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Archive for October, 2012

Catching Up

Posted in Uncategorized on October 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

In 14 days I managed to hit: Portland, Orange County, Raleigh, Ft. Worth, Milwaukee, and Baltimore. I am the queen of the 18 hour city visit, except of course for Orange County, where I got to spend TWO whole nights at the Airport Hilton, by far my least favorite stop on the trip, if only because it was the most anonymous and soul deadening, which is not a commentary on the city itself but rather the feeling of “This hotel bar is where America’s Middle Managers – of which I am one – come to die”, and, well, if you’re going to be away from home, you might as well be in a place that FEELS like somewhere (when in Ft. Worth, you never not know you are in Ft. Worth, you know?), not a place that can and has been easily replicated at cities across the country.

I wasn’t a fan of the Airport Hilton, is what I’m saying, and that’s only like 30% because I couldn’t rack up  my beloved Marriott points.

Traveling like this is hard, of course, and I’m noticing that it’s getting harder every year, something I am absolutely sure has more to do with the world decaying around me and not my advancing years, oh no, however I will say that in the past when I could be all “Who needs to pack face wash? There’s soap at the hotel!” I am now finding myself with a whole skin care routine and the very act of looking exactly the same as I did last year is requiring a lot more effort, money, and tiny 3 oz clear bottles that get their own little bin through security. Which is fine, of course, it’s all fine- again, this is work travel that I not only agree to do but propose I do, so there’s really no one to blame but myself- but you know, damn if I can no longer look at a three hour flight and think “oh good, I’ll get in a refreshing nap.”

Despite the travel weary woes, it’s been a great few weeks. I got to get out and about and do some fun work stuff, I got to go to cities where I have good friends and in a few instances I was lucky enough to sneak in an in-person hug and catch up, and I got to run, which sounds lame but I’m sure I’ll find time this week to devote a few thousand words telling you how I made peace with the hotel fitness center. Until then: my inbox is a disaster zone, my laundry is overflowing, and I’m T – 36 hours before I’m on a plane again. Cheers!

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Good Things

Posted in Uncategorized on October 3, 2012| 3 Comments »

Quiet over here because it’s been BUSY over here, which is always, always a good thing.  Speaking of Good Things:

–  Good Thing the First:  I have a nephew. He is cute, and appears to like me best, but that could be because I’m the only extended family member he’s met. Whatever. Getting to see my nephew at one hour old is one of the exact reasons we moved closer to family, although I wouldn’t have defined our decision making process in exactly those words. But I want to be friends with my brother and sister-in-law, know my nephew, to babysit when needed and living nearby is the best way to facilitate that. It’s a Good Thing. (Also a good thing: my nephew has a Tumblr. And his own Facebook page. I guarantee that the second kid in this family will barely get a mention on the first kid’s status update.)

I promise we’re not about to steal the baby. I do not know why Mike is wearing gloves.

– Good Thing The Second: A coworker of mine has a rule that she will only work weekends if it makes her money or makes her happy, and along those lines, I worked all weekend, and it made me happy. Now, of course, there’s things I’d rather do than powerpoint my way through a sunny Saturday, but I like my job and I’m proud of my work, and the stuff I did this weekend allowed for Good Work Things to happen, and I was happy to do it. Liking your job? Good Thing.

(Also enjoying that while I did have to work this weekend, I was also able to make time to enjoy Colorado fall, which we can list as Good Thing The Second and Half.

Hiking with Mike and the Pup in between PowerPoint Ninja’ing

– Good Thing The Third: Along the same lines, I’m starting a lot of work travel next week, and while that generally is super obnoxious and a pain to coordinate, I like the stuff I do on the road AND it’s enabling me to have dinner one of my FAVORITE imaginary Internet friends, so I’m pretty excited to get that process going, despite the various travel shenanigans that have me going from Denver to  Portland to Orange County to Denver to Raleigh all in a 72 hour window. (You guys, try flying direct from Orange County to Raleigh. Not possible. I actually have to fly BACK to Denver, sit through a three hour layover and THEN fly to Raleigh, and I tell you, I get that layovers happen, and if my layover was in, say, Dallas, I’d be all “Oh well, layovers happen, whatever” but because I have to go BACK to Denver where I STARTED all this travel I’m sitting here looking at my itinerary all “WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE” and am grumpy about it. BUT! Getting to see people you like and do stuff you love: Good Thing.

–  Good Thing the Fourth: I’m back at the gym and OH it is humbling and MAN I am out of shape but it’s so nice to be back among my people. Most of my gym people are dudes; I go the 5:30am Crossfit class, and since  my small town is mostly working dads and stay at home moms,  the morning Crossfit crew tends to be guys getting it in before work, whereas the middle of the day Crossfitters are mostly women going while their kids are at school(and don’t be making soccer mom jokes, those women could kick your butt), but anyway: my gym people are mostly guys, and it’s been interesting to see them react to both pregnancy and miscarriage. I would have thought both would be awkward, but it’s not: these guys are dads and have been through elements of all this, and they’re also my friends; I’m getting a combo of concern and “take your time getting back to it” with a healthy dose of “come on now, stop slacking! You can run faster than that/lift more than that/try harder than that.” The perfect balance between concern and smart assery. Being back with my workyouty people: Good Thing.

(If you’re interested in reading more about miscarriage AND HEY MAN WHO ISN’T, Kim wrote a nice post today about post D&C working out, and while I know that seems like a hard sell for a good time, her experience is matching mine so I enjoyed reading it.)

Anyway, that’s where I’m at. Trying SLOWLY to get back into running shape (Mike to me: “Hey, so… you should run again. You um, see happier when you’re running” which I think is a very polite way of saying “Woman, you have been SUPER STRESSED AND IT’S FREAKING ME OUT”) and have started an informal running club with some of my RAGNAR people, a development which is scary (oy, out of shape!) but also awesome, because running partners are some of the Best Things Ever (hey! Good Thing the Fifth!) But overall, life is good, in some ways better than it’s been in what seems to be a very long time.  Good Things Indeed.

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