Tuesday, January 09, 2007

A night in a big town

I set a personal record today by being out of touch with the blogosphere for over twenty four hours straight. I was invited to participate in a planning meeting for work yesterday and today, in a city that's often a site for meetings due to its central (actuall a bit south of central) location in the state. The hotel had Internet access, and I suppose I could have borrowed a laptop, but I had visions of a little shopping, and a long bath followed by a long shower in the evening, so I figured blogging could wait for one night.

The meeting was...well, a planning meeting, one in which I felt entirely out of my league and with not much to offer, but folks in my field are not too high strung and competitive about stuff like that. Or I don't care if they are.

I could have hung around for the happy hour/too much beer/catch up on Department news gossip session, but...and this may be news to some...I just didn't feel like drinking beer and sitting around all night! I'm normally not much of a shopper, and I rarely get the opportunity when I actually feel like it, the nearest good shopping aside from the thrift store being sixty miles away. So I hopped in the car soon after the meeting ended and braved the heavy (for me) traffic to hit a big box store across town. I found my favorite brand of athletic shoes (New Balance) on sale, and I needed some new all terrain runners for all of the all terrain running I'm going to be doing in the near future. :) Then, after grudgingly deciding I look ridiculous in low-rise boot cut jeans, I found a sensible pair that fit well. It was nice to be able to try stuff on without wondering what the kids were up to somewhere else in the store.

Then, after a stop at a discount liquor store (gotta have a little fun) I headed back for a salad delivered room service, a vodka tonic, a long hot bath followed by a shower, and a refreshing yoga session, refreshing because I didn't have dogs and cats getting in the way! I tried to do a little reading in bed, but I was so relaxed I turned out the lights before 10. The sound of traffic all night took some getting used to, but not having a dog curled up in my spot took some getting used to as well. Sometimes there's no place like home. Sometimes.

Speaking of home, an exciting new house post will come shortly. The carpenters were here today, and the upper story ends are framed in, and on one side, the outer siding is up and WINDOWS are in! More Windows updates will be ready for installation tomorrow, and I will have photos as soon as I can get them in daylight.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pictures- we need pictures!

Sounds like a successful shopping/work trip. I can't quite imagine sleeping without a dog in my back!

Wendy Berrell said...

Just stopping by... love your web log - thanks for it.

Deb said...

Lynne- there will be pictures, when I can get them in good light. These peak windows are fabulous! So you get the dog in your back/under your legs/in your face in bed too? :)

mn justin- Thanks for stopping by, and your blog looks very interesting too! Looks like you're into fly fishing...have you seen dharma bum's blog? There's a link on my sidebar. And I would like to try fly fishing some day, there's just so much to do, so little time!

Anonymous said...

Hey, you need those little commercial breaks every once in a while.

Deb said...

FC- That "commercial break" was very much needed. I thought about the kids every so often, but the urge to call was always superceded by the intuition that they were doing just fine with The Hermit. I'm only away 3 nights a year at the most!

Wendy Berrell said...

I ran into Dharma Bum by way of a mutual friend - Driftless Skies - a weatherman and fisherman here in SE MN. I will check out his web log...

I like this one. I grew up at the Aitkin/Itasca County line, so I can call myself a northerner.