I've still got a list of things I intend to write about at some length, but I left this until rather late today and it just isn't going to happen. However, I did at least do a few things that are worth mentioning.
For one, I had a business trip to Los Angeles. The travel just gets more and more tedious, but the trip was fairly productive. I'd really gone out there for one thing, but since it's silly to travel cross-country for a two-hour meeting, I set up a bunch of other meetings while I was there. So I was scurrying back and forth much of the day, but at least I was productive. Now, I just have to deal with two more business trips before the end of the month.
I also had a flurry of activity over the weekend. The weather was decent Saturday morning, but the forecast was dreary, so I debated about getting out for a walk. Then I remembered that there's a Volksmarch entirely inside a mall in Columbia, Maryland, so I drove out there. I now understand people who think walking is boring. Yes, getting out and moving is nice, but eight laps (4 on each of two levels) of a shopping mall is just deadly dull. I did go into a few stores during the last lap, though all I managed to purchase were socks. (Socks are another subject I need to do some extended writing about; for now, suffice it to say that double layer socks are among the finest inventions of my lifetime.) I was somewhat tempted by carpet skates, which are things you strap on over shoes to slide around on your carpeting (presumably, a form of exercise), but I decided that I'd be too worried about crashing into the furniture to enjoy them. Still, this had to qualify as the most boring walk I've ever done.
When I left the mall, it had decided to become winter all of a sudden. There was a fierce wind and the temperature had dropped at least twenty degrees. The wind made the drive home a bit tiring, what with the challenge of keeping my little car from getting blown off the road. When I got close to home, it started to rain and, later in the day there were even some snow showers, though the roads were too warm for anything to stick.
Which was good, since I had a story swap to go to. Fortunately, it was fairly close to home. There was rather a mix of stuff, with the highlight being a visitor who was talking about his travels in southeast Asia (and who also told a shaggy dog story that completely snookered me). The lowlight was a 20+ minute lecture on the American revolution. There may have been a story there, but not that I could tell. There was also a power outage, presumably due to the wind.
Today was somewhat less gusty, though cold. I got enough of my chores done in the morning that I was about to get out in the afternoon and go to knitting group. I guess everybody else also goes into high gear early in the year, as there were more people there than I've ever seen before. I worked on a couple of little things (making doll clothes to use up scraps of yarn, because I am so very bored with knitting afghan squares), but the wide ranging conversation is most of the point of going. Of course, I should really be working on that bloody sweater, but that's another story.
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel