A year ago today...

This is what I was doing...











Taking pictures of Half Moon Bay in Antarctica, our first stop after crossing the Drake Passage.

Ka-ching!

That loud noise you just heard was us dropping a ton o' credit on our trip to Antarctica.

Yes, the real deal down under.

We just paid the balance on our trip. Yesirree, SM and I are taking a cruise to Antarctica next year, and I couldn't be more excited. We're calling it our "honeymoon" since that is the only way I can possibly justify spending so much money (=obscene amount) on one trip.

I wonder just one thing though -- which will melt first: our credit cards or the ice caps in Antarctica? Let's hope they both hold out for just a few more months at least.

Quick trip to Boston

Last week -- or was it the week before? -- SM and I played hookie and took a quick trip to Boston for the day. Why, you ask? Well, why not? I found a great airfare bargain. And I can't resist bargains. Of any kind. So I convinced SM and off we went. Ya' see, JetBlue launched a new route from BWI to Logan, and this was a promo fare. $9 each way.

Yup, $9. Who wouldn't wanna do that?

Here were the catches -- had to fly on either Tuesday or Wednesday; fare was dependent on seats available; and tax and surcharges were extra. Even with the extra fees and the middle-of-the-week travel, it was a steal worth doing. (As one person commented to us, the time we took off was much more expensive than anything else. Very true.)

So we got a flight at 9:50 PM on Tuesday to return on Wednesday at 4:40 in the afternoon. Surcharges amounted to something like $11 per ticket, so the total for both of us was around $80. After paying so little for the tickets, we weren't about to put out bucks for a hotel. Fortunately, SM went to school in Boston and still has a number of friends in the area. So, we arranged to see his old friends and crashed with them in Somerville, which is a 'burb of Boston.

In the morning, we took the T to MIT. I wanted to see the campus because I never had and because SM spent 6 years of his life there (undergrad and grad school). We walked around a bit. It was kinda fun to see for both of us. Many things had changed, but many things had not. We also went to the Coop to buy SM a sweatshirt 'cuz, well, his college-era sweatshirt doesn't quite fit anymore.

We had fun shopping. It was particularly interesting to see the various MIT shirt designs. SM got a fleece. I got an oversized hoodie (it was a bargain!), and I bought a t-shirt for my brother for Christmas. It read: I>U (which I think my brother might actually wear, and if not, it's still my duty as his sister to give him snarky presents).

Here was one of our faves, which we didn't buy but would be really snottily perfect to wear as a student:

Get it? I didn't. I understood that the first fraction was M (and therefore could guess), but SM had to translate the rest. (FYI, the second is an imaginary number = I, and the last is an equation about the state of gas: pV=nRT, which I won't even pretend to have any knowledge of or interest in, but it works out to T.)

I also liked the shirt that said "Talk nerdy to me." Heh. Another one had a series of 0s and 1s on it. Now, I went to a liberal arts college (double major in sociology and anthropology, thankyouverymuch), so I was extremely proud that I could even identify that as binary. SM was able to decode the numbers, but we didn't know how to translate it beyond that. Turns out, the numbers were ASCII code for, you guessed it, MIT. When we told this story to my younger brother, whose degree is in mechanical engineering, he got it right away. I guess I'm surrounded by nerdy types.

Anyhoo... after walking through and around MIT, we counted Smoots over the bridge into Boston proper, walked and shopped our way down Newbury Street and then over to Boylston. We then cut over through Chinatown and eventually made it to the Faneuil Hall area where we did more walking but less shopping. We had lunch with SM's friend at the Durgin Park restaurant, where I had lobster roll -- yum! After that, we caught the T back to the airport and had an eventless return trip home.

We weren't even in Boston a full day, more like 17 hours (half of which was overnight), but it was fun. It felt like we were playing hookie -- it was, after all, a Wednesday. We hadn't done anything spontaneous like that in quite a while. We were gone such a short time that we didn't even make any arrangements for Gidget. We just left her at home with water (she has a doggy door). Of course, she missed out on her breakfast on Wednesday, but she, like us, can stand missing a meal. When we got home that night, we were greeted by an almost hysterically happy puppy who was so excited that she peed on the floor. She is, after all, part dauschund.

It was great fun. We need to take trips like that more often, especially when the travel (parking and gas included) costs less than two college sweatshirts and a t-shirt!

The high cost of weddings

Not for us, but rather going to one out of town. Here's the breakdown:

$379.80 -- airfare for two (so that's $189.90 each)
$30.00 -- airport parking for a long weekend
$30.00 -- luggage fees (one checked bag each way)
$390.03 -- hotel (two nights room and parking)
$105.00 -- car rental
$934.83 -- total

This doesn't include the present, gas, food or other incidental fees. AND, if only one of us had gone, then the cost would have only been reduced by $190 (one airfare).

E-gads. About $1150 when you add in the present.

Although I have attended a number of out-of-town weddings, I never did this math before and didn't realize how much weddings cost for out-of-towners who have to fly in, stay in a hotel and rent a car.

But, no regrets. We're glad we went.

Kidney update

Dad is good to go for the transplant this Tuesday. My stepmother (his wife) is the donor. The operations will be performed in New York. Dad and my older brother drove up today. My stepmother and various sisters will drive up tomorrow during the day. My younger brother and I will drive up tomorrow after work.

I'm starting to feel a little bit anxious about this. Not worried, but concerned because a transplant is serious stuff.

Tuesday morning is when it all begins. Dad's operation will last about 7 hours. I am confident that it will all work out just fine, but please send positive vibes for the surgeons and for Dad and my stepmom for successful surgeries. And then for speedy, easy recoveries.

Thanks.

I'll update when I can.

Blogging from Toronto airport using my iTouch

How cool is that? The iTouch was a birthday prezzie from SM. The typing is really slow (one finger tapping), so there will be no long posts.

But I'm having fun playing!!!

Hey Laaaaaaaaaaa-day!

I'm now firmly ensconced in "ma'am" status. I am now 41. Do I look any older?

We're in New Jersey at my college roommate's house and going into Manhattan for lunch and then the taping of The Daily Show. Jon Stewart is yummy. And you know that if there is any way for me to get it out there, leverage or otherwise broadcast that today is my birthday, I'll do it -- shamelessly.

We won't see the show when it is broadcast since we'll be driving back tonight, but our friend Tivo has that covered for us.

It's gonna be fun!

Already making plans for my birthday...

Just got reservations for tickets for the Jon Stewart show on my birthday.

We're off to New York for that weekend. Fun!

I'm back from our mini-moon

And it was mini, but thoroughly relaxing. We went to my uncle's lakehouse in central Virginia for some quiet time away from DC. We mostly ate (like pigs!) and read and slept in and did little more. It was great. We didn't go waterskiing, but we did hit several local wineries, one of which is SM's fave when it comes to Virginia wines. He bought a case.

We drove back last night, and I am very happy to have the weekend to transition back into the real world. Gidget is very happy to be home. She did just fine in the car (her first long trip with us) and was a perfect house guest, but I can tell that she's infinitely more relaxed at home.

So we are very (fat and) happy here.

(BTW, I did get the wedding pix before we left -- yay digital! -- but didn't have time to go through them. I'll work on that this weekend, along with opening our wedding gifts...!)

This is cool.

I haven't tried it out yet, but if it works, this site would be amazing (which is already built into its name).

Check it out.

Convening...

at a convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I'll mostly be off-line through the weekend. But I'll be back next week.

Ooooouch!

I have to go to New York City tomorrow morning for a meeting. The meeting is at 10:00 am.

Which means we're hitting the road at 5:00 am.

Which means I have to get up even earlier than that.

It just plain hurts. Hurts, I tell ya'.

Dang

Based on my entries of late, you would think that my brain is solely focused on wedding stuff.

If only.

Then I'd be done with everything I need to do for the wedding. Oh well.

It's just that the rest of the stuff going on in my life isn't even interesting to me, so how could they possibly be blog-worthy? They just aren't.

Um, let's see... what else? I'm not travelling at all this month, which makes me incredibly happy. In June, I'm off to NYC for a day. July involves a trip to Salt Lake City. August may be San Francisco again, if I decide to go. That's about it. And no, none of those are honeymoon or even mini-moon trips, although I may take SM to SF with me because that trip is the weekend after our wedding.

See? There just ain't anything interesting going on over here.

Lightning Strikes Two Planes Near BWI, Dulles Airports

Yeah, comparatively my flight back from SFO to Dulles yesterday was pretty uneventful.

OMG

Omigawd, I am so tired. I'm tired in San Francisco. For a board meeting.

And the weather here is so much colder than in DC.

But then again, I'm inside. All day. So I guess it doesn't make any difference.

(cranky, cranky, cranky me...)

495 to 95 to 295 to 70

Those are the roads I took to the meeting I had in New Jersey today.

The driving was good. The meeting was good too. Kinda too bad that I spent (slightly) more time driving up and back than at the actual meeting, but it certainly could have been worse. I could have hit a lotta traffic.

While on the road, I saw Obama stickers plastered all over bumpers going both ways. So many that it really made an impression on me. They seemed to be everywhere. I don't recall seeing Hillary stickers, although I must have. I did see at least one McCain sticker too. But then again, I also saw a number of Kerry/Edwards stickers.

The most interesting thing I saw? A cop in an unmarked car that had pulled someone over.

What made it so unusual was that the unmarked police car with which the cop nailed the wayward driver was a Mustang GTO.

My first reaction? ::drool:: I think that's a way cool car.

My second reaction? Ha! That driver got suckered!

My third reaction? Poor guy. That's an unfair advantage for cops against speeders. I mean, who is going to expect a muscle car like that to be an unmarked police car? (But, tres fun for the the cop who gets to drive it.)

Conference proceedings

Been at a conference for work since Tuesday. The biggest development? I twisted my ankle. It's all puffy and sore and slightly discolored (as opposed to being off-color, which I can be too). Owch. No fun. Wonder if I can claim workers' comp for it?

The conference ends tomorrow, after which we are all going horseback riding. Woo-hoo! Hope that the angle of ankle in the stirrup won't hurt tremendously. Uh oh.

We fly back on Saturday. It's been a good week.

I'd blog more about how much I've misbehaved during this conference, but I'm smarter than that.

This time at least.

Monday morning haiku

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day...
when I'm out of town.

Yup, flying the coop again this week. This time, it's for work, and we're off to sunny Scottsdale for a conference. I only go to one conference a year -- a conference that is, arguably, of only marginal use to my work (there are much more interesting and relevant conferences out there, but I don't get to go to them) -- and this is it. With the other attorney in the office and our division director.

Wahoo?

Still, it will be fun. The division director loves good food, so we've got reservations every night at some really fantastic restaurant. It will kill my per diem and hurt generally. Ya' see, the division director is an SES, and the other attorney is a 15, high step (at least above a 5). I'm not. They both make more than twice what I make, so these meals are relatively twice as expensive for me. Oh well. I'll still enjoy the food. It's only once a year.

Most importantly, I'm excited to be out of the office for most of the week. Yay!

And it probably won't be raining in Scottsdale.

Thinking about packing...

We confirmed that our reservations were confirmed. Now I'm doing some laundry to make sure we have ample choices for our trip.

Ya' see, this is a different kind of travelling for me. I'm used to backpacking, travelling light, moving around quite a bit and staying at hostels and the like. This time we're parking ourselves at a hotel for three nights and moving to a second hotel for three nights. And we'll only be in the city. So that means we'll need to be a bit dressier -- it is Europe, after all -- and certainly dressier than my usual backpacking attire. And six days is just long enough not to do laundry. Which means we'll be carrying just as much as if we were travelling for two weeks or two months.

And I won't be wearing my engagement ring. Just not gonna take the chance. Now, that will feel weird. Maybe I'll wear another ring just so my finger doesn't feel nekid.

43 and 44 for 40

As part of my big 4-0 birthday, we're taking a quick vacay. Tomorrow night, we're off to Lisbon and Madrid for a week, three days in each city. Looks like we won't have to bring sunscreen but will definitely need our umbrellas. But at least it won't be cold.

Yay! Yay because I'm looking forward to getting some time off work. Yay because I've never been to either city. Yay because I'll be adding two countries to my list (currently at 42). Yay because I won't be here to do my weekly weigh-in and can avoid the reality of the repercussions of my indulgence of the past week.

We've done nothing to prepare for this trip, other than get the tickets and accommodations. We'll need to pack tonight and take our bags with us to work. We also need to drop Gidget off with my sister. This is the longest we have ever left her. I wonder who will have more separation anxiety?

Well, we'll certainly get over it... drinking local wine, eating the cuisine, shopping, sightseeing, shopping, and so on. We are only taking a week, so three days in each city is just about perfect to have the chance to do a few things without feeling like we have to try to do everything.

Hopefully I'll be able to post from Europe.

Oooh, I'm starting to get excited!