Diaries I Read:
To begin, I pose a question:
What could possibly be worse than sending an e-mail to *ALL (i.e. the ENTIRE company) in which you bemoan the impending arrival of a big-shot representative from your parent company AND state your weight, admitting that you�re feeling �blah� about it?
Doing that when you're the director of Human Resources for said company.
True story. HA!
Moral of this story: always double-check before clicking �send.� Be especially careful when selecting �reply to all.�
*****
Anyway, it�s been a while.
It seems like EVERYTHING has happened in the past week.
I�ll start with our trip out to Philadelphia.
We had to get up at 3:30 am on Wednesday to get to L.A. and catch our 6:30 am flight. We made it to the airport and through our first leg of the trip without any hiccups. We landed in Cincinnati at about 1:30 pm (Eastern time), only to find out that our connecting flight to Philadelphia had been delayed, and then cancelled. Upon speaking with a flight agent, we found out that the only way for us to get to Philadelphia that night was to fly from Cincinnati to ATLANTA and THEN to Philadelphia. Reluctantly, we agreed since we had to get there for our appointment the next day.
So after a long layover in Cincinnati, we flew to Atlanta and got on our connecting flight to Philly at about 8:30 pm. We were all settled in the plane when the pilot came on the loudspeaker to tell us that our flight to Philadelphia was being delayed until 11:00 pm. When we finally got to Philadelphia, it was about 1:30 am. By the time we got our rental car and arrived at our hotel, it was after 2:30 am. Talk about a long day.
So, we ate breakfast in L.A., lunch in Cincinnati, and dinner in Atlanta. The next day, we had breakfast in Philadelphia and lunch in New Jersey. Heh.
Thursday we had to be up bright and early to meet with Jim, the franchise guy we�ve been working with, before being picked up by the Partyland people.
Everything went pretty well with that. We visited one of the Partyland stores, had lunch with the store�s owner and the Partyland corporate franchise guy, and then visited their corporate offices for a meeting with the president and vice president. As I expected, the day�s events and conversations got me and B excited about the idea of having our own store. To my surprise, however, they really didn�t try to give us the hard sell by doing a big song and dance and making big promises. I appreciated that. It�s going to be a hard enough decision anyway.
Right now, I honestly can�t tell you on which side of the fence I am about starting this business. My mind changes hourly. B and I actually haven�t talked much about it since Thursday. I think we both need a little time to digest all the information and figure out how we feel about everything. So I�m not going to comment on the subject until I have something worthwhile to say.
Needless to say, after eight hours of sleep for Tuesday and Wednesday nights combined, we were exhausted by the time we finished our Partyland Discovery Day on Thursday. Nevertheless, after a short nap when we returned to the hotel, we went out to dinner with Jim, which was a pretty good time.
The next morning, we took Jim to the airport and then went to see all the touristy things in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there was one casualty: I left our digital camera (in its leather camera bag with battery charger, USB cord, AND owner�s manual) in the hotel restaurant that morning, never to be seen again. Somebody is enjoying a nice $400 camera on us right now, thank you very much. So we had to buy one of those disposable cameras so as to record the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin�s grave site, and Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed). After we�d wandered around Philly long enough, we got in the car, only to head the wrong direction on Franklin Bridge and start heading toward New Jersey. So, we decided to check out Atlantic City. What the heck. We parked at Trump Palace and hit the boardwalk. We walked through the sand, stuck our feet in the Atlantic Ocean, cruised the boardwalk, had lunch at the Taj Mahal, and blew $20 in a slot machine. I have to say Atlantic City was pretty cool. I�d go back.
(I have to interject that all this time, while walking on the sand and enjoying the sun and whatnot, I was very nervous about getting too much sun since, after all, I was supposedly suffering from the stomach flu and couldn�t very well return to work on Monday all tanned and glowing. I also have to say here that I will never again call in sick to work like this. I felt horribly guilty for several days before we left, throughout the trip, every time I called into work, and even today as everyone�s asking if I�m feeling better. And I�m paranoid that I�m going to slip up and say something about a movie we saw on the plane or some other detail pertaining to our trip. Also, everybody at work was so concerned about me and was so glad to see me alive when I got to work this morning, it just makes the guilt even worse. That awful feeling gnawing at me is just not worth it. Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad, for instilling in me these values and morals � they�re really coming in handy right about now.)
After our very full day of sightseeing, we crashed at the hotel and I slept for over 12 hours that night. Finally.
The next day, we headed to New York City, where we started off at Ground Zero. It was pretty amazing. There actually isn�t all that much to see � just a big empty space where the buildings used to be. Everything�s been cleaned up, and they�ve re-constructed the subway station underneath the site. It was strange to walk around the area and imagine what it must have been like on that day, how chaotic and frightening it must have been, how much area the dust and debris must have covered, what it would have looked like to see the plane crashing right into those massive buildings, the horror of seeing people jump to their deaths. It was all very sobering.
Then we headed to the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We had to stand in line for about an hour, but we were well entertained by the street performers doing handstand push-ups and back flips and the �vendors� trying to sell Prada and Rolex knock-offs. I saw the Statue of Liberty years ago, when I was about 12 years old, but even so, seeing her standing off in the distance, becoming larger and larger as we approached on the ferry, made me feel proud and patriotic and lucky to live where I do. We sat in on a tour guide�s talk about the history and significance of the Statue of Liberty, which made it that much more interesting to actually look up at her in real life. Then we took pictures in front of her (dang it, I wish I could post some pictures here, but they�re all on that stupid disposable camera!) and got back on the ferry to head back to the city.
The last place we really wanted to visit while in NYC was Central Park. I had visions of us buying some bread and cheese and having a little picnic in the park. So we got on the subway and headed park-ward. It was quite a ways to the park from where we started, and as people got off the subway and others got on, I started looking around and noticing some shady-looking characters. I whispered to B, �I hope we�re not going to the scary part of Central Park.� He said, �There�s a scary part?� Oh, how I love my na�ve little Texas country boy.
So we finally got to our stop and got off the subway. We headed up the steps and found ourselves � right smack in the middle of Harlem. It looked pretty dodgy, but we could see the park, so we decided to go check it out. Let�s just say it didn�t get any less dodgy. B and I stuck out like sore thumbs, and I felt like we were getting very curious glances from onlookers and we strolled down the path. B wanted to walk a ways and check out some other parts of the park, but I wasn�t so sure. I mean, this park is HUGE, and we could walk for a while before it started looking less scary. We walked a little, and I finally said to B, �I�m scared. Let�s go.� So we headed back. I�m not going to get into a big social commentary or anything here, but I will say this: I felt bad that the area and the situation made me so uncomfortable. Probably most of the people we saw there were totally harmless, just enjoying the outdoors on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. But I can�t help it; I�ve seen too many movies, too many Law & Order episodes, and I was scared. Sad but true.
So we retreated back to the subway and went to Times Square. Wow. That place is insane. I know now where the term �New York minute� came from. It�s total sensory overload. There are so many people, so many cars, so many stores, so many billboards, so many gigantic TV screens on the sides of so many buildings. I can see how people get lured in by that lifestyle. I think I might have enjoyed it for a couple of years as a college student or recent graduate. As for now, it�s a nice place for a short visit.
Since we hadn�t taken our romantic picnic in Central Park as planned, we were famished and ducked into a Chevy�s. So maybe it�s not very �New York,� but the chips were great and I quickly sucked down my margarita. After dinner, we walked up and down the streets in Time Square for a couple of blocks before heading back to our car.
Where we paid $29 for parking for the day, thank you very much. And I also have to say that the toll roads throughout New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia are OUT OF CONTROL. Every time we turned around, we were paying another toll. We must have spent $30 on tolls over two days. I have to say that, after seeing how they gouge you on tolls around there, I feel a little better about how they gouge you on gas here in California. Honestly, any money they�re saving on gas in the East they�re probably making up for in tolls. And getting gas is less of a pain than stopping every 10 miles at a toll booth.
So after our day in the big city, we made our way back to the hotel, showered and scrubbed off all the big-city grime, packed our bags, and crashed. It had been another very full day to add to a very exhausting trip, and we had to get up at 4:20 the next morning to catch our plane back home. The flights back were uneventful � no cancellations or re-routings � and it was wonderful to be back home by 11:00 am. (Of course, we�d been up since 1:00 am California time, but who�s checking?)
As if the weekend wasn�t enough, last night we welcomed B�s sister and her husband and his three children, who drove out here from Texas and are staying with us for the week. We�re also pet-sitting for Dixie�s best friend, Lacy. So with five extra people and one extra dog in the house, things are really jumping.
There�s no rest for the weary.
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004