Southern Living

Savannah, GA has been on my short list of places to go for a while now. Last year, I spent a weekend in it’s sister city, Charleston, SC and had a fabulous time. This year, I found myself ending a week in Columbia, SC and I sent out a missive seeing if anyone else could make it. When all was said and done, Heather was the only other PM able to come, but we made the most of it.
I drove in from Columbia and had the chance to cruise around checking out Savannah before Heather landed. Just in case you were wondering, driving around the most haunted city in America on a night with not only a full moon, but the largest, brightest full moon of the year is not the best idea to get yourself ready to go out alone. I ended up spooked by the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, terrified by the creepy statues, and shaken by the crumbling architecture. I ate some groceries in my room and drank some wine with my chocolate to wind down from freaking myself out. (Evidently I scare easily). Heather arrived and we shared some bubbly at her suggestion and gabbed about BER and life in general. Soon enough, we crashed into our beds (one of the best beds I’ve slept on in ages… it was one of those bowling-ball mattresses!) and were up in time for the Krispy Kreme and coffee breakfast.
We picked up a rental car since the weather was not cooperating and then headed off to the downtown area. Paula Dean’s was our first stop. Lady and Sons has a southern buffet lunch, and DAMN. I ate so much, and drank so much sweet tea I really did think I was going to explode. I don’t want to think about how many calories I consumed (weekend stayovers don’t count anyways!).

We tried to walk it off, and ended up going into some fun shops and found ourselves at the Juliet Gordon Lowe house. We both felt a little nostalgic for our girl scout days since JGL was the founder of the girl scouts and the house was overrun with little brownies and juniors in their uniforms. I was tempted to buy the pin you can wear on your vest, but decided I’ve passed that stage of my life. We drove around some more to see the cool old architecture (the drizzle and cold simply prevented us from actually enjoying walking). We walked around the cemetery in the daylight (I was definitely not that interested in a ghost tour at this point, especially with how cold it was!), and did try to hit up a brewery for dinner, even if we could barely manage to finish half of the nachos we ordered to share. We got up to leave, gave up our prime location, and in walk the first cute guys we’d seen the whole time in the bar. Shrugging, we gave up and went back for more wine, trashy TV, and oh-so-comfy beds.
Sunday morning we went for a frigidly cold run in Forsyth Park, where my minimalist shoes and running style seemed to hold up remarkably well, even if our fingers never actually warmed up. Then we were off to the airport and I was off to Phoenix. I could wish that the weather had been better, or that more people had been able to come so that going out would have been more fun, but really, all in all it was a great time in a great city.

A Quick Stop For History

My Philly hotel was right by Valley Forge National Park and we had a short drive yesterday, so my presenter and I went to check it out:Inside Washington Memorial Chapel.

Some replica huts like the ones the soldiers stayed in during their winter encampment. Our wonderful guide assured us, no one died by freezing in these--they are quite cozy.

Washington's headquarters. Looks posh, but the guide assured us, it was much colder (before central heating was installed in the 1930's) than the cabins. It's the actual building he rented during the winter encampment. The kitchens and stables attached to the house are still standing as well!

It's great when I get a chance to actually take advantage of being in places I'd never go otherwise. Once we arrived in Bethlehem, Kathleen and I had a great dinner at Bethlehem Brew Works (as per Kelly's suggestion via the BER food blog), another great place that I'd never have known about before. We're off tonight to drive up into the hills (don't call them mountains) of Pennsylvania.

Oh, and I got almost 8 hours of sleep last night... Go me!

A Historical Jaunt in Hartford

From time to time I get a presenter who urges me to go out and do something during the mid-day segment of the seminar. For the most part, this means I go work out, take a nap, or walk around the surrounding area so that I can stay close to the action in case things take a turn. However, the Hartford Hilton was taking great care of us (turned out, there wasn't much going on yesterday and performance reviews were coming up for the staff making them really energized to help us) and there were some things in town that I wanted to check out. The state capital building in Hartford is probably one of the most beautiful that I've seen throughout this journey, and I wanted to be able to actually take a picture of it. Also, Samuel Clemens' family home is located in Hartford (the site where he penned Huck Finn and most of his other popular books), and my english major soul was demanding that I go.

With all that in mind, I made sure to wear something appropriate that morning:

(Camera resting on a park bench by the capital building in Hartford...)

Wednesday's Outfit:

• white and purple long-sleeve v-neck t's, Target ($5 each!!)
• grey cardi, Old Navy
• black pencil skirt, Ann Taylor
• black belt, thrifted
• grey and black herringbone tights, target
• black flats, Mee Too via DSW
• shell earings, Hawaii souvenir

The layers and heavy tights kept me warm while very comfortable and didn't make me look so dressed up that I'd feel extremely out of place at a museum. The flats allowed me to walk around the park surrounding the capital building a bit, and wander through the Mark Twain museum as long as I could. I love my new tights by the way... I have another pair to show off soon as well. I didn't pack any dress pants this stretch on the road because a) they take up too much space, and b) they get baggy-saggy really fast and stop looking nice. So I made a target run on Monday to get tights to add to my wardrobe, and of course found 30 other things to get as well... Thus the new tops.

Yay tights!

More Photos:

The capital building was gorgeous in the filtered sunlight of the day. The photo doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

Larry and I posing in front of the Mark Twain house (which happens to be across a lawn from Harriet Beecher Stowe's house... American lit of the mid-1800's evidently has a stronghold in Hartford, who knew?!)

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the Mark Twain house, but it was spectacular. The woodwoork, the stenciling, the furniture, the mantelpiece, the conservatory/"jungle", the billiards room where Sam Clemens wrote so many of his greatest works... and everything done up and decorated for christmas. It made me feel a bit voyeristic, but this was a guy who would have LOVED the attention we give celebrities nowadays, so I consoled myself with that fact as I stood mesmerized by everything in the house.

Of course, the consequence of having so much fun yesterday is that I am exhausted today. A nap it is!

Music to My Ears in Music City

Ahhh, Nashville. How I’ve longed to see you... And you didn’t disappoint!

After a lazy afternoon of working out at the hotel and hanging out at the airport in St. Louis, I arrived in Nashville in time to meet up with Heather and Lisa. We checked into our fabulous hotel (the Homewood Suites, and it was SWEET) and headed out to Broadway to see what was going on. There really was music playing everywhere, even from some speakers inside metal boxes on streetcorners. After some scary horse statues at The Wild Horse and watching some line dancin’ and two steppin’ from a safe distance, we packed it up and headed to The Stage, where we got our own dance on. Lisa and I knew most of the rock songs the band played, while Heather knew all the country ones (and we knew a few...). Singing and dancing along, enticing some fun flirtations and a free beer, we closed down the place and decided that we had started off our weekend quite well.

Saturday, we were off to do some hard-core boot shoppin’. Heather and Lisa both located perfect boots while I, ever the picky and frugal one, decided they neither fit into my wardrobe nor my suitcase. I did find a perfect pair of jeans however, and was quite happy with my purchase. While Lisa and Heather went to find a FedEx to ship themselves each a box of their new purchases, I napped (oh glorious sleep!). When I called them up, they had found themselves priced out of the country music museum ($20, who do they think they are? The MOMA?) and scoping out a more pricey ($40), but more exciting ticket--to the Grand Ole Opry show later that night! With the last few hours of Daylight we wandered around Vanderbuilt’s beautiful campus, and then headed back to prep for our second night out.

Dinner at Sambuca (on the recommendation of a Nashvillian who Lisa met in DC... gotta love how PM’s get around and get things done!) was off-the-charts amazing. Lots of small plates of tastyness--salads, lamb

meatballs, sweet potato melt-in-your-mouth gooey goodness, giant tater tots of greatness, puffs of italian cheese and ham, crab-stuffed avacado, and more, plus wine and cocktails came out to less than $50 a head! Plus there was live jazz. Yah, it really does get that good sometimes.

We snagged coffee to keep our full tummies from putting us to sleep and shopped for a bit more at Urban Outfitters (in which I wanted everything, but thank god for full suitcases!), then it was off to the Opry at the

Ryman theater. While we were sitting waiting for it to start, I wikipedia’d the Opry, realizing that none of us knew anything about it. Nothing could have prepared us though... The sparkley jackets! The honest-to-goodness twang! The folksy old radio commercials every other song! The Cracker Barrel jokes! The amazing and surpisingly diverse music that just kept on coming! “Devil Went Down to Georgia” played by Charlie Daniels himself! Really, we were grinning like idiots the whole time and when the two hours were over, we were half shocked it had gone by so fast.

But the night wasn’t over yet! Off we went to the bars, ending up at Tootsies, a dive the local girls in the boot shop had recommended. The place was jammed, and not necessarily in a good way. It was like a mosh pit of people of every age, shape, color, and creed imaginable. There was Obviously-Implanted Lady, and Douche-with-boobs-almost-as-big-as-hers, Stuck-in-the-80’s Man with curly long hair under his cowboy hat, and plenty of You-can’t-be-21 girls. Everyone was pushing and pulling and crammed into this tiny alley of a bar. We stayed for a bit, and then when we decided to bail, it was 5 minutes before we could make it the 20 feet to the front door. Seriously, a fire code nightmare, but a great story.

The next morning, we warded off of our hangovers with a brisk walk to the Copper Kettle, a great brunch spot (and only #3 in Nashville according to their own sign). Everything you could ever want was there for you... and we definitely took advantage. It really topped off a wonderful weekend. Nashville, I love you.

Company Town

One of the tings I do too rarely is celebrate a surprising find around the country. For example, Peoria, IL has some surprisingly beautiful architecture and glorious churches all in a riverside setting with beautiful steel bridges and magnificent sunsets. I drove around town to get a feel for it and as I was exiting I saw a glaring reminder of the recession: an enormous CAT factory.

This is a company town. When I hear about layoffs and losses on CNN, there is no face to what I hear. This town is on the brink of potentially becoming a ghost town... All of those cute little shops and restaurants on the riverfront could close as people lose their jobs and move away. All of the sunny optimism of the weather could be a blank promise of hope.

But the churches are old, older than CAT I would imagine. This town has seen its ups and its downs, and has as good a chance as anywhere to make it. And, regardless of the moral compass or white-breadedness of the town, and notwithstanding the television in the hotel lobby blaring FOX news (which I fear I might rip from it's sockets by the end of the day), I am interested in coming back next year. Plus, there's a great Italian restaurant by my hotel.

The Definition of Silence

I was just driving back from getting a nice Panera lunch in Rockford, IL and I found NPR on the radio. In general, NPR is pretty reliably liberal but evidently when you get out into farm country, all bets are off. I was listening to a segment of Point of View in which a fairly non-radical christian was discussing the idea of gay marriage and the usage of "sexual orientation" in protective laws.

When I first tuned in, they had a weak but almost understandable point that the term "sexual orientation" might be too vague. One of the guy's points was that "there are a lot of really horrible things that people do sexually, and do you want to protect everyone who perpetrates such acts?" which ended up being a rather vague point. Then he went on to discuss how the Boy Scouts are facing the brunt of this law--they are being forced to allow homosexual members or are being forced out of parks since they have a religious mandate that is inherently prejudiced against gays (although to be fair, I have not checked that fact...is that actually true?). Then he went on to say that the media involvement and various laws allowing gay marriage were in fact "silencing those christians who believe in Biblical and traditional values."

He also brought up the recent stupid answer by Miss California USA in the Miss USA pageant (stupid mainly because she never actually answered the question) and even stupider response by Perez Hilton (stupid mainly because the guy is incendiary and not particularly rational in his arguments) as a way to show how any "good girl with values" is turned into a national pariah because of her religious values (I don't think she even mentioned religion in her answer which, included the phrase "Americans can choose between a traditional marriage and an opposite marriage"--both completely false and wtf?! worthy).

Hold the phone... remember this is NPR. NPR!! Oh Illinois... you make me sad today.

Here's why I was bothered by this argument:

#1: Who are you to say what kind of sexual relations are "horrible?" I agree that there are a lot of people out there who take part in various "kink" activities, but who am I to judge when it has no effect on me? Does our constitution and bill of rights not protect our individual rights in our own homes? I'm going to assume that you think that homosexuality is a disgusting, horrible sexual kink, but where do you draw the legal line? Is oral sex a horrible kink that should be considered in job application and other legal circumstances? (Sodomy is outlawed in many states in laws that I think even most "biblical christians" would agree are far past due for repeal.)

#2: To go one step further than your argument against protections for "sexual orientation"... If homosexuality is a part of you from birth, then would you ask for "race" to be repealed from the same laws? If (and in my mind it's just an if to appease those who insist) homosexuality isn't a facet of your innate personality and is in fact a choice, would you also request that "religion/creed" be struck from these laws? Maybe the language is too broad, but then again "race" covers everything from african, asian, jew, norweign, and german and "religion/creed" covers satanists and cultists.

#3: To speak to the Boy Scout point, I'm not so sure that I agree with all of the prosecution against the Boy Scouts, but there are precedents that are allowing these cases to go through. The Boy Scouts are a private organization and have nothing to do with government, but as a private institution they cannot discriminate just the same as any other. Do we allow them to prevent a black boy or a hindu boy from joining or a hispanic man or jewish man from being a troop leader? Then why can we allow them to prevent a homosexual boy from joining, or a homosexual man from leading the group? I like to think that our views of race have changed over time to find the prospect of banning a black troop leader due to his race absurd. Perhaps my argument fails in the backwoods of the country.

#4: My main confusion really boils down to one major question: how does protecting one group of people and affording them the same rights you have silence you? Simply because you allow homosexual couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples by law and in terminology, how does that "silence" anyone? The act of allowing one group additional rights does nothing to remove your rights. You can still speak out about whatever you want, but you cannot act against a group because of one quality of that group. I pose this question: Would you not hire a Jew? Would you not serve a black person at your restaurant? Would you want the government to not allow inter-racial marriages (oop, depending on where we are, that might be a bad question to pose...)? Have you ever considered that it is your own insecurity with your sexuality and fears about other definitions of sexuality that prejudices you against those of other sexualities much as your own insecurity about your own personal power and fears about other cultures can lead you to be racist?

So yes, there are some things that need to be legislated simply because there are people who are so far off the grid, they refuse to open their minds to other human beings. Laws against racism and religious prejudice are there because there are many, many people out there who would otherwise discriminate. This is simply a law that protects a group of people who are different, whether by their natural condition (race) or their choice of lifestyle (religion), and we are adding another group that fits this law perfectly. If we are going to allow the biblical christians to have their say, we must also allow the homosexual community to have the same rights, not silencing one compells us to not silence the other, and un-silencing one has no bearing on the vocal quality of the other.

Roadside Adventures

This afternoon we had a long drive from Richmond to Roanoke. About two hours in, my presenter noticed that we were about to pass Appomattox, VA and we decided it was about the right time to find a bathroom and get dinner. First we drove to the national park, where we saw the battlefield and (from a distance) the reconstructed Appomattox courthouse where, if you don't recall, Lee surrendered to Grant to end the Civil War. Then, on our way back to the highway, my presenter spotted a sign pointing to town where "restaurants, antique shops, and stores" were promised.

If you exclude fast food, there was actually no "s" on the end of "restaurants". The only option we could find was on the fabulous, one-block Main Street--Grannie Bee's. Walking in was like walking into an odd horror movie. We were the only people under 60. There were no less than three women in terrifyingly overdone makeup. Everyone stared at us like we were aliens. The entire place smelled like a deep-fryer. Everyone spoke with a thick southern twang. No joke.

The menu was sparse, but they had sweet tea! The waiter announced that the special was "saol-oh-mahn cakes" and "...the extra vegetable tonight is mac'n'cheese." I was definitely not ordering the special, but feeling adventurous I ordered fried flounder (meh...), green beans (from a can...), and the "veggie" mac'n'cheese (probably velveeta...). At least the sweet tea was tasty and the rest was definitely edible, unlike my presenter's unwise choice of "country ham" which more resembled shoe leather than food.

As soon as we exited the restaurant, walking past the most pathetic, wilted salad bar I have ever seen (including a large, soupy, clear container of cling peaches), we climbed into the car and burst out in giggles. Really, who cares if the food sucked, it was amazing. Utterly amazing.

A Million Stories to Tell

The problem with having a blast constantly on the road is that there's no time or energy left to blog about it. Lets just go back in time a bit and see if I can cover some of the fun I've had making the most of my weekends:

Las VegasYou can't blame me for not posting... *cue cheesy joke about what happens in Vegas*

My first trip ever to Vegas was a blast, mostly thanks to the group I was there with. I had the best hotel-roommates ever and we enjoyed both crashing early the first night and getting sleep as well as getting a little crazy with some press on tattoos in our pre-going out prep session for the Saturday night festivites. We walked up and down the strip, enjoying the 65 degree all the more since we'd all come from places that had been below freezing. I could hardly believe how tacky everything was--the gigantic open containers, the clothes, the posters, the cards littering the ground, even the casinos themselves! I gambled a grand total of $1 and lost it in 4 pulls of the handle but managed to find the perfect fake coach purse that I'd been looking for.

When we went out Saturday night, we went to a bar on the roof of the Rio hotel and enjoyed an absolutely spectacular view along with a few minutes of a VIP open bar that we managed to sneak into. I was sadly the first person to be waved off by the bartender when the 10pm cutoff for the open bar hit, but the guy in front of me (who had gotten some drinks) at one point had turned around and accientally whacked my arm pretty well. I guess he felt bad because he ordered one extra drink and handed it to me, without hanging around to awkwardly chat me up!! Best free drink ever! I had brought along a fun little pink dress that I'd bought in mexico and a big black belt that i figured would help bring it to Vegas standards. Turns out wearing anything other than black (and I was in HOTT pink) meant I stood out. After having some serious anxiety about not fitting in by wearing a dark colored shirt-or-dress, I ended up getting so many compliments I was handily put in my place for freaking out.

Generally, it was a blast, and I enjoyed getting to know a lot of my co-workers much better.

Charleston
I decided that I wanted to go to Charleston, SC when I realized I was going to be stuck in the Virginia area for three weeks straight, yet no other program manager was available to join me in picking up another (warm) state. Luckily I have awesome friends who are willing to fly cross country and/or drive 5 hours to join me for a weekend. Kirsten found a fabulous 2 hour walking tour that ended up being 3 hours, and we covered miles and miles while looking at some amazing old buildings. Charleston is a quintessential southern town and theyve done a great job of keeping beautiful old buildings in the old part of town intact and well kept. Of course, Maureen and I wandered a bit of the non-walking tour part of town and there are some typical college housing type buildings near the university. Again I managed to enjoy a weekend in the sunshine and near-60 degree temps with great peeps. We had a fun dinner out, although nothing requiring pink dresses.

Charleston really did surprise me with how extremely beautiful it was, along with how freaking huge (and how close to the waterfront) Steven Colbert's childhood home is.

The Other WashingtonOkay... how the F did I get three 60+ degree stayovers in January and February?!

I rolled into DC this weekend because I ended one week just south of the city and started the next week 2 hours away in Richmond. After dropping of the bags and my rental car, I spent the evening walking the Mall up and down as the sun set. I ended up freezing, but kept going and got some amazing photos (they'll be up soon at flickr.com/photos/arirose) of the sunset. I almost cried at the Lincoln memorial, and did the same in front of the white house. Then I took myself out to a nice dinner and met up with another program manager (a different Kirsten) who was in town with some friends. We went out and experienced all the yuppiness of DC, including a round of 10 irish car bombs bought by some kind of banker who was seirously drunk and trying to impress Kirsten. Damn those things are good... and have a lot of alcohol!

The next day I hit up museums for about 5 hours. I saw the dinos and diamonds at the Natural History Museum, the Star Spangled Banner and first ladies dresses at the American History Museum and some amazing art at the National Gallery and American Art museum. I poked my head in so many places and wandered past so much beautiful architecture throughout the weekend that I was overwhelmed. The capital really is spread out... I walked between 5-10 miles every day, easily. Today I was able to enjoy the sunshine and visit the market for a bit as well as go to a couple more museums before picking up my car and heading south.

________

There's a lot more to be said about things that have happened in the last couple weeks, but I figure the facts of the stayovers are the most interesting to all of you, so I thought I'd start there. Hopefully in the next four days before I come home for break I'll get around to transcribing some of the things I've had written in my journal and give an update on what I've been doing mid-week to keep me from posting anything :)

Hope and Its Burden

Okay, Vegas stories to come for all you patient chickadees, but there's other things I'd like to say first about the inauguration, if you'll allow me a rather circuitous route to it...

Life has a way of changing what I think of it constantly, especially regarding its purpose. As a child, I can remember being very moment-to-moment about my goals in life. My purpose was always some tangible thing or translatable abstraction--from being a scientist and curing cancer to having a life philosophy of tolerance, it was all very clearly defined, straightforward, and completely rationalized. At some point in my teen years, I lost all forms of faith and optimism, realizing that the forms of spirituality in my life were clogged with human failings and childish obedience rather than any real understanding of hope. I'm sure you all have undergone similar questioning periods or ambivalent stages in your life regarding what you are really here to accomplish, even if they were not so pronounced or disruptive as mine or perhaps more so. We all eventually have to realize that our state of understanding is in constant flux if we are ever to come to terms with our own failings and achieve any kind of real wisdom.

Not that I claim any kind of real wisdom; I am only just now coming to the full understanding that what I think now will eventually be usurped by another thought and that I will never achieve any final pinnacle of awareness. There is no final pinnacle after all, and no better or worse. No, what I am trying to say is that I'm just now coming to the understanding that the purpose of my life, in this moment at least, is evolution (And before you say anything... I don't mean a biological evolution, Jeff ;)). If you pay attention, you'll see a pattern of reoccurrences in your life. Every time a situation arises it provides you an opportunity to react however you want. When you refuse to change how you react, you do not evolve but only continue to perpetuate the cycle. If you break the cycle, new opportunities can arise for you to grow and evolve in new ways. The funny thing is, no one has to be conscious of this pattern and often your growth occurs in a sub-conscious state, but if you pay attention to it, you can start to control it.

I could go into my latest thoughts on life here, but without belaboring the point this last summer I started to see this pattern in a different way than I had before. Deliberately, I pulled myself away from the path that I had found myself on, and stepped outside of the cycle. Albeit, I did it in a fairly comfortable way--with a job that was relatively easy to get (due to strong connections and actual experience I had never realized I had) and that provided me with a short term guarantee of not having to figure out what else to do. My outright, conscious goal with this job was to push my limits of my self-definition, primarily socially. What happened was a strange shift. I discovered that the social definition was a piece of cake to alter, but multiple other aspects of my life shifted far more drastically than I had even dreamed. Somehow, I am now absurdly optimistic compared to the girl I was six months ago. I am happier, healthier, more stable, and so much more in control of my life that most of my anxiety about my future career has become a flimsy shadow of what it once was.

So there's a personal reason that when I sit in my hotel rooms alone with my TV, I start bawling every time I listen to Obama give a speech. It's not that I agree with everything he says, or expect that things will change overnight, it's that the rhetoric he uses meshes so completely with the experience I've had lately. He speaks about the evolution of America, with the obvious example of the gradual change from slavery to an African American president, but he carries it on into the future. While the last 8 years have been about staying the course and fighting any threat to our way of life as if America was a static nation, Obama is explicitly working at changing our way of life while retaining the principles that made us great. America is an ideal, one that may never be fully realized but one that we can strive towards, and while there is real work to be done, Obama's optimism regarding the ideology of our country is absolutely refreshing. After all, I have learned the value of being optimistic over the last few months... Less things go wrong when you optimistically know that it will all work out, if only because you automatically make space in your mind to react rather than anticipate and therefore can rectify any situation far faster.

His message is focused on sacrifice as well, with emphasis on the idea of community and hard work. I have long spent time separating myself from those around me since at one time, those around me separated themselves from me. Again, his message hits a nerve... as I have slowly begun to understand what a true community of friends I have and can have, and what a difference my "new-found" social skills have made. Acting out of Love towards everyone I meet is something I never really consciously decided to do, but I found myself doing it and started noticing it. A warm greeting and the intention of empathy in my heart makes such a difference... it's simply astounding.

So for me, every time our new president has gotten up on his podium to tell the American people that "Yes, We Can," my heart wrenches in the best way possible. I think I cry for the lost time, for the pain we all had to inflict on ourselves before we could come to this understanding and the pain that will continue to afflict us. I cry for the people who cannot fully understand the power of this kind of philosophy, including my own self-consciously simplistic understanding. I cry for the fear that the hope will fade and that the fear-mongering of the last few years will drop a pall over this light. I cry because I feel such immense joy that this world can change if we only let the power of the human spirit burst free of the chains of pessimism. I cry because I am intimately and personally wrapped around the philosophies that I am hearing our country embrace. I cry because I know that tomorrow the practical aspects of daily life will come creeping in on the celebration, and that we will all be tested as to whether we can actually live up to these ideals.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an idealist who never saw his full dream realized. The dreams of today will undoubtedly be similarly long-lasting and long-languishing before they can be fully realized. I smile because I know that there are others in the world that share the burden of hope that one day they will be realized. One day, we will evolve.

A Trip to the Windy City

After probably one of the best weeks out with one of the best presenters that I've had so far, I finished my week in Chicago, in one of the worst hotels I've had to deal with. Luckily, I didn't have to stay the weekend in that hotel. I met KAL at O'Hare and then we took the train into the city to stay at the la-di-da Hyatt right downtown. As always, K had a good connection and got us a "Regency Club" room, for super cheap! We got to our room with my crazy load of luggage (thanks for the help toting my big bag K!!) and then went to enjoy the "hot appetizers" in the special lounge for "guests who require an even higher level of service than the Hyatt standard."

We chose convienience over finding a true conniseurs restaurant in the sub-freezing temperatures and found a deep dish pizza place nearby to grab dinner. After dinner, we went wandering around just to see a bit of what surrounded the hotel and see if we could find a bar. Both of us gasped in pure christmas travel joy at the sight of a beautiful old building which had been lit red and green at the top. Across the river we found a gigantic statue of the American Gothic figures in front of the NBC building (and Chicago Tribune sign!) but no bars. So we wandered back across and found a place to get a Sam Adams (since that's what people in other parts of the country drink when they're not drinking Bud, I'm still getting used to not being able to get Mac'n'Jacks ever).

By the time we got to the bar we were pretty much frozen solid. Turns out people have long puffy coats for a reason, and not just as a fashion statement. I decided that I needed to buy the flat, wrap-around black fleece ear muffs that I saw on all of the men about town.

We called it a night pretty early, since we were both exhausted, and proceeded back to the hotel for some absolutely fabulous sleep. This bed... oh god. It was spectacular. There was some kind of thick feather-bed top to it, and it just was so cushy i just melted into it. Although, after having had so many king beds to myself I had to remember that I couldn't turn fully horizontal on the bed during the night.

The next day we had breakfast at the Regency Club room and then went out shopping in the decidedly Seattle-esque weather (45 and chance of showers). Throughout our time on the Magnificant Mile I decided two things: 1) Ann Taylor Loft is KAL's store, but generally not mine. With the exception of a ridiculously on sale (66% off!) pencil skirt. and 2) Designer Jeans don't automatically make you look good. I tried on two dressing rooms full, and decided that I didn't like them any more than I liked my previous $50 pair, in fact I liked them a lot less. Sadly, I didn't find the perfect pair of earmuffs but we did find a Noodles and Co for lunch!

We weathered the rain and enjoyed Millenium park (Yay Bean!) and then met up with another program manager who happened to be in chicago the same weekend. She (well, her cousin who lived in Chicago) helped guide us to a little german christmas market where we proceeded to drink gluewhine (or whatever you call it) and wander around. We were icicles again at this point, since the market was outside and the rain was still falling. Back to the hotel we went to try on our new purchaces and get ready to go out to a show.

We'd gotten half-price tickets for "The Christmas Schooner," at a little theater in Belmont. I found the show a little hoaky for my taste, but it was fun regardless. The story is about a Michagan sailor who in the late 1800's filled up a boat with christmas trees and sailed across the icy lake to bring the trees to Chicago. I was sudenly sturck with amusement that sailing a lake could be so dangerous, but one look out our hotel window (and some jibes from KAL) reminded me that those lakes are BIG. In fact, they're Great. :P

In the morning we met up with one of KAL's friends who had moved to chicago and had an amazing breakfast with gigantic cinamon rolls. We then wandered over to check out Wrigley field, and then we were off again back to fabulous O'Hare. My flight got delayed multiple times (thank you Northwest!) but I ended up finally making it to Kansas City. All in all a great trip!!

New Jersey Tackiness

Really...?

Fake frescoes on the ceilings, fake marbling on fake columns, gaudy Christmas decorations everywhere, fake Grecian statues, gold accents everywhere, and even a ceiling panel that has the constellations of the night sky on it. It's like a low-rent version of all things holy.

Not to mention the glorious Christmas music on a loop. Everything from operatic style carols, to children's choruses, to some kind of chintzy organ music.

I am in hell.

Although, when it comes right down to it this week I've been enjoying things more than in the last few previous weeks. In Manchester I got out and drove around town a bit, and my presenter is great fun. Yesterday after the seminar, we drove through "downtown" trying to find a place to grab something to snack on since our flight was so late. We discovered that almost nothing in Manchester is open at 3pm, especially nowhere that you could get a glass of wine. After a few instances of "driving like a Bostonian" (ie backing up and making u-turns/3-point turns in traffic) we managed to find an irish pub that served only pizza. It was good pizza at least!

She drove to town in a PT Cruiser so we had a car in Manchester, and after taking that thing for a spin (or two or three in downtown Manchester...) I ended up getting another one for us now that we're in Jersey (although it's a much better color... Cherry Red rather than Electric Shock Blue). It's much more fun to drive than the gigantic SUV's I've been having previously, even though no matter what color it is, it's still an ugly car.

Next, we get to drive the Jersey Turnpike to Newark. My wallet is drastically weighed down with coinage for this part of the treck... I'm pretty sure I went overboard. I'm guessing I've got about 10-15 dollars in coins. That's what I get for packing them the morning I was leaving. I'll definitely have to let you know how the hotel that is next to the correction center turns out... Yay Newark!

Notes from Canada...

1. Winnepeg smells like cow.

2. I brilliantly went to get cash this weekend, and forgot that I am in Canada this entire week, thus necessitating CANADIAN dollars. Luckily, I didn't need to tip last night before I could get to an ATM and then find change at the front desk.

3. When will the wonky accent start to take hold of my vocabulary? Aboot now, eh...

leap day means an extra chance

So far, February has mostly been a wash. Yes, I actually did get some stuff done (taxes & CSA), but overall I'm feeling frustrated by this month...

• Flossing is not working for some reason. I want to do it every night, and I'd made it over a week before simply forgetting and going to bed after only brushing. Ever since then, I haven't made it more than 2 days in a row, although it's definitely over 3 days a week since I started, I'm not meeting the goal, or really feeling compelled to.
• The snow has crapped out. Suddenly I don't have powder to board on, and I'm going to struggle to get those last 3 trips to the mountains in. Last Monday, Vinh and I rented skis to make the iced-over day more interesting. It worked, but it's not the same. I'm so happy that I have skill at boarding that I want to continue to develop. Now I just have to think of it as spring season... Even though it's still February. Damn Global Warming.
• I need to post pictures of my snowboard gear that I need to sell... Plus now I need to sell my old raincoat since I got a new one. Maybe this weekend I'll get around to it...
• In the career front, I've been actively reading and thinking about a career in science writing. There's a program at UC Santa Cruz that is highly reputable, but I'm struggling with whether getting a science writing certificate rather than a journalism MA would be worth it if at some point I want to move away from science altogether. I suppose once you've established a record and a career in journalism, any kind of writing will open up whether I have a fancy degree or not. Now if I would just CALL the admissions people and see if I have a chance in hell at getting in...
  
• I also realized that I HAVE been trying new restaurants in seattle... Starting with January 1st. Jade Gardens with Vinh (1-1-08) and also O'Asian with my parents (2-9-08). Both dim sum places. Jade Gardens wins for food, O'Asian for atmosphere.

So that's the list of what I'm acctually accomplishing. Maybe more of a story-based entry to come.