Have Job, Will Travel

Today begins a month of extraordinary travel for my job.  Really, once I put it out there, most people, including me, would say, "Oh, that's not so bad."  Then I put it in the context of "I love the organized schedule of my usual life and so does my daughter", and it makes me a little stressed. Thank goodness I will have time to throw in some personal fun (although I should probably take it easier on that since I recently had the good luck to strand myself an hour away from home with a dead battery just because I wanted to be a badass on the banked track too).

Today, I leave for California at 6:45 p.m. CDT.  Tomorrow, I work for at least twelve and a half hours, which includes a presentation on a subject that gives me indigestion and an evening meeting with Asia Pac that makes my eyes feel very droopy.  I return home at 10:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday.  Friday, we camp; Saturday, we jump out of a plane; and Sunday, we return home for Zeigfest!  Woohoo!

Halloween plans are shaping up nicely, including a Ghostland Observatory show that I have been looking forward to since July.  A long-lost friend from Austin will be joining me and my sister, but no word on whether I can get everyone to dress up yet.  The Friday after Halloween, I'm finally going to a University of Houston football game, almost twenty years after I received my bachelor's degree.  Good times!

The next trip to California will be November 7-9.  This one is extra special because the family will also be dealing with the opening weekend of deer season and the only flight I could take back gets me home at 12:30 a.m. CST on November 10.  Why is this the only flight?  I have to give the October 20th presentation on a subject that gives me indigestion to a Houston audience at noon CST on November 10th, after giving a presentation on my wonderful Community of Practice at 2:00 p.m. PST on November 9th.  Loving my job right about now!  May try to throw in a visit to the Renfest the weekend of the 13th, or The Kitten will hate me forever.

Don't worry; I'm not finished yet.  I'm getting the 36 hours of professional development I need to complete my annual goals at a conference in Washington, DC, November 16-18.  At least I get to see The Yankee on that trip and hopefully come home in one piece.  Last time we partied in DC, I danced on a bar.  Shocking, I know.  I think I lost those pictures when my computer died this summer; well, it was either those or the videos from Key West.  It's a good thing the proof of either is hard to find.

And that, my friends, is my upcoming month of extraordinary travel for my job.  When I get home on November 19th or 20th (haven't decided yet), I'll have already started on ten extraordinary days of no work at all.  Could be worse, y'all, could be worse.

Wocation

Work + Vacation = Wocation? I love going to California for work, so to me, it is a bit of a vacation. The hotel is comfy, the coworkers are friendly, and the scenery is aesthetically pleasing. Plus I'm on my own schedule, not a six-year-old's, and there's Trader Joe's. Sounds like a perfect reason for a made-up word. I still can't wait to get back to my hometown.

Just wanted to share that mainly because I couldn't make an entire post about the fact that I got a REAL comment today on my last post that was over a month ago. (Update on my last post: waiting till October 1st!).

Catazon's Law of Parties

Stress will be a fact of life the week before the party, until you can drink it away the night of the party.

On Monday, the guest of honor will still be hemming and hawing over the menu. That's ok, because you're still not sure if you have to feed forty or fifty or even more.

On Tuesday, you will start the day by throwing out your neck...the same neck problem you have had since a crazy night in New Orleans in 2005. You still don't know what it is, and at the moment, you definitely don't have time to find out, although it would be nice to refresh your stash of painkillers.

On Wednesday, you will discover a water leak in your dining room ceiling. Thank God the pipe was right next to a light fixture, so the water dripped immediately instead of pooling for days. Later that day, you will have your annual performance review. Good luck!

On Thursday, you will have to go to dinner with your boss. Actually not a stressful situation, but you should be home doing a test run on the last minute request for butterscotch cake. Even though it might look like a pile of poo on Saturday, you're still pretty sure it will taste totally awesome (it's an 80's party).

You're not going to think about Friday yet. Keep your eyes on the prize.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Ike

It's been a week since I stated that I was eager to make more hurricane memories, and I can truly say I have been blessed. Good things that came from Ike include:

• My husband now realizes we need to fix the skylights that leaked all over the atrium and that I've been telling him to fix for six years. Maybe he will get it done before the next hurricane.



• I got to see a bout on a Monday night - TXRG vs. Madison - and totally free!



• I spent a whole uninterrupted week with The Kitten - until I dropped her off with Gramma about an hour ago.



• I finally got the new barstools I've been needing for six years (see above...we moved in six years ago!).


• 
  The 2008 Season page was updated to the best of my ability - hadn't done that since the HaRD Knocks season went down the tubes in June.

Yes, it has been a good week because our yard only looked like this...



and we had another little visitor who only stayed for a few minutes...


I'm still using Ike as an excuse to drink heavily, and I just noticed my long, tall vanilla vodka and coke is empty, so I'm sure this post does not make a coherent summary of my awesome week.

Hurricane Memories

Today, my family is one of the many in Houston who are hunkering down for Hurricane Ike, ready to make more hurricane memories. I can't help thinking about how mad I was when Alicia hit and I couldn't go see my boyfriend at the skating rink. And how we had a baby possum take shelter in a birdhouse in our backyard when Rita was blowing around.



Later this afternoon, I'll be moving my bed and the computer I'm working on right now. Then I will pull the carpet up and away from the back of the house, because our backyard tends to flood when we get a ton of rain. We are also worried how the construction on our road is going to affect this tendency. At least I don't have to worry about skating in a bout this weekend. Houston Roller Derby will be playing our Championship bouts on September 28th instead September 14th. Hey look, that's me getting an elbow in the ta-tas!



I'll also be dreaming about the beautiful weather where I was a week ago:

My TV Cost More Than My Computer!

My husband and I broke down and bought a fancy new tv last night.

Don't get me wrong! I'm very manly in my love of new toys, probably even more so than my husband, and I most likely pressured the tightwad to go this route because he knows how much I love new toys, but I'm just in shock that we spent more on this tv than we did when we bought a new computer two years ago. I'll keep telling myself that this thing is beautiful and well worth it. Even my daughter, who wanted the old tv to come home from the doctor, got excited when we took it out of the box. Of course, the excitement was spurred by the opportunity to play in an empty box, but wait till she sees how good The Wiggles look now!