Crazy Daze
Jul. 18th, 2005 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcepsaBrief update:
Managed to survive Texas. Actually it was pretty fun, and everyone down there was very cooperative; they don't want their system to get in trouble any more than we do--apparently the hang-up is coming from somewhere in the middle, but that comes as absolutely no surprise. Must resist urge to turn this post into a rant about bureaucracy and people who become overly obstructive in their jobs in order to make themselves feel more powerful...
Had some great food while down there--awesome Mexican at a little hole-in-the-wall place, some great steak, more awesome Mexican at a larger place (some of the best guacamole I've ever had. Seriously, I was this close to cancelling my original order and asking for a big bowl of the guacamole and a monstrous basket of chips...)
Other than that, mostly just stayed in the hotel and played in the pool, or read, during my free time. It was really nice to get some down time like that and not worry about going out or finding things to do.
Flew back to DC on Friday, got caught in a rainstorm heading in to work to submit my travel paperwork, ended up getting together with some friends who dragged me to Silver Spring to see one of their friends playing at Borders before the big Harry Potter adventure, and ended up getting home around midnight. That's a clear example of getting carried away with people that you haven't seen in months--it wouldn't have been a big deal at all, except that I had a plane to catch the next morning at 10:30 and I hadn't even started unpacking from Texas. It worked out just fine in the end, though: I managed to still get about 6 hours of sleep and everything packed and I got to have a fun evening with my friend.
Now I'm in Minnesota until Friday, then I'll be down biking across Iowa for a week, then I'll be back in Minnesota for a few more days. Normally I don't fly on the weekends--Saturday reminded me why: lots of families travel on weekends, even the ones with small children who get cantankerous when they fly. Not that I blame them, I'm the same way but I don't have the luxury of being able to scream my lungs out when my ears are trying to implode while my stomach wants to explode, and so listening to them howl just makes me envious.
We celebrated my youngest brother's birthday last night and among his gifts were two sets of poi (one set of nylon and one set that you create by putting flashing hackeysacks into nylon sock-thingies) and a portable blacklight. We then celebrated more by going outside and playing with his new toys to the flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm that was rolling in. Totally awesome, and I hope to do it again sometime--I love playing outside in the lightning.
I love playing inside in the lightning too, which is what we did next. Yesterday while we were out getting supplies for the bike ride, I also picked up Settlers of Catan. After we came in from playing with poi, Mom, Mark, and I played a round. It was their first time, and they both did well and had fun, and I'm looking forward to playing with them again (hopefully today sometime ^_^) I love that game :)
That's it for now! Glad to be home and relaxing a bit.
Managed to survive Texas. Actually it was pretty fun, and everyone down there was very cooperative; they don't want their system to get in trouble any more than we do--apparently the hang-up is coming from somewhere in the middle, but that comes as absolutely no surprise. Must resist urge to turn this post into a rant about bureaucracy and people who become overly obstructive in their jobs in order to make themselves feel more powerful...
Had some great food while down there--awesome Mexican at a little hole-in-the-wall place, some great steak, more awesome Mexican at a larger place (some of the best guacamole I've ever had. Seriously, I was this close to cancelling my original order and asking for a big bowl of the guacamole and a monstrous basket of chips...)
Other than that, mostly just stayed in the hotel and played in the pool, or read, during my free time. It was really nice to get some down time like that and not worry about going out or finding things to do.
Flew back to DC on Friday, got caught in a rainstorm heading in to work to submit my travel paperwork, ended up getting together with some friends who dragged me to Silver Spring to see one of their friends playing at Borders before the big Harry Potter adventure, and ended up getting home around midnight. That's a clear example of getting carried away with people that you haven't seen in months--it wouldn't have been a big deal at all, except that I had a plane to catch the next morning at 10:30 and I hadn't even started unpacking from Texas. It worked out just fine in the end, though: I managed to still get about 6 hours of sleep and everything packed and I got to have a fun evening with my friend.
Now I'm in Minnesota until Friday, then I'll be down biking across Iowa for a week, then I'll be back in Minnesota for a few more days. Normally I don't fly on the weekends--Saturday reminded me why: lots of families travel on weekends, even the ones with small children who get cantankerous when they fly. Not that I blame them, I'm the same way but I don't have the luxury of being able to scream my lungs out when my ears are trying to implode while my stomach wants to explode, and so listening to them howl just makes me envious.
We celebrated my youngest brother's birthday last night and among his gifts were two sets of poi (one set of nylon and one set that you create by putting flashing hackeysacks into nylon sock-thingies) and a portable blacklight. We then celebrated more by going outside and playing with his new toys to the flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm that was rolling in. Totally awesome, and I hope to do it again sometime--I love playing outside in the lightning.
I love playing inside in the lightning too, which is what we did next. Yesterday while we were out getting supplies for the bike ride, I also picked up Settlers of Catan. After we came in from playing with poi, Mom, Mark, and I played a round. It was their first time, and they both did well and had fun, and I'm looking forward to playing with them again (hopefully today sometime ^_^) I love that game :)
That's it for now! Glad to be home and relaxing a bit.
