Boise had problems with birds. The flight to Birmingham was waiting for a new flight crew to arrive. My flight was held on the ground at San Diego for some reason. Luckily I was flying with three co-workers who I particularly like, so I had people to hang out with. We finally got in around 2 am, which meant I didn't get home until almost 3 am.

Let's see...I started the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer on the plane, and I absolutely loved it. I'll be picking up the rest of her books for sure. It's a new twist on a vampire story, and it is really well done. Her characters are likeable, her plots are interesting, and her descriptions are lovely. It was a nice, distracting read on a crappy flight.

Other updates:
* I went for my knee MRI, which was far better than I thought it would be. I go back to the doctor on Friday for results. I haven't been running, so my knee has mostly been behaving.

* Going to England, coming back for a few days, and then going to Vegas has completely screwed up my body's internal clock. I've lost touch with what time it is and I'm exhausted. It seems to be getting better slowly.

* John and I went to the auction place where we picked up our fancy china cabinet and scored a nice haul of new-to-us furniture. We got a little sideboard that goes beautifully with the china cabinet. We got a really, really nice dresser very cheap. We got a massive credenza for only $10 bucks. And then, what I think is my favorite acquisition -- we got an antique Singer sewing machine table, with an iron base and the sewing machine still attached. I don't think the machine works, but I don't sew, so that's ok. It just looks cool.

* Then I went back to work. To say I have a lot going on at work right now is such a massive understatement that I can barely type it with a straight face. Thank goodness we have a long weekend coming up!

So, what's new with all of you?

...because I had dinner with 'mazing Amy (aka Silver Girl) and you did not. She is every bit as smart, funny and pretty as her blog would lead you to believe. Dinner with her was a welcome break from official business dinners. Instead we traded stories and filled in details not necessarily covered on our blogs. I liked her very much. For two people who have lead pretty different lives, we managed to find a decent amount of common ground. And she has an excellent sense of humor. After reading my post about purses the other night, she thought maybe she'd dig up one of her old LV bags just to see if I'd notice. Not only would I have noticed...I would have thought it was damn funny.

As nice as the evening was, and actually, as good as my day was -- I made a ton of sales at the booth today, quite shocking -- I am ready to go home and sleep in my bed and get back in to my old routine. I've had just about enough of getting up at 5:30 and standing on my poor tired and sore feet all day.

Thanks, Amy, for making my last evening in Vegas a fun one!

Text from Becky this morning: "Good morning sunshine! How are we this morning?" Possibly sent in response to the previous post. Possibly sent in response to tipsy text message sent by me from the casino last night. Not that I would send a friend a drunken declaration of my plan to win money and get a purse like hers. For the record, I am feeling just fine.

I only go to one or two trade shows per year, but today while talking to a couple of our new people, I realized that I've learned some stuff over the years.

1) people will be convinced that because you're at a booth, you know the answers to everything about the show, even if it has nothing whatsoever with what you do.

2)people will be convinced that whatever you are storing behind the booth is much better than what you've put out. It never occurs to them that it is just boxes of the exact same crap that is already on display. I had a guy dart behind the booth and snatch an issue out of a box this morning, and then look mighty surprised to see me standing there giving him a quizzical look. Yeah buddy, this is where we keep the real investment advice. All the rest of the stuff is just for show. Um, hi. That thing you just took? There are 200 of them hanging in a bin on the wall two feet away from here. All free.

3) This is the first year I've worn flats. I HIGHLY recommend it when you are standing for 12 hours per day. Even if someone did say to me today, "wow, you really are short without heels on aren't you?" Yep. Vertically challenged and proud. My own mother recently had the same revelation while looking at my vacation photos. But my feet, while still sore, are approximately 1 million times better than this time last year.

4) You can go out and drink and have fun with your co-workers. 2 drink limit, stay hydrated, and get to bed early. I wrote my goofy post last night, read a couple of chapters of my book, and was in bed by 11:00. That allowed me to be up at 5:30, perhaps sleepy, but mostly ready to go. Tonight I plan to be asleep even earlier as I am so tired I'm practically floating. I did have a nice business dinner tonight, but it was all professional and alcohol free. See? Am responsible.

5) Don't take the rude people personally. A guy was so anxious for his free newsletters this morning that he half shoved me out of his way. Someone else had me call customer service to look up the expire dates on his newsletters, and then announced he was going to cancel most of them. But way more nice people come along and tell you interesting and sweet stories and totally make up for the jerks. I love getting to meet our customers in person.

6) If you start getting bored, make up stories about the people you see going by the booth. Blue shirt guy was a bush pilot in Alaska. Pony tailed man was a folk singer with a minor hit. And so on and so forth.

7) Never underestimate the power of a mid-afternoon Starbucks run. I have never been happier to see an iced grande skim chai coming my way.

Now I must go soak my feet and then it is bed time. Do I know how to have a good time in Vegas or what?

Greetings from lovely Las Vegas, Nevada, where I am currently attending a trade show. Attending? Exhibiting at. I have just come from a delightful dinner with my colleagues. The food was nothing to write home about -- a tofu napoleon, specially prepared by the chef, but eh, boring -- but the margaritas on the other hand...worth every penny! I had two, and I am most definitely tipsy. We had an awesome dinner though. Best dinner at one of these functions ever. Then the plan was to go gamble so my boss can afford a David Yurman watch and I can splurge on a Louis Vuitton purse. My friend Becky has one, my boss just got a really nice one, and every third person in Vegas has one. Now I want one! It's not going to happen though. I am the world's crappiest gambler. I never even get to be up and then lose it all. I just lose it all immediately. I'm down $30 already!

I hardly slept at all last night because the world's loudest and probably most expensive mini-fridge kept me up last night. Then I stood at the booth all day and had two margaritas. Damn I'm tired. Hopefully the booze will drown out the minifridge. Think the hotel would notice if I unplugged.

Ok, have to be at a 7:30 presentation tomorrow, bright-eyed and bushytailed. Good night!

Work re-entry was brutal today. There was traffic and then I had a solid block of meetings from 10-3, and oh yeah, we moved in to our new offices over the weekend. So I had to adjust to cube world in addition to changing time zones and trying to get back in to work mode after a week off. I don't know where anything or anyone is. I can't print. I can't find my security card. I didn't even get to start unpacking until after 4, and there are approximately 500 emails I have to read through. I finally started to hit my stride by the very end of the day, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. Rather than bitch about work all night, I thought I'd share a few pearls of wisdom I gained from my trip.

1) Even though England is cold and rainy, no one there wants to turn on the damn heat. If you are, say, a naïve American who brought a bunch of cute springy outfits, you will freeze and end up wearing the same pair of jeans every day, while coming up with creative ways to layer different combinations of the tops you have with you.

2) Americans really are the fattest people in the world. You could always tell the Americans before they even opened their mouths, and not just because of their clothes. There is a sleekness, a roundness, a softness to the way we look that gives us away.

3) We may be the losers in the fat department, but we have the best teeth. Good God there are some messed up teeth in this world!

4) American public transportation is a joke. I think New York City comes closest, but nothing in this country can compare to the level of convenience, the number of options, and the coverage of the city offered in London.

5) Which is good, because there is no way I could ever drive in London. First of all, the whole wrong side of the road thing is very confusing. The cars never come from the direction you expect. Second, every car is driving way too fast. Third, the roads are twisty and narrow and you spend a lot of time making up lanes as you go.

6) It turns out that I am way more of an American than I ever realized. I was prepared to go to London, fall in love with the city, and start daydreaming about becoming an expatriate or something. As much as I enjoyed the sense of history that is everywhere in London, I love my shiny new country. I love my house with central heating and multiple decent sized bathrooms. I love my laundry room, completely separate from my kitchen in every way. I love our wide roads and easy to follow traffic patterns. I love that even though I bitch about real estate prices in DC, they are nothing compared to the London prices.

7) Lilt soda is very yummy. I highly recommend it. Too bad you can't get it here.

8) They have flavors of potato chips (aka crisps) that I've never heard of before. I accidentally ate some roasted chicken ones (although they really didn't taste they way I remember chicken tasting), but I also enjoyed cheddar and onion and truly tasty salt and vinegar, and I saw many, many others.

9) What they call chips (French fries) really are super tasty. John kept saying we had to get authentic chips, and once we did, I saw why.

10) Glad as I am to be home, I'm already looking forward to going back some day. So even though I don't want to live in London - I'd have to strike it really, really rich to live there , I think - part of me did fall in love with the city.

There's more, I'm sure, but I'm still wrestling with jet lag. I'm doing better than last night, when I conked out on the couch at 10 like it was 3 am, but I'm pretty darn tired.

Hey, guess where I’ve been! On my long awaited vacation and whirlwind tour of London. It was a wonderful trip, and I’m very glad we went. I got to see just about everything on my “must-do” list: Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Cleopatra’s Needle, Tower Bridge, the Millennium Footbridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Harrods and more. We drove under the green light that signifies the Meridian Line in Greenwich, took the Tube, trains, light rail and double-decker buses all over the city – I have never been so impressed by a public transportation system as I was by London’s – saw the guards doing something at Buckingham Palace, ate lunch in Green Park by the Palace, checked out Hyde Park and met ducks and a goose (yes, a real life case of duck, duck, goose) at the Serpentine and hung out in Wimbledon. We had a truly delicious Indian meal, proving that the best Indian food in the world is in London is true, as so many of my friends have told me. We encountered masses of soccer fans singing and chanting and cramming the Tube on their way to a match. I don’t know which team they supported, but I do know that they quite firmly believe that Chelsea is shit.

I absolutely loved the whole trip, but my favorites were the British Museum and the Tower of London. I know the Tower is supposed to be a huge tourist trap, but seeing so many years of history packed in to one place was just really, really cool. I don’t even care about the crown jewels. Frankly, I thought that was the lamest part of the tour. The best part was at the very beginning when John and I had parts of the place to ourselves as we went through the medieval portion of the Tower complex. Second best was probably the White Tower itself. My advice to anyone going to the Tower of London is go early, get in line before they even open, and make sure you set aside 2 ½ to 3 hours so you can see everything. Oh, and if you have a stroller to haul around, you won’t be able to see at least half of the place. Possibly more. Be prepared for lots and lots of twisty, steep, narrow staircases.

The British Museum has one of the best collections of pretty much everything historical that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to some good museums in my day. The Egyptian statuary and the Elgin marbles alone were worth the time we spent there, although I dragged my poor husband through just about every exhibit they had in the place. We skipped the Hopper to Pollack one because we’d just been to the Tate Modern, and I think we missed part of the Africa section as well. Ok, and even I can hit a wall on caring about Greek vases. There are only so many red figure and black figure vases you can look at before your attention wanders. The National Gallery was no slouch either, but so packed with people that it was actually frustrating. You could not see the Van Goghs at all because there were so many people piled up in front of them. After a while we fled the Impressionists for the relative quiet of 16th century Italian painting.

But it wasn’t all touristy stuff. We hung out with family too, and I got to see what it is like to be part of a very large group of interconnected people. It was fascinating and delightful and moving all at the same time. John’s oldest cousin has to be in her 40’s, and the youngest cousin (our niece) is less than a year old. You could see the resemblances running through all of them. It was lovely to attend a 50th wedding anniversary party, and see the life the two of them have built with each other through many twists and turns and ups and downs, for longer than I’ve even been alive. To meet people who knew the bride and groom in college and daydream a little bit about having an anniversary party with my friends and family in 2052. Or perhaps we’ll go for one in 2027. Anyway, we had a wonderful, romantic, fun-filled trip, and at the same time I’m very glad to be home.

The ultimate tourist shot -- me and a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London: